   |
||
| Issue No 120 |  |
23 November 2001 |
|
|
|
NewsHamberger in Hot WaterBy Jim Marr
The partisan role of the Office of the Employment Advocate has been thrust back into the spotlight by a Federal Court ruling. The court ordered the Federal Government's employment agency to pay $10,000 to the Community and Public Sector Union after finding Employment National had forced four workers to sign AWAs under "duress". CPSU spokesperson, Jenness Gardner, revealed the union had objected to the AWAs at the time of their imposition but said the Employment Advocate had "again failed to act". The Office of the Employment Advocate was established to promote individual agreements (AWAs), ahead of collective agreements, and was charged, in theory at least, with ensuring they met requirements laid down by the Workplace Relations Act. In practise, the office has given the green light to document after document that has left workers significantly worse off. After the court ruled another AWA had "disadvantaged" a seaman, an office spokesman refused to accept liability. The CPSU has just won an award with Stellar Call Centres after two years of campaigning against OEA-endorsed, take-it-or-leave-it AWAs that cut rates for jobs by more than $10,000 a year. It has also called for action against Vodafone for alleged breaches of "freedom of association" statutes in advocate-endorsed AWAs. Gardner said the OEA was a "key component" in a set of laws "specifically designed to tilt the playing field against working Australians". That contention, she argued, was proved by the full Employment National judgement. "While finding Employment National guilty, Justice Moore said the Act didn't allow the offending AWAs to be set aside. "The $10,000 paid to the union won't go anywhere near the expenses we have incurred in proving this case."
|
   Interview: Civilising CapitalPeter Butler is a global investor with a difference. He believes that environment, shareholder democracy and workers rights make good business sense. Industrial: All In The Family In his opening submission to the landmark case, ACTU assistant secretary Richard Marles argues working hours are vital to life. Unions: Saving CinderellaIt is a modern day fairy tale - a Cinderella from the suburbs, worked like a slave from morning to night injured and then abandoned. International: Recognising ChinaGough Whitlam draws the links, past and present, between recognition of China and the continuing struggle to achieve a genuinely inclusive Australian democracy. History: The Speakers SquareA new book lifts the lid on Melbourne's radical past - including the soapboxes that dotted the city in the 1890s. Economics: Back to the PackThe big story in this year�s State of the States League Table is the end of the long reign of New South Wales at the top of the heap. Satire: Man Reneges On Promise To Leave The Country If Howard Re-ElectedA Sydney man has decided he won�t leave Australia despite the re-election of the Howard Government. Review: When Hippes Meet Unionists A new book investigates how links between politics and culture reached a high point in the 1970s
Notice Board View entire latest issue
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
![[ Home ]](/images/nv_home.gif){kind=small} ![[ Notice Board ]](/images/nv_board.gif){kind=small} ![[ Search ]](/images/nv_search.gif){kind=small} ![[ Previous Issues ]](/images/nv_previous.gif){kind=small} ![[ Latest Issue ]](/images/nv_latest.gif){kind=small} |
|
|
|
|
© 1999-2000 Labor Council of NSW LaborNET is a resource for the labour movement provided by the Labor Council of NSW URL: http://workers.labor.net.au/120/news43_advocate.htmlLast Modified: 15 Nov 2005 [ Privacy Statement | Disclaimer | Credits ] LaborNET is proudly created, designed and programmed by Social Change Online for the Labor Council of NSW |
|
![[Workers Online]](/images/logo_small.gif){kind=logo}
![[Social Change Online]](/images/sco_logo.gif){kind=logo}