Increase in redundancy pay won for paint workers

Victorian paint workers employed by a multinational company are celebrating increases to redundancy pay following action by union members at the Sunshine site.

Workers at Dutch paint and coats manufacturer Akzo Nobel have endorsed a deal which provides up to 95 weeks in redundancy pay for long serving workers - an increase from the current 16 weeks.

LHMU Paint Union Assistant State Secretary Ben Redford said that despite making a billion dollars in profits last year, this company wanted to freeze wages. Thanks to the efforts of unions, they failed to do this.

The two-year agreement includes a seven percent pay rise for Akzo Nobel’s employees.

Under the new redundancy provisions workers will now receive four weeks per year for the first seven years of service and three and half weeks pay for workers who have served between seven and 25 years at the company.

Workers will also now receive eight weeks notice in the event that they are made redundant.

“The company also tried to increase the number of hours in the working week. On that, they failed as well,” said Mr Redford.

The family-friendly 35-hour week was won in the 1980s by Australian paint workers. In recent years employers have made repeated attempts to claw back this condition and failed on each occasion.

“Our members hope their employer has learned that trying to bully their workers is a futile exercise.”