SA: Talks continue to broker dispute in car industry strike
Eds: Reissuing correcting timing in lead par
By Tim Dornin, National Motoring Correspondent
ADELAIDE, April 28 AAP - Australia's car manufacturing industry remained in dangerof a total shutdown from a parts shortage as talks with unions continued late into thenight in Adelaide without a peace plan.
About 400 workers at Walker Australia, which supplies exhaust parts to all four carmakers, went on strike more than a week ago in a dispute over the protection of theirentitlements.
The strike stopped car production at both Holden and Ford last week and could do thesame at Mitsubishi and Toyota if it continues this week.
The national secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, (AMWU) DougCameron went to Adelaide today for talks with Walker Australia managing director AlexDrysdale under the mediation of retired industrial commissioner Michael Keough.
Going into the negotiations Mr Cameron said he hoped a resolution could be found sothat a recommendation to return to work could be put to a meeting of Walker employeestomorrow morning.
But Mr Cameron also warned the unrest could spread to shock absorber supplier Monroesif workers were not satisfied.
"That's a matter for the employees, they're all covered by the same agreement and thereis a great deal of anger against this company," he told the ABC.
Holden lost two day's of scheduled production last week at a cost of $40 million andwill lose at least another day tomorrow.
From Tuesday Holden's 4,400 production staff in Adelaide also face the prospect ofgoing without pay, with the company running out of rostered down days it can bring forward.
Ford lost one production day last week at a cost of about $12 million and was not expectedto work tomorrow.
Mitsubishi said last week it had already planned a rostered day off for productionstaff tomorrow and could work on Tuesday regardless of whether the dispute was resolved.
But it said it would run out of parts at some stage this week and a similar scenariowas likely at Toyota.
Last week Holden, Ford and Toyota also raised the possibility of taking legal actionagainst the AMWU for loss of production, with reports of letters being delivered to theunion warning of a multi-million dollar claim.
Walker's parent company Tenneco Automotive also planned to go to the Federal Courton Tuesday seeking damages.
The Walker dispute centres on the enterprise agreement signed last year in which thecompany said it would set up a trust fund to protect entitlements if no national schemewas operational by the end of 2001.
The AMWU argues no such scheme is in place while the company believes a federal governmentscheme announced last year fits the bill.
AAP gmw/tjd/cjh/bwl
KEYWORD: MOTOR WALKER SECOND NIGHTLEAD (REISSUING)
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