Issue No 120 | 23 November 2001 | |
NewsWorkers Force Council Backdown
The Sydney City Council has failed in its bid to exclude unions form a contentious workplace ballot that could open the way for competitive tendering of council services. The Municipal Employees Union has accused the Council of failing to recognise workers rights to be represented at the workplace. Council has pushed to hold a secret ballot on the new Enterprise Agreement and exclude the MEU from the process in an attempt to intimidate members into voting for an agreement which promotes Competitive Tendering and would lead to job loss. In conciliation proceedings before the Industrial Commission on 21 November 2001 Council conceded that a secret ballot for the proposed enterprise agreement should not proceed prior to the MEU meeting with the Lord Mayor to discuss Council's policy of Competitive Tendering. Meetings with MEU members on 13 and 14 November resoundingly opposed the introduction of the enterprise agreement which seeks to continue Council's Competitive Tendering regime, threatening core areas of employment at the City. Council has advised the MEU that it has no intention to hold further negotiations with the Union concerning the terms of the Union's proposed Award application. In effect the Council has ceased to recognise the MEU as the representative body acting on behalf of employees at the City Council. Council has refused to grant paid leave for Union delegates to meet with Union officials during working hours to discuss the Union's Award application. Tensions have been quite high at the City of late with senior management representatives subjecting an officer of the Union to physical and verbal abuse. The Competitive Tendering issue is now of even greater significance for workers across metropolitan local government given the announcement of the Sproats Recommendations for boundary changes in Leichhardt, South Sydney and other Sydney Councils. The MEU has called upon the City Council and the NSW State Government to place a moratorium on Competitive Tendering at each of the Councils effected by border changes for a period of three years. The Union demands that a social impact study be carried out to identify the effects of contracting out on wages, working conditions and job tenure for employees in local government. While competitive tendering has the capacity to effect the job security of all staff at the City, Council's policy will particularly disadvantage the blue collar workforce.
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Interview: Civilising Capital Peter 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 Cinderella It 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 China Gough 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 Square A new book lifts the lid on Melbourne's radical past - including the soapboxes that dotted the city in the 1890s. Economics: Back to the Pack The 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-Elected A 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
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