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Issue No. 139 | 07 June 2002 |
With Prejudice
Interview: Class Action Safety: A Mother's Tale Unions: The Hottest Seat in Town International: Defensive Enterprise Economics: A Super Deal? History: A Radical Life Media: Cross Purposes Review: When the Force Is Unconscious Poetry: Wouldn't It Be Loverly
Grieving Mum Turns Cole Around Hamberger Grilled Over AWA Scam Government Shrugs Off Death Sentence Charge Action To Pay Foreign Crew Aussie Wages Birds Get More Protection Than Workers Budget Delivers - But Not For DOCS Statewide Ban On Grain Loading Howard Soft On Organised Crime? UN Honours Building Union Drugs Program Award-Winning Poet Wins Right To Write Mahathir Told to Release Labour Activisits Horta Backs Western Sahara Independence
The Soapbox The Locker Room Bosswatch Week in Review
Robbo's Rave Latham Ad Nauseum Our Home Is Girt By Wire Hands Off Hooligans!
Labor Council of NSW |
News Hamberger Grilled Over AWA Scam
The office, established by the Howard Government to promote and process Australian Workplace Agreements, was the catalyst for the establishment of the Cole Commission into the Building and Contruction Industry currently sitting in Sydney. Sources inside the office say special partners, including the Commonwealth Bank, are having AWAs green-lighted in bulk in clear contravention of the required No Disadvantage Test. Even under the Test, supposed to ensure workers are no worse off under an individual agreement than a collective agreement, the Advocate has signed off on AWAs that provide for workers to receive as much as $10,000 a year less than those previously performing the work under union-negotiated terms. This week another shortcut, the Specified Partner Program, was revealed in the Senate. Under this scheme the Advocate, Jonathan Hamberger, accepts employer undertakings that their AWAs pass the no-disadvantage test. This flies in the face of Coalition workplace law saying Hamberger can only delegate the functions to staff engaged under the Public Service Act. Yesterday it was further revealed that former OEA West Australia manager, Bruce Kingston, now operating as a private consultant, had gained access to the fast-track program for Perth-based client, Heelan & Co. As the Cole Commission levels charges of Pattern Bargaining against the CFMEU, evidence that the OEA has been foisting pattern AWAs on workers, virutally since its inception, is being uncovered. AWAs, theoretically, set out terms agreed by individual workers and their employers. Yet the OEA has promoted and registered identical, or very similar, AWAs across workplaces and industries. The office even refers employers visiting its website to model AWAs which they can pick up for use. Under questioning in Senate Estimates this week Hamberger admitted AWAs were being approved without the no disadvantage test being applied by his office. Mr Hamberger told the committee that, under the Crimes Act, an employer's undertaking was legally binding. He then conceded that "some judgement was involved" in determining whether the neccessary conditions had been satisfied. The OEA source revealed that one "judgement" made by the OEA in the past was to allow employers to load wages onto the back end of two or three year AWAs in industries where staff turnover was that high there would be little expectation of a worker lasting the duration. For example, an AWA measured against an award entitlement of $16 per hour might make provision for a worker to receive $13 in the first year, $14 in the second and $20 in the third. The source also alleges that free drinks and video rental rentals have been offset against wages for the purpose of meeting the no disadvantage test.
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