Vic: Deal signed for 36 hour week by 2003 = 2

AAP General News (Australia)
04-04-2000
Vic: Deal signed for 36 hour week by 2003 = 2

The agreement was signed by a breakaway group of employers, led by Multiplex Constructions,
who abandoned the Master Builders Association of Victoria and their fight against a 36-hour
week.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) state secretary Martin Kingham
said the deal was a "template for peace" and would provide a 36-hour week with the introduction
of 13 additional rostered days off by 2003.

Under the deal, the CFMEU and the Electrical Trades Union agreed to only a three per
cent wage rise or CPI, which ever is lowest, in the final year of the agreement.

Mr Kingham said two months of industrial warfare on Victorian building sites, with
work bans and employer lockouts, would now finish.

He said numerous employers had already phoned his offices interested in being a part
of the deal and he urged the Master Builders to do likewise.

"We call on the MBA and those other employers to drop their resistance - resistance
is now futile," he told reporters.

"The best thing to do is to grab a quick and speedy resolution to the industrial action
that is continuing to take place outside of the breakout employers sites."

Multiplex's managing director Noel Henderson said under the deal, workers would have
a better attitude and would deliver substantial productivity gains.

The Property Council of Australia also endorsed the deal saying it was unlikely to
damage investment in Victoria.

AAP hmg/sp/jlw/sk

KEYWORD: BUILDING DEAL 2 MELBOURNE

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