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Issue No. 136 | 17 May 2002 |
Modern Labour
Interview: Licking the Wounds Industrial: The Accidental Tourist Unions: Stars And Stripes International: The Un-Promised Land History: Mate Against Mate Politics: Reith's Gong Poetry: You've Got a Friend Review: War on Terror: Now Showing Satire: Burmese Regime Makes Genuine Commitment To Pretence Of Change
Solidarity In The Post To East Timor Workers Call Abbott On Democracy Bluff Wran Tells MPs: Talk to Unions Family First on Conference Agenda Cole Commission Declares Paper War Budget Attacks Retirement Incomes PSA Challenges Carr�s Secrecy Shield Welfare Staff Strike Out At Harrassment Fake Notes Expose Government as Tax Cheat Labor Faces Acid Test on Asylum Seekers New Project Encourages Cultural Exchanges Bush�s Western Saharan War And Oil Deal
The Soapbox The Locker Room Bosswatch Postcard Week in Review
More May Day Hate Mail What Women Want Chucking a Wobbly Is Caustic Costello the Despot of Despair? East Timor: Independent Or Mendicant?
Labor Council of NSW |
News Cole Commission Declares Paper War
State secretary Andrew Ferguson labels 11 pages of discovery orders, requiring the production of everything from former employees� diary notes dating back six years to fighting fund accounts, a �ridiculous fishing expedition�. The union has four weeks to provide the commission with a mountain of paperwork and comprehensive electronic records. "Basically, we have to stop our normal functioning to comply with these demands," Ferguson explained. "They are oppressive in that they require us to spend enormous amounts of workers money and allocate resources we don't have to meet the commissioner's whim. "Some of it amounts to a gross invasion of the privacy of our young staff and they regard it as harassment." He objects to providing the personal diaries and personnel records of non-industrial staff but will do so. "We will comply fully but under duress," Ferguson says, "we know this is a witch-hunt but it would only play into their hands to do anything else." Ferguson estimates it would take a minimum of three experienced people working fulltime for four weeks to bring the required information together. Enquiries about the possibility of financial assistance have drawn a blank. Ferguson's witch-hunt analysis is borne out by commission insistence on running anti-union claims publicly while side-tracking wider issues, including safety, phoenixing, immigration rorts, workers comp and tax evasion into "research" committees. All-up the commission is demanding records under more than 160 different headings. Two of the first set the tone for what follows: - "All work diaries of employees (current and ex-employees) including electronic daires (sic) and daily appointment tasks, of the CFMEU (New South Wales Branch) that have entries dated as from 1 January 1996", and - "All work diaries of members of the Committee of Management (current and ex-members), including electronic diaries and daily appointment tasks, of the CFMEU (NSW) that have entries dated as from 1 January 1996." The Cole Commission is demanding EBA kits, every piece of correspondence to or from 39 different construction companies; the names, addresses, birth dates and membership numbers of every union member, financial or unfinancial, and much more. The commission has also flagged its intention to undertake microscopic investigation of every financial transaction the union has undertaken, including its fundraising and practical support for East Timorese reconstruction and the Children's Healthcare Trust. More Legal Threats Meanwhile, a demolition contractor is threatening legal action against the CFMEU as the Gazebo Hotel shutdown enters its second week. Thirteen backpackers, all newly signed-up union members, are maintaining their picket after learning they had been underpaid and denied the most basic safety provisions. WorkCover has issued a string of Breach and Improvement Notices, along with four health and safety fines, against employer Australian Development Corporation, since demolition work stopped last week. The backpackers were distributing leaflets in the Kings Cross shopping centre today, drawing attention to the type or rorts the Royal Commission has indicated it won't be treating as priorities.
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