Background
Dollar Sweets was a confectionery company on Malvern Rd in the Melbourne suburb of Glen Iris, Victoria employing 27 people on a 38-hour week basis. The award for the industry specified a 40-hour week. The Hawke Government and the ACTU had entered into a wages accord which provided employer superannuation, reduced taxation and other social gains in return for unions agreeing to not pursue excessive wage claims. At the same time, centralised wage fixing was introduced in September 1983 where indexed wage rises were automatically granted to those workers whose unions undertook to abide by the Arbitration Commission's principles. Several small unions, including the Federated Confectioners Association of Australia, refused to join the accord. The company owner, Fred Stauder, proposed an agreement with his employees in November 1983, that if they agreed to abide by the principles of the Arbitration Commission, the company would pay them the prescribed increases. All 27 employees agreed to the proposal.The dispute
In July 1985, the Federated Confectioners Association started a campaign with employers for a 36-hour week. Although this breached Arbitration Commission wage-fixing principles, the union had never agreed to accept those principles. When the union demanded negotiations with Stauder on a 36-hour week, Stauder told the union he could not afford to reduce hours and offered to show his accounts to the union. A reduction in hours would have also broken the 1983 agreement Stauder had reached with his employees. Stauder offered his 27 employees that if they wished to continue to receive over-award pay for a (below-award) 38-hour week, they could do so if they signed a no-strike agreement; but, if they wanted to work a 36-hour week, they would have to find it elsewhere. Twelve employees accepted Stauder's offer, whereas the other 15 refused to sign the no-strike agreement and were subsequently sacked by the company, with the company employing another 15 workers in their place on existing conditions. On 22 July 1985, a picket line was established by the sacked workers outside the Dollar Sweets factory. The picket line remained for 143 days, with the company refusing to reinstate the workers. By October 1985, the company was still refusing to reinstate the sacked workers but through the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission had provided "an offer to assist in finding alternate employment within the industry and also to supply references to those people." Commissioner Bain recommended "that those who have been picketing should accept the employer's offer and cease their picketing forthwith." A number of bomb and arson threats were made against Dollar Sweets and one strike-breaking driver was assaulted and his truck vandalised. At one point, phone and telex lines were cut to the factory with telecom workers refusing to cross the picket line to repair the services. Dollar Sweets received strong support and assistance from Richard Mulcahy, chief executive officer of the Confectionery Manufacturers of Australia. By December 1985, it was decided to seek an injunction under common law against the union in theAftermath
Fred Stauder sold Dollar Sweets Holding Limited in 1999, which is now called Snack Foods Limited. Peter Costello described the case as "''It came to be bracketed with the Mudginberri Abattoir case as a great victory against militant unionism''".. Doug Cameron, the secretary of theReferences
{{Reflist Arbitration cases 1985 in Australia 1985 labor disputes and strikes History of Victoria (state) Labour disputes in Australia Labour history of Australia 1985 in Australian law 1980s in Victoria (state)