
Issue No 113		28 September 2001

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News

Union Power Gets Tilers Paid In Full

By Phil Davey

Fifteen Korean tilers in Australia on work visa's have been rescued by the CFMEU from shameful exploitation.

The men were working for Saba Tiling on the massive Forum Project of Bovis Lend Lease at St Leonards.

Their employer exploited the men's ignorance of Australian law and forced them to work 90 minutes unpaid overtime every day and all day Saturday for free, threatening them with deportation if they complained to the Union.

In addition the workers were not issued with safety clothing or boots.

This appalling situation continued for weeks until the Union was tipped off. The men voted to strike and within two days they had won the dispute and their back pay -in excess of $25,000.

As usual the Federal Government showed its contempt for working people by refusing to act on this obvious breach of Australian law. For two years the CFMEU has exposed organised rackets in the building industry which involve shocking exploitation of both legal and illegal immigrants. For their trouble CFMEU officials and members have been bashed, received death threats and had their families threatened.

Still this Government sits on its hands, happy for its corporate mates to continue to make their profits from this modern day slave trade.

Working Australians and small firms are priced out of the marketplace because they cannot compete with the "exploitation award". The only ones who profit are the big builders who accept absurdly low tenders from sub contractors and then feign ignorance when these subbies are busted by the Union on their sites for exploiting their workforce.

To date there has not been a single prosecution of a company for deliberately flouting Australian immigration law.

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  Issue 113 contents

Interview: The Custodian
Labor's arts spokesman Bob McMullan on the role government can play in nurturing national culture.

Media: Chucking a Wobbly
Veronica Apap meets Dan Buhagiar, the programmer of Labor Council's new online initiative, Wobbly Radio.

E-Change: 3.3 Unleashing a Networked Culture
Politics does not occur in a vacuum - it's is as much a product of its culture as it is an influence on it. In the post-Industrial Age how will this relationship change?

Unions: Are You a Terrorist?
Away from the talkback noise, Mark Hearn reports on how a Sydney workforce is taking up the cause of racial understanding and tolerance.

Organising: STAA Performers
Film industry workers are acting collectively to ensure they don't become Mexicans with Mobiles.

Workplace: Making Art Work
The Workers Cultural Action Committee is a community cultural development provider. What is this? And what does it mean for the union movement?

History: Creative Alliances
Neale Towart wanders through the archives to look at how unions' have worked with artists to promote progressive casuses.

Performance: Tales from the Shop Floor
Peter Murphy profiles Sydney's New Theatre and the role it has played in fostering working culture.

Review: Homegroan
In an extract from her new book, The Money Shot, Jane Mills argues that the local film industry needs more than patriotism to get bums on seats.

Satire: PM Pleads To Nauru: Take Our Aborigines Too
In the wake of Nauru�s acceptance of the Tampa refugees, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has struck a new deal with the small island nation to take our Aborigines as well.

» Abbott Stacks Commission on Election Eve

» Trades Hall to Be Fit for the Arts

» Olympic Builders Honoured in Oil

» Terror Shockwaves Hit Security Workers

» The Ansett Phoenix Rises

» 'The General' Makes Ansett Stand

» One Dollar Workforce Highlights Workcover Concerns

» Email Workers Saved

» Union Power Gets Tilers Paid In Full

» NSW Nurses (Pro)Claim Their Worth

» AOL Sheds Non-Union Staff

» Building Inquiry Faces First Test of Integrity

» Telstra Guilty Over Union Discrimination

» Paint Workers Finish the Job

» New Project Agreement A Template

» The Workers United, Need a New Slogan!

» Activists Notebook