Vic: Building union and employers swap blows over lockout

AAP General News (Australia)
02-12-2000
Vic: Building union and employers swap blows over lockout

A major building union and an employers' group have traded blows over whether or not
a lockout of workers seeking shorter hours and more pay has succeeded.

More than 250 builders and sub-contractors, representing nearly three-quarters of Victoria's
building industry, have imposed a ban on overtime being worked today.

And they've told their employees that if they turn up for work they won't be paid.

The builders and sub-contractors have taken the action in a bid to resist a demand
by building unions for a 36-hour week and a 24 per cent wage rise.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union claims today's lockout has failed
and workers have only been prevented from going onto two sites.

But the Master Builders Association of Victoria rates the lockout a success and says
it will gain momentum next week.

AAP RTV tsc/rp

KEYWORD: BUILDING (MELBOURNE)

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