
Issue No 121		30 November 2001

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Letters to the Editor

Compo Flak

Dear Ed,

Well it looks like a large majority of workers can kiss their workers comp entitlements goodbye. I am appalled at the lack of leadership on this issue from the Labor Council and my own union.

While John Robertson has been assuring us that the unions would do something, of course they didn't. When workers join a union, I believe that the union should offer them something. In the case of workers comp, all the entire union movement seriously offered was a lobbying of cross bench MPS, which Mr Robertson has suggested again, today, on the eve of the legislation being put to the upper house.

Surely this is not the power of a union, and I think you'd find most members would agree that they're not paying a significant amount of their pay each week so that the Labor Council and affiliated unions can be so easily dismissive of their workers comp rights.

What we needed on this serious issue was serious action, and the Labor Council was totally incapable of this. The truth is, the Labor Council wasn't serious, and still isn't, about fighting this serious threat to our conditions and rights. Otherwise serious action would have been taken.

Workers were not mobilised on this issue because of the totally conservative, kiss-arse view of the union bureaucracy.

Our rights, which the Labor Council and affiliated unions have so easily given away, will take decades to get back, if ever. I think they should all think about their positions within the Labor Council, and exactly why they're "negotiating" when we should be striking and demonstrating! What's it going to take before the Labor Council uses the real power of the union.

And thanks for next weeek's meeting of Labor Council's Workers Compensation Committee to consider the government's latest package, Mr Robertson, but I think its a little too late, wouldn't you agree?

Sue Johnson

*********************

I cannot begin to adequately express my disappointment at the performance of the Labor Council leadership on the issue of recent Workers Compensation reforms.

The public were told that the Labor Council had secured significant softening of the legislation that went to Parliament on Tuesday 27 November 2001. Nothing could be further from the truth. The amendments that were made to the bill were nothing but meaningless tokens. If the Labor Council believes it secured some victories for injured workers over the last few days, it is woefully mistaken.

The facts are that no worker in this state now has any meaningful right to sue his or her employer for negligence. That applies to workers injured in the past, who for many reasons may not have been able to avail themselves of legal advice before the deadline for claims on 26 November, and to any worker injured in the future, excepting of course that extremely privileged class of worker, the coalminer.

Secondly, the goverment's supposed "backdown" on the availability of commutations is a red herring. A commutation will only be available if a worker meets a list of 7 criteria, all of which are to be determined by WorkCover, including a requirment that you are 15% permanently impaired! The realities are that injured workers will now be forever captives of the drip-feed Workers Compensation pension scheme, their every move directed and government by Workcover bureaucrats and insurance company claims officers. I do not doubt that in time, there will be individuals who go so far as to commit suicide when faced with the prospect of being irredeemably trapped in a life of poverty and powerlessness.

It seems to me that we have moved into the realm of Orwell's "1984", where Big Brother (or should I say, Sister) McKenzie is looking over the shoulder of every injured worker.

I can only hope that Premier Carr and his government are given the punishment they deserve by their deserted constituents come March 2003. The innocent victims of workplace injury have been cruelly shafted, and are clearly considered second-class citizens by this government.

Allison Robertson

Ed's Note: Both these letters came from active members of other organisations. As they refused to identify their organisation, neither will we. We will, however, publish their criticisms ...

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Issue 121 contents

Interview: Back to the Battle
Federal Labor's new industrial relations spokesman Robert McClelland outlines the challenges for the next three years.

Politics: The Baby and the Bath Water
ACTU secretary Greg Combet gives his take on the debate over the ALP's relations with the union movement.

Unions: We're Solid
Bradon Ellem charts the history of the Pilbara dispute, and finds a revitalised grass-roots unionism challenging BHP's individual contracts bulldozer

Organising: Benidgo Pioneer Comes Up Trumps
ACTU Delegate of the Year, Leonie Saunders, is living proof of the way unions are adapting to life under the strictures of a hostile Government.

Technology: India: Cricket, Computers and Corruption
Russell Lansbury cuts through the hype to look out the so-called hi-tech revolution on the sub-continent.

International: Soul Searching
The party of labour in Canada � the NDP - is right now undergoing a massive struggle for its heart and soul.

History: A Timeless Debate
The ALP and unions - it's a debate that's raged for years as this extract from a 1947 Lloyd Ross pamplet shows.

Review: In Fear of Security
Launching his new book, Anthony Burke argues that the cry of "security" is the last refuge of the political scoundrel

» Union Journo on Death List

» First 'Lab Rats' in Bank Hold-Up

» Monk's Mad Power Grab from States

» Big Print Merger Threatens Jobs

» Anger as Labor Staffers Shun Unions

» Unions Are Well Advanced In Change Unions Tell ALP

» Unions Step Up Organising Drive

» Education, Call Centre Unions Sweep Awards

» Bank AGMs Focus of Worker Anger

» Gender Balance in Transport Concessions

» Concern As Sydney Collapses

» Bakers Seek More Bread

» CFMEU Forces Re-Think On Asbestos

» Call Goes Out for Union Summer

» Twelve Weeks Parental Leave For Kiwis

» Organiser of the Year Nominations Open

» Activists Notebook

» The Soapbox

» Sport

» Labour Review

» Tool Shed

» What's Wrong With Labor

» Why I'm Quitting the ALP

» Compo Flak

» Union Democracy

» Multi-Skilling Corrigan Style

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