The image is of Burnie taken in May 1992. Note the lack of smoke from the paper mill at South Burnie. [Click on the image for a larger size.]
It is funny how your memory is prompted by comments by other people, or an item that appears in the print media. But now I am going to comment on the strike action that took place in
Burnie beginning in March 1992.
So what started it in the first place? Simply the unannounced virtual sale of
APPM to
Amcor some months earlier for $416 million dollars.
Amcor required the workforce down sized and were not prepared to be seen as the "bad guys" after the debacle of the take over of
Smorgon Paper prior to the transfer of titles. North Broken Hill had to do the "dirty work" and create a situation that would suit the purpose, so the scene was set for a showdown and a test of strength. The trouble is if you read between the lines union
personalities were just as much involved as the company. One only has to look where some of those
personalities are today.
The "Pulp" as it was known was the biggest employer in the region at the time and was also set on a
confrontational battle with the on site unions over the training of non union operators at the boiler plant. Out of that
disagreement came the sacking of eleven boiler operators on the 8
th of April. Prior to that in March Associated Pulp and Paper Mills [
APPM] owned by
NBH advised that all above-award agreements would be abolished as of April 12
th.
Here was a situation
reminiscent to the debacle at Robe River, Western Australia dispute earlier on, again instigated by North Broken Hill
Peko the owners of
APPM and the unionists recognised this.
Now the fight really started from the 13
th April. Things escalated from there by May the 12
th it was a complete walk out, what followed was the sacking of 1100 striking workers. Gates locked. Picket lines were set up at all entrances to the
Burnie Mill and the perimeter fences patrolled by unionists. Yes there were strike breakers who managed to get through. A carpenter who knew the boundary fence line like the back of his hand, and a fitter and turner who was a migrant from Poland who had been involved with the strikes in Gdansk, a man who had the desire to work no matter what.
Then there were the
APPM Staff who were employees that were not involved but had right of passage to work as normal. As time went on these people including myself, were subjected to name calling and innuendo. I recall one unionist calling out to me accusing me of having two jobs. The fact was my wife was running a business of her own and
collectively the income was less that what that unionist took home for the previous year. More over she could not be seen to favour either those on strike, or those opposed to it if her business was to survive. He and I now look back on it all and laugh about it, but it wasn't funny at the time.
While all this was going on it became blatantly obvious that there was more to this strike than the issue of the initial sackings. To me it was a carefully
orchestrated strike that the company had to have. Why do I say that?
Mobile phones were in their infancy and it was an analogue system. With that came the UHF
programmable scanners. A watchman at the main gate had one, and knew that I had one as well. So a phone call to my office informed me that some very interesting phone
conversations could be monitored from Union officials, TV reporters, and on occasions by Company
representatives. Meanwhile the rank and file unionist were being fed with
inflammatory information to keep them on
th
e boil.
These
conversations made interesting listening especially the rubbish that the ABC TV, and Richard Carlton [Nine Network] were feeding through to the networks. Some of the language used by male and female journo's was so choice, I wouldn't repeat it here, but a bullock driver would have been put to shame.
The Maritime Union [
MUA] and Transport Workers Union [
TWU] joined in, plus Forestry workers. The company imported a group of
Kung Fu exponents "Ninja Turkeys" from Victoria all dressed in
intimidating black and they were lucky to get out of
Burnie unscathed. The Police were
requested to clear a path for the entry to the Mill site, but took a more
conciliatory position so as to not inflame what was becoming a nasty situation. Yes there were the odd
skirmishes and arrests but no charges laid.
APPM had attempted to import paper from the USA that was never to be unloaded in Tasmania due to
MUA and Transport Workers Union action.
Three months later it all ended on Wednesday the 10
th of June. To some degree it appeared that Ferguson had sold the strikers out, yet both sides claimed a win. At the end of the day
APPM achieved its goal with the exit of union demarcation lines, and the advent of multi-
skilling using less employees and getting the same output. The cost to the local economy was horrendous. It had the
effect of destroying family
relationships, some of which are still evident 27 years later.
It is reported that in 1992 figures, the strike cost
APPM $15 million in lost production, and workers $3.5 million in lost wages. All this for the strike that had to take place.
Later on the 13th September 1993
NBH-Peko announced that
APPM had been sold to
Amcor, renamed Australian Paper and so history of a changing industry continues to where today it if fighting to survive.
Australian Paper as it was then known as in 2001 sold off all paper merchant operations that they originally wanted in 1993 by Amcor. With that a new name emerged listed as PaperlinX and Australian Paper became the paper making Division.
Lack of capital investment and stuck with paper mills it didn't want the inevitable happened, Monday December 6th 2009 it was announced that the Paper Mill at Wesley Vale was to close on or before the end of March, No4 Paper machine at Burnie like wise shut down, and if there was no sale made of what was left, it faced certain closure by June 30th, 2010.
In the meantime it was announced 17th February 2009 PaperlinX it had sold the business to Nippon Paper Group but did not include the Tasmanian operations. This sounded the death knell of a once proud and vibrant industry that was the life blood of the region from Wynyard to Port Sorell.
It will be with a heavy heart when I walk out of the gate with my tools for the last time 55 years after I started there as an apprentice on January 15th, 1955.
Since then
Burnie has re-invented its self. Parks and gardens. A changed street scape, new sporting facilities being built and the "Makers Of
Burnie" complex built. No longer is it the polluted industrial city of the 1990's. Nor is it reliant on an industry with 1100 employees that has now shrunk to just over 300 in Burnie.
Rumours have it that there was creative accounting that excluded the Tasmanian mills from the sale to Nippon Paper. The shifting of debts from a mainland mill to the Tasmanian operation, but this may well be hearsay as the rumour mills run riot. However, generally where there is smoke, there is a fire.
An interesting question was posed to me about what happened to some of the
personalities involv
ed in the 1992 dispute.
Peter H Wade, FCPA, FAICD. Chief Executive Officer
APPM, employed by
NBH-Peko as Managing Director, faded in to history after the dispute and sale of
APPM was completed. One can only assume that he followed
NBH-
Peko in mining, retired in 1993. Reappeared as a Director of the Commonwealth Serum Laboritories in 1994 and Chairman in 1999. No further information is available.
D B (Don) MacFarlane. BSc. Appeared as the head of
Amcor's paper division in 1994. Managing Director 1996.There is not much else known about him.
Ken Henderson. Batchelor of Engineering (UTAS)
APPM Burnie Mill Manager, went to Melbourne and faded into history.
David Birt. Pulp Mill Engineer, the would be truck and semi-trailer driver went shortly after the dispute. Now believed to be in New Zealand.
Tony Purdie. Became mill manager for a short time, then he disappeared.
Phillip Boon. Left the Electrical Trade Union ranks to become a Safety Officer, then he to disappeared from sight.
Mick Clarke. I believe was in the HR Department, departed and was last heard being involved with the Giant Steps
Autism facility at
Deloraine.
Mervyn Saltmarsh. APPM Personnel Officer, another who didn't make the cut and he to disappeared off the radar.
Shayne Michael Murphy. CFMEU organiser, became a two term Federal ALP Senator for Tasmania but didn't last as he jumped ship to stand as an
Independant in 2001 over the regional forestry issues and failed to win a seat in the 2004 election and his term ended 30 June 2005. He is now a part of a consultancy firm based in Tasmania.
Ken Bacon. Was a former member for Bass and Tourism Minister in the Tasmanian Parliament came out of the Transport Workers Union.
Mike Grey. Union Organiser at the time of the dispute, is often heard on ABC talk back
radio supporting the proposed Gunn's
pulp mill on the Tamar River.
Martin Ferguson AM. MHR. ACTU President in 1992, is now a Labor Minister for Resources and Energy and also
Tourisim in the Rudd Federal Labor Government. First elected in the electorate of Batman in 1996.
Bren
ton Best. MHA. At the time of the strike was arrested but not charged. At the time was an organisor for the FED&FA union, In 1994 representative of the Trades Hall Council. Elected as an Alderman to the Devonport City Council, and then elected to the House of Assembly in Tasmania in 1998.
The media crews:
Richard Carlton. Died of a heart attack at
Beaconsfield, Tasmania covering the mine rescue story 7
th May 2006.
Judy Tierney. ABC Radio and TV. Married and I believe retired.
Even today graffiti can be found around the paper machine area as reminders of the strike of '92. So the graffiti questions still remain to be seen at the "Pulp".
MUA Members picketting the MV Anthos April 1992 at the Burnie port
Ken Bacon State Organiser of the TWU, Capt Mike Boss-Walker [Harbour Master] Inspector Roy Fox [Tasmnaia Police] discussing Port laws re the Anthos protest.
"Where were you, when the battle for Burnie was on?"
"What side were YOU on June 4th 1992."
" Last one out, turn off the lights.
If the Paper mills closed tomorrow, Burnie will survive. New employment opportunities will present themselves and life will go on. Closure would be a sad event for the city that grew in the shadow of the "Pulp".
I must hasten to say that included now, is the sister mill at Wesley Vale. It also had a cloud hanging over it, and will now become alittle bit of history in the district. One can't help but wonder about the creative accounting that may have been done to get a sale for the Victorian Mill at Maryvale and the New South Wales mill at Shoalhaven. Could it have been that to make them look good, that the Tasmanian operation now known as Tasmanian Paper, a huge liability? I guess we will never know the full story.
What we do know is if the mills close, that the clean up of the site will be one very costly project with mercury
contamination in the old cell plant building, not to mention the dozens of buried
polycarbuoys of mercury will all have to be removed from the site to lord knows where. Added to that is the vast quantity of asbestos roof and wall cladding originally estimated to be 40 acres or 18 hectares in area. The Original boiler plant is another area riddled with asbestos, so the cost of demolishing the
Burnie Mill site would run into many millions of dollars, and no one is prepared to suggest a figure.
North Broken Hill directors saw fit to strip the company of capital estimated to be around $100,000,00 to prop up an ailing mining industry in the late 1970's early 1980's and it was all downhill from there with little or no capital investments made to improve paper making plant and therefore production. Amcor didn't help either, they were more interested in buying the huge marketing arms of APPM because they didn't have any worth mentioning. Today the ACCC wouldn't sanction a monopoly. So Paper House, Dalton Fine Papers, and Tomassetti changed hands along with the Tasmanian mills that were just an added hindrance for the money they forked out. So after a short period of time they just progressively started shutting down plant and equipment at Burnie, and started selling off property. APPM's parent company, North Broken Hill-Peko, were to retain its forestry and export woodchip operations in Tasmania. APPM will continue to supply wood to the Burnie and Wesley Vale mills. This contract ceased after a short period, and NBH-Peko sold it Forestry interests to Gunns Ltd.
It has been an interesting journey through life, and at least I can look back on the good times and laugh about the characters who called "The Pulp" their second home.
One can't but wonder if there is yet another dispute brewing with a possible sale of the two paper mills
reminiscent of the 1992 debacle, or is there a Knight in Shining Armour like perhaps
Norske Skog weighing up options of converting to newsprint? However, it is obvious that it would never happen. That is was not as silly as it sounds when you think about it. The only saving grace being that
Burnie became a cleaner city, a city to be proud of
.In 1985 APPM commissioned Ms. Tess Lawrence to write anecdotal history of of the company celebrating its 50th anniversary, 1936 - 1986 this publication was distributed to every employee as a keepsake. For those of you who still have a copy, re-read it and relive the times past. I certainly have and well remember some of the characters who have passed through.
My family moved from Penguin 15 kms east of Burnie in November 1984, and all the family members live with in a short distance of our home. Does that say something for this city of ours?
Post script .
Since I posted this story, PaperlinX has finally announced the closure of the Wesley Vale paper mill and also the closure of No4 paper machine at the Burnie mill, sometime between Christmas 2009 and March 2010. The No 10 machine at Burnie will continue to produce paper pending a sale of the plant. If no sale is achieved by June 2010, it to will close and the site remediated ending a saga begining in the early 1930's.
The Australian electorate must be mad when they elect people of the calibre of many who have "graced" the corridors of our parliaments. Many who had their origins as rabble rousers and trouble makers. Many didn't survive more than one or two terms as controversy followed them where ever they went, and will continue to do so.
Now we a
re into April 2010, and still no sign of an impending sale being finalised. Maintenance to the remaining paper machine at Burnie is on the back burner with Maintenance days postponed indeffinately. The end result is that the rumour mill is running riot with many plausible scenarios put forward. June 30 2010 looms as a dark spectre on the industrial horizon of Burnie, will the Asian Company buy. or just walk away? The way things appear with only a matter of weeks till June 30th, they won't be walking away but running ending as a sorry saga of mismanagement by previous owners since APPM sold their soul to NBH Pty Ltd in the 1960's
See the related article.
