 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
||
|
Issue No. 157 | 18 October 2002 |
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Issue No. 157 | 18 October 2002 |
|
||
|
||
BROADCASTING SERVICES AMENDMENT (MEDIA OWNERSHIP) BILL 2002: Second Reading
Mr LATHAM (Werriwa) (4.09 p.m.) --I support media diversity--not just diversity in ownership, but, most importantly, diversity in media opinion. The Broadcasting Services Amendment (Media Ownership) Bill 2002 should be opposed for the way in which it would stifle diversity in Australia's media. It would put more power in the hands of the big media holdings and lead to a narrowing of media opinion across the country. [start page 7572]
Indeed, this is a bill for the insiders--those who already hold power and influence in the Australian media. What we need is a government that is willing to empower the outsiders, to break down the centres of power in our society and democratise all aspects of our national life--in politics, in public culture, in the economy and in the media. This is the key test for the laws governing Australia's media ownership.
I believe it is possible to identify two distinctive political cultures in this country. The powerful centre of our society, concentrated in the international heart of the major cities, talks a different language from suburban communities; in lifestyle and political values, they are poles apart. At the social centre, people tend to take a tourist's view of the world. They travel extensively; they eat out; they buy in domestic help. This abstract lifestyle has produced an abstract style of politics and media commentary. Symbolic and ideological campaigns are given top priority. In the suburbs, by contrast, the value set is more pragmatic. People lack the power and resources to distance themselves from neighbourhood problems. This has given them a resident's view of society. Questions of social responsibility and service delivery are all important. What matters is what works.
Unfortunately, the Australian media are dominated by insiders, and this applies to both the Left and the Right of politics--the old and the new establishments. Let me give one example. Australia's best known, and perhaps longest standing, left-wing newspaper columnist is Phillip Adams. One of Australia's most prominent right-wing columnists is Piers Akerman. At face value, one might regard them as poles apart. But in fact they are soul brothers. They are both political insiders living in the inner city enclave of Paddington. As such, they have very little experience with suburban life and suburban values. They both practise an abstract and symbolic style of journalism; they are both out of touch.
Whether it is the Left or the Right in Australian media opinion, it is an insider's job. We do not have people who live and write from the great suburbs of this nation. We have a lack of media diversity. We have a lack of diverse media opinion. And this bill would make it much worse. It is bad enough as it is at the moment. This bill would make the problem even worse. We do have a lack of diversity in the Australian media, and it applies to most media outlets. We have a paucity of outsiders. The suburbs are badly underrepresented, both in the journalistic profession and among those who call themselves opinion leaders in the newspaper columns.
I can refer to my own experience. During my time on the backbench, I wrote a newspaper column for the Daily Telegraph between 1998 and 2001. That newspaper, to their credit, knew that they were hopelessly underrepresented by columnists and journalists from Western Sydney. To their credit, they tried to do something about this embarrassment. They were always promising to do something about it but they were never able to achieve a higher level of representation from Western Sydney.
When I came on board in 1998, they had Miranda Devine. She reckons she knows something about Western Sydney, but she is from the lower North Shore. They had Piers Akerman, who lives in Paddington and has a holiday house in Pittwater, a long way from the western suburbs that he purports to write for. And they had Michael Duffy from the eastern suburbs. Then there was me. I was from Campbelltown. I was the only Tele columnist who lived west of Annandale. With my departure, I must sadly report, they do not have anyone who lives west of Annandale writing for that paper and its Western Sydney audience. It is a paper of insiders trying to appeal to outsiders. That is one of the reasons why in recent times they have been struggling with their circulation.
This problem of narrow media opinion is reflected in news reporting and priorities. I recall the situation a few months ago when the Vinson report on school education threatened to close down selective high schools in Western Sydney, the very best of our educational institutions. Unhappily, it was seen by the Daily Telegraph as a non-issue. What did they put on their front page the day after this threatening Vinson report? The front page of the Telegraph was dominated by the theft of Hector the parrot. Of course, you need to ask where Hector came from. Was Hector a parrot from Blacktown, Liverpool, Bankstown or Fairfield?
Mr Pyne interjecting--
Mr LATHAM --No. There were three or four pages of coverage about Hector. Hector was from Ryde on the lower North Shore. Hector came from the Prime Minister's electorate. Sadly enough, in the narrowness of media opinion in this country, even the parrots are insiders. Even the parrots are insiders in the extensive coverage in the Daily Telegraph.
There is a lack of diversity in media opinion. I know my colleague opposite, the member for Sturt, would have reservations about this legislation. I think he was just indicating some to the House by way of interjection, and I am sure that, along with other small `l' liberals, he would be opposing this bill in his heart, but he might not be able to bring himself to oppose it in a vote in the House. So we do have a problem, and the member for Sturt knows the problem full well. We have the same insiders and opinions that are recycled--
Mr Pyne --Mr Deputy Speaker, I raise a point of order. The member for Werriwa should get a wig and a gown if he is going to start verballing other members of the chamber in this way.
DEPUTY CHAIR --Order! There is no point of order.
Mr LATHAM --As you know, Mr Deputy Speaker, members who break the standing orders and interject do so at their own peril. I thought that is what he said, but if not I stand corrected. But we still have this problem in the Australian media: the same insiders, the same opinions recycled week after week. This problem is particularly acute on the conservative side. The same opinions are repeated endlessly. [start page 7573]
I would suggest to the House that the best way to understand this phenomenon is to read a revealing new book by David Brock called Blinded by the Right. It lifts the lid on the corrupted networks and fraud of the neoconservative project in the United States media. The similarities with Australian columnists such as Piers Akerman are quite stunning. David Brock was one of the heavy hitters of the American media during the Clinton period. He led the attack on Anita Hill, he broke the Troopergate story and he discovered the notorious Paula Jones. He was a darling of the Republican Right. But behind the scenes the story was quite different. Over time, Brock came to see the futility and fraud of neoconservative journalism. This is the story he tells in Blinded by the Right. As a young man he got into politics and journalism as an act of rebellion against his family. He writes about this, and I quote extensively:
I had begun my career by suppressing my liberal social values to get ahead in the conservative movement; I then abandoned the conservative traditions of restraint and civility for Gingrich ends-justify-the-means radicalism. As a closeted gay man, I did the work of the right-wing lawyers of the Federalist Society, the Christian Coalition, and the worst bigots from Arkansas--racist, homophobic Clinton-haters. Through it all--the destructive partnership, the careerism, the personal aggrandisement--in my mind I managed to rationalise each of my actions.
He then goes on to write:
All the attacks, the hateful rhetoric, the dark alliances and strange conspiracies ... it all led right here: I lost my soul.
That is the story of David Brock in the United States, and the comparisons with Piers Akerman are indeed quite remarkable. Paddington Piers comes from a traditional left wing family with a deep concern for refugees and multiculturalism. His brother Kim is one of Australia's leading experts in Aboriginal culture, history and social justice. As a young man, Piers Akerman was a Maoist who signed up to the Association for International Cooperation and Disarmament and denounced the Vietnam War as `one of the most obscene crimes of the 20th century'. Today, of course, he is the ultimate chicken-hawk: someone who did not want to go to war himself but now urges war for young Australians in Iraq.
Akerman then turned on his family, his own flesh and blood, to seek the embrace and encouragement of the other side of politics. He wanted to prove himself by winning the support of those who are least likely to approve of someone called Akerman. In effect, however, this meant leading a double life. In his book, David Brock writes of the double standards of neoconservative journalists, preaching morality and family values in public yet leading a life of decadence and hypocrisy in private. So too with Akerman. I note the comments of my colleague the member for Wills in October 1997 in this place, when he said:
I too have been aware for some years of reliable reports that Piers Akerman was a cocaine user--and much more recently than the 1970s. The copy kids who worked at News Ltd in Sydney in the mid-1980s could hear him in the toilet at 9 p.m. snorting cocaine while he was working on the Australian and he used to reminisce at the local pub about his drug-hazed days in the US.
This makes an important point; it is a telling point. But I think we can be too harsh; indeed, I would congratulate News Ltd for giving a drug addict a second chance in life. It is not easy. We should all appreciate the lesson that is involved, but I would also urge Mr Akerman to give others the same second chance: to give minorities, the dispossessed, the disadvantaged and the poor in our society the same second chance in life, just as News Ltd has given him a chance to write columns for their newspaper.
The comparisons continue. In his book, David Brock describes neoconservative journalists as `an army of (political) operatives posing as commentators'. It is a very useful quote. That is the problem we have in Australia. It is the narrowness of media opinion; it is the insider's job that would be made much worse by this particular legislation passing through the parliament. In Akerman's case, I am indebted to my colleague the member for Griffith, who has provided some statistics about the narrowness of Akerman's opinion--indeed, the political bias that is involved. I quote from the member for Griffith's article in the Daily Telegraph on 9 September. He states that his office looked at:
... the 150 or so articles-- that Akerman had written-- since the beginning of last year ... The member for Griffith goes on to state:
The score card goes something like this: on 88 occasions, you've directly attacked Labor for its various crimes against humanity.
On 31 occasions, you've told us what a fine bunch of chaps the Liberals are. And guess how many times you've had something nice to say about Labor?
Just for respectability's sake, I thought maybe you could have risen to the occasion once or twice by saying something positive. But no, the answer is a big, fat zero.
A telling piece of research that confirms the problem; it confirms the problem of the narrowness of media opinion in this country--a problem that would be made worse by this legislation. In fact, Akerman is not a commentator, he is a de facto press secretary for the Howard government. This problem is confirmed in Brock's book, where he talks not only of political bias but the wilful invention of stories to suit political purposes. At page 159, he writes of how he wrote articles that were:
... a mix of circumstantial observation and rumour--and no-one would ever be able to tell which parts of it may have been accurate and which parts were not.
So too with Piers Akerman. When I challenged him recently about one of his journalistic inventions, he responded that it is defensible for comments to be `wrong, even grossly exaggerated, based on prejudice or obstinacy'. [start page 7574]
Piers must be really proud of himself today. His column in the Daily Telegraph starts as follows:
October 14, 2002 was Australia's 9/11.
On Sunday, he referred to an Indonesian terrorist organisation called `FI'. Enough said--accuracy and Akerman are obviously foreign worlds. Indeed, it is measure of the man's sickness that his column today uses the tragedy in Bali as an excuse to attack his fellow Australians, to continue his obsession with the ALP and to revive his prejudice against Muslim Australians. Why anyone would want to blame Australians who had absolutely no involvement in the Bali bombing is beyond belief. Akerman indeed is Australia's answer to David Brock. At one level, it is surprising that a prominent and professional media group like News Ltd would maintain such a partisan and incompetent fool but, as I mentioned earlier, their Second-chance Drug Rehabilitation program is to be commended. They are a socially responsible organisation. Other organisations are also quite tolerant. In his book, David Brock exposes the role on the congressional aides and right wing think tanks--
Mr Pyne --Mr Deputy Speaker, I raise a point of order. I am loath to interrupt the member for Werriwa, but I ask you to point out to him that he supposed to be discussing the media ownership bill, not launching personal and vindictive attacks on particular journalists.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER --The member for Werriwa has been tying in his comments to the media ownership bill. He has been keeping his comments very smartly to the bill.
Mr LATHAM --We have a problem of narrowness of media opinion in this country. As the Brock book exposes, in the United States it is fed by congressional aides and right wing think tanks in the United States, confirming what Hillary Clinton described as `a vast right-wing conspiracy'. In Sydney, the Centre for Independent Studies hosts a monthly lunch in Balmain of all places, where it coordinates the neoconservative approach to the culture war, feeding gossip and attack lines to journalists and other commentators. In Akerman's case, most of his material comes directly from the Prime Minister's press secretary, Tony O'Leary. Paddington Piers, for instance, was an integral part of the government's slur campaign against Justice Michael Kirby. He was constantly briefed about the Heffernan bucket-job and the Prime Minister's intentions, until the matter was exposed as a fraud and an embarrassment to the government.
As the Attorney-General would appreciate, none of this is good for the health of our democracy. The media should be impartial rather than partisan. It should commentate on the political process rather than participate in it. It should not be a freak show for neoconservative politics and its pursuit of the culture war. Traditional conservatives understand the point, as I am sure the members opposite would agree. In the United States, Republican strategist Lee Atwater ridiculed hard-core conservatives as `the extra chromosome crowd'. Towards the end of his book, David Brock laments how he had become a dancing bear for the far Right. In Australia, of course, we have this problem of media narrowness and, on the neoconservative side, they have a troupe of dancing bears. There is Akerman, Andrew Bolt and Janet Albrechtsen--Cokey, Nancy and Filthy--dancing the same step to Tony O'Leary's drum. I can understand why News Ltd employs Akerman -- it is a socially responsible corporation --but does it really need three dancing bears when one would suffice?
In the last sitting week, I explained to the House how Bolt does not practise journalism but paranoia. Bolt was engaged in an act of journalistic fraud, emailing my office on 29 August with the false claim that he had `a very funny confrontation with Stephen Roach' and that he wanted to write `a very funny little item', even though he intended to do the opposite. It is difficult to understand how News Ltd can continue to employ someone who is regarded, even by his colleagues, as a fraudster. I have an email which further demonstrated this approach. It is an email that Andrew Bolt sent on 30 August to the aforementioned Stephen Roach. He wrote as follows:
Sorry Steve but I forgot the other questions. Did Latham have anything to do with your decision to approach me on Wednesday? Did he urge on you or ask you to go over to me? Can you tell me what connections you have with him?
Recently, Mr Bolt made himself notorious for saying that women should not be in the Australian parliament because they are irrational. How irrational is this? This is not journalism; it is paranoia. It is the work of an irrational and paranoid mind. In his recent comments, Mr Bolt said that we should not have more women in the Australian parliament because women are more likely than men to practise witchcraft. I suggest that what he calls journalism is a lot closer to witchcraft than any of utterances that you might hear from women around country.
In Albrechtsen's case it is even worse. She has a history of inaccurate and malicious journalism, having been found guilty in several defamation cases. In one of her pro-USA columns in February this year, she fabricated words by General Norman Schwarzkopf. Earlier this month, in her desperation to attack the union movement, she failed to disclose her personal financial interest in the collapse of Ansett. Then in a notorious exchange, Media watch exposed her attacks on the Muslim community in this country as being based on plagiarism and journalistic fraud. She is David Brock in a dress. Albrechtsen has not even attempted to refute these claims, preferring instead to launch a distinctly uncivil attack on Media watch itself. If an academic, a politician or any other public figure had such an appalling record of inaccuracy, fraud and incompetence, they would be sacked--no questions asked, just sacked. Albrechtsen's survival is a very bad reflection on the professional ethics and standards at News Ltd.
So we have these three dancing bears for the neoconservative cause in this country. It is a sign of the narrowness of media opinion. I am very concerned about these developments at News Ltd: not only have they not recruited journalists and columnists from Western Sydney to replace me; they have narrowed their base to the dancing bears and to neoconservative political partisanship on the pages of their newspapers.
0This bill, of course, would worsen the problem. This is a bill to narrow the ownership of Australian media. As you narrow ownership, inevitably you narrow opinion, you reduce the media in it standards and you reduce its diversity of coverage. You reduce its gene pool: the number of journalists it can call on to produce reporting and opinion for the nation. The bill should be rejected. As I said at the beginning, we need a government that helps outsiders, a government that empowers people in the great suburbs and towns of this nation, to play a bigger role in the economy, in our society, in the political system and, most importantly, in the media. This is legislation for the insiders. It would give extra power to those who already have influence and a big say in the pages, the screens and the sounds of the Australian media. We do not need legislation for the insiders. We do not need a narrowing of ownership and opinion; we need a very different approach to this bill, which should be comprehensively rejected by the House.
The scaling back of shiftwork for retiring workers is part of a major wages and hours campaign in the manufacturing industries to be conducted in Victoria in 2003.
Under the proposed clauses an employee (aged over 50 with 10 years service) wishing to retire must give 12 months notice to enable the four staged retirement plan.
(i) First 3 months the employee trains their replacement
(ii) Second 3 months No more night shift
(iii) Third 3 months Employee works Monday to Friday
(iv) Final 3 months employee enrols in training programs relevant to their interests, and they get retirement and financial advice.
About 300 delegates have voted in support of the Smart Hours Campaign. AWU National Secretary Bill Shorten say that too often workers approaching their sunset years suffered a tumultuous transition from work to retirement.
"One day they are working 60 hours a week and the next day they are at home with too much time on their hands. This sudden transition is not good for workers' health or family lives,'' Shorten says.
He says any worker doing shift work, or working long hours, needed time to adapt before retiring. "Workers approaching retirement are about to undergo a major life change that affects their income and spending patterns, as well as their leisure time, sleeping patterns and attitude.''
He said the union had a role to play to minimalise the stressfulness of retirement by taking a smarter approach to working hours. "We will seek to put a clause in every work agreement that allows employees approaching retirement to scale back their shift work.''
The Smart Hours Campaign, which was preceded by Campaign 2000, also promotes better wages and conditions in the manufacturing industries. The Campaign involves up to 1000 manufacturing companies and workplaces whose enterprise bargaining agreements expire early next year.
Key bargaining issues include securing:
� Improved Wages
� Safer working Hours
� Fair Superannuation increases
� Paid Education leave
� Consultation prior to major changes or termination
� Better conditions and entitlements for Casual employees
Kamal�s employer, TPG, has also agreed to withdraw two warnings they issued during his dispute over his right to perform prayers at work.
"I think it's a good outcome," says El-Masri, a member of the Australian Workers Union.
"If somebody wants to do a religious act at work and it has to be done it should be done. If they do they're going to be more loyal, more trustworthy, more productive and more energetic."
El-Masri advised anyone in the same situation to "not back down." "This is a free country. Everyone's equal in the sight of everyone else. You have the right to stand up for yourself."
ASU assistant branch secretary Sally McManus is happy that the dispute has been resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.
"Mr El-Masri can perform his prayers and make up the time, as he has always done," says McManus.
But a downside has been that both the ASU and El-Masri have continued to receive abusive and threatening calls, with the Bali bombing making this situation worse.
"Too many people do not understand that the vast majority of Muslims find the killing of innocent people absolutely at odds with their religion," says McManus. El-Masri agrees: "Anyone who commits such a crime cannot call themselves a Muslim".
"I am reminded that when Timothy McVeigh, a fundamentalist Christian committed the atrocity in Oklahoma, all Christians were not blamed for what occurred," says McManus. "We cannot let Muslim Australians be blamed for what they also condemn and allow division to cause hatred in our own community.
"What this dispute shows is that with understanding on both sides there can be respect for someone's religion and the needs of business. More importantly the support of Mr El-Masri's workmates shows that workplace harmony can be achieved when workers lead the way."
CFMEU supports Bali victims
Meanwhile, the National Office of the CFMEU Construction Division has announced that it would donate $25,000 to the Red Cross Appeal for the victims of the Bali bombing.
The CFMEU has been alerted to the tragic death of one CFMEU member and the wife of a delegate in the bombing.
National Secretary John Sutton says the union extended its condolences to families of all the victims and that the $25,000 would be the start of a fund-raising exercise at building sites around Australia.
"Many working Australians and their families have enjoyed holidays in Bali and our hearts go out to families and communities who have been devastated by this terrible act against innocent people," Sutton says.
"We will be urging building workers around the country to hold site meetings and to pass around the hat for donations for the families."
The union is also calling on building employers and contractors to match the money raised by union members.
Qantas unions this week challenged a 36 per cent pay rise for directors while the CEPU�s Len Cooper makes his annual tilt at the Telstra Board.
At the Qantas AGM in Perth, members of the Australian Services Union, Flight Attendants Association of Australia and Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association handed out fliers to shareholders attending the meeting.
Inside, unions asked a series of questions about the remuneration packages, attempts to cut cabin crew numbers and down grading of ground inspections on domestic flights. Employees have 1.9 per cent of the shares in Qantas - making them the fifteenth largest shareholder in the company.
Unions attending the meeting say the experience was positive in raising the issues, but ultimately frustrating as the Qantas board controlled millions of proxies from the major investors.
The Australian Services Union's Linda White says that Qantas chairwoman Margaret Jackson was forced to defend the director increases, describing the 12 per cent per annum wage as "modest" - an attitude unions were sure to take on board in future negotiations..
"I've been to these meetings for a few years, there was definitely more support from the floor than I've seen in the past," White says. "It was defini8tely more than just the employee reps voting against the propositions."
"Our expectation wasn't to knock off the company resolutions this time around, but we are definitely setting the scene for a more activist shareholder base."
FAAA national secretary Johanna Brem described the AGM as 'really interesting'. "There seemed to be support from the shareholders on the floor, with a lot of debate on the executive salaries and remuneration at the meeting, but the proxies of the institutional investors supported the increase," Brem says.
"The real power to change corporate behaviour lies with the institutional investors, and we need to look at how industry super funds vote if we really want to change things."
Cooper Vies For Board Position
Meanwhile, the Victorian Secretary of the Communications Union (CEPU) Len Cooper has announced he will once again be running against the Federal Government's candidates for the board of Telstra.
Cooper has the backing of Telstra employee shareholders, and in previous years his votes from the "mum and dad" shareholders and even institutions has been growing steadily. This year should be no exception.
He is campaigning on some basic issues
� not enough investment to improve and retain service standards
� destructive job cuts, now 45,000 since June 1996
� corporate governence standards
� board support for the complete privatisation of Telstra, despite overwhelming public and shareholder opposition
� industrial relations driven by ideology not commercial good sense.
"We are out to highlight these issues to the Telstra board, and the general public, and to demonstrate the lack of confidence in the board amongst the shareholders," Cooper says.
Cooper is calling for the proxy votes of shareholders who cannot attend the Telstra Annual General meeting on the 15th November 2002.
NSW Nurses Association General Secretary, Brett Holmes, has labelled plans by the Hunter Area Health Service to increase parking fees for nurses as �madness�.
Under the proposal staff at public hospitals and aged care facilities in Newcastle and Maitland would be charged daily parking fees, adding hundreds of dollars a year to the cost of going to work for nurses during a critical shortage in the profession.
Nurses at Wallsend Aged Care Facility have voted to take industrial action if work commences to build barriers or gates to car parking areas. Nurses at John Hunter Hospital are also considering industrial action over the issue, which could hundreds of dollars a year to the cost of going to work for Nurses.
But doctors are continuing to get the Rolls Royce treatment, being able to access the health system without being charged for parking, with many VMO's having free parking as part of their contracts.
Hunter Nurse Managers have expressed their opposition to the plan and nurses at other affected facilities will meet over the next few days to discuss their response to the issue.
"Nurses are there 24 hours a day, seven days a week," says Hunter area organiser for the NSWNA, Donna St Clair. "Nurses need safe, secure car parking. Violence against nurses has been increasing."
St Clair dismissed suggestions from some quarters that public transport was the solution, as this was unavailable or inadequate in many parts of the Hunter region.
The NSWNA is asking NSW Health Minister, Craig Knowles to intervene and stop the Hunter Area Health Service increasing staff parking fees at major hospitals and imposing them at a number of aged care facilities and smaller hospitals in the region.
"We already have a serious nurse shortage in NSW and one of the biggest irritations for nurses is having to pay to park at work," says Holmes
"Independent research into the NSW nurse shortage, by the Sydney University's Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training (ACIRRT), found that parking fees rank close to the top of management practices that most annoy and irritate nurses."
The push comes as retail workers at Warringah Mall fight similar plans to impose daily parking charges there. They've won the backing of retailers and even local MP and federal Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott.
Warringah Mall owners AMP are pushing their proposal through the Land and Environment Court, opting to bypass local accountability at the council level.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott has sided with Broken Hill bosses in trying to force local workers onto federal agreements, which would see some workers lose as much as $120 a week.
Workers lost hundreds of dollars as the local Chamber of Commerce, led by Sydney based lawyer Chris McCardle, made a ham-fisted attempt to avoid paying the $18 pay rise for workers on NSW Awards.
The full bench of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission awarded against McCardle and the Chamber of Commerce, describing their case as "very weak". The Chamber had claimed that they should be able to avoid their obligations to meet the pay rise due to "economic incapacity".
"The Chamber of Commerce has been devaluing and dividing the town,' says Barrier Industrial Council organiser, Ed Butcher, who was scathing of the bullying tactics employed by Chris McCardle from KPMG Legal. "He inflamed the dispute more than trying to resolve it."
"He was out here saying 'I'm here to save Broken Hill', and 'I'm here to save a dying town'," says Butcher, who believes that Broken Hill is very much alive.
In a further blow to the bush National Party leader George Souris supported the Broken Hill Chamber of Commerce and local businesses "hoping their employees will take pay cuts".
"Whilst we're glad the case is over and it has been a victory, we're also disappointed that we had to go to the lengths we did," says Barrier Industrial Council president Brett Campbell.
Tony Abbott is supporting an appeal against the decision by the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW to grant workers covered by the Broken Hill Commerce and Industry Consent Award the $18 pay rise from October 1.
The CD, �May Day � Songs of Solidarity� emerged from a national search for a new union anthem undertaken by Wobbly Radio, the NSW Labor Council�s online site for emerging Australian artists.
|
|
|
|
The Union Anthem competition was launched in January, attracting more than 100 entries with the $5000 first prize going to 23-year-old Campbeltown rapper Adam Dunn (aka Swarmy G).
The CD features a wide range of styles including rap and hip-hop, indie guitar, electronic, industrial, folk and even a traditional union choir singing Billy brag's 'Power in the Union'.
Labor Council secretary John Robertson says the diversity of sounds on the CD reflected the broad church that makes up the modern union movement.
"We have all styles of workers from coal miners and building workers, in health and education and, increasingly, in new areas like call centres and IT," Robertson says..
"The common theme is people working together to build better lives - a credo reflected in all the songs on this CD."
Respected singer-songwriter Bernie Hayes will headline the concert, with Swarmy G, as well as song comp finalists Urban Guerillas and Ginger Tom also performing. Melbourne band Long Weekend will close out the line-up.
For $10 union members will get entry to the launch plus a copy of the limited edition CD. Bring your union card.
In a major shift in focus for WorkCover, Brogden this week told a meeting of Finance Executives that he could plug the scheme's deficit by chasing 'fraudulent' claims by workers.
He says the compliance section of WorkCover employs over a hundred staff while the fraud division numbers about ten to fifteen.
"That sort of balance will be corrected under a Coalition government and we will ensure that there is a much greater and stronger approach to eliminating fraud," Brogden said.
Ignoring the previous Fahey Government's decisive role in the WorkCover deficit, Brogden says that he will return the Scheme to surplus by cracking down on workers.
"We believe that up to two to four hundred million dollars of that blow out could be cut back by strongly assessing and strongly pursuing fraud in workers' compensation in New South Wales.
But for a government that is connected strongly to the union movement there is absolutely no incentive and no direction to reduce fraud within the workers' compensation system."
Labor Council secretary John Robertson says Brogden's comments should put all unionists on notice that the Coalition are not as 'warm and cuddly' as IR spokesman Michael Gallacher attempted to portray in his interview with Workers Online.
The survey of 800 members is part of the 'Build a Life' campaign to reduce working hours and introduce a series of industry-wide long weekends.
The 'Build A Life' campaign has been progressing steadily, with Formbrace joining many other larger formwork firms in signing an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement this week that gives their employees a 36-hour week.
"Employers are increasingly seeing the merit of the unions argument for increased leisure time," says a CFMEU spokesperson.
"Increased leisure time will have an impact, not just on productivity but also on safety."
The urgency of the CFMEU's campaign was underlined earlier this week with yet another demolition collapse in Sydney.
The campaign continues to make significant gains in other parts of the construction industry with major builders; including the Holland Group, Bovis Lend-Lease, Baulderstone and Westfield, agreeing in principle to shutting sites completely for four days over the six annual public holiday weekends.
|
|
|
|
The new site for Unions WA is located at: http://www.tlcwa.org.au/ was produced by Social Change Online, the developers of LaborNET and the 31 other union based sites on LaborNET.
Unions WA now joins the ACTU, the Labor Council of NSW, the Victorian Trades Hall Council and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions as the key peak union bodies on LaborNET.
This new site features:
Unions WA Secretary Stephanie Mayman sees the new site as a significant resource amidst changing times in WA labour movement.
"Unions WA and the labour movement generally is experiencing a significant degree of change and reform in WA and we hope to keep workers abreast of these changes through our web site. We expect the site to be dynamic and user-friendly as well as providing a substantial information and news base."
"Of particular note, is the recent addition of a section to our site for Displaced Timber Workers, which is a joint project between Unions WA and the WA Government to facilitate the employment of workers who have lost jobs as a result of the Gallop government's forest policy."
"We'll be regularly reviewing the site to ensure it meets the needs of workers and unions and would encourage the use of our web survey facility so we can obtain your feedback. I'd like to thank Social Change Online for their tremendous assistance and support in developing our web strategy over the past 2 years."
"Our members were angry that at a time when child care employers are floating their companies on the stock exchange, and making millons of dollars out of these floats, the big child care chains were seeking to deny simple access to the state wage increases of $18," LHMU Child Care Union NSW President, Trevor De Costa, said.
"People whose faces appear regularly in the high society picture pages are making big dollars out of child care, and have the hide to try and pay our people poverty pay rates of around $12 an hour," Trevor De Costa said.
Child care employers went to the Commission in August seeking to stop child care workers from receiving an increase through the State Wage mechanism, which almost every other low-waged worker in the State receives.
Big Time Investors Pay Poverty Wages
"Big time investors - with strong connections to the Liberal Party - are making millions out of child care while they pay their workers poverty wages.
"Sallyanne Atkinson, Andrew Peacock, Jeff Kennett, Michael Kroger are among a legion of new paper millionaires associated with the Liberal Party who are cashing in on the stock exchange floats of child care centres.
"Every day we read of child care chains spending big to gobble up more and more centres - while millions are spent here very little of it trickles down to the workers in these centres," Trevor De Costa said.
Next Pay Period
The decision handed down in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission will see child care workers paid the Living Wage increase in their next pay period and have this increase backdated to August 28, 2002.
Angry That Employers Still Want To Fight Living Wage
"While we are happy that this increase has now come through for our members we are angry that the employers have indicated they are prepared to fight any future Living Wage increase," Trevor De Costa said.
"The LHMU Child Care Union is looking at running a special case, along with the NSW Labor Council, in the Industrial Relations Commission, to avoid a repeat of this situation.
"Other workers get these pay increases almost automatically.
"More child care workers need to join their union, organise together, to tell obstinate employers that they should show more respect for their workers - especially if they have marketing plans in place to deliver millions of dollars into their own pockets out of this important industry."
Kingham face charges in the Magistrates Court next Thursday under the Royal Commission Act 1902 relating to the failure to produce two lists of contact details of union members who participated in training courses and the names of their employers.
The Victorian Trades Hall Council is calling on all unionists to rally in defence of Kingham.
"Make no mistake, the outcomes of the Royal Commission and legislation that Abbot and Howard attempt to introduce will affect every union and every worker, not just those in the building industry," VTHC secretary Leigh Hubbard says.
The rally has been called as a Federal Court challenge to the Cole Commission lodged by the NSW branch of the CFMEU was heard in Sydney this week.
The decision has been deferred and is expected to be handed down in three weeks time.
Yet Another Accident In Abbott's Electorate
Meanwhile, there has been another serious accident this morning on Sydney's Northern beaches - the electorate of Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott.
Around 9am Wednesday, a demolition collapse at Boola Place Dee Why saw a factory wall and roof collapse on a car, completely destroying it. Fortunately no one was injured.
This latest demolition collapse underscores the dangers of construction work. CFMEU State Secretary Andrew Ferguson has again called on the Royal Commission into the Building Industry to properly investigate poor safety standards in the industry.
"A building worker is killed every week in Australia. Safety is arguable the number one problem in the industry, yet the Royal Commission continues to refuse to send investigators to accident scenes like Dee Why," Ferguson says.
The ASU says this is a total reversal of the situation in May when, despite the eight weeks redundancy pay stipulated in the Award; workers were paid up to 40 weeks.
"Earlier this year Woolworths negotiated a deal with its distribution staff and paid them up to 40 weeks pay," says ASU Secretary Michael Want.
"Now when it's time to pay their Finance Department staff they are refusing to negotiate beyond the 20 weeks stipulated in the Award."
"How can the company possibly argue that the male employees require more redundancy then the female staff?" Want says.
"If the company will not budge we will be taking this dispute to the Anti-Discrimination Board. We have had advice from the Board that Woolworths' action could be discriminatory and we will act on this."
Woolworths is shifting its accounts department to Tasmania and the women, some with more than 30 years of service, feel they have been "thrown on the scrapheap".
"They spout all these words about being an equal opportunity employer - well, let's see it in action," says ASU member Roslyn Stanborough, who is being short-changed by $12,000. "After 17 years with the company, its pretty shabby treatment."
*****
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA is appalled by the act of terrorism in Bali on October 12. With our project partners in Indonesia, we offer our condolences to the victims of the bombing and their loved ones and condemn those responsible for this tragedy.
On this National Day of Mourning we remember the many Australian victims and other visitors who were caught up in this horrific act. We call for special remembrance of the Balinese and Indonesian workers killed while at work that night.
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA calls for tolerance at this time of great distress for many Australians. We recognise that most Indonesians and Balinese are peace-loving people with the same aspirations as Australian working families.
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA takes pride in its work with the Labour Education Centre in Indonesia, training workers in the skills needed to build free and democratic trade unions. We believe that strong unions in Indonesia can play a critical role in ensuring that working men and women enjoy a fair standard of living and in strengthening civil society and security for all Indonesians. This work lays the foundations for human rights and justice which are the long term solutions to the violence unleashed on the weekend.
Through our development work in Indonesia we build understanding and friendship between working men and women in our two nations. Our partners in Indonesia extend their condolences to victims of the bombing tragedy and write: "May we walk together hand in hand to create a peaceful world to live in".
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA echoes these calls for peace as we face enormous uncertainty and tension globally. We believe that we will only have peace when human rights are respected and when justice for all people is realised.
The strike at the Royal Darwin Hospital was scheduled to start on Wednesday but on Tuesday the union decided to suspend the strike because of the Bali bombings.
Darwin hospital LHMU members are playing a crucial role in this extraordinary national crisis.
Union members had called the strike over the bullying of LHMU member Kerry Sugden, who had been threatened with a three month suspension for coming to work in a clown suit and a wig.
Ms Sugden received a letter from her employer accusing her of wearing 'fake wigs, clown outfits and the like without prior permission.'
But LHMU industrial officer Dianne Yali said Ms Sugden had in fact worn a striped top and pants to work for part of the day. Ms Yali said that other allegations in the letter about fast driving and swearing were unproven.
The failure to get a decent result out of negotiations with the Territory Health Department had resulted in the call to shutdown the Royal Darwin Hospital for a day in support of Ms Sugden.
" Our members resolved last week to show solidarity with Kerry but we all agreed that the because of the weekend tragedy in Bali we would suspend the strike."
Kerry Sugden admits she is a bit of a comedian but she reckons that some in middle management had decided to misinterpret her antics.
"I've been with the health service for more than 16 years, you'd think they'd know me by now - so it is a bit sad it has come to this."
Jeff Jones, LHMU NT Secretary, said that once the Bali crisis is over the union will revisit the Sugden dispute with the hospital and NT health management.
The innovation will bring the national union's 55 000 teaching and support staff members working in non government education much closer to Indigenous peoples.
The IEU has also thrown its weight behind calls for a Treaty with the first peoples and it wants Aboriginal Studies to be part of the core curriculum said Lynne Rolley, IEU Federal Secretary at the recent Treaty conference in Canberra.
Over thirty percent of Australian students attend non government schools with around 10 000 Aboriginal students in the sector. Rolley says that current statistics for Indigenous students finishing school were unacceptable.
Statistics from ABS in 2001 showed that only 36.2 percent of indigenous students finished Year 12 last year compared to 74.5 percent of non indigenous students.
The Treaty process offered opportunities to redefine relationships said Ms Rolley with parties coming to the table as equals to consider what is needed in relation to Indigenous education.
But it was most important that people involved in working for a Treaty decided upon what they wanted and what their vision was so they were not forced to react to the agenda of other parties.
Rolley paid tribute to the work of Diat Callope, the IEU's National Indigenous Advisor for strengthening the union's commitment to Indigenous issues.
"Diat has shifted the culture of our organisation markedly - from one which not only espouses strong support for Indigenous peoples and their rights but which seeks to back that up by targeting areas of deficit.
"We want to bring substantial improvements in the professional and industrial conditions of our Indigenous members and to acknowledge their cultural contribution to student learning," Rolley says.
A delegation of MUA and CFMEU members has just returned from the United States to Australia after visiting the International Longshore and Warehouse Union who are involved in a bitter and protracted dispute with employers in ports on the US West Coast.
Federal Government Ministers, including John Howard, attacked the delegation in their absence, despite the MUA successfully brokering a deal to guarantee the movement of perishable Australian cargoes in any future port stoppages in the US.
Barry Robson from the MUA, who led the delegation, was scathing of statements by Federal Agriculture Minister and National Party member Warren Truss, who joined the chorus of ministers who sided with US Employers against the interests of Aussie farmers.
"He should be knocking on John Howard's door to take us out of the hands of foreigned owned ships and crews," says Robson, who raised the issue in media interviews in the United States. "They have de-flagged the whole Australian fleet. We need an Australian national shipping line. I'd remind Warren Truss that the old Country Party set up the Australian National Line to keep shipping prices down for farmers."
Robson described the trip by the delegation as a "great success". "The response on the picket lines was fantastic. There were over 40 picket lines in Los Angeles alone. We were going to mass meetings day and night."
Part of the delegation was also able to travel to the Pacific Northwest, to ILWU Local 19 in Seattle and Local 23 in Tacoma, where the delegation expressed solidarity with their fellow workers and presented MUA Flags.
"One disappointment was not being able to get to San Francisco, to the headquarters of the ILWU and the famous Local 10 started by Australian Harry Bridges in the Thirties," says Robson. "But we did get to meet the National President of the ILWU, Jim Spinoza."
Robson was also able to share a platform with Jesse Jackson, who has been very vocal in his support of the locked out waterfront workers. The delegation was also struck by the amount of support in waterfront communities:
"In the San Pedro district in Los Angeles, which is near the waterfront, every shop has a poster up in the window supporting the ILWU or calling for an ILWU Contract," Robson says
The delegation, which included two delegates from the New Zealand Seafarers Union and two from the Waterside Workers Union of New Zealand, was impressed by the resolve of the ILWU - likening the dispute to the one engineered by Patricks in 1998.
While the delegation was in the states US president George Bush used the infamous anti-union Taft-Hartley Act to order locked out longshoremen back to work, with the resulting "cooling-off" period set to expire on December 27.
"During that time Congress isn't sitting, so Bush will be able to introduce his own emergency legislation against the ILWU without having to go through Congress," says Robson.
Robson reports that the ILWU is very concerned about the US Governments potential to use the Railway Labor Act, which gives courts and the administration far more power to prevent strikes and impose contract settlements than does the National Labor Relations Act, which governs most private sector labor negotiations in the US.
It had already been previously established that people already with cardiovascular disease were prone to heart problems triggered by job stress. Now Finnish medicos have now shown that even in healthy people the pressures of work can be a killer.
"Work stress seems to be an independent predicator of death for cardiovascular diseases," Mika Kivimaki, of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, says.
Obesity, high blood pressure, lack of exercise, smoking and being overweight are all known contributers to heart disease. The Finnish study establishes that job stress also plays an important role.
Researchers led by Kivimaki monitored the health, for an average of 25 years, of more than 800 employees at the Valmet machine tool company, in Jyvaskyla, central Finland.
"Even after controlling for the effects of conventional cardiovascular risk factors, high work stress was associated with a doubling of risk of cardiovascular death," Kivimaki says.
The Finns found work stress involves too much work as well as a lack of satisfaction and feeling undervalued and unappreciated.
A group of Australian national and NSW State union leaders joined 14 NSW State MPs and leaders of the Irish and Aboriginal community in Australia in urging British Prime Minister Tony Blair to respect Sinn F�in's electoral mandate. The statement called on the British Government to reject Unionists demand that Republicans be removed from power sharing in the Six Counties.
The following is the text of the message sent to Blair on 10 October, which was released to the media in Australia, London and Ireland. Copies of the letter were also sent to the British and Irish Embassies and Consulates in Australia:
*******
"Dear Prime Minister Blair,
"With the Peace Process in Ireland facing yet another Unionist-created crisis, as Australian Members of Parliament, Trade Union and Community leaders, we urge you to stand firmly by the power sharing terms of the Good Friday Agreement and the institutions established under it.
"We believe that the present crisis has been deliberately contrived by the Unionist leadership to undermine and destroy political reform and power sharing. We urge your Government to honour all the commitments made in the Good Friday Agreement and not allow the Unionists to exercise a veto on political reform that they have no right to.
"In elections at all levels on both sides of the border in Ireland, Sinn F�in has won a strong mandate. We note that Sinn F�in is the only political party to have elected representatives to the Parliaments in Belfast, Dublin and London. We have no doubt that this electoral success is based on Sinn F�in's Peace Strategy and its commitment to the Good Friday Agreement.
"To exclude Sinn F�in from power sharing would be to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters who supported the party at the ballot box. It would be an offence to the principle of democracy and a repudiation of the political process that so many throughout the world believe holds the key to the peaceful resolution of the centuries long conflict in Ireland.
"Prime Minister Blair, we believe that despite the present difficulties, the historic opportunity to resolve the conflict in Ireland by political means remains if all the parties to the Good Friday Agreement have the will and determination to see it through. We urge your Government to firmly support those in both communities who are genuinely bound by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and who continue to promote a resolution of he conflict through political reforms and the peace process.
"We urge you to reject Unionist pressure to exclude Irish Republicans from power sharing and we urge you not to suspend the democratic institutions established under the Good Friday Agreement."
The statement was signed by the following NSW MPs:0
Hon Meredith Burgmann,President NSW Legislative Council; Hon Tony Kelly, Deputy President NSW Legislative Council; Jim Anderson, MP for Londonderry; Deirdre Grusovin, MP for Heffron; Tony McGrane, MP for Dubbo; Col Markham, MP for Wollongong; Alison Megarrity, MP for Menai; John Mills, MP for Wallsend; Ernie Page, MP for Coogee; Milton Orkopoulos, MP for Swansea; Neville Newell, MP for Tweed; Paul Lynch, MP for Liverpool; Hon Ian West, Member Legislative Council; and Hon Peter Primrose, Member Legislative Council.
Trade Union leaders: National Union leaders - Paddy Crumlin (Maritime Union of Australia), Tony Maher (CFMEU Mining and Energy), John Sutton (CFMEU Construction) and John Maitland (CFMEU National Secretary) were joined by NSW union leaders Russ Collison (Australian Workers Union), Maurie O'Sullivan (Public Service Association) and Luke Foley (Australian Services Union).
Other signatories were: Denis O'Flynn, President Irish National Association of Australia; Kevin Tory, Director of the Trade Union Committee for Aboriginal Rights; Rt Hon Jim Macken (retired Judge); Damian O'Connor, NSW ALP Assistant Secretary; and Paddy Gorman, President Australian Aid for Ireland.
'A Just Australia' Speaking and Band Tour ::
This October the 'Rock the Boats' national campus refugee speaking circuit and band tour will be visiting Sydney campuses.
The speaking tour will include a prominent Australian, speaking out about the treatment of asylum seekers and current government policies like mandatory detention. Other speakers will include: a student representative and an asylum seeker living on a Temporary Protection Visa (TPV).
The band tour will feature several leading Australian bands performing for refugee rights. Bands participating include: motor ace, fez perez, crash palace, 3 second memory, charlton hill, lior, last year's hero, rumana stone, beautiful girls, relbison, lessie does, palladium, deborah conway and fear of flying. Bands will vary from campus to campus.
:: Speaking Circuit ::
University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Thursday, 17th October
12.30 -2.00pm
Concourse
Guest Speaker: Phillip Adams
University of Sydney
Wednesday, 23rd October
1.00 - 2.30pm
Manning Bar
Guest Speaker: Ian Chappell
:: Band Tour ::
Wednesday, 23rd October
Late evening
Manning Bar
$15 [concession] entry
$20 [waged] entry
Dear Sir,
While the possibility of Frank Sartor not only aspiring to, but also actually grasping the position of Minister for Local Government in Carr Labor Government, is not without the realms of possibility, one would require an extremely colourful imagination and one more creative than Edgar Alan Poe to contemplate such an achievement being attained through his election to State Parliament.
One can onlyspeculate that a man who has alienated so many, could survive the mudslinging of an election campaign, particularly when one has provided ones enemies with ample ammunition.
It would be more likely, that Frank Sartor would only succeed in this venture, by following the path of others who were also unelectable in their own right, gaining positions through the method of political 'Noblesse Oblige' and as a camp follower, follow the many other part hacks and unelectable into the upper house. This upper house being state equivalent of what Paul Keating referred to the home of unelectable Swill.
Personally, I was disappointed that an asset such as Frank was not, through an N40, endorsed as the candidate for Penrith. This would have offered an opportunity for many, including my own family, to fully participate in this election, through active and effective campaigning returning with interest and satisfaction the debt we owe the Mayor of Casterbridge.
Alas! We will continue to wait at the water hole, for even the highest flying bird must return to drink.
Or as they say in the Illawarra, 'A bird in the Hand is worth two in the Bush'!
Roll on March 2003.
Tom Collins
Hiya there junior. I heard you'll be at some grade school Thursday reading to the kiddies. How noble an effort, in a state where your brother has abandoned public education.
While you're reading to the kiddies, junior, please teach them that, on average, 1 in 6 of their families has no health coverage. Plus, about half of them and their families have inadaquate insurance that pulls deeply into their already half empty pockets ( Volusia Cty- check out the average incomes here, junior).
As you're telling them about whatever fantasy is in the book at hand, tell them the real "fantasy" of yours junior- the one of having Jesus of Nazareth as your role model. Let's see, isn't he the one who stated: "Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to go to heaven". Isn't he the fellow who told us to "turn the other cheek" and to "love your enemies"? Is that before or after you conduct your newest "war game" of pre-emptive strikes against a minor opponent. How many "thou shalt not kills" will you forget were said by your role model , as you send tens of thousands of our soldiers and Iraqi civilians to "meet jesus"? Will you tell the kiddies it may be about 112 billion gallons of oil under Iraq, and showing the rest of the world our "BIG STICK"?
Since you'll be in a comfortable environment Thursday, finally around "peers", all I can conclude is "Now junior, behave yourself!"
Philip A Farruggio
Port Orange Fl 32127
386- 760-0231
The terrorist horror in Bali appears to have surprised the Howard government. I note that the Australian Defence Signals Directorate had no information about the attack.
It would appear that the Directorate is fully tuned in to eavesdrop on conversations between unions and refugees but is not concerned about intelligence that places Australian lives at risk. What is the REAL function of this expensive organisation.
W James
I read with interest the intervention about Kamal's case. I came from a land where there are a high proportion of Muslims.
Kamal may be a devout Muslim, good on him.
What concerns me is this. When a Muslim comes to live in a Western
Democracy, he/she enjoys and makes sure the trappings of Western
Civilisation fully benefit her/him. Should a Christian (most of whom traditionally live in and make up Western Democracies) be in the same situation as Kamal but in a Majority Muslim society, I doubt the same help would be so forth coming.
Regrettably, I speak from bitter experience. I left Malaysia when I was a 20 year old lad and I know what I am talking about. I will be among the first to be appalled if Kamal is not allowed to pray as a Muslim. It certainly is not the Australian way to obstruct the another bloke's religious beliefs. Is it just a question of Kamal not being allowed to pray or is there more than meets the eye. Not allowing Kamal to pray is one thing, making facilities available like a prayer room is quite another. I do not demand that my employer provide a place for me to say my Rosary etc., during my lunch hour. Albeit there is a chapel at the place where I work. In a Muslim dominated country is there a Chapel for Christians in the workplace?
I notice that Muslims find refuge in Christian countries when persecuted by their own, however when the source of trouble is removed and they are back in their own, a different story emerges. The late Ayahtollah is a good example. Look at how much of trouble he gave to the West when he came to power. He forgot that it was where he sought refuge in the first place.
Returning to Muslims in our work place, I believe a line must be drawn. No vilification of anyone because of their religion must be tolerated. Bending backwards to accommodate and pander is quite another. We have so many Religions practised in Australia, do we then start to make sure there are Sikh temples, Hindu temples, Buddhist temples, Taoist temples, Jewish Synagogues, Baha'i Temples, Seven Day Adventist Prayer Halls, Mormon Temples, etc., in our Workplaces. The various Christian denominations canfill a page. Our Aboriginal Citizens also have different religions among themselves and each (religion) is so different, can we possibly accommodate each and every one of them. It may appear a landmark appeal and case won.
It was even sensational. Remember, however, the trade union is opening a Pandora's box.
I conclude by stating that protecting a worker's right to religion is important. I am grateful as a union member to know that a worker's right to practise a religion will be protected. What was done however should be a one off situation.
Best Wishes
Seranig
The full story behind last weekend's bombing is yet to emerge; the perpetrators, the motivation and the target. But more than one hundred Australians, scores of other foreigners and the Indonesian workers who served them lie charred beyond recognition.
Any search for meaning from the tragedy at this stage risks being trite and disrespectful, but that hasn't stopped pundits of all political orientations giving it a go.
From our perspective, the attacks on Bali should serve to remind us that, no matter how many millions of dollars we put into 'protecting' our borders, we can never pretend we are safe from the rest of the world.
We can not expect to live as a wealthy outpost in the developing world, turning our back on the suffering of our neighbours, thinking about them only when we want to exploit their resources or lie on their beaches.
We can not take up the cudgels as the number one cheer-leader for a war-mongering and oil-hungry US Administration and expect to be immune from any anti-American sentiment.
And we can never pretend that by putting up the barricades, the problems of inequality, repression and injustice will never affect us.
The message from the Bali tragedy is one that trade unions have long recognised. We are one world and our fortunes and futures are woven together.
The difficult healing that comes from the Bali massacre must be focussed on looking at the world from other nation's perspectives; from the view of the asylum seeker fleeing oppression, the textile worker on 50 cents a day or the innocent Muslim vilified in suburban Sydney.
The response to mindless terror is not to dismiss the murderers as heartless aliens whose fanaticism alone and of itself explains their inexcusable actions.
If we really want to stop terror, we need to understand their motivations and consider how we figure in their misguided story.
For our own safety, we need to engage with our region and our world. We need to look beyond our own backyard and care what happens to our fellow humans. We need to stop regarding others as 'them' and recognise they are 'us'.
Peter Lewis
Editor
| Search All Issues | Latest Issue | Previous Issues | Print Latest Issue |
|
© 1999-2002 Workers Online 
|
|
