The deal, being promoted by Vizard and vigorously backed by ACTU Secretary Bill Kelty, would offer union members a package of a home computer, cheap InterNet access and associated online services, including web-TV as it becomes available.
In return, the company would have the rights to commercially exploit the trade union network in the emerging areas of e-commerce and content delivery into the new millennium.
But many unions are concerned that the deal short-changes the union movement and fails to adequately value its membership base.
The proposal was presented by Vizard to last month's ACTU excecutive, which resolved to establish a committee to consider the proposal. On the committee are the FSU's Tony Beck, the Nurses' Sam Moaitt, the IEU's Sharan Burrow and NSW Labor Council secretary Michael Costa. The committee met with Vizard again this week, agreeing to give him two months to come up with an acceptable proposal.
While the proposal forces trade unions to confront the challenges of the Information Age, there are concerns that Vizard's is the only plan being considered by the ACTU.
Michael Costa is pushing to seek broader expressions of interest, possibly putting it out to public tender or investigating joint venture arrangements with union-friendly e-enterprises.
"We are dealing with an asset, our membership base, which it is impossible to value at present," he says.
"Networks of people will be the most valuable asset in the Information Age. We need to be very careful that we don't just give it away."
He says the union movement should not commit itself to the Vizard path, before it fully explores all the options. "I was annoyed to see that those backing the Vizard plan had leaked it to The Bulletin this week," Costa said. "While Labor Council had agreed to work through the proposal with the ACTU, we think its important to air our concerns now the issue is in the public domain."
One industry figure told Workers Online the current calculations for Internet Service Providers were up to $1300 per customer, the benchmark set by the recent takeover of Ozemail by America Online.
Given these costings, Vizard's proposal, even if it only attracts 100,000 of the union's movement 2.3 million members, would be worth $130 million to him.
He said the key movers in the industry are the e-commerce portals, like Microsoft and Netscape. These portals are currently paying huge amounts to get access to subscriber bases.
Suddenly union officials are wondering whether the Vizard deal undervalues a union movement's contribution.
"Of all the pieces in the information technology equation, it is the hardware, that is the home computers, that have the least value," the insider said. 'These will be given away very soon, much in the way mobile phones are now."
"Getting tied into a long-term deal like this is not a good idea," the insider told Workers Online.
The Finance Sector Union has learned that most Westpac business units have issued edicts restricting holidays over the months of December 1999 and January 2000.
This means some staff will be expected to work for up to 18 months without a break.
"We all need holidays to refresh us so that we can return to work reinvigorated," state secretary Geoff Derrick says.
"We recognise Y2K is a problem, but the bank has had a lot of time to deal with this issue and restricting staff holidays seems to us to be an admission of failure."
This is not the first time FSU has had problems with Westpac restricting annual leave -- last year they attempted to pay people out for accrued leave after mismanaged the leave allocations.
"If this were a one-off Westpac could probably expect a bit more understanding, but the fact is the restricting of leave has become a pattern of behaviour," Derrick says
"They're trying to solve a technology issue by merely cutting workers entitlements, rather than working co-operatively to get the problem fixed.
The FSU is seeking talks with Westpac and is also developing an industry strartegy to deal with leave issues across the sector.
While Westpac is the only institution known to be restricting leave, the FSU is keen to hear from any other workers in the sector facing similar problems.
Mr Carr said unions had been "in the front line of the campaign" which had secured Labor a 17-seat Lower House majority.
"Good manners require a thank you," Carr said to a packed room of delegates at the Labor Council's weekly meeting.
Outlining his second term agenda, Carr made a commitment to jobs, improved public transport and further industrial relations reform to "build on the balance of the 1996 Act". He also promised ongoing consultation with union officials on matters that affected their members.
Carr said the government planned to create 200,000 jobs over the next ten years, many in western Sydney and regional Australia. That included 50,000 jobs in the tourism sector, 15,000 jobs in the film industry and 60,000 jobs in call centres.
Importantly, the job areas would be linked to residential areas with a major public transport program, including 100 extra kilometres of designated bus routes.
"Our public transport strategy will ensure better access to jobs, services education and training," he said.
by Zoe Reynolds
Robin Hood, alias Trevor Charles Australian co-ordinator for the International Transport Workers' Federation in Australia, was called in after crew members dropped a message in a bottle to a passing yacht.
The crew on board the Tomis Future had gone weeks without pay, clean drinking water or adequate food provisions. They knew they had to get word to the ITF. So when they sighted a fishing boat nearby, they ran onto the deck, waving frantically.
Australian fisherman Gordon Green was fishing near where the Tomis Future was at anchor outside the harbour, when he noticed the crewmen waving to him: "I pulled up anchor and went over closer to the ship," he told the Illawara Mercury reporter Geoff Faiiles.
"The next thing they threw the bottle towards me and I scooped it up out of the water."
The message in a bottle said simply: "Please, if you can, call ITF because we have big problem on board. No money, no food, no water. Thank you."
Gordon Green returned to Wollongong Harbour and handed the bottle to coastal patrol officer. The message was passed on to MUA branch secretary Mark Armstrong, who immediately contacted ITF headquarters in Sydney.
Within minutes Trevor Charles phoned the ship and demanded to speak with the crew. When the vessel came into port, pre-dawn on April 16, both Trevor and Mark were there to meet it. Crew members aboard the ship complained they had not been paid for months. They also said they had been without fresh water for almost two weeks and were unable to shower or bath while waiting outside the port.
"Their main concern was that since late December no allotments of money from their wages had been made to their families in Romania," said Mark.
"Things were getting desparate. Bills weren't getting paid. Their children were going hungry."
Once the ITF/MUA had a talk with the ship's captain and the ship's agent, however, things quickly changed. Trevor and Mark ensured there were adequate food supplies on board and the seafarers received all outstanding wages.
But the story did not end there. As is often the case crew neglect and abuse go hand in hand with poor ship maintenance. When an inspector from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority checked the vessel, last week, he found problems with the engine and detained the ship until repairs could be made.
The MV Tomis must now stay in Port Kembla all week, awaiting spare parts for its generators before being allowed to sail.
FOR MORE INFO on the work of the ITF
FOR MORE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD
http://mua.tcp.net.au/Pages/rhood.html
FOR MORE INFO on AMSA
http:/www.amsa.gov.au
The Labor Council will co-ordinate a campaign across the airline amidst rising concerns the company is becoming a hostile and anti-union employer.
Flight Attendants Association international president Peter Smith told this week's Labor Council that Qantas had increased the number of foreign jobs it would seek to more than 500.
While Qantas originally claimed the decision was about employing the foreigners for the language skills and cultural diversity, they had betrayed this as a lie by nominating Auckland as a recruiting base, Smith said.
As reported in Workers Online last week, Qantas is looking to cuts by recruiting Thai nationals, who are paid 40 to 50 per cent less than Australian workers.
"This is a clear attack on Australian wages and conditions," Smith said.
"We can't believe the double-standards of Qantas," he said. "One month ago, they told the Productivity Commission in Canberra that foreign airlines shouldn't be allowed to fly in Australia because of the impact on Australian jobs. One month later they are recruiting offshore."
The FAAA warns this could be the first step in Qantas moving more of their operations offshore, including engineering and maintenance work.
"Qantas has a moral responsibility to invest in Australian jobs and if they don't want do that then the union movement should force them to," Smith said.
Labor Council secretary Michael Costa described the decision as "appalling" saying that Qantas was jeopardising its status as Australia's ambassador airline.
"It's time we put a bit of heat on Qantas and exposed it for the sort of bastardry that it's undertaking in a range of areas," Costa said.
The Qantas decision follows a string of actions by the company which have angered unions, including hiring private detectives to secretly film ground staff while drinking off-duty and organising foreign customs officials to strip-search flight crew for alcohol.
CFMEU organiser David Glass, a member of the ACTU Organising Works program, said the union had been appalled to learn that there was not one apprentice among the Birdge's 60 painters.
Glass warned the Council the failure to train young workers was undermining the industry and contributing to social problems like alcohol and drug abuse.
The CFMEU is trying to gain acceptance for an industry-wide standard of one apprentice for every four tradsepeople, but Glass says many sub-contractors are way below that level at present.
Apprentice numbers throughout the building industry had fallen about 40 per cent in the last five years, he said.
Labor Council secretary Michael Costa said it was upsetting that the Department of Transport was not meeting its responsibility to apprentices.
"It's hard enough to get the private sector supporting training, but when the public sector is also neglecting it we know are facing a serious resistance to training.
He said he would follow the issue up with the Minister for Transport and the Premier.
The Council Monday night agreed to ignore local residents' concerns to rezone land at Ingleside from "community use" to "operational" to legitimise its operation of a commercial sanitation depot which it had been running illegally for many years.
While the deal would net the Council $500,000 per annum, many local residents want the land to be rehabilitated and turned into open park space.
"This decision exposes the hypocrisy of a Council that is running out of control," Labor Council secretary Michael Costa said.
"On the one hand, this Council is moving to block a bona fide proposal for Currawong before it's even seen the Development Application, " Mr Costa said.
"In the same breath, it is railroading community concern to make money out of land which has been designated for community usage."
"While they call on the State government to seize the Labor Council's property and make it part of Kuringai National park, they want to commercially exploit other parts of the same park."
Mr Costa said he had contacted residents opposed to the Ingleside re-zoning and offered the union movement's support, including Green Bans if they are needed.
He also called on the Department of Local Government to investigate the matter. "Local Councils have an important responsibility; if they can't discharge their duties in an appropriate manner, the state government should step in,' Mr Costa said.
Labor Council is due to vote on the Currawong proposal on Thursday May 6
And the May Day dinner will be held on Friday 30th April at the Graphics Arts Club from 6pm. Speakers will include Michael Costa, MEAA state secretary Michel Hryce and Stan Sharkey.
Entertainment and meals will be provided for just $15 per head with tickets available on the night.
For further details contact the May Day Committee - Bob Coombs 9264 5024.
The Full Bench of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission this afternoon agreed to a joint position by the Employers and the NSW Labor Council to declare Monday a public holiday for all state award employees.
They agreed the state would have been plunged into chaos if a change to arrangements had been occurred at this late stage.
The Federation had earlier sought to have Sunday declared the public holiday, arguing the NSW Government had not formally proclaimed Monday under the Bank and Bank Holidays Act.
Instead the Government believed that this had been unnecessary, claiming it was custom and practise that the holiday automatically moved to the Monday.
The Federation has reserved its right to argue that the ANZAC Day holiday should always be celebrated on the day itself in future years.
Comrade Bragg told us the ALP's wage cutting Accord was better than what the Tories would deliver.
I booed him again for his conservatism.
In fact, in Australia, it was the Tories (aka) the ALP who did deliver. The trade union leadership capitulated and gave us wagecuts and destruction of our conditions.
In addition, the trade union bureaucrats conspired to destroy any idea of militancy to defend wages and conditions.
15 years ago the right (the liberals plus the right of the then ALP) manouevered to destroy the one union that had a comittment to challenging the bosses' 'right' to profit. By legislating federally, and in NSW, Victoria and the ACT against the BLF, the only union which kept alive the idea of defending wages and conditions.
All power to the working class.
John Passant
However, if there is one thing missing from the debate it is the question: For what purpose or objective do we wish to remove the factions? After all, successful change is always underpinned by a clear objective. For the ALP, ending factions should be an instrument used in broader policy innovation and reform.
As any economist would tell you, the end of factionalism is a necessary but not sufficient condition for broader change in the ALP.
The ALP is faced with a fundamental challenge - how do we remain true to our core values of fairness and opportunity, in the new, global order. Changes in economic, social and technological settings are transforming everything from corporations to work, relationships and family. The emergence of new inequities, whether they be intergenerational incapability or spatial/geographic disadvantage are leaving traditional policy tools impotent.
What is needed is a flexible and innovative Party. Our objective should be to develop a creative and forward thinking Party. An end to factionalism should be just the start of that journey.
Yours sincerely
Alex Sanchez
I look forward to receiving my Workers On Line and read it avidly.
As a country unionist I have endured many years of conservative rule (something like 50 all up) and will have to put up with another four as of the last State election.
Your articles do much to counter the conservative bias in our country press and are refreshingly informative.
I particularly enjoy the press articles and take heart with the insights you give to people and events of concern to the union movement.
Well done and keep up the good work.
Noelene Milliken Wagga Wagga
Help One Student
Hi,I am currently completing a Masters, through Monash University in Melbourne in IR.
I am currently looking at the broad issue of Trade Union invovment in politics in Australia.
If people would like to contribute their views, perspectives, infomration on the current, and future role of trade unions in using the political system to advance trade union issues, or even the reverse, work out side the political system to achive aims, I would appreciate hearing from you. I hope to compelte the paper by mid to late May 99
Cheers
Roberto Colanzi
mailto:[email protected]
Help Another One
I am concerned about the Gordonstone mine dispute and would like to have anybody else's say on it, to my email address
below. I have been given an assignment to do for my final year of studies, and was wondering if you would do me a favour by sending me your opinions and any information about the process used to reach any agreement of some sort.
This would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Yours faithfully
Cindy Donnelly
mailto:[email protected]
by Peter Lewis
It's nearly 12 months since you published Civilising Global Capital. In that time you've become a backbencher and been accused of being a Labor rat. Any regrets?
I think raising ideas and promoting debate are pretty important for the Party at this time in its history. It's probably a watershed time when social democratic parties are facing up to the realities of globalisation in the information age and trying to keep themselves relevant in terms of policy and electoral appeal and in terms of their long term survival. So to be part of that process is important but the ins and outs of shadow ministries and what people say about you don't matter as much as those longer term questions and participation in the long term political debate.
Do you think the reaction was against the ideas or the way they came into the public domain?
I think the reaction's been positive. I get continuing correspondence from students, Young Labor activists, academics, bureaucrats, people generally interested in public policy who are quite complimentary about my book and what's followed from it. You know the reaction I think is 70 per cent positive, the other 30 per cent, perhaps adverse internal party reaction and from people with a traditional left-wing perspective, who might see, my views as threatening. there's a lot of institutions now including the big centralised industrial unions are under threat and of course they are going to feel threatened.
The media and the conservative side of politics have, rather than engaging in your ides, put you up on the pedestal as the labor heretic. Has that detracted from the process of getting this debate going? You've been cast as an oppositionist rather than someone with a positive agenda.
My agenda's positive. Its based on ideas about the reform of public policy. Obviously the media looks for the points of public conflict. But there's a mixture -- some people report ideas and policy matters, others stick to the conflict and try to personalise everything That's just part of the process and in the end, the conflict stuff gets lost in the wash and the thing that's left is what the ideas are about and that's the sort of public policy debate the ALP is now engaged in.
Your notion of the "Third Way" has been described as a cross between the Second Coming and the Fourth Dimension. If you accept that the world is becoming increasingly complex, why the need for the 'one big concept' like the Third Way?
Well, politics is about presentation, politics is about applying principles to new public policy challenges and the Third Way is part of that process. It's a broad methodology of how to address these political issues as well as having a lot of detail about what it might it stand for in the work of government. It's probably not desirable to have one narrow approach in policy, but I think the Third Way is a very broad project which avoids the problems of dogma and fixed ideologies.
But what's the difference between the Third Way and pure political pragmatism?
The Third Way is driven by this idea of triangulation, the sort of Hegelian theory of history. Points of conflict are resolved with a new way of thinking, a new ideology, new policies. So it has a theory of history attached to it which is a long way removed from short-term political pragmatism. It's about thinking through the public policy consequences of things like globalisation and the information age, but doing it in a way which is consistent with traditional Labor Party ideals about a good and fair society. You have to be pragmatic and idealistic in politics. You've got to be pragmatic because you want to win election; but you can marry this with good ideals and good thinking for the longer term. That's a big part of the way the Third Way has evolved in Britain and the United States as well as other European countries.
Of course, some people would argue that the Third Way has always been what the Australian Labor Party pursued and that Britain and the US are adapting what was already happening here.
There's elements of that in it. The Third Way has to be understood at two policy levels. First, as there's an ongoing tension between the role of government and the role of economic markets. And for a century we've been arguing the right balance of policy to address that tension. But now with internationalisation, there's a need for changing the balance. The Third Way argues that you're better with education investments than industry handouts, you're better off skilling a nation to cope with globalisation than artificially propping up old industries which will be wiped out by technology in any case. And you're also better off moving some of your national economic regulation to international forums like European Community, APEC, NAFTA and the like. So Third Way engages in that debate, which is important.
The Third Way is also about the tension between global economics and local communities. Tony Blair in Britain has said that people on the Left have made two big mistakes this century. The first was that they didn't match up responsibilities with rights in the welfare system and they made a big mistake in replacing mutual provisions of social services with big centralised government departments. You are trying to rebuild social trust, cohesive, the thing called social capital by these ideologies of mutuality and devolution. Trying to get people more involved with service delivery and provision at a local level. That's a very important debate as well. I mean, social issues define themselves through mutualism, through the ideals of good community. but we've sort of lost that through the course of this century and the Third Way is trying to rebuild that strain within socialist thinking.
Of course, similar rhetoric is being used by the Howard Government. How's their notion of mutual obligation different to your's.
They put more emphasis on the responsibility of government; to properly fund education and training services. A genuine reciprocal responsibility policy calls on the individual to exercise the responsibilities of effort and good citizenship to make the best of government services; but clearly Howard with Work for the Dole and Read for the Dole is not providing the government responsibility of funding to make those services work.
Is it fair to say that you believe the process of globalisation is inevitable and the role of the State in a country like Australia is to work out the best way of looking after its citizens with in that? Or do you take a view that state's can shape the way globalisation evolves over the next period.
A bit of both. I think government has a role in shaping the social impact of globalisation, the impact that it has on individuals and communities; but on the economic front governments won't be able to roll back and reverse the process of globalisation. That's not possible. What governments have to learn to do is accept that these processes are driven by technology and economic changes that no national government can turn back or ultimately resist. But government that adapts its policy approach will be able to ameliorate or modify some of the impact that those changes are having on lifestyle opportunity, local communities and other aspects of a good capacity.
But do we have to accept that the dollar drives all? That the debate over the power of global capital has been run and won?
I think we need to think of policy making as trying to build a virtuous circle. A strong trusting society actually strengthens economic performance and there's a lot of research and analysis to show that's the case. A strong trusting society makes it easier for government to get about its work, that the people support collective and cooperative institutions, which is what government ultimately should be. And that a strong society produces a strong economy and a strong government. So I'm interested in that virtuous cycle and the thing that has been downgraded this century is the strength of society itself.
Government and economic markets have grown and are doing many more things than they did a century ago; it's society that's been down-sized and building bonds of public trust and mutuality has to be an important part of social democratic thinking in the current time. I don't see any great conflict between a strong society and a good economy; they can be mutually reinforcing if its based on notions of social trust and cooperation.
What role do you see trade unions playing in this virtuous cycle?
Trade unions started out as mutual organisations helping to build trust as well as representation in the workplace. My criticism on modern trade unionism is that its become too big, centralised and bureaucratic. I'm more a fan of workplace unions. The process of amalgamations we've seen over the last decade was the wrong call: for unions to get bigger and more centralised at a time when the workplace was getting smaller and more disaggregated across the economy.
So would you advocate atomised unions only covering particular workplaces?
I don't mind federated structures; to have other representatives doing research and national policy work, but I'd rather see the weight of union control and organisation at the workplace. Then if those workplace unions want to contribute resources for a federated union structure at a national level -- which is ultimately responsible to those workplace unions. I think that would be the best way to go.
Those ideas would raise major issues with the ALP in terms of its funding base and membership base ..
Well it won't raise as many issues if we continue to lose union membership at the current rate and industrial unions go the way of the dinosaur in 30 or 40 years time. I support mutual organisations in the workplace and other parts of society and the best mutual organisation in industrial relations is a strong and effective trade union which wins the support of its members based on the relevance to their needs and the quality of the services provided. I just think that happens better at a workplace level. if the ALP is going to have unions to rely on in the future, we've got to move away from the centralised union model.
What about the centralised wage-fixing model?
I think it defies the disaggregated,. diverse nature of the new economy. You won't be able to go back to centralised wage fixing. the key equity policy is to have a strong, indexed minimum wage in Australia to make sure that no-one at the bottom of the labour market is falling behind the rest of the country in their earnings. But you won't be able to have centralised wage-fixing for all workers. But for those on the minimum wage -- and we now have a federal minimum wage -- its very important to keep their earnings moving forward as the economy continues to grow.
Do you support the notion of a Living Wage? That wages should be based on needs and not capacity to pay?
How that's determined will very much be a product of history. I think you'd need a combination of both a capacity of business to pay in a competitive economic environment where productivity matters and provision of a decent living standard for all Australian workers. I think you need to have some combined consideration of those factors and that points to an ongoing role for the Industrial Relations Commission in Australia. But I don't think we'll ever go back to the Harvester Judgment or fully centralised national wage fixing in this country.
Do you see over time wage levels being forced down so what blue collar workers can still compete on a global playing field? Or does a decision have to be made at some point that we opt out of certain industries?
We're better off with a high-wage, high-skill economy and that means recognising that traditional low-skill manufacturing work is not going to be consistent with those high-wage objectives. Improved investments and outcomes in education are going to become much more important than hanging onto old industries what in any case are only ever going to produce low-skill, low-wage outcomes.
What role do you see for unions in the context of extending your notion of social capital.
They're a very important mutual organisation that can build cooperation between people. union s should see themselves with those goals in mind and should be supported by laws promoting collective bargaining in the workplace as a much better option than employment contracts. If there was a way oft outlawing individual employment contracts, then I'd be supportive of it. But I don't about the constitutionality of restricting the freedom of the individual to have an employment contract; but generally we should do whatever we can in industrial relations law for collective arrangements as opposed to contracts. A good society, I argue, is good for the workplace, because it will be base of productive and competitive economic outcomes. People will do a lot better in the workplace when they cooperate compared to competition within the enterprise amongst workers
I understand in your local electorate you've been doing some work with Peter Botsman to put your theories into practice. Tell us about that.
It's about a group of parents of disabled children getting together and formed what amounts to a families cooperative. They run it, its self-governing. They've got government funding and a bit of their fundraising to buy in the services and experts and staff they need, but its community self-governance eat work, with the aim of delivering better services to the parents of disabled children. Its very important in terms of the service, but also in fostering the bonds of trust before the parents involved. they've got support groups, friendships, learning the habits of cooperation, which is much better than is they just placed their children in institutionalised government childcare.
What do you think of Tanner's book?
It's good, I generally praise the book, its a step in the right direction, especially someone from the left-wing factional background. Its going to be an important contribution to the debate. I think there are some areas where he could think more creatively about community building and social capital but generally, he's done a very good job.
Where do you see the fault-lines between his ideas and your own?
Only at the margins, the central direction is pretty much in common and we're only arguing at the margin about some of the policy detail and emphasis you might carry in practise.
Finally on factions in the ALP. If the ALP factions are going to be built around new ideas what are the ideas they will be built around?
Factions aren't built around ideas. Factions are built around personalities and patronage. Factions, to survive, have to find a way to become more relevant to these debates. A lot of ideology -- what it means to be right-wing or left-wing in the ALP has changed,. I mean, some right-wingers have now got the same economic policies as left-wingers because they want to resist globalisation and go back to things like so-called interventionist industry policy, strategic trade policy, a lot of those ideologies are blurring.
So does the line become between the engaged and the disengaged?
The line is somewhat generational. It's those who think they'll be in politics 20 years from now having to deal with these realities, opposed to those who can just ignore them for the present and go back to some of the old stuff. I think that's one of the dividends in the Labor Party, but whether that leads to a new division, new conflicts, new ideas and new factional ideologies, all of that is very unformed at the moment. We mightn't see the results for another generation or so.
How confident are you that the policy issues raised by yourself and Tanner will be addressed before the next election?
Well they are being addressed through the policy review. And in many ways they are irresistible, they just won't go away. They are policy issues the party must face up to . You can face up to them sensibly and have an open policy debate and review or you can try to ignore them and one day the electorate will just say: "you ignored all those issues, you've become irrelevant and you're out of business".
Haven't they already done that?
We've lost two federal elections in a row, but we're not out of business. Clearly the next election is the important one for us where we have to get back in. And having relevant policies, contemporary economic and social concerns, is a vital part of it. That's why the Party is alive and we're a lot better off having these debates than putting our heads in the sand and becoming more like the Liberal Party which has no debates, writes no books and ends up looking like an ostrich.
What can you expect for ten bucks? Support in the workplace, constant vigilance on pay and conditions, attention to occupational health and safety, access to further education and scholarship, a sense of community.
For the host of members who are dedicated to recruiting new members to the NSW Nurses' Association the benefits sell themselves. It costs the average Registered Nurse $9.62 a fortnight to belong.
As far as the Association's recruiters are concerned, it's not a question of whether nurses can afford to belong, it's more a matter of can they afford not to.
During the past five years they've encouraged more than 5,000 new members to take advantage of the many services the Association provides, more than 1,000 of them in the nine months to September last year. Any financial member is eligible to recruit new members and for every new member the
Association provides a reward of a $5 David Jones gift voucher to the recruiter. As well, there's a major travel prize awarded each year for a lucky recruiter. (The 1999 prize is an all-inclusive six nights, twin-share holiday at Club Med Lindeman Island.) For every member you have signed up you get a ticket in the draw.
Megan Norris, Gulargambone Hospital
Gulargambone Hospital permanent part-time night-duty RN Megan (Janette)Norris takes the direct approach when it comes to encouraging new staff to join the Association.
"You're nursing in a small country hospital, there's no doctor, no ambulance, and while the police are resident, more often than not they're seconded to other towns," runs her opening gambit. " You'll often be a sole practitioner with no close support services and you have to make life-threatening decisions. Do you realise what position you put yourself in if you don't join the Association? You'd have to be crazy not to join and have someone stick up for you if things go wrong."
Megan, who has been nursing for 25 years, was instrumental in the establishment of her local branch in 1994. She admits she was inculcated to the "strength in numbers" approach to the workplace when she arrived in the country and discovered the hospital was doubling duty as a vet clinic, that babies' bottles were being stored in the same fridge as kangaroo's bottles and the same boilable syringes were being used for humans as animals.
"Many of the practices were totally abhorrent to me, as they were to most of the staff, but no-one realised they could do anything about it," she recalls. "That was my introduction to the Association. But it opened my eyes to what was possible if you stood together and stood your ground. I'm aware that being in the country, I'm dealing with a fairly conservative group, but I tell them if they don't join the Association, they're on their own."
Megan says she values the fact that the Association make it possible for her to update her skills via courses and conferences, which is especially important when nursing in relative isolation. She appreciates the recruitment incentive scheme and says it's always a pleasant surprise when she opens the mail to receive another voucher. She saves them up for infrequent visits to the city - "the nearest DJs is at Penrith and that's almost 500km away."
Marjorie Atkinson, Oban Nursing Home, Raymond Terrace
AIN Marjorie Atkinson is remarkably sanguine about the fact that after 27 years as a member of the Association and 12 years as a branch representative for the Oban Nursing Home at Raymond Terrace, the fact that she allowed her membership to lapse for three weeks means she can't continue as branch delegate, at least for the next 12 months.
"That's the rules," she says matter-of-factly. "You've got to abide by them and I accept that I was in the wrong." Marjorie estimates she has recruited more than 100 new members during her years in the profession and had added another application to her portfolio the morning she spoke with The Lamp.
"Fortunately our DoN is a good unionist and she encourages the staff to join," she says. "I always approach new staff and explain that we're here to intervene on their behalf if they should encounter any problems. Mind you, it's been so long since there has been any issue with management that I can't remember what it was about. However, you can't be too careful when you're dealing with the frail and elderly, because there's always the risk of accidents and you need the protection that the Association provides."
Rhonda Rowan, Hurstville Gardens Nursing Centre, Sydney
When EN Rhonda Rowan filled her swimming pool with floating candles for a recent family celebration, she took great pride in telling her guests: "That's on the Association". The candles were typical of the "few indulgences" the David Jones voucher incentive scheme has allowed her to enjoy over the years.
Rhonda retires this June after 24 years at the Hurstville Gardens Nursing Centre. She's been involved with the Association since the local branch was formed in 1992, is currently the branch delegate and has "lost track" the number of members she's recruited in that time. While it was a personal conflict with a superior which first brought her in contact with the Association, she constantly promotes membership as a "tax deductible insurance policy."
"You never know when you'll need them," she says. "With the health care system stretched for resources, you don't know what could happen. And I don't know many nurses who can afford $1,500 a day for a barrister if they are charged with neglect of care."
Rhonda hastens to add that she's not militant and believes in a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. "I have a good relationship with management," she says. "However, I am aware that there are members of staff who are too young or don't feel able to confront the DoN or other superiors. That's where I can help, or if necessary, call in assistance from head office."
Christine Lennon, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney
As the Manager of Nurse Education at St Vincent's, Christine Lennon regards her recruiting role as "a professional responsibility". She and her colleagues always incorporate a five-minute briefing on the Nurses' Association into their orientation programme for new staff.
"There's a NSWNA brochure provided along with other printed material to complement input sessions which the nurses are given when they start work here," Christine says. "But that can easily be overlooked in the volume of information they have to absorb so I make sure we reinforce the message verbally.
"Some of these people might never have thought of joining a union before and we don't have much time to explain all the benefits, so we try to make the points as plainly as possible. I raise the obvious things - that these are the people who go in to bat for them concerning pay and conditions and if they don't belong to the Association, they can't vote and they lose their right to choose who represents them.
"I also promote the Association as a professional as well as an industrial organisation and talk about the courses and conferences it organises and the opportunities for scholarship. I generally get a positive response, but it really is a team effort by those facilitating the orientation programme."
The rewards for signing up new members are utilised by Christine and her staff as the DJs vouchers become part of a slush fund in the office and are spent by mutual agreement. Sometimes they go towards text books and materials for the department "as there's not a bottomless pit for educational resources", while on other occasions they're spent on biscuits and nice coffee for informal afternoon teas with the new graduate nurses and morning teas to welcome post graduate specialist nursing students at course commencement.
Paul Hunt, Kareena Private Hospital, Sydney
While there aren't enough members at Kareena Private Hospital to form a branch, intensive care unit RN Paul Hunt acts as the staff representative for members of the Association. He came to the private sector after a turbulent time as a branch representative at Prince Henry Hospital in the mid-'90s when that hospital was being relocated to the Prince of Wales campus.
Paul says he finds working conditions and relationships with management at Kareena much easier than they were in his former workplace. "Any situations which have arisen have been few and far between and fairly easily resolved," he says.
"I don't think there's any difference in the standard of nursing, medical and surgical care between the private and public sectors," he says. "But conditions for staff are a lot more comfortable. I wish I'd joined the private sector years ago."
Paul adds that in terms of recruiting new members, the Association sells itself. "I talk about legal coverage and keeping up to date with pay scales and award conditions and I show them copies of The Lamp," he says. "They don't need me to point out that the publication alone makes it worth their while joining for access to drug bulletin updates and information about professional events organised by the Association."
While Paul has been a beneficiary of the membership incentive scheme, he wonders if the rewards shouldn't be directed at new members. "After all, we're already members," he says. "It's the people who don't belong we should be encouraging."
Coral Levett, St George Hospital, Sydney
As manager of staff education at St George Hospital and current president of a branch which has about 950 members, Coral Levett uses every opportunity she can to ask nurses a series of questions.
How is it that nurses, as the largest group of health professionals don't play a more prominent role in determining health policy? How can they change the situation? How can membership of the Nurses' Association facilitate that change? And how can members get the most out of their Association and other professional bodies to which they belong?
Coral has been involved in the industrial arena for almost two decades. As well as a regular introduction to the Nurses' Association during staff orientation, she teaches a course during CNS (clinical nurse specialist) training called Political Activism in Nursing which endeavours to raise nurses' awareness of their potential to effect change as well as dispel some of the myths surrounding women in politics.
She says the branch came of age in 1996 when the Association was deeply involved in avoiding a proposed merger between St George and St Vincent's Hospitals. "Since then we've developed a good relationship with management and with the Department of Health," she says.
"We certainly don't get ignored any more when issues do arise. I think we've achieved a fair bit in recent years, and I always point out our successes when I'm recruiting new members."
Coral cites a campaign to keep car parking prices down and the appointment of data entry clerks to reduce NUMs' workload resulting from the introduction of the Kronos computer system for connecting rosters with pays as recent "wins" for the branch. "There was a three-month trial and we understand it is about to become a permanent arrangement," she says. "It's something we'll be hanging on to for dear life."
"I've been here 15 years so the managers all know me well," Coral adds. "They know that if due processes aren't followed the Association will be called in. At the same time they know we don't go looking for business or trouble. Our goals are simply to get a good outcome for all concerned and to maintain confidentiality where it's appropriate."
James Rooney, David Berry Hospital, Berry
A concern for making young people aware of their rights encouraged trainee EN James Rooney to sign up a number of his coursemates at the Shellharbour TAFE. James, who lives in Kiama and has almost completed his 12 months training through Berry's David Berry Hospital, came to nursing via a chequered career which included stints as a landscape gardener, bar manager, wardsman and at the steel works at Port Kembla where he was a union delegate.
"I'm a mature age student and I've lots of experience in the workforce, so I'm quite able to stand up for myself," he says. "I was happy to become the Association rep for David Berry when I was asked, because I'm quite comfortable dealing with management and I'm aware that you never know when you might need the back-up that the Association provides.
"I've only intervened on a couple of occasions, involving misunderstandings or bureaucratic problems about pays. Those cases involved young kids who didn't have the confidence to ask their superiors. I tell them I can't help them unless they belong, and they usually join up."
This article was originally published in "The Lamp"
Since the 1970s economists and industrial relations academics, particularly in the United States, have focused on the impact of deindustrialisation on small towns and cities. Some are particularly interested in finding strategies that will assist unions in their efforts to stop corporations relocating plants to low wage/non-union sites not only in the United States but also offshore. One such strategy is labour-community coalitions.
Charles Craypo and Bruce Nissen, two American academics, have argued that unions have been most effective in dealing with corporations when they develop close alliances or coalitions with communities. They also found, however, that these coalitions were a rarity because community members are not only hostile towards the company that retrenches staff or relocates, but also in some instances blamed organised labour and high wages for the loss of employment.
There is also the problem that even where community members agree to oppose retrenchment or plant closure, they may disagree over the means of achieving their objectives. Even if these coalitions are unsuccessful in stopping plant closures and retrenchment, they allow unions a greater voice in situations where collective bargaining is not an alternative.
These `labour -community coalitions' are not a new phenomena. In the Lithgow Valley west of Sydney, there was co-operation between trade unions and the town's business and social elite during the early decades of this century. These coalitions were built upon the economic relationship between retailers and workers and also social interaction through community organisations such as sporting clubs. There was also a shortage of land in the Lithgow Valley available for housing, which meant that workers and the business elite lived in close proximity.
Labour leaders and the business elite generally supported the idea that Lithgow would become the `Birmingham of Australia'. Lithgow had the potential to become a major manufacturing centre with a significantly larger population. These leaders were also concerned with narrow economic base and the loss of industries such as copper refining and meat processing. The economic growth would benefit the town's businesses, increase revenue for the Lithgow Council and improve job security.
The business elite and labour leaders particularly focused on the iron and steel industry, which operated in Lithgow from the 1870s to 1931. In February 1904 Lithgow Council agreed to co-operate with the Eskbank Ironworkers' Association, which represented workers at the Lithgow Ironworks, and approached the Prime Minister to have a bonus on iron production. In 1909 H. Bladon of the Eskbank Ironworkers' Association and the local newspaper editor, representing a town committee, produced a four page pamphlet calling for the passage of a Bonus Bill by federal parliament. The federal government responded by introducing bounties for steel production in 1909.
When the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney foreclosed on the Lithgow Ironworks mortgage and retrenched most of its employees in December 1907, the Lithgow Council, the Eskbank Ironworkers' Association, the Western Miners' Union and Lithgow Progress Association participated in a public meeting and organised a deputation to the NSW Premier to obtain assistance. The Hoskins family subsequently purchased the Lithgow Ironworks.
This co-operation between town leaders and organised labour also extended to the Small Arms Factory (SAF), which was established by the Federal Government in 1912 to manufacture rifles. During the peak demand for rifles of the First World War, the number of employees engaged reached 1,378 in June 1917. With the end of the War the demand for rifles collapsed and employment declined.
During the 1920s the Lithgow Council, factory unions and leading citizens, such as the Bracey retailing family, all combined to fight retrenchment at the SAF by forming town committees, which sent deputations to the federal government in Melbourne and arranged meetings with relevant government ministers when they were in Lithgow. The local manager of the factory, who had managerial autonomy and close links with the town's business and social elite, supported the movement. He put forward the idea of `outside work' as a strategy to stop retrenchments. `Outside work' involved the Factory accepting non-military orders.
The manager's zeal for `outside work' led him in February 1930 to complain to the Minister for Defence about the failure of his immediate superiors in Melbourne to provide sufficient funds for this purpose. He was forced to resign for ignoring established Department of Defence Administrative procedures. While this movement did not prevent large scale retrenchments in the early 1920s, it did persuade several federal governments to adopt `outside work' with certain restrictions.
During the period of the Scullin Federal Labor Government such work helped to prevent further retrenchments and rationing as the Great Depression intensified.
References:-
C. Craypo and B. Nissen (eds.), Grand Designs. The Impact of Corporate Strategies on Workers, Unions and Communities, ILR Press, Ithaca, 1993.
G. Patmore, `Labour-Community Coalitions and State Enterprise: The Lithgow Small Arms Factory 1918-1932', The Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 39, no. 2, June 1997, pp. 218-243.
Associate Professor Greg Patmore teaches in the Department of Industrial Relations at the University of Sydney. He is a member of the Federal executive of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History and also of the Sydney Branch executive. He is currently the Editor of the Society's journal, Labour History.
by Deirdre Mahoney
Christodoulou will be part of a delegation composed of WA TLC and other ACTU delegates, offering support from Australian unionists via financial aid for health and education, as well as setting up trade union networks.
The visit was announced this week, following an address to Labor Council delegates by East Timor's only surgeon, Dr Sergio Lobo.
He told delegates that getting medical care to the East Timorese was difficult at the best of times, with only 67 medical centres scattered throughout the country, each normally staffed with a doctor, midwife and two nurses catering to 40,000 people.
But now, with most doctors gone from the country, most of the centres have shut down, only two are equipped for surgery and with the remaining nurses trained only to follow doctors' orders, not to diagnose and administer medicine themselves, the situation is desperate.
Dr Lobo was in Australia to attend the Strategic Planning Conference for a future independent East Timor. The conference, held in Melbourne recently, and supported by the department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which helped fund 33 passages from East Timor (150 East Timorese living in other countries like Australia, Mozambique, Portugal and New Zealand also attended the conference) was to plan ahead for education, health, and so on.
The main difficulty at the moment, Dr Lobo says, is getting medical supplies through. Although one load left Darwin recently for Timor, delays at the Timor end, coupled with inability to read English pharmaceutical covers, means the best way to support the East Timorese is for Australian unionists to contribute money to non-government organisations which will buy pharmaceuticals in Indonesia, and get them to Timor.
The drugs would be used to treat the most common diseases: malnutrition, malaria and tuberculosis (a TB eradication program began five years ago but has phased out because of a lack of supplies and lack of access to medical centres).
Dr Lobo launched an appeal by APHEDA - Union Aid Abroad, to raise funds - members wanting to donate should call APHEDA on 02-9264 9343. Australian unions will also be helping through an APHEDA program which will take two East Timorese nurses to the Thai/Burma border camps to study their community-based mobile medical camps. Later, we may also sponsor training for nurses.
Another visitor to Sydney after the Strategic Planning Conference was Maria Milou, who spoke to unions reps about the difficulties women face in East Timor. Maria spoke of her personal struggle, and of Fretilin's involvement in pushing issues of women's rights and literacy since 1974, when students left the final years of their schooling to go and organise people in the countryside. Interested members can also speak to Alison at APHEDA about contributing to a women's project in East Timor.
by Gary Moorhead
Dateline: Forum Theatre, Melbourne. 20 April 1999, Billy Bragg and the Blokes
Melbourne's Forum Theatre for the first of three sold-out Billy Bragg and the Blokes shows. Complimentary tickets and backstage passes for Lindsay Tanner, Federal Shadow Minister for Finance and Consumer Affairs (and occasional author) plus one staff member.
Bragg, the most political of popular music performers wanted to meet Tanner; Tanner, shameless rock fan, wanted to see the show.
The Forum Theatre is a relic of Melbourne's Greco-Roman period. Audiences are confronted with an interior decorated with Corinthian columns, Greek gods and dancing nymphs. The ceiling is the stars of the Southern Hemisphere.
All of this was added inspiration for Billy Bragg in his between-songs monologues.
Not that Bragg needs much physical stimulation for his monologues. Billy Bragg is more than a musician. He has the comic talent of a Ben Elton - the golden pause, plus the ability to absorb local culture into his routine.
So we had an array of jokes on Tasmanian themes (the location of his last performances) mateship versus 'blokeship', the republic, the preamble and doing a 'Grollo'.
At the same time he used his banter to drive home a range of political messages.
A Billy Bragg concert is really a political meeting punctuated by songs.
We had the attack on student unionism as just another manifestation of the Howard Government obsessive hatred of all things 'union' (and the amusing contradiction of Howard's fight to retain a flag containing the 'union jack'). We had the importance of de--escalating the violence in Kosovo, but never giving in to racism. We were reminded of the situation in Timor and why Australia must make a stand. And fascism.
Opposition to fascism is one of the links to Woody Guthrie. Anyone who would write "this machine kills fascists" on his guitar can't fail to be a hero to Bragg.
The musical collaboration across nearly 40 years (Bragg was asked by Guthrie's daughter to write music for Woody's unrecorded song lyrics) was the highlight of the evening.
Maintaining a consistent standard with new songs is often a major problem for mid-career artists. Bragg has been given an almost bottomless well of material to flesh out his own inspiration. He recorded 40 of Guthrie's songs and 15 are included on his latest album, Mermaid Avenue.
Interestingly, the Guthrie songs Bragg chose to perform were more reflective and personal. These and a fair selection of Bragg's own signature songs had the crowd still yelling after more than two hours and three encores. The band too, is an absolute cracker, with a live power and skill reminiscent of Ian Dury's backing band "The Blockheads".
Backstage after the show, Bragg's political enthusiasms were unabated. A conversation with Tanner and Phil Cleary, neither of whom are short for a word, was all Billy Bragg. Impressions of Australia, both bush and cities, changes over time, defining our identity, then on to post-Thatcherite Britain (I voted for the 'Tony-Party') and how to fight Howard.
As he was finally dragged off by his manager to "schmooze" the assembled record company and other music industry crowd, his parting words were: "get me all the preambles. I want all the preambles."
For Bragg, the politics never stops.
by David Chin
A major New South Wales Government Agency recently investigated several employees for allegedly using the internet to access pornographic material. These employees allegedly were caught downloading and emailing pornography within the organisation, some of it reportedly depicting acts of bestiality.
This investigation has coincided with a project undertaken by New South Wales public sector to develop a comprehensive set of guidelines to govern employees' access to the internet in all State departments and agencies. The project has led to the development of a protocol for use of the internet which attempts to prohibit "inappropriate" use of the internet, including accessing pornography, while permitting limited personal use.
Many private sector employers, such as banks, have also put in place strict policies regulating employee use of email for private purposes unrelated to their work.
Email, like the telephone, has become a common means of communication both between and within organisations. Like the telephone, employees reasonably expect to be able to use their employers' communication devices, on occasion, for personal purposes. But what purposes are lawful and legitimate when it comes to new technology in the workplace like the internet?
Unfortunately, trying to find the answer to this question in the law is like riding in the back seat of an old clapped-out bomb struggling to find an on-ramp to the information superhighway. Our current laws are intended for old technology, and tend to show their age when we attempt to apply them to human activity in "cyberspace".
Whether or not a person has acted unlawfully in downloading or emailing explicit or "offensive" material from the internet will depend on the application of a myriad of interlocking state and federal censorship and criminal laws.
Currently, under the Commonwealth, State and Territory censorship scheme, State and Territory legislation create offences for the possession of Refused Classification material for the purposes of publication, sale or hire. This material generally consists of "publications", "films", and "computer games" that have been categorised as "Refused Classification" by the Office of Film and Literature Classification.
The problem with these existing censorship offences is their apparent focus on regulating the distribution of physical objects or "things". For example, the definition of "film" focuses on the physical articles on which a recording is stored, such as films, slides and video tapes. If, say, a video file is downloaded onto a computer hard disk then this may come within the legal definition of film.
At the present time, only Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory have censorship legislation specifically prohibiting persons from using the internet to spread "objectionable material".
In recognition of this unsatisfactory situation the Commonwealth Government on 21 April 1999 introduced the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Bill 1999. If passed, this proposed legislation will regulate the internet industry through a complaints system whereby the Australian Broadcasting Authority can issue notices to internet service providers to take down offensive material in response to complaints from members of the public.
However, it will be left to the States and Territories to enact new laws creating offenses for the publication and transmission of objectionable material by end-users which would include employees in the workplace.
There are other offences that may arise separately under the relevant Crimes Act of a State and of the Commonwealth. Section 578C(2) of the New South Wales Crimes Act creates an offence for publishing an indecent article. But the word "article" is defined to include certain "things" which leaves some doubt as to whether this part of the Crimes Act applies to information distributed over the internet.
Of course, there is also the provision of the NSW Crimes Act which makes it an offence to publish child pornography punishable by imprisonment for five years (s 578C(2A)).
Also, section 85ZE of the federal Crimes Act could be relied upon to prosecute users who transmit "offensive" material or messages through the internet. This section prohibits a person from knowingly or recklessly using a telecommunications service in an offensive or harassing way, the penalty for which is imprisonment for one year.
Despite the uncertainties arising from outdated legislation, it is important to appreciate the risk of infringing the law whenever the internet is used for accessing pornography or offensive material. This risk increases when that material is downloaded onto a particular computer or when it is "delivered" via email. Transforming cyber-porn into a tangible "thing" and transmitting that material through cyberspace is conduct which is more likely to fall within our current net of censorship and criminal offences.
The consequences for employees using the internet in this way in the workplace are potentially serious. There are added considerations of sexual harassment and sexual discrimination in the workplace. It is difficult to see why sexual harassment by e-mail would be treated by courts and tribunals any differently to harassment by other means such as facsimile, telephone and sexually explicit calendars or other publications.
In practice, the policies and guidelines set down in each individual workplace and which have been agreed to by employers and employees will determine the extent of an employee's contractual right to access the internet for personal purposes. That is why employers have rushed to develop and implement guidelines for the use of email and the internet at work, breach of which will, it is intended, justify some disciplinary action against offending employees, including the ultimate sanction of dismissal.
This also highlights the importance of employees and their unions having a meaningful input into the development of these guidelines. Employees and unions need to guard against draconian guidelines that might, for example, seek to impose penalties for downloading unsolicited material from the internet where an employee has no clue as to the content of that material.
By the same token, employees must be conscious of their obligations under the law, even as the law makes its way ponderously onto that illusive superhighway on-ramp.
Or shall we just become slaves to technology?
The social impact of technological change is often misunderstood, and nearly always underestimated. My research is primarily in the field of the impact of new technology on consumers of financial services - banking, superannuation, insurance and electronic commerce. In this field, technology moves rapidly. Paper based systems are being replaced by the electronic exchange of information. Human interaction (for example between a bank teller and a customer) is replaced by mechanised interaction. What is the result for consumers?
For some consumers, there are obvious gains. Those people who can understand the new technology, and who have access to it, can now take advantage of electronic systems which meet their needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Services like banking and online share trading may also be less expensive for these people than if they used traditional methods.
However, for other consumers, understanding the new technology can be difficult. Older consumers rarely receive training or education about Internet banking or telephone banking. People from non English speaking backgrounds, people with disabilities and people with literacy difficulties may find interacting with machines more difficult than dealing with human beings. Consumers in remote and regional areas rarely have adequate access to electronic communication systems (although their access to human systems is also poor).
These groups will certainly find that they pay more for financial services. For example, over-the counter fees are the highest of any bank fees. It is one of the great paradoxes of banking that those who are least able to afford bank fees pay the bulk of them. Wealthy people have access to cheaper Internet banking. They also receive discounts and rebates simply for being wealthy - for having loans or term deposits with the bank, or the ability to keep a high minimum balance in their account and avoid monthly fees.
There is a great deal of mythology about new technology financial services. Claims that we are moving towards the cashless society are common - but the Reserve Bank notes that there is more cash in circulation now than at any other time, and demand for cash continues to grow.
There are also claims that new technology will cut overall costs, and that these savings will filter through to all consumers. This too, has proved elusive. The only area of financial services that has become cheaper is mortgage lending, and the reasons for that are closely tied to economic conditions and the entrance of new competitors. Older people, social security recipients and low income consumers all miss out on these gains.
In truth, new technologies are slow to deliver cost savings. The banks may believe in migration (consumers 'migrate' from old delivery channels, like branches, to new ones, like the Internet), but there is emerging evidence that institutions will be left with an abundance of parallel systems.
Consider bill payments: It was not that long ago that you could only pay your electricity bill by sending a cheque, or visiting a branch. These were expensive systems for the electricity provider, but at least they were the only systems. Today, you can still pay by these methods - they have not been removed. You can also pay by credit card over the telephone. By 'Bpay'. By cheque, cash, credit card or EFT at a post office. By direct debit. Via the Internet. Perhaps soon by smart card. All of these systems cost money.
Migration from expensive systems to cheaper ones is slow, and the overall costs of providing this multiplicity of payment options is expensive. When will the savings arise?
My favourite claim is that banks and financial institutions are delivering technologies that consumers actually want. I doubt very much that there is a high demand for Internet banking and smart cards. Even ATM and telephone banking is partly driven by fee structures. If the banks would like to deliver the technology consumers actually want, they would provide cheques that clear in one day, instead of seven days.
It is uncanny that in the age of the Internet and the fax machine, a cheque can still take seven days to clear.
By far the biggest social impact of new technology in financial services has been the downgrading of traditional services. The closure of branches, the reduction of human contact, the staggering increases in fees and charges for those who still rely on counter services, are all bringing society close to a vital point - the point where society splits into two uneven halves. There will be the information rich, with access to full service electronic banking. And then there will be the information poor, the unbanked.
But it is not too late to act. Technology is our slave, not our master. Let's look beyond the hype and mythology. We can fight for the services that we want - that meet the needs of all society, not just the wealthy.
Chris Connolly is the Director of the Financial Services Consumer Policy Centre and General Editor of the Internet Law Bulletin
by Peter Lewis
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance's professional sports branch has been actively recruiting this season and expect to reach 90 per cent coverage by the end of the year.
MEAA's Peter Moscatt, a former first grade League player (for trivia buffs, he played in the Roosters 1972 Premiership side), attributes the recruitment success to fears of the future and a strong delegate structure.
Following the unifiaction of the MEAA with Peter Allen's Player's Association, the union has been able to present a united front to the NRL, whereas previous years the representation was fragmented.
The union's recruitment has been centred around getting senior players to be union delegates and encourage younger players to join as well. Delegates include: Ivan Cleary (Easts), Sean Garlick (Souths), Darren Senter (Balmain), Billy Moore (Norths), Glen Lazarus (Melbourne) and Steve Carter (Penrith).
While most players have agents to negotiate salary contracts, there is increasing concern about player conditions in a climate which sees a falling number of clubs and players.
Currently, players must accept a standard form contract as part of the conditions of registering to play in the NRL. This gives the NRL the right to impose fines and leaves workers without protection if they are unable to play because of injury.
"There has been no agreement to this standard form contract," says Moscatt. "Most members have accepted this under duress; they can't play if they don't sign the contract."
"We're facing a system that has more in common with serfdom than with an employer-employee relationship -- there is no notion of human resources in the NRL."
Moscatt says the big money that flooded the market during the battle for control of the game in the mid-90s is drying up and the number of players on big six-figure salaries is plummetting.
Moreover, the cuts to the number of clubs and the abolition of the lower grade competitions has cut the number of players in the League from 800 to just over 300 players.
Moscatt says that, despite the big salaries, players in the 1970s had a better deal -- "The money was good, but we also had the chance to work as well as play; so we were developing a separate career. Now all the players' eggs are in the one basket."
As we enter the information age the rate of fundamental societal change is accelerating. People absorb and adopt information and ideas more readily than every before, new techniques and approaches spread much more quickly - including the Internet itself. That's why unions need to ensure that in this rapidly changing environment, they aren't left flat footed.
Another question a unionist might ask is - "Why is the Internet important for us?". To answer this question you must consider what a union actually is. A union is, fundamentally, a network. A network of people with shared interests and ideals. Unions operated successfully in the industrial age because they were one of the few good networks around, they were in demand because everyone, including the politicians and media wanted to tap into them. If you needed to get a message out, a trade union was one of the best ways of communicating with working people.
Today, unions compete with a number of different information pathways. In recent times, the database, to some extent, displaced the network. In the information age databases are bought and sold on the open market - information about people is a valuable commodity and purchased at a high price. That's why the Internet is so important, because it's the biggest network imaginable, and its not limited by geography.
Unions are networks, and because the Internet is the largest and most important network, we can't delay establishing ourselves in this new medium. Nor can we afford to lose control over our presence there. If networking is our core activity how can we afford to lose ownership of our most important asset?
The Labor Council has kept this in mind in formulating its approach towards the Internet. LaborNET is based on a partnership with Social Change Online, a group with the necessary technical expertise and experience in dealing with unions. The philosophy of LaborNET is to share resources and cluster information where you might expect it to be found, thus http://www.labor.net.au is a logical and sensible place that you would choose to establish a portal for the labor movement - LaborNET forms the seed for a broader labour movement network, online!
The difficulty with this approach has been, with some notable exceptions, few unions have been prepared to commit the resources necessary to establish a high end union site. But, as interest in the net gains momentum, unions are responding. LaborNET now has six unions including the PSA, ETU, FBEU, ASU (Services), LHMU and MEU thus making it the largest clustering of union sites in Australia.
Weather or not LaborNET gains becomes the major portal, the concept is right - unions need to ensure that their members see their union as a relevant and important place to go on the Internet - now.
To the union movement the Internet represents both an opportunity and a threat. As a tool it has enormous potential to get people communicating and building networks of shared interests. Conversely if we don't establish ourselves soon, then the window of opportunity will be lost to other communities of interest. Unions need to establish themselves in this new medium quickly - because the Internet represents an unimaginable opportunity for unions to build and grow.
Nothing like a homosexual High Court judge to get one salivating, eh Piers?
In a piece that I think was intended to be light-hearted, Piers this week exhibited a meanness of spirit that betrays an insecurity that could easily be mistaken homophobia.
Basing the column around Justice Kirby's decision to out himself by placing a "p" next to the date he started his partnership with his lover in the latest edition of Who's Who, Piers gives his prejudice free rein.
He plays around with this "p" like a schoolboy with a dirty joke. What does the "p" mean? he asks. What do ya reckon, Piers? Poofta? Pooh-puncher? Peadophile??
Contrasting the "p" with marriage's far superior "m", he turns the argument into an attack on homosexuals seeking legal recognition of their relationships.
"For no matter how much Oxford St friends of Dorothy may wish, "p" can never equal "m"," Piers concludes.
All of which trivialises a brave decision from one of Australia's leading jurists, who's taken principled stands on a whole range of social issues. Like drug law reform, international human rights, and rights for people living with HIV.
It's interesting to compare Justice Kirby's Who's Who entry with Piers'. The first point is that Kirby's is more than twice as long -- although I'm sure Piers would agree that size is not everything.
More striking is the substance of the entries.Justice Kirby's entry is full of honorary positions to national and international legal human rights organisations such as the WHO Global Commission on AIDS, the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee, academic institutions and senior positions with the International Commission of Jurists. The list goes on and on and on.
In contrast, Piers lists a long line of paid jobs, all with News Ltd publications or subsidiaries. Where's the list of philanthropic pursuits, you ask? Well he's a member of a couple of yacht clubs and, and, oh, his hobbies are sailing, literature, the arts and gardening. Afficinadoes might also be interested to note that Piers was an Industrial Roundsman on the Sydney mirror in 1970 and Newsday in 1969.
Two very different lives; but judging from their records its surprising (or is it?) to see which one is doing the belittling.
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