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Issue No. 143 05 July 2002  
E D I T O R I A L

Bad Bosses
It could only come from Tony Abbott: an impassioned defence of bad bosses that manages to dismisses the experience of every worker who has ever been done over at work.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Media Magnet
Labor's communications spokesman Lindsay Tanner on Telstra, pay TV, Murdoch and Packer and other media dilemmas.

Bad Boss: Abbott's Heroes
The first nominee in our Bad Boss quest is a man who runs his call centre as though it were a primary school classroom.

Technology: All in the Family
LaborNET's tentacles continue to spread with this week's launch of the New Zealand Council of Trade Union's site.

International: New Labour's Cracks
The British labour movement has plunged itself into another round of tit-for-tat insults flying between the Blair Government and the trade unions, reports Andrew Casey.

Economics: Virtuality Check
Is the Internet Bill Gates' guide to wealth and power or the key to liberation from alienation and corporate power? A new book weighs the arguments.

History: Necessary Utopias
Neale Towart looks at the impact of the Robens Report to argue that worker control of industry is where OHS should be heading.

Poetry: Let Me Bring Love
The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, the Honourable Tony Abbott, has made an offer that the Australian worker will find hard to resist: 'where there is hatred, let me bring love'.

Review: How Not To Get It Together
Together is a belated reminder that it takes more than high ideals and the right intentions to turn a commune into a community.

Satire: NZ, UK Added to Australia�s Migration Zone
In an effort to increase support for its plan to remove 30,000 islands from the Australian migration exclusion zone, the federal government has added New Zealand and England to the list of excluded islands.

N E W S

 Revealed: The Evidence Cole Won�t Touch

 Search for Bad Bosses Begins

 WorkCover to Set Up Crimes Unit

 Electricians Oppose Family-Busting Conditions

 Blue-Collar Blokes Back Mat Leave

 Murdoch Telegraphs Contracts Push

 Abbot Changes Rules for �Employer Advocate�

 Gucci's Label Tarnished

 Funding Cuts Drives Academics Mad

 Star City Casino Strike On The Cards

 Chifley Planners Lose Benefits

 Qantas Staff Sick of Shivering

 Regional Councils Call Jobs Summit

 Kiwi Ex-Pats Targeted for Poll Push

 Shangri-La Workers Still Fighting

 Korean Unionist Freed

 Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
The Bush Telegraph
Telstra�s poor performance in the bush is not just about reception, argues the CEPU's Ian McCarthy

The Locker Room
The Tennis Racket
You would think that child labour would have gone the way of bus conductors and public telephones that work, but this is not necessarily the case, writes Phil Doyle.

Bosswatch
Capitalism in Crisis
The collapse of a US telco has sent shockwaves around the globe and undermined trust in a system that rewards hype and dishonesty.

Week in Review
Between the Sheets
This column is heartily sick of being called solid, reliable and old-fashioned so Jim Marr gets with the program and discovers this is, in fact, an up-and-down, in-and-out sort of world�

L E T T E R S
 Lessons from Air Disaster
 Buggering the Bush
 The Great Giveaway
 Down and Out
 Why I hate Telstra
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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Bad Boss

Abbott's Heroes

By Jim Marr

The first nominee in our Bad Boss quest is a man who runs his call centre as though it were a primary school classroom.
 

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

Stephen Crockford rules his non-descript, suburban office, next to the Parramatta Railway Station, with an iron fist, but not for much longer if ASU Services Union members have their way.

Crockford is the main man at Morrisey Malcolm Direct Marketing. He's the boss, the manager, or as some insist, the Ayatollah, of this small slice of Call Centre land.

Crockford first came to ASU notice more than two years ago when a single mother complained that he would call workers in during their four-hour shifts, tell them their efforts weren't up to scratch, and send them packing without pay.

Buoyed by advice that he had to pay for the contracted shift, on May 10, 2000, this woman stood up for herself, demanding payment for her shift. Without hesitation, Crockford laid his anti-worker credentials on the line, ringing the coppers and having her removed from the property.

There was some toing and froing with the ASU over that debacle before Crockford munched a dose of humble pie and coughed up thousands of dollars to ease the disgruntled worker's route back to the job market.

Suddenly, he's back on the ASU radar, bolder than ever, and backed to the hilt, this time, by the charming people from Employers First.

About half his 30-strong workforce have joined the union but they are having a devil of a job getting progress on wages, security of employment and a myriad of other issues. They have, however, drawn first blood on the issue of health and safety.

Employers First brushed demands for ergonomic seating, headsets and safety equipment at the centre which solicits funds for Wheelchair Sports Australia, by promising, on June 5, to have an "independent" health and safety audit done within a week.

When there had been no movement after three weeks, the ASU called in Workcover which gave Morrissey Malcolm a month to fix these issues or face fines.

Wages, entitlements and job security, however, remain in dispute.

Most workers do four shifts a week but neither the company, nor Employers First, are prepared to concede permanent status. Nor will they move on all-in payments of $10 an hour.

At Argyle St domain, Crockford sits out front, watching and occassionally barking at workers lined up at rows of old-fashioned school desks. Past complaints have resulted in a written request that he "immediately cease inimidating, yelling (at) and threatening your employees".

His efforts at Morrissey Malcolm have seen Crockford nominated for the inaugural Tony Award, named in memory of Tony Abbott's immortal claim that a bad boss was better than no boss at all.

Sources within the ASU say they expect strong competition from employers of CFMEU members, especially those who have been judged responsible for some of the industry's workplace deaths.

But the ASU is confident its candidate can match most competition. They point to the letter Rockford has Morrissey Malcolm employees sign before they start hauling in their $10 an hour.

"As a casual employee, I hereby acknowledge," it reads, "that the $10 an hour paid to me is a payment in lieu of any entitlement to sick leave, annual leave loading, payment for public holidays and long service leave"

Even the bonus scheme he operates, reinforces perceptions that Rockford might not be overly-generous in the remuneration department. Employees who exceed quota, stand to rake in $2 bonuses which, at Parramatta prices, would just about cover a takeaway coffee. After all, we're not talking $2 an hour, here.

Imagine it, an unknown from the burbs, carrying off the inaugural Tony. We could be treated to a classic acceptance speech ... I could never have done this by myself. I would like to thank Tony Abbott for his support, encouragement and recognition, Employers First who always believed in my methods and, of course, the WA-based directors of Morrissey Malcolm who couldn't be here tonight ...

Jeez, you know what? This bloke just might be in with a shout.


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