Chance Brings Gary Glover to Comalco

Written by: Mapule Thinane & Robyn Spalding
Featuring: Gary Glover

Gary Glover was working on the railway when, in 1978 his mate said that he had an interview at Comalco and asked him if he wanted to come with him. Three weeks later, after a medical, Gary got the job and 28 years on he is still working at Bell Bay’s Aluminium Plant.

Starting off on Line 4 as a junior, number 25, he then spent 12 years in that position before moving on to different projects. After that he started driving vehicles but now only drives one vehicle bringing Alumina from the big A-frame to the Potlines. He does 17 – 18 loads a day with 26 – 27 tonnes in the tank. It is a 1.9-kilometre round trip and his truck has done 350,000 kilometres on this same trip, amounting to 50,000 hours in it.

Gary fondly recalls how much he truly enjoys working at Comalco, ‘It is a terrific place to work and they really look after you.’ He says that to be a success you have to have a genuine passion for the job. From the 12 who started with him he is the only one left. He remembered some of the workers back then who would get their issue of clothes, go down to the Potline and then go home and not come back.

The workers really had to know what they were doing in the old days. They would start work at 3 in the afternoon. The heat in the furnaces would be around 40-50 degrees and they had to work in there. The temperature outlet would get up to 93 degrees. They coped by taking salt tablets and drinking Staminade but they had to be careful not to take too much.

In the past 28 years Gary has seen a lot of improvements. He never thought he would see girls on the Potlines but there are now. In fact, one of the girls’ mother and father also work at Comalco! The working conditions are much better, there is more care for safety and a lot of the manual work has gone, everything is now mainly mechanical. People are also more aware, for instance, no-one leaves even a glove on the ground. In the old days people would walk past it, but now it would be picked up straight away and thrown in the bin. But Gary thinks that the best change has been the 12-hour shifts. He used to do 7 days straight, Monday to Sunday day shifts, plus overtime shifts. His shift would finish at 4 o’clock then he would do an overtime shift from 4 until midnight, a total of 16 hours. He would then come in the next morning at 8 o’clock. On the plus side the money was good. He now works on the twelve-hour shift roster.

In his time at Comalco, Gary has had a lot of interesting and fun experiences and he has seen a large number of changes. He thinks it is a great place to work and you can’t help but feel that you were there with him when he talks about his memories.