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  Issue No 120 Official Organ of LaborNet 23 November 2001  

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News

Shocking Conditions in Clothing Industry


Clothing industry outworkers earn an average of only $3.60 an hour despite working more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week, a new study shows.

The three-year research project and survey of 119 outworkers - mostly women of Vietnamese or Cambodian backgrounds - was conducted by Dr Christina Cregan of Melbourne University's Department of Management.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow said the study demonstrated the need for award standards to stop exploitation of Australia's 330,000 outworkers. "The Howard Government is allowing widespread exploitation of outworkers by refusing to classify them as employees.

Outworkers cannot enforce decent minimum pay and conditions without an award covering them as employees.

"Many outworkers are working virtually unlimited hours for very low wages, and nearly half of them have experience of unpaid wages that cannot be recovered," Ms Burrow said. "The Federal Government should follow the lead of New South Wales, where legislation is being introduced to classify outworkers as employees and give them the capacity to recover unpaid monies through the chain of contractors." Key findings of the study, Home Sweat Home, include:

� outworkers earned an average $3.60/hour, and as little as 50 cents/hour

� outworkers averaged more than 12 hours a day, with 74% working between 12 and 19 hours a day

� 93% worked on school holidays, 91% on Saturdays, and 87% on Sundays

� 46% experienced unpaid wages, 75% had wages not paid on time

� 62% worked 7 days per week, 26% worked 6 days per week

� 68% relied on family members to help, 31% relied on children.

The study, conducted in cooperation with the Textile, Clothing and Footwear


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*   Issue 120 contents

In this issue
Features
*  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.
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*  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.
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*  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.
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*  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.
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*  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.
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*  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.
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*  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.
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*  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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News
»  Calls for ALP Fundraising Code
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»  Mad Monk Keeps IR
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»  Ignored Warnings Bring Tragic Results
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»  ACTU Executive To Mark Union Bounce Back
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»  Workers Will Lose from Unfair Contract Changes
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»  Tassie On Top, While NSW And WA Slip
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»  Costa Gets First Union Call
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»  Hamberger in Hot Water
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»  Egan to Pay for Welfare Win
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»  Sweet Victory for Sugar Workers
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»  Selectron Demise Spells Death of Tech Inustry
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»  Telco Industry Growth Hits The Wall
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»  Shocking Conditions in Clothing Industry
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»  Workers Force Council Backdown
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»  New Dili Project Launched
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»  Airport Guards Welcome Work Study Case
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»  No News is Bad News for the Bush
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»  Getonboard Closes Doors
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»  Activists Notebook
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»  Organiser of the Year Nominations Open
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Columns
»  The Soapbox
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»  The Soapbox
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»  Trades Hall
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»  Tool Shed
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Letters to the editor
»  The Cost a Costa
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»  Unionism and the ALP - a Workers View.
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»  Is 60-40 Good Odds?
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»  Ancient OHS - The Wergild Sysstem
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