By PATRICK GOWER and KATHERINE HOBY
More than 1000 workers at the Glenbrook steel mill have walked out after rejecting a 5 per cent pay rise.
The strike has raised fears among employers that it is the beginning of a winter of discontent in the workplace.
Alasdair Thompson, head of the Auckland Employers and Manufacturers Association, told the Herald last night that the strike was a backward step signalling the "re-unionisation of New Zealand."
Workers at the mill, 58km southwest of Auckland, walked out at midday yesterday after a secret ballot rejected the company's offer. They are likely to remain on strike today.
They say their loyalty of last year has not been repaid in the latest contract negotiations.
Engineers' union Auckland regional secretary Mike Sweeney said 87 per cent of members had voted to strike.
"Workers had a nil increase last year because the company was in dire straits and there was 93 per cent approval to go with that but this year we understand Glenbrook was the most profitable field division in BHP and the offer made was simply not enough," he said.
"People there feel like they had to fall on their swords last year and when they came to the party this year their loyalty was repaid with a low offer. People are feeling very hard done by."
Mr Sweeney said Glenbrook had recently become a core BHP business and mill staff had worked hard to reduce costs and boost profits.
"The workers have done everything asked of them."
But Mr Thompson said the strike was a portent for the Employment Relations Bill.
"They say this legislation isn't a backward step - well, this takes me back 10 years."
He said the strike was a big worry to employers. "I don't want to be pessimistic but the reality is we are going to see a lot more of this.
"Helen Clark says the new legislation will encourage good-faith bargaining and that people were too responsible to negotiate like this.
"But where's the good faith here?"
A spokesman for Labour Minister Margaret Wilson said it was irrational nonsense to suggest the strike had anything to do with the new legislation.
"It is political opportunism for anyone to say this is the future of employment relations under the new bill.
"If anything, this strike is a consequence of the take-it-or-leave-it negotiations brought about by the ECA [Employment Contracts Act] regime. That's what we're trying to change."
Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said talk that the strike was an indicator of new workplace relations was cheap politics.
Mr Sweeney said he was "bitterly disappointed it had come to strike action," but was optimistic the dispute could be resolved within 48 hours. Some workers were on call at Glenbrook to ensure the safety and security of the mill.
He would not discuss the company's specific pay offer. "Several figures were on the table."
BHP Steel New Zealand president Cyril Benjamin said the company had offered a 5 per cent rise on the base pay rate, followed by a $2000 bonus to each worker. There would be another pay rise of 3 per cent in about a year.
Mr Sweeney said the final offer was actually only 5 per cent on the base rate, with the bonus payment withdrawn near the end of talks.
"That's only a 3.3 per cent increase across the board because of all the allowances they get. It's actually a two-year deal as well because we got nothing last year."
Mr Benjamin said union delegates had initially asked for 10 per cent but had reduced that to 7.5 per cent on Monday.
Management would resume talks with union delegates after a return to work.
Bosses say Glenbrook strike could signal winter of turmoil
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