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Down Victoria way they're scathingly dismissive about the Liberal Party leader. Dull as an Ashes series seems to be the consensus on the hectoring former school master who relies on stints at elite establishments like Lauriston Girls and Scotch College for his street-cred. An "absolute toff" was the assessment of one Victorian commentator. But Doyle appears to have at least one politically-valuable asset - ruthlessness. He was impressively single-minded in his stalking and undermining of ineffectual predecessor, Denis Napthine, before knocking him off just weeks out from the State election.
But what does this man stand for, you ask? Early indications are he will stake his campaign on an aggressively, right wing approach to industrial relations. No surprise there, and nothing revolutionary either. In fact, rather than portraying himself as a little Jeff Kennett, Doyle appears to be positioning himself as a miniature Peter Reith or Tony Abbott. Given that his chief advisor is no less than former Reith flak Ian Hanke, it's unsurprising that Doyle's IR policy is couched in the familiar double speak of his mentors.
He has already embraced the Building Industry Royal Commission, saying it shows the Victorian construction industry is "riddled with standover tactics, cheque book industrial peace, disregard for the rule of law, unnecessary delays and the use of occupational health and safety as an industrial tool". The Commissioner is currently fighting a Federal Court case, insisting that he has made no findings at all, and won't until next month. So it is remarkable how specific people like Abbott and Doyle can be about what will be contained in his final report. Regardless of the legal formalities, Doyle is promising an Industrial Inspectorate to complement the work undertaken by Abbott's Building Industry Taskforce in order to "clean up an industry plagued by union thuggery".
A Liberal Government, he promises, will also abandon Labor plans for a Fair Employment Bill and the introduction of Industrial Manslaughter legislation. But they are just the opening salvos in "Me Too Doyle's" IR program. Think about his specific promises and try to remember where you've heard them before. The Doyle Liberal Party will throw in the all the nasties that made Peter Reith the testament to class warfare he is today. Doyle's 'initiatives' include using police to break pickets, backing a single IR system and abolish the Victorian Commission
Sounds familiar? The fingerprints of Reith seem to be all over this agenda - and in this case the evidence will not be wiped cleaned by a Hanke. In fact, the bald-scalped backroom boy who orchestrated the war on the waterfront, the children's overboard affair and the phone card fiasco can only add to the evidence. This man is the sort of ideological warrior that has turned the word Liberal into an oxymoron.
So while Doyle might share the big hair and small ideas of his NSW counterpart, John Brogden, they differ in one important respect. Brogden's offend-nobody approach to IR might not be an example of original leadership but it is a sight more honest than pulling together all the known thoughts of Peter Reith and Tony Abbott and passing them off as your own.
Solicitor Lachlan Riches was hoping to interview Oagiles Malothane in South Africa today as the CFMEU sought to mount wage and immigration cases on his behalf.
Malothane, at the centre of a diplomatic stand-off between Australia and South Africa, is under police protection in the Republic because of fears for his safety. He came to union and South African Government notice after being injured in the October 23 Lake Cargelligo water tower collapse which claimed two lives.
Soon after being interviewed by South African diplomats in hospital, he was whisked away by people associated with the company that had brought him to Australia under a temporary immigration visa, designed for business people looking at establishing operations in this country.
Malothane told diplomats he had received two $50 payments during three and a half months as an Australian building worker. His wife and four children at home, meanwhile, were getting $100 a month.
South African Embassy staff fear Malothane is the tip of an iceberg of virtual slaves being employed around the globe through companies associated with expats who fled the fall of apartheid.
High Commission first secretary, Rasheeda Adam, told the Australian media Malothane's story tied in with that of another countryman, Abian Grumeider, who committed suicide at Villawood Detention Centre last year.
Her concerns were rejected by hardline Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock who argued the South Africans had "no evidence" of a "fraudulent visa racket".
More Action in the Deep North
But evidence from North Queensland suggests Ruddock's Government has been sitting on claims of an organised immigration scam for months.
A respected figure in the remote St George community told Workers Online, on condition of anonymity, of a racket that has been supplying Cubbie Station, near Dirranbandi, with cheap labour for years.
It involved a Perth-based recruitment company sending upwards of 30 young South Africans a year to work at Cubbie Station. Predominatly white, and recruited through "Christian" contacts, their fates on the gigantic cotton spread aroused concerns amongst locals.
The Government knew all about it because a St George-based group raised concerns with local National Party MP Bruce Scott.
Specific allegations included:
- the withholding of documents and other legal papers from individuals
- rorting of immigration visas
- gross underpayments and denial of entitlements
- failure to upgrade documents, as promised, resulting in arrests and deportations
Most of the above abuses have been documented in statutory declarations made by former Cubbie Station employees now back in South Africa.
Our contact alleged that the same WA-based recruitment company had supplied South African labour for rural industries based around Dubbo in western NSW.
He claimed that two workers he knew of received only accommodation, and vouchers for fuel and food at the local store, by way of remuneration for their time at Cubbie.
Cargellico Rip-Offs
The CFMEU, meanwhile, has discovered that the company at the centre of the Lake Cargellico tragedy was ripping off more than the immigration system.
Organiser Tony Papa told Labor Council that when South Australian-based BGA Propriety Ltd won the contract they had no workers compensation cover. Subsequently, they had underestimated employees, their wage bill and even claimed to be operating in another industry to dodge full liability.
"This happens all the time in the building industry. Just recently, we uncovered an operator in Sydney who had 12 employees but only paid workers comp on the basis of having one worker," Papa said. "We told Workcover and nothing was done about it."
Papa called on Government to bring recalcitrant employers to book.
"If Government's don't start enforcing their own laws we won't have a Workcover system left. You can't expect honest employers to keep meeting mounting premiums when dozens of competitors are beating them to contracts by blatantly ripping the system off."
The success by the CPSU and CEPU capped a two-year campaign, sparked by the One.Tel collapse that left hundreds of stranded workers dependent on minimum community standards.
One.Tel's successor, Tele.One is amongst companies tied to the new document. Perhaps more importantly, so are new economy pace-setters AAPT, Ozemail, RSL COM, Hutchison, Macquarie Corporate Telecommunications, Primus, Vodafone, AT&T and AOLSeven.
Some of those companies have fiercely resisted union recruitment campaigns, utilising security guards and calling police to keep worker representatives off their properties.
About one year ago atttitudes softened with general acceptance that an award was on the way.
Commissioner Greg Smith ratified the first Telecommunications Service Industry Award in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission this week. Its breadth is significant, extending coverage to call centre, clerical, admin and technical employees.
"We were particularly concerned to ensure skills of emerging occupational groups were properly recognised, and that there would be a focus on training and qualifications," CPSU spokesman Stephen Jones explained.
"In this industry, education and training deliver better products and services for consumers, and better wages and careers for workers.
"What we have is a pace-setter award for new workers in the new economy."
CEPU national president, Brian Baulk, described the award as a "remarkable achievement".
"It shows the union movement has the ability to make awards outside traditonal areas of coverage. For the first time it gives workers properly set rates of pay linked to relevant classification structures, competencies and accredited training."
The Riverina Irrigation Company, which employs 125 workers, is the latest in a growing number of companies being forced to wind down operations because of the ongoing drought in NSW.
The company, the main supplier of water to properties in the Riverina region, has proposed that the workers take annual leave or long service leave for the one day per week where they would be stood-down.
"The workers and the union appreciate that the company is unable to operate at its normal pace due to all the work literally drying up," AWU state secretary Russ Collison says.
But the AWU thinks it's about time that the Federal Government step in and make up the short-fall in pay for workers who have been stood down.
"Its unfair for workers to have to eat up their hard earned leave entitlements because of the drought. It's high time that the Nationals start looking after their constituencies and help out the silent victims of this drought."
Drought Claims Rural Worker
Meanwhile, the AWU has called on the WorkCover Authority to double its resources in rural NSW after the death of a station hand using equipment to deal with the impact of drought.
The accident occurred this week near Warren, in the state's Far West, where a Station Hand was operating a Grain Auger, used to transfer grain from silos into trucks.
The worker was using the Auger to access reserve grain to feed stock, a process carried out more frequently during times of drought.
Russ Collison says he is aware of an increase in the use of this type of machinery, typically by workers with little or no experience in its operation.
"The drought calls on workers to use different equipment and techniques, often which they are not familiar with," Collison says.
"The AWU is calling on WorkCover to audit the changed work practices caused by the drought and implement special training and compliance to deal with these special practices."
They have called on NSW Premier Bob Carr to reject outright overtures by Canberra to take control of mainline tracks and open them up to competitive tendering.
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Combined Rail Unions will take the 'Keep Our Railway Together' campaign around the state for two weeks commencing in Newcastle on Monday, November 11.
Workers in rail towns around the state have established campaign committees to fight the changes and are seeking community support through a petition to be delivered to the NSW Premier later this month.
They will visit 11 different rail towns, holding public meetings, distributing petitions and screening 'The Navigators', Ken Loach's move dramatising the experience of the privatisation of British Rail.
NSW Labor Council secretary John Robertson said 1500 rural jobs would be lost if the take-over went ahead.
"The Australian Rail Track Corporation wants take over the rail tracks, break up the network and force workers to bid against each other to keep their jobs," Robertson says.
"Where this has been tried overseas the results have been disastrous - with massive job losses and decreased safety leading to rail fatalities."
"We are calling on the Premier to reject outright any move to give up control of NSW rail track and commit to a single chain of command controlling this important public asset," he says.
Campaign Itinerary:
Mon Nov 11 - Newcastle: Rally noon, Shortland Lawn, Newcastle Harbour
Tues Nov 12 - Grafton: Rally noon, Market Square
Wed Nov 13 - Lismore: Rally noon, Cedarlong Park
Thurs Nov 14- Narrabri: Rally noon, Collins Park
Fri Nov 15 - Maitland: Rally noon, Maitland Park Hockey Fields
Mon Nov 18 - Bathurst: Rally noon, Kings Parade
Mon Nov 18 - Orange: Rally 4pm, Robertson Park
Tues Nov 19 - Dubbo: Rally noon, Venue TBC
Wed Nov 20 - Wagga: Rally noon, Venue TBC
Thurs Nov 21- Goulburn: Rally noon, Belmore Park
Fri Nov 22 - Moss Vale: Rally noon, Venue TBC
Full details at the LaborNet campaign page
http://www.labor.net.au/campaigns/saveourrail
The virtual blockade, with MEAA emails to members being returned 'undeliverable', is the latest salvo in Seven's bid to force staff to accept a pay deal that does not even keep pace with inflation.
It comes weeks after Seven management determined that no further negotiations would take place as they were going to put their own draft agreement straight to a vote.
Alliance Assistant Federal Secretary Mark Ryan says it appears the email blockade was a direct response to the Alliance campaign to improve wages and conditions.
The Alliance is recommending a strong NO vote on the basis that the draft agreement will result in a reduction in conditions compared to the existing agreement, in return for a maximum increase of only three per cent a year on base rates only, which on the current rate of inflation is a reduction in real wages.
Alliance delegates and officials are now running a vigorous nationwide campaign to vote down the proposed agreement and ensure management return to the negotiating table and listen to employees' demands.
Read the summary of key items that Seven are arbitrarily seeking here
Aunty Pay Talks Stalled
Meanwhile, journalists at the national broadcaster are locked in negotiations to deliver a fair pay rise, better performance management and improved leave arrangements.
After several weeks of negotiations with ABC management, MEAA national secretary Chris Warren says some progress has been made but there is no agreement on several key issues.
In October MEAA and CPSU members endorsed a claim that includes a 15 per cent pay rise over three years, improvements to the current grading system and increases to maternity and adoption leave.
The claim also calls on ABC management to end the abuse of fixed term and casual employment by placing permanent staff in all ongoing jobs.
VTHC secretary Leigh Hubbard urged workers and their families to remember the damage wrought by Jeff Kennett�s administration which was only voted out of office three years ago.
He pointed out that Victorians lost 350 schools, 9000 teachers, 10,000 health care workers and 17 hospitals during the Kennett years.
"We believe Victorians should let the Bracks Government finish the difficult job of rebuilding the state," he said. "They have the arduous task of restoring jobs, services and infrastructure that were decimated under Kennett.
"In our view, Robert Doyle and his old school tie brigade have nothing to offer ordinary Victorians.'
Hubbard said the approach to industrial relations outlined by Doyle was a throwback to Kennett's policy of confrontation.
Doyle's agenda includes pledges to:
- do away with moves towards a distinctly Victorian system and embrace Abbott's demand for a single, national IR regime
- ensure more active police involvement in pickets and protests
- provide small business with advice on industrial relations issues, with $2 million a year of taxpayers' money
- "pro-actively intervene in significant test cases and major disputes at the Australian Industrial Relations Commission
- do away with Industrial Relations Victoria and establish and Industrial Inspectorate within the Justice Department
- ensure that the Workplace Relations Act, 1996, prevails on all state-federal funded projects
- fight proposals to allow union officials greater rights of entry to workplaces
- return AWAs to the Victorian public service
- and oppose the introduction of user-pays with regard to bargaining fees in Enterprise Bargaining Agreements
The Health Services Union of Australia, which covers Aboriginal health workers in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, says that the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) is opposing the increase in the Industrial Relations Commission.
NACCHO has argued in the IRC that employers do not have the capacity to pay the $18 a week increase, awarded to all low paid workers across Australia earlier this year in the 2002 Living Wage case decision.
HSUA national secretary Craig Thomson says the unwillingness of employers in the area to pay the money showed the parlous state of funding in the critical area of Aboriginal health services.
'The appalling health problems of Aborigines is one of the most pressing social problems in Australia and yet we have a situation where the funding levels are so bad that health services cannot afford the most basic pay rise for their staff,' Thomson says.
'It is an unacceptable situation and clearly cannot be tolerated. The federal government needs to immediately step in to ensure that the money is there for the health services to pay their staff.'
The HSUA will press its case for the increase before a full bench of the Industrial Relations Commission in Melbourne on Monday.
The zookeepers, members of the Public Service Association, last week went public over concerns about long hours and inappropriate work directions including masturbating an infertile gorilla.
The fracas seems to have pushed zoo management into action, with marathon negotiations resolving an agreement including:
- new flexible work hours
- an audit of all safety issues
- a new grading system
- and a complete review of casual staff levels.
Zoo management has also agreed to conduct a staff climate survey in relations to general concerns and morale at the zoo.
But the zoo remains in dispute with maintenance workers over their refusal to pay a $4.60 allowance for handling animal faeces. That matter will be heard by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission on November 28.
The nurses are urging federal government to meet its responsibility to elderly Australians in fulltime care and have nominated November 21 as a day of statewide action.
They will wear bright pink embellishments to their uniforms in an effort to draw attention to a crisis caused by under-funding; a lack of accountability for public monies; and growing wage disparities between aged care and public hospital nurses.
Nurses Association secretary Brett Holmes says conditions for aged care residents and nurses have plummeted since the Howard Government came to power in 1996.
"There is chronic under-staffing with the result that nurses cannot take industrial action in the way you and I understand it," Holmes told Labor Council delegates.
"Instead, nurses will take part in a range of pink activities to draw attention to the problem and they need community support.
"We all know about the drastic shortage of nurses in the acute public sector but, let me tell you, it is much worse in aged care. It is not a sexy industry to be in and I hope nobody here has to go there but we have to work towards a system that respects all our loved ones."
Nurses will launch a wage-parity petition as part of their campaign.
A significant problem for the Nurses Association has been the ability of Government, as aged-care funder, to hide behind the skirts of a range of immediate employers, from private enterprise providers to charity.
A primary purpose of November 21 activities will be to smoke Government out and force it to defend declining real funding levels.
Rubbish was not collected as stop work meetings were heldfin response to industry and local Government representatives reneging on a long standing industry practice of protecting workers entitlements and refusal to legally guarantee industry jobs and entitlements.
"NSW waste industry workers and their families are tired of being at the whim of a contracting system that puts profits ahead of their legal rights, entitlements, jobs and family security," Transport Worker's Union state secretary Tony Sheldon says.
"It is just not good enough for council's, industry employers and their representatives to use waste industry workers for the period of a contract but not agree to provisions guaranteeing their job security and entitlements protection.."
Sheldon said that historically when contracts rolled over or changed hands, jobs and entitlements were protected.
Despite lengthy and protracted negotiations, industry representatives and the local Government Association have refused to maintain this practice and underwrite the agreement in the NSW Award system."
Saying they are no longer willing to accept second best safety standards on the job, their Lets Care For Ourselves Too! campaign focuses on educating the public about the risks nurses face everyday and getting these issues addressed.
NSW Nurses Association General Secretary Brett Holmes says approximately 12 health workers are injured every day in NSW and WorkCover statistics reveal there were 4,191 serious incidents in 1999/2000 including eight fatalities.
Safety incidents are costing the industry almost $65m a year and causing some 41,796 in lost work time, at a time when staff shortages are already at a critical stage.
Nurses in the Mid West are distributing information flyers to patients and visitors and wearing campaign badges, while surveying local nurses to identify the top five issues in the area. The focus will then turn to developing workplace solutions.
The union says the WA Department of Justice's decision to cull vital staff members through a new rostering system follows demands that superintendents be paid an equitable level of allowance.
Branch Secretary Toni Walkington says that for the past 12 years prison superintendents and other senior managers have been paid at significantly less than the award rate, while being on-call 24 hours a day.
Up to four senior managers per prison are currently required to be available around the clock for emergency contact, but the department wants to reduce this to a single manager for each prison, not necessarily the Superintendent.
"Availability of senior managers for major incidents, such as riots, deaths in custody, major failure of security systems or prisoners who are at risk and have suicidal tendencies is crucial and could be compromised," Walkington says.
"Given the breadth of emergency situations facing prisons, a superintendent requires immediate access to managers with expertise in specialised areas to assess and resolve issues," she says.
The union last week sought an urgent conference with the WA Industrial Relations Commission, resulting in a temporary suspension of the new roster.
Collapsing wages, increasing unemployment and growing poverty among both Israelis and Palestinians has forced a national strike in the middle of a war.
The strike has had a deep impact because of the continuing economic struggle the nation faces with a dramatically slowing economy, largely created by the Palestinian intifada.
Sections of Israeli society who normally do not take part in strikes joined in willingly this time.
While the public sector workers are about to return to work - after a late night deal on Thursday - those employed by local authorities are vowing to continue the pay and welfare strike.
This extraordinary strike was just one of the triggers for the collapse of the Sharon government with one of his Minister admitting that the strikers had a case - and the coalition partners having a blue over Budget spending.
The Labour Party finally walked out of the coalition government in protest over an Israeli Budget continuing to prop up the militant Jewish settlers living in the Palestinian Authority lands, rather than spending money on social welfare to help the poor living inside Israel proper.
But the elections, which were forced by the collapse of the government, may deliver a new regime which is even further to the Right - more concerned about fighting the Palestinians than fixing the economy.
And this will be especially so if Bush starts to bomb Baghdad before the January elections are held in Israel ....and in turn Hussein starts to reign down mayhem on Jerusalem.
The key will be whether the Labour Party and the major party to its Left - Meretz - can turn the attention of the Israeli public to the economic issue of increasing poverty among both Israelis and Palestinians.
The party's of the Left and Centre - along with the Histadrut trade union movement - need to convince the voters that a democratic government, elected on the platform of defeating poverty by delivering jobs and bread to both Israelis and Palestinains - can also deliver security and peace.
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The Treasury revealed this week that the Israeli economy has just entered its third year of a recession with nearly 30,000 manufacturing jobs lost in two years and more than one million Israelis trying to eke out a living below the poverty line.
The number of people not earning enough to pay income tax went up by an unprecedented 2.8 percent this year, and now includes 43.1 percent of the working population.
Meanwhile real wages have dropped sharply - the latest data showing that in the first seven months of this year the values of the monthly pay packet is 4.5 percent less.
Wages in the private sector, though higher than in the public sector, were eroded far faster. In the first seven months of 2002, the average wage in the private sector fell 4.7 percent in real terms compared to an erosion of 3.7 percent in the public sector.
The erosion of wages was one of the key factors behind the month-long strike involving workers in government offices, local municipal workers (such as garbage collection) and some nationalized industries.
While real wages are dropping the Sharon government was making it easier for employers to import cheap labour from Asia to work in factories, on farms and in the hospitality industry.
Prime Minister Sharon - who is a big landowner - employers a huge number of Asian migrant workers on his farms.
And the incentives are obvious. The Sharon government has created a legal structure which means the cost of employing migrant labour is nearly 40% lower than employing an Israeli and 30% lower than employing someone from the Palestinian territories.
The election should be fought on who is making profits out of this cheap labour and how decent wages can be provided for both Israelis and Palestinians by changing the rules to favour workers and the poor - not the friends of the Right, the employers.
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions' report says there are "serious problems" in much of Japan's public sector, as well as widespread discrimination against women workers.
The report, which has been released to coincide with the WTO's review of Japan's trade policy, reveals that while the country has ratified both core ILO conventions protecting trade union rights it still has far to go in some notable areas.
Workers in public enterprises cannot go on strike and cannot bargain on issues concerning the management and operation of enterprises, including those concerning safety, health and education.
Fire-fighters are forbidden to form trade unions and public sector employees that instigate strikes can face anything from dismissal to three-year jail terms.
Meanwhile women workers earn on average 65.5% of average male workers, experience widespread discrimination and are commonly subjected to sexual harassment.
"For Japanese women, the level of discrimination and harassment is extremely worrying" and the country is "clearly lagging well behind its OECD counterparts" in terms of collective bargaining and trade union rights, says author of the report Collin Harker.
For further information, click here.
Actors Equity president Susan Lyons says the move proves the opposition's ignorance regarding the importance of the arts in building Australia's national identity and says the industry is already struggling to make ends meet.
"Our industry gets by on the smell of an oily rag subsidised by the good will of its workers. With average incomes for actors around $13,000.00 and an already shrinking local industry we cannot sustain any reduction in the level of funding provided by Government," she says.
"The Liberal Party does not seem to understand the role we play in creating and promoting the national identity."
In New South Wales the arts ministry provides assistance to the live performing arts, direct subsidies to organisations such as the Sydney Opera House and grants to smaller companies such as Railway Street Theatre. The New South Wales Film and Television Office (NSWFTO) is also within the arts portfolio provides funding to films produced in the state.
Equity says that as yet no justification or rationalisation for these cuts has been put forward.
The NSW Teachers Federation Presents
THE INAUGURAL SAM LEWIS PEACE LECTURE
Speaker: Julian Burnside QC
Noted refugee advocate
7.30p.m. - Tuesday, 19 November 2002-11-08
ANZ THEATRE
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM
Admission will be by ticket. To obtain tickets, phone the Federation on 9217 2100, or email at mailto:[email protected].
*****************************************
PLUTO INSTITUTE and AUSTRALIAN FABIAN SOCIETY
(NSW Branch) present
Wednesday November 13 at 6.30PM
Address by PAUL SCHEFFER:
Waiting for the barbarians: borders of Europe.
The multicultural challenge for social democracy
Paul Scheffer is Holland's leading and controversial public affairs commentator. He is a distinguished author and journalist specialising in European affairs and multiculturalism. His articles are widely published in European journals such as Die Zeit, Le Monde des Debats, Politiken.
He is a member of the Advisory Council of Foreign Affairs and governor of the European Cultural Foundation.
Where:
Upstairs Cafe
Berkelouw Books
70 Norton Street
Leichhardt
Admission: $10/$5
Coffee/tea included in admission price
RSVP: [email protected]
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Saturday 30th November
Sydney Town Hall
Speakers/performers include John Pilger,John Howard (actor),
Sharon Burrows,Jenny Morris,Sheik Hilali,Rawan Abdulnabi
Walk against the War Coalition
Bruce Childs 9386 1240 Hannah Middleton 0418 290 669 Nick Everett 0409 762 081
Email the organisers at [email protected]
Website:www.palmsunday.socialchange.net.au
To keep in touch with the peace movement join the announcement list,
email [email protected]
Send donations to 'Walk against the War Coalition, PO Box A899 Sydney South 1235
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Final overland lecture for 2002
Bob Ellis
The Age of Spin
Wednesday 27 November at 7 pm
$10/$6
Melbourne Trades Hall
Corner Victoria and Lygon Streets
Carlton
rsvp 03 9688 4163
In response to the most recent editorial in Workers Online, if the Cunningham by-election showed anything it was that the voters ignored the siren song of the ALP hacks which went something like "If you vote Green it could cost you your job". This historic win for the Greens showed the sort of siren song that the ALP machine will resort to.
The by-election also clearly demonstrated that the Greens are now the third force in Australian politics and that come the next federal election we will be winning more Senate seats, probably from the Democrats. It is worth remembering that all the Democrat Senators voted for the Workplace Relations Act. The Greens Senators Bob Brown, Kerry Nettle and now Michael Organ are currently vigorously opposing the expansion of that act.
On the issue of power The Greens are possibly one or two elections away from holding the balance of power in the Senate, which, in the circumstances of Democrats policy on Industrial Relations, can only benefit the labour movement.
The labour movement is currently made up of about two million members and about 100,000 of these are members of the ALP. This leaves plenty of room for growth of the Greens working class membership base at no expense to the ALP. Indeed Bob Brown was very glad to see many union members in Tasmania helping to double his vote in the last federal election, a seat that otherwise may have gone to the pro-Workplace Relations Act Democrats.
Those voters who do leave Labor for The Greens usually preference back to the ALP so there is no loss of seats to the Coalition. I believe the Greens are also helping to expand the base of electors by showing Australian youth that there is a point to registering to vote. Most of those young people who vote for the Greens will preference the ALP ahead of the Liberals, so no harm there.
I rather like the image of unionists tying themselves up in knots on boats to support the ALP - it seems very appropriate. However it would be more useful for the labour movement, the Greens and enlightened sections of the ALP working together to campaign for clean, sustainable industries and jobs. History presents us with great opportunities to make NSW and Australia clean, green and exporting environmental best practice to the region, because if we don't we may all be scrambling for boats!
Regards
Se�n Marshall
Greens NSW Industrial Relations Spokesperson
To the New South Wales Electricity Workers, ALP and Unions.
For first hand knowledge of the privatisation of power industry in the Latrobe Valley and other essential services and the resulting community devastation and despair, I can assist by making available people from Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and Latrobe Valley District Committee, GTLC - Gippsland Trades and Labor Council and Latrobe Shire - (ALP led).
A delegation of our people could speak to your people regarding corporatisation/privatisation and its devastating effects, including 17.9 per cent unemployment, 46 per cent youth unemployment, youth suicides, downward spiralling property and house prices, felt right across the community. Or perhaps a delegation of your people can come down here to meet with us. Some of this may provide insight into what's been happening in the Latrobe Valley since Award restructuring, the Accord, the national electricity grid and their effects on the community at large and unionism. Further debate can be found on the Labor 21 forum.
It certainly does seem that the Howard agenda/worm of wedge politics has crawled through many gutters to reach the union movement. When union is fighting union, faction is fighting faction, official fighting official, worker fighting worker, I realise that Howard, Reith and Abbott have won the debate. It certainly is a shame to see and hear what's going on between the Sydney national office of the AMWU and their adversaries in the Victorian Office.
Certainly there is no talk of unemployed members and their families or workers and their families at present coming from either office. One wonders who they all think they are representing.
Steven Presley
Morwell, Vic
I fully agree with the Union philosophy of "gathering of the force" in order to play on the same level as the bosses. But I would like to know if there is another way... a way in which we are all equal and that we could share in the responsiblilty and rewards of the bosses.
I'm sick of the 'Them and Us mentality" it just keeps on getting rehashed over and over again .... them/us ... them/us ... When will an enlightened approach appear. I see and hear the same stuff from the 1850's till now.....
There must be a better way?
Martin Griffin
Many will have us believe that this is a "Christian" nation. They fill us with hype and propaganda about "Christian" values, family values. Let's examine these precepts. Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God to many Americans (including yours truly), taught radical (for those times, and these) ideals.
Things like: "the Lord said 'vengeance is mine", love your enemies, easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to go to heaven, give up all your possessions and follow me, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, you who are without sin cast the first stone, no man can serve two masters, he who humbles himself is exalted and he who exalts himself is humbled" ... and on and on.
How many of us actually follow those precepts in our daily lives? Interesting, because I believe many working Americans actually do. It is our leaders (today's Pharisees) and industry "elites" who sadly do not. Since every nation is judged by its leaders, its rulers, lets examine this Iraq "showdown". Our President, who said Jesus was his role model, sees Iraq as simply "Saddam", as if the millions there have no soul, no meaning.
Furthermore, Bush plans to contradict his role model's Christian teaching by advocating a "preemptive strike" against an entire nation.
Now look at the other "leaders" this country has. The "elites" who hold over 85% of our nation's wealth and make up less than 1% of our population. Should I state that again? 1% of Americans control over 85% of its wealth. When will the vast majority of the 99% realize what is occurring? The "elites" are the reason we do not have proper education, affordable housing, health coverage for all, real mass transit, and last but not least, jobs that pay enough to support a family of four. We 99% fight amongst ourselves over that 15% left on the table! If we had real compassionate leaders in government, and not just puppets for the 1%, we would see fairer taxation.
If we could send "Statesman" to Washington, rather than the herd that now runs with the myriad of lobbyists, we would return to 1940 tax standards. Why 1940? Well, it seems they had a formula that fits well with today's current situation. In 1940, the top bracket for individual federal taxes was 81.1%, but.... that was for incomes in excess of 5 million dollars. Methinks that rate would fit just fine and dandy today in 2002. Think of all the revenue this nation would take in with that top bracket rate? Think of all the things I aforementioned that would be available to working Americans. Why, we would have the same health care, the same schools and teachers that our rich neighbors have. Perhaps these super rich would thank this new progressive movement for bringing them "closer to Christ" once again. Wouldn't that help them sleep sounder each and every night? After all, they tell us (through the media they own and the politicians they buy) that this is a Christian Nation.
Do they deserve anything less? Do we?
Philip A Farruggio
Dear Sir/Madam,
I have only just begun my search for a "contact" through which I can alert "somebody" about what is going on in the employment sector. I realise that what I'm about to say is probably well established but I feel (via comments from employment consultants & subsequent job interviews) that this situation is well on the increase.
The situation is quite simple...employers favour married people in preference to single people. How do I know? At almost every job interview, the interviewer asks me my age & then my marital status. Quite often, the employer will endeavour to establish my marital status by the question, "Do you live alone?", or "Do you rent?".
Although these questions are not directly in violation with the current laws of anti-discrimination, they certainly allude to discrimination as indicated by the Anti Discrimination Board of NSW (ADBNSW). If the issue of marital status &/or age is not relevant to a particular job then why would employers ask these questions? It appears, from my experience, that one can only answer these questions in one way, that is, to be married. Of course, this is only applicable if the employer deems you to be of an age whereby the employer thinks you should be married.
It appears that employers could equate marriage with stability & perhaps morality. Employers may therefore, be indirectly discriminating against single people.
Of course, the employer is forced to pay exorbitant insurance costs as well as dividends to shareholders (the choice of being a public company is a choice of "fast money" which inevitably costs workers jobs via "cost cutting" to maintain profits which must exist to keep shareholders investing). When will the cost cutting end? How much further can costs be cut before employers fail to provide a service to their customers?
I tell my story in order to alert other job seekers about the ploy employers are currently using to find the "perfect" employee.
I urge ALL job seekers to call the ADB if they attend a job interview & are asked about age & marital status. I did this & they recorded my situation (not recorded the conversation) which becomes a part of their statistics.
One does NOT need to lodge a complaint & I also strongly advise against this as I feel that this will greatly limit ones' job prospects.
Please be sure to tell the ADB that you will feel as though you will be
greatly reducing your job prospects by lodging a formal complaint.
If the truth comes out via this method, the ADB will see a sharp increase in employer discrimination against single people & therefore show this in their database of results.
Name Withheld
The farmers are portrayed as the heroes of this tragedy, victims of forces beyond their control, ignoring their own contribution through salinity and soil erosion; while glossing over our collective responsibility for global warming. This, we are told, is an act of God.
The farmers receive our compassion, our sympathy and our charity. We raise millions through glossy funds that talk of turning back rivers with the proceeds of Telstra, and distribute millions more through government funding that we never refer to as welfare.
But today's farmers are businessmen first and foremost. They are also employers. And it seems to us that it is not the farmers but the rural workers who have become the silent victims of this drought.
Workers like the 125 Murray Irrigation employees being told to stay at home are not isolated examples. As the water dries up so does the work, leaving families with nothing but the dole.
As for seasonal workers, when there is no crop to pick there is no work, no safety net, not even a face to put to this breed of drought victim
And when things are tight rural workers are forced to take risks, working on dodgy projects like the water tower that collapsed under sensational circumstances at Lake Cargellico; or forced to undertake untried or irregular processes like the transfer of grain from a silo which claimed a farm hand's life this week.
As the drought continues the pressure on rural workers will only get greater, human tragedies going beyond the ability to turn a profit for a year to more basic struggles like putting food on the table.
Governments at all levels need to look beyond the clich�s of drought to chart its full impact on rural communities.
To its credit, the Carr Government in NSW has recognised the plight of rural workers. To its disgrace, the Howard Government continues to regard the bush as farmers first, second and third.
It should not surprise anyone that it is the trade union movement that is left to stand up for rural workers in times of drought. A movement born of the shearing shed is filling the leadership vacuum created by the directionless National Party.
The challenge for all of us who care about equity is to ensure that the real battlers of the bush become the focus for any relief efforts.
Peter Lewis
Editor
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