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Issue No. 148 16 August 2002  
E D I T O R I A L

Peak Performance
Leaders of the NSW trade union movement gathered this week to consider the role of their peak council in an increasingly deregulated labour market.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Labor Law
NSW Attorney General Bob Debus expands on how he's bought a Labor agenda to the justice system

Unions: Critical Conditions
Jim Marr looks at one man's story to expose the workers compensdation rorts that are rife in the building industry

Bad Boss: Shifting The Load
Barminco, the biggest mine operator in Tasmania, has put its name forward for a Tony after being labeled the �boss from hell�.

History: Peeking Out
As unions push for workplace privacy, Neale Towart argues that its not just employers who might be peeking.

Safety: Flying High
Blaming the individual worker has always been at the heart of calls for random drug and alcohol testing, Neal Towart reports.

Corporate: Salaries High, Performance Low
As part of Labor Council's inquiry into executive pay, Bosswatch's Chris Owen has compiled this overview.

International: War on the US Wharves
Thousands of US dockworkers held rallies this week up and down America�s West Coast as well as in Hawaii, as the Bush Administration threatened to break one of America�s most powerful unions by using troopers as strike breakers.

Review: And the Signs Said...
Philip Farruggio argues the new horror flick 'The Signs' has a subtext that should resonate with working families.

Poetry: Tony Don't Preach
Melbourne car park attendant and LHMU delegate Tony Duras rewrote the Madonna and Kelly Osbourne hit Papa Don�t Preach.

Satire: Latham Dumps Rodney Rude as Speech Writer
ALP front-bencher, Mark Latham has fired speech writer Rodney Rude after calling the Prime Minister an 'arse-licker'.

N E W S

 Qantas Dressed Down Over Uniform Backflip

 Virgin Threatens Delegate Over Net Use

 Email Protection Hits Firewall

 Yarra Gets Rowdy Welcome Home

 Cole Snubs Injured Worker

 Victorian System Needs Reform: AIRC

 First NEST Payout to Workers

 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

 Activist Notebook

C O L U M N S

Politics
Colour By Numbers
Labor council secretary John Robertson argues that the 60-40 debate ignores the real changes necessary in the ALP.

The Soapbox
Peas in a Pod
ACTU President Sharan Burrow gives her take on the new fetish for Public-Private Partnerships

The Locker Room
Go Dogs Go
As a student of form, Phil Doyle discovers that the Greyhounds are coming up in class and are all the better for recent racing.

Bosswatch
Rayland And Other Adventures
More evidence emerges in the HIH Royal Commission of the joys of life at the Top End of Town.

Human Rights
Tampa Day
Monday 26th August is no celebration, but the first anniversary of a National Shame should be recognised, writes Amanda Tattersall.

L E T T E R S
 Miranda's Not Fair on Outworkers
 Another Capitalist Party?
 Justice For All?
 Kill the Photos!
 Right Wing Lackies
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

Victorian System Needs Reform: AIRC


Victorian workers have had a win with an $18 a week pay rise and an admission from the AIRC that correcting wage injustice in Victoria requires legislative change.

In an unprecedented move, the AIRC this week called on the Federal and State Parliaments to correct the discrimination of the Howard Governments industrial laws as they applied to Victorian workers.

In its decision on the 2002 Victorian State Wages Case the Full Bench of the AIRC acknowledged that Victorian workers without a federal award were disadvantaged when compared to Federal Award workers in the State and all other workers in Australia.

The AIRC also found that its hands are tied in seeking to adequately correct this disadvantage by the current Federal industrial relations laws and encouraged the bringing forward of legislation to address this disadvantage.

The Bracks Government has recently announced that it will bring forward legislation in the spring session of Parliament to allow comprehensive federal award conditions and allowances to apply to all non-federal award workers in Victoria.

Liberals Must Help

Secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, Leigh Hubbard called on the Liberal Party at both federal and state levels to also acknowledge this discrimination and agree to implement the sensible proposals of the Bracks Government.

Victorian workers without the refuge of a federal award are regulated under Schedule 1A and Part XV of the Commonwealth Workplace Relations Act 1995 and are guaranteed only a minimum rate of pay and four other minimal conditions: four weeks annual leave, five days sick leave, unpaid parental leave, notice upon termination.

Latest figures show that 1.1 million Victorians are subject to at least the twenty allowable matters of federal awards, while approximately 560,000 Victorians are entitled to the inferior conditions of Schedule 1A. Around 230,000 of them receive only the minimum hourly rate of pay and the four other conditions.

'Most Schedule 1A workers do not have access to overtime rates, public holiday penalties, shift allowances, paid parental leave, carers leave, jury service leave, bereavement leave or many of the other conditions of employment all other workers in Australia take as a given," Hubbard says.

The AIRC decision today granted the flow-on of the recent $18 per week Living Wage Case increase in federal awards to Victorian workers with an operative date of 9 August 2002, one week earlier than the operative date last year.

For a number of technical reasons the AIRC rejected a VTHC claim for $25 per week (compared to the $18) to partially compensate for the disadvantage suffered by these Victorian workers.


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