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Issue No. 148 | 16 August 2002 |
Peak Performance
Interview: Labor Law Unions: Critical Conditions Bad Boss: Shifting The Load History: Peeking Out Safety: Flying High Corporate: Salaries High, Performance Low International: War on the US Wharves Review: And the Signs Said... Poetry: Tony Don't Preach Satire: Latham Dumps Rodney Rude as Speech Writer
Qantas Dressed Down Over Uniform Backflip Virgin Threatens Delegate Over Net Use Email Protection Hits Firewall Victorian System Needs Reform: AIRC Qld Public Sector Battle Heats Up Community Workers Eye Canberra Show Down Lift Techs Face Redundancy Lock Out Council Workers Win Picnic Day Fight School Support Staff Demand Recongition Black Chicks Talk At Refuge Fundraiser Colombian Left MP Applying For Asylum
Politics The Soapbox The Locker Room Bosswatch Human Rights
Another Capitalist Party? Justice For All? Kill the Photos! Right Wing Lackies
Labor Council of NSW |
Letters to the Editor Miranda's Not Fair on Outworkers
Who's Lying about the Clothing Industry? The Big Lie is that all outworkers in the clothing industry receive $13 per hour. Is there more truth from the mouth of one Vietnamese boss who is benefiting from the exploitation of outworkers, as Miranda Devine claims in her opinion piece today, than in years of formal research and public inquiries? The Fair Wear campaign was launched after the Federal Senate Inquiry into Outwork in the clothing industry and an extensive two month multi-lingual outworker phone-in revealed extensive exploitation of outworkers in the clothing industry. In the subsequent NSW Pay Equity Inquiry the commissioner went into outworkers' homes and heard directly about rates of pay between $2 and $5 per hour. This is supported in subsequent research by Mayhew and Quinlan into outworkers' occupational health and safety; and the Federal Clothing Award simplification case. Just to name a few. Fair Wear does not deny that some outworkers receive rates of pay closer to their award entitlements, but this is the exception to the rule. Fair Wear is an active and committed member of the NSW Ethical Clothing Trades Council, where we are working with industry players to develop a workable system for addressing the exploitation. Positive developments are occurring in this process and Fair Wear is pleased to be part of it. The Institute of Public Affairs report appears to be a desperate attempt to stop regulation which the clothing industry itself acknowledges is necessary. It is the IPA report that is being produced over and over again to justify a lie which in reality cannot stand up to the huge body of evidence that contradicts it. Debbie Carstens Chairperson, NSW Fair Wear ****************
Miranda Devine should have examined the evidence better before she wrote her article attacking Fairwear. Ms Devine does not consider the evidence that is available to support the TCFU and Fairwear claims. In 1999, when the Australian Industrial Relations Commission heard a case about whether certain clauses should be kept in the award, the evidence of the TCFU was conceded and there was no cross examination. Part of that evidence was about wages and conditions. Part was about the violence and intimidation that outworkers experience in the industry. None of the evidence was contested, even when one shocked Commissioner questioned whether the reported intimidation really goes on in Australia. All parties, including the government and the suppliers conceded the evidence as true. Evidence about outworkers has also been tested and accepted by a senate committee inquiry. The Uniting Church in Australia is one of the organizations that funds Fairwear. This is public knowledge through our website and reports. We see Fairwear as an important campaign about a fundamental issue of justice. It advocates a system to ensure the payment of award wages, the fulfilment of a legal requirement. Instead of silly, slanderous and dishonest claims that we are motivated by "hatred of capitalism", the IPA and Miranda Devine should contemplate the many business writers who recognise that business flourishes best where the rule of law is respected. They might remember that a system that guarantees that everyone pays award wages actually creates a level playing field and eliminates unfair competition within the Australian industry. My impression from several of Miranda Devine's articles is that she takes the Catholic faith seriously. Perhaps she might spend some time reading the Catholic Social Teaching, which insists that workers must be paid adequate wages and need protection by the state against unscrupulous employers. When she has done this, and read the legal cases and Hansard testimony about outworkers, she might salvage her professional reputation as a journalist by writing an adequately informed article about the garment industry, outworkers, and Fairwear.
(Rev. Dr.) Ann Wansbrough
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