Issue No 104 | 27 July 2001 | |
NewsUnions Launch 56 Hour Watch
As audit of working time across NSW will be conducted in the wake of revelations that frontier work practices are being imported from West Australia to the East Coast. Labor Council resolved to investigate the blow-out in working hours after it was revealed this week that miners in the Tasmanian community of Queenstown were being force dot work 56 hours weeks. While long shift hours have been commonplace in some Western Australian frontier mines, where workers leave their families to work hard for high wages, the shift of these practices to more integrated communities is a cause for alarm. The Australian Workers Union's Ray Sparkes says where long hours are imposed on a workforce, there are detrimental consequences for the entire community. "Everything from workers' family lives to the operation of local sporting clubs, is effected by unsustainable shift hours," Sparkes says. "It appears the 38-hour week is again becoming a myth for most workers in many industries." Labor Council secretary John Robertson says all affiliates will be asked to participate in the mapping exercise, which will bring to light the worst 4excesses in shift-structures across the workforce. "This information is vital if we are to run an effective and targeted campaign on working hours," Robertson says. He says, Labor Council will also be keeping a close eye on the progress of the ACTU's Reasonable Hours Test case, currently before the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.
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Interview: A Super Agenda Labor's federal spokesman on superannuation Kelvin Thompson outlines the challenges a Beazley Government will face in managing the nation's savings. E-Change: 1.4 The Shifting Sands of Ideology Peter Lewis and Michael Gadiel conclude the first part of their study of new politics by looking for core Labor values in a post-Cold War environment. Corporate: Locking Horns The same names keep cropping up in the business pages as the web of corporate control stays tied to a few big players. Georgina Murray has been looking at the extent and depth of the connections. Unions: The Workers Bank With banks on the nose, David Whiteley looks at how unions and super funds have got together to create the real deal � the workers bank. International: Phil Davey's Amazon Postcard The CFMEU's Boy Wonder has downed the megaphone for three months in South America. Here's what he's been up to. History: Faded Vision of The American Bounder King O'Malley was an American ex-pat who dreamed of a people's bank. Neale Towart looks at what happened to his vision. Activists: The Big Gee-Up With the big guns of the anti-corporate movement in town, Mark Hebblewhite goes looking for a definition of globalisation. Indonesia: Where to the Workers After Gus Dur? At the end of a turbulent week, Jasper Goss looks at the impact of the overthrow of Wahid on Indonesian workers. Review: Mixing Pop and Politics 'The Bank' is a new Australian film that takes a contemporary political issue and transforms it into a piece of compelling popular culture. Satire: Milosevic's Defence: "I Was Just Issuing Orders" Disgraced former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic has brushed off against charges for war crimes against humanity and mass genocide.
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