By Andy Young
Carlton & United Breweries has responded to the damaging notes that were revealed at the Senate inquiry into last year’s union dispute.
While questioning CUB’s Brewery Manager, Sebastian Siccita, the Senate committee’s chairman, Gavin Marshall produced a page allegedly from Siccita’s diary in which he had written notes about how to deal with the dispute.
It is alleged that on a page titled “Win a War”, that Siccita wrote “shoot the shit out of them” and “cut their supply lines and starve them out”.
Speaking about the notebook, which the Electrical Trades Union State Secretary Troy Gray called a “cruel battle plan”, Julian Sheezel, CUB’s Corporate Affairs Director, told TheShout: “The notes were written by one of the managers at the brewery during a difficult time in the dispute and did not reflect the strategy of CUB management, and were clearly not borne out by any actions that CUB took during the dispute.
“While it is disappointing that the manager’s missing notebook has been used in this fashion in a Senate committee, CUB and its new management team is focused on the future and good relations at all its worksites.”
Sheezel added that since the dispute was resolved, the brewery has worked hard on having better relations with its workers and the unions.
“Following the combination last October of CUB and international brewer AB InBev, CUB’s new management has worked hard for more collaborative relations with its workers and the unions,” Sheezel told TheShout.
“We were pleased to quickly and amicably resolve the industrial dispute at Abbotsford following negotiations between CUB and the unions within two months of AB InBev’s combination with CUB.
“It is clear from the dispute that CUB should have taken a more collaborative and consultative approach at the time of entering into the new contracting agreement.
“The Abbotsford Brewery has been running smoothly since the dispute was resolved last year, with management and unions working collaboratively.”