This morning, Secretary Wayne Forno and Assistant Secretary Bruce Penton joined Organiser Rob Pirc to deliver their congratulations to Brinks members, whose public campaign brought EBA negotiations to a successful conclusion.

The yard voted to meet fortnightly to show management that their resolve is inexhaustible

 

Wayne Forno: ‘You blokes are an outstanding example to the rest of the membership. Congratulations on your hard work, and a successful campaign.’

Rob Pirc: ‘Without your commitment to the action, and without Wayne’s and Bruce’s support for our campaign, we couldn’t have brought this off.’

Despite Brinks being the world’s largest armoured van company, it had bitterly opposed our members’ modest wage and entitlements claim. The result was that for more than two-and-a-half years, the workers were paid a pitiful hourly rate with no overtime or penalty rates.
It had been a long road.
 
Organiser Rob Pirc and the members decided a public campaign was needed to show Brinks that its stinginess and stalling was too much. They decided on a ‘Week of Protest’ to inform ordinary citizens of Brinks’ behaviour.
 

The leaflet that brought Brinks to its knees. Click on image to see enlarged copy.

Rob approached Communications Officer Michael Wong to devise a leaflet to hand to commuters at Martin Place. A thousand were handed out on the first day, and 800 on the second. Commuters were urged to fax the leaflet to Brinks if they supported the members’ campaign.
 
Brinks learnt pretty fast that its negotiating strategy would not wash with the public.
 
The EBA was settled the next day.