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| Issue No 116 |  |
19 October 2001 |
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NewsLibs Back Unions as Compo Police
Liberal MPs have advocated giving the CFMEU the right to police workers compensation evasion because the WorkCover Authority is not doing the job. Opposition IR spokesman Michael Gallacher made the suggestion during the Legislative Council's General Purpose Standing Committee No. 1. He was questioning NSW Industrial Relations Minister John Della Bosca over the CFMEU's claims that they were finding more premium rorts than WorkCover. Hansard recorded the exchange thus: Gallacher: Why is the CFMEU having so much success when your 301 inspectors are not? Della Bosca: Let me explain. As I said, the CFMEU� Gallacher: Hire the CFMEU and bring them on board. Della Bosca: I do not think that the Leader of the Opposition would like me to present that as an option. Gallacher: Let us have a look at it. Della Bosca replied that the Government is working with the union movement nto address compliance issues, with a green paper out for discussion. Commenting on the Green Paper, NSW Labor Council secretary John Robertson has called on the Carr Government to introduce reforms to the Workers Compensation Scheme to stop unscrupulous bosses ripping off the system.
"The WorkCover Scheme is millions of dollars in the red - yet there are companies out there who are rorting the system and by not paying their fair share and leaving the bill for injured workers to pay out of their benefits " Robertson says
CFMEU state secretary Andrew Ferguson says the problem is rife in the building industry and it is estimated that the costs run in to hundreds of millions of dollars. "The current system of collecting premiums is fundamentally flawed and the neither the insurers nor WorkCover are able to do anything about this by the time they catch up with these employers they have shut up shop leaving other employers and injured workers to pick up the tab" Ferguson says "The ludicrous thing about it is that that employer can start up as a new company virtually the next day and WorkCover is not able to get the unpaid premium from them even though they are the people", Andrew went on to say The unions have been pressuring the Government for over two years to do something about this issue and welcome the release of the Government's Green Paper on insurance non -compliance. The Labor Council has now provided their response to the Green Paper.
The major recommendations are � Place absolute obligations on principal employers to ensure that their subcontractors pay the correct premium � Provide WorkCover and unions with greater powers to chase up and prosecute these recalcitrant employers � Place information about the employer's compensation policy details on the employee's pay slips. � Introduce monthly and quarterly and premium collection and adjustments � Expand the definition of deemed workers to ensure all workers are covered. � Introduce an up- front levy on employers � Substantially increase the penalties The full Labor Council response to the Green Paper is available on our website http://www.ohs.net.au
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   Interview: The Green MachineNick Bolkus outlines Labor's environmental stance and lays down the gauntlet to Bob Brown's Greens. Industrial: Regaining Control France�s 35 hour week stems from the program of the Left coalition government which went to the polls in June 1997 with the policy of �worksharing�. Unions: Home Of The Longest DayAustralia has a dubious new prize to put in its cluttered national trophy cabinet. We are increasingly the most over-worked nation in the world. Campaign Diary: Week Two: FightbackLabor's doing everything to win a normal campaign - but this is no normal campaign. Economics: Who Will Notice When You Die?Johann Christoph Arnold asks whether the anti-globalisation movement is the answer to an epidemic of loneliness. History: American TerrorIncredible revelations about the work of the US National Security Agency through the Cold War years help put the current War of Terror into perspective. International: Global Day of Action In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the US last week, the ICFTU has announced that preparations for the Global Unions Day of Action on November 9 will go ahead. Satire: World Gripped by Fear as Howard Third Term LoomsThe global community has uniformly condemned the recent terrorist attacks, which horrifically helped revive the re-election prospects of John Howard. Review: FlashbacksCultural theortician Neale Towart consults his record collection in a bid to understand the chaos gripping the earth.
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