Bridgestone Workers “Locked Out” in Australia

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) reports that employees at Bridgestone Australia’s factory in Salisbury, South Australia have been locked out from working their weekend shifts. The union says the 70 maintenance staff scheduled to work will not be able to resume their jobs until the following Monday, March 26.

According to AMWU spokesman Colin Fenney, Bridgestone Australia has not given workers a reason for the lockout. “I think it’s part of the action to try and break up the solidarity between the people down there but all that it is doing is like the other day, when they actually let scabs in to go and do their work,” he said, adding that the company’s action was like “putting fuel in the fire.’

The lockout comes in the wake of strike action at the Salisbury plant. The union is still holding out for double the 6 per cent over three years pay increase the company is offering.