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The Prime Minister was having a blinder, stroking Laurie Oakes all around the Channel Nine studios last Sunday, when, suddenly, the wily operator induced him to self-destruct. Scoring at will, from both sides of the spectrum, Howard couldn't resist the glory shot that would write him into Uncle George's good book for all time.
Oakes floated up the "neighbouring countries" wrong-un, and Howard took leave of his senses or, at least, his responsibilities. Yes, the Prime Minister said, he would support a pre-emptive military strike on a neighbour's territory if that country harboured a terrorist threat to Australia. Not surprisingly, the leaders of Malaysia, Thailand, the Phillipines and Indonesia didn't leap to the conclusion that he was talking about New Zealand.
Howard's big on the theory of security, big enough to cake-walk an election, but he's a disaster when it comes to the practise. It is doubtful that there has ever been a Prime Minister more threatening to the wellbeing of the average Aussie.
First, from seeming obscurity, he gets us on Osama's hit list. Personal mentions no less as the guru of gore runs through game plans that seem to revolve around the annihilation of as many innocent children, women and men as possible.
Now Howard's set back relationships with the very countries who matter most when it comes to defending Australia from the threat posed by Bin Laden and his fundamentalist fellow-travellers. The Phillipines responded by suggesting plans for an anti-terrorism pact might be abandoned, and an Indonesian spokesman labelled the Howard Doctrine a "threat of aggression". Malaysia's cantankerous and somewhat mischievious leader, Mathatir Mohammed, talked about an "act of war". Even Singaporean officials took strong exception.
Clearly, Howard has no intention of launching an Asian war, so why the rhetoric? It was hard to see it as anything other than one last, gratuitous grovel at the feet of George Bush. After all, it was the American unilateralist who proposed rewriting the UN Charter to validate "pre-emptive strikes" against foreign states.
Bush wants a cloak of respectability for US extra-judicial assassinations, such as that carried out recently in Yemen, and, eventually, the legal pretext to go to war against Iraq, with or without UN sanction.
Two fundamental principles have allowed suspicious nations to tiptoe around widespread warfare since the US, and Australia, got their come uppance in Vietnam - non-interference in the affairs of other sovereign states, and acceptance that armed force must be reserved for clear-cut cases of self defence.
Bush wants to dump both so he can bomb the be-jeysus out of anyone, anything and anywhere he desires. From a purely selfish viewpoint, it is understandable that the representative of the world's most powerful nation, armed to the teeth with nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, might benefit from such a fundamental change to the rules.
It is not so clear why the representative of a small country trying, often vainly, to define its relationship with bigger, culturally different and militarily stronger neighbours should be nearly so enthusiastic.
After all, when you're talking international law, you're talking about the rights of all nations. Justifications for US or Australian military actions must apply equally to Iraq and Israel, Pakistan and Pyongyang, not to mention heavyweights within striking distance of our shores, like Indonesia and China.
John Howard is the worst kind of Tool. He doesn't just tool around for his own gratification any more, but has become a tool in the service of others.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott was this week forced to defend the payments to witnesses whose evidence against the union was described by a Federal Court judge as �manufactured�.
Senate Estimates hearings have heard the Advocate was at the centre of an effort to stitch-up the CFMEU using secret tape recordings and lies. When the Judge threw out the case and ordered costs against the Advocate's witnesses, the Federal Government bailed them out to the tune of $96,000.
Further, Employment Advocate Jonathan Hamberger, admitted to a Senate Estimates hearing that while his office used the discredited witnesses to pursue its freedom of association action against the CFMEU, it didn't pass to the ATO evidence that at least one of them was a tax evader.
The Advocate's latest credibility crisis stems from its ongoing campaign against the union. In 1999 it launched a controversial case, alleging the CFMEU had breached the Workplace Relations Act by requiring one John Lyten, a painting supervisor, to join the union.
Lyten and the principal of Carson Painting, Lee Carson, secretely taped a CFMEU Melbourne site delegate the day after meeting with Geoffrey Hanley from the Office of the Employment Advocate. The OEA was given the recording and sought to use it as the basis for its prosecution.
'Artificially Manufactured Confrontation'
However, Justice Marshall found Lyten and Carson had "artificially manufactured a confrontation"; told untruths and that their recording had been illegally obtained.
So critical was he of their behaviour that, in dismissing the case, he took the relatively unusual step of awarding costs against the witnesses personally.
The Court was also concerned that, in earlier proceedings, the Advocate hadn't disclosed the meeting prior to the manufactured confrontation. It further found the OEA did nothing to discourage the illegal recording and should have foreseen the possibility of it occurring.
Then in December, 2000, former Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith decided the taxpayer should meet the $96,000 liability of the two OEA witnesses. He took that decision after the Judge had ruled on their credibility and with evidence to Lyten's tax status on the public record.
Faced with these accusations in Parliament this week, Abbott said his predecessor had acted with "perfect propriety". He again failed to reveal whether or not evidence of Lyten's tax evasion had been forwarded to the ATO.
Shadow Workplace Relations Minister Robert McClelland is challenging Abbott to come clean by "releasing all documents associated with the indemnity and revealing all payments made under it".
Modus Operandi
The Advocate's modus operandi - ignoring clear evidence of illegal activity by "shonks" prepared to level allegations against the country's largest construction union - became a recurring feature of the Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry.
The $60 million Commission was established by Workplace Relations Minister, Tony Abbott, on the strength of an 11-page report from Hamberger in which he conceded he didn't have evidence to back key allegations.
Office of the Employment Advocate staff were seconded to the Royal Commission where they undertook investigations and prepared witness statements. Some of the most sensational evidence they helped gather was subsequently discredited by Police and Telstra records. Repeatedly, employer witnesses referred to the Hamberger-led agency as the "Employer Advocate".
The Office became even more clearly politicised in the run-up to the Victorian state election when it was at the centre of a stand-off between Federal and State Governments.
Abbott withdrew tens of millions of dollars in Federal support for the MCG redevelopment after the Bracks Government rejected provocative conditions, including a fulltime OEA presence on the largely-CFMEU site.
Workers Online has become aware of another three cases involving the alleged underpayment of restaurant workers imported to Australia under controversial Section 457 immigrations visas.
WA CPSU state sercetary Toni Walkington and delegate Maureen Armstrong lend their support |
Two of the sponsored workers, Black South Africans like the Ribs and Rumps chefs, were employed in the Eastern Suburbs while the third saw service in an Indian Restaurant. The claims are about to be filed with the Chief Industrial Magistrate's Court in Sydney.
Section 457 visas allow business to bring specialist workers into the country on the basis that their skills are not available in Australia. So far Workers Online has discovered the provision being applied to farm labourers, machinery operators, construction labourers, and now cooks and chefs.
An earlier South African brought to Australia and paid less than $50 a week as a construction worker had been employed as a petrol pump attendant in his homeland.
He was whipped out of Wagga Wagga Base Hospital and flown back to the Republic after being seriously injured in an accident that claimed the lives of two other men.
Labor Council assistant secretary Chris Chistodoulou says the visas are being used to "exploit guests and undermine Australian wages and conditions at the same time".
Stinky Smells a Rat
Chirstodoulou was at a protest outside Ribs and Rumps, also attended by the CFMEU's giant rat Stinky, when company representatives sought to enter negotiations.
The restaurant, Restaurant and Caterers Association, and legal representatives of William Ndlovu, Reevis Khumalo and Elliot Dube will meet at the Labor Council offices on Monday in a bid to thrash out a settlement to the six-figure underpayment claim lodged by the trio.
Labor Council secretary John Robertson stressed any resolution would be in the hands of the chefs and their representatives. "We are more than willing to help bring the parties together but any agreement must be struck with the workers," he said.
"Our role is to support these men and pressure the Federal Government to stop using immigrants in their bid to cut the living standards of Australians."
Meanwhile, the CFMEU which has driven concern over immigration scams, has welcomed Labor Party green card proposals for guest workers.
The $50 a pupil bonus will be the first noticeable victim of months of PSA bans and work-to-rules in support of its two-year-old claim for extra staffing in public schools.
PSA spokesman Steve Turner said if the Department of Education and Training didn't come up with an adequate proposal before December 19, the final day of term, next year's Back to School Allowances would not be processed.
"We have tried not of affect parents or students but if the Department doesn't move within the next few days parents will lose the allowance," Turner said.
Delegates for the 6800 administrative and support staff employed across the state's public schools have already voted for a January 29 Sky Channel hook-up at which there will be a vote on a proposal to strike for the first three days of the new term.
The stand-off stems from the PSA's 2000 campaign to have the Department recognise increased workloads. It pointed to paperwork associated with BAS, the Back to School Allowance and Government's program to ensure every pupil has an email address, as specific examples of increased work requirements not matched by staffing.
The Department accepted there was work overload and set up a joint review with the PSA. PricewaterhouseCoopers were commissioned to produce a report and discussions have been going on ever since.
"Based on our discussions, there will not be any changes until at least 2004," Turner said. "That timeframe is unacceptable when it has already been agreed that a problem exists."
The PSA has put a proposal to the Minister calling for interim staff increases which average out at an extra one worker per school. Turner says the funding, in the vicinity of $80 million, is available from already allocated funds.
A crew member on the controversial bulk carrier Stadacona - formerly the CSL Yarra - was rushed to Royal Brisbane Hospital this week after falling 15 metres into the hold of the ship.
The company has refused to let the International Transport Federation help process his compensation or give the ITF any details on the accident.
"The question is do the crew have any training on safe working conditions and if so why was the deck mechanic working suspended over an open hold?" Dave Perry says.
The Stadacona, formerly an Australian flagged and crewed vessel, now flies the Bahamas flag of convenience, but is permitted to work on the Australian domestic trade using guest labour.
The ship was subject to a 14 day sit-in by its former Australian crew in Port Pirie last May and is currently subject to community protests and Commission hearings.
The AIRC has ruled in favour of a union submission that Ukranian crew members should get Australian wages and conditions while working on the Australian coast. CSL is appealing the decision.
This latest incident is just one of six disasters in the past month involving flag of convenience (FOC) vessels:
- on November 15 the Liberian FOC container ship Hanjin Pennsylvania exploded off Colombo with crew fatalities,
- on November 18 the ageing Bahamas FOC oil tanker Prestige sunk off Spain devastating the coastline,
- on November 24 the Maltese FOC Tasman Sea collided with another vessel off China causing a second oil slick,
- on November 24 the Panama FOC LPG tanker Gaz Poem caught on fire off Hong Kong and
- on November 26 the Bahamas FOC Hual Europe caught on fire after running aground off Tokyo.
At least two of these vessels regularly call at Australian ports.
The Maritime Union of Australia says it is dangerous, cut rate ships like these that the Australian federal government is inviting onto our coast to replace the Australian fleet, with the government actively intervening and supporting the Stadacona and Pacific trading on our coast under the Bahamas flag of convenience.
The Labor Council this week approved the sale of off-band AM radio station 2KM for $2.1 million, in an offer secretary John Robertson described as �too good to refuse�.
The AM licence was purchased for $30,000 in 1998 and remained in Labor Council hands when it sold 2KY two years ago.
The station had been broadcasting an easy-listening format to a limited audience until approached by World Media, a group that broadcasts news and music for Australia's Arab community.
The sale marks Labor Council's departure from broadcasting after 78 years. "We are now focussing our communications on more effective means of reaching our membership, such as the web, direct campaigning and the use of existing media," Robertson says.
The NSW union movement will retain an interest in the radio medium though, as a foundation sponsor for fledgling community broadcaster FBi, due to begin FM broadcasts in mid-2003.
Union member Liza Fairburn has taken an unfair dismissal case to the Industrial Relations Commission, after being suspended without pay from October 2, 2002.
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Casino management claim Liza breached Star City's Code of Conduct Grooming Standards by having her tongue pierced.
But Liza does not remember signing anything banning tongue studs when she started at Star City seven years ago. And management have not been able to supply her with a copy of the casino's original grooming policy.
'In any case, I believe they have gone too far by trying to tell me what I can wear inside my mouth,' Liza says. 'The Grooming Standards are out-of-date. Tongue studs are pretty common these days.'
Liza wore a clear retainer stud at work, but this did not satisfy management. 'They couldn't tell if I was wearing it. They asked me to stick out my tongue at a meeting once.'
At Liza's last staff review, management found she was 'consistent and careful in her personal appearance' and provided a 'professional and positive image of herself and Star City'.
Angered by management's intrusion, Liza has gone for more than two months without pay, rather than give in and remove her stud.
LHMU NSW Assistant Branch Secretary Mark Boyd says that Liza and other Union members should have the right to wear tongue studs.
'Presentation is important when you deal with the public at work. But Liza is very well presented, the company has acknowledged her high standards, and her stud does not detract from that,' Boyd says.
Labor now has a clear mandate to govern in Victoria with a majority of seats in both houses of parliament.
Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Leigh Hubbard says the overwhelming victory was a clear indication that the Liberal's anti-union campaign had backfired.
"The desperate assumption by the Liberal party that union-bashing would win them votes has failed dismally," Hubbard says.
"Most decent people in this state are aware of the good work done by the union movement in representing ordinary working people and supporting community groups."
Hubbard says the trade union movement looked forward to a constructive and positive working relationship with the re-elected Labor Government.
He says the Government should be applauded for announcing that it will reintroduce legislation to protect hundreds of thousands of workers who were disadvantaged by the abolition of state awards under the Kennett regime.
"It is a real victory because the progressive forces now control both houses of parliament," Hubbard says.
"We look forward to the re-introduction of bills that were either defeated by the Liberals or threatened with defeat in the case of the proposed outworker legislation."
Labor's pre-election industrial relations policy reaffirms the government's intention to reintroduce:
� the Federal Awards (Uniform System) Bill to provide the federal award safety net to all Victorian workers
� the Outworkers (Improved Protection) Bill and
� the Child Employment Bill (protection for children under 15 years of age who work)
Hubbard says he hopes the government would also ensure that employers who were found to be grossly negligent in the event of a workplace death would be punished appropriately.
Hulls New IR Minister
Meanwhile, the VTHC has welcomed the appointment of Rob Hulls to the industrial relations portfolio.
But it has signaled its intention to continue to fight for justice for the victims and families of gross negligence in the workplace.
VTHC secretary Leigh Hubbard says Hulls was an asset to the Bracks
Government and had strongly supported the Crimes (Workplace Deaths and Serious Injuries) Bill prior to its defeat by the Liberal Opposition in the upper house only six months ago.
Under pressure from Howard Government linking tariff protection with IR reform, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union is expecting a showdown early in the New Year.
The AMWU's Steve Johnson has slammed the employer campaign, based on the false premise that workers in the automotive industry are 'mindless militants'.
"The reality is that this is a workforce that has delivered unprecedented levels of growth, investment, productivity and industrial harmony," Johnson says, citing Toyota's recent announcement of a new $300 million R&D centre at Altona.
"Clearly these companies have now bowed to the pressures of Tony Abbott and the Federal Government and their anti-union ideological position."
Any attack on the AMWU, will be a fight with the broader union movement, with the NSW Labor Council this week committing to support any campaign.
Under the Code, Coles will monitor clothing supply chains to ensure wages and conditions reach workers who produce the garments.
Many of them earn as little as $2 to $5 per hour, work 12-hour days, do not get paid superannuation and frequently suffer work-related injuries, Fair Wear says.
It says the Code will force larger players in the industry to take some serious measures to generate a new culture of work for clothing outworkers that does not involve degrading their wages and conditions.
"After six years of solid campaigning in NSW and around Australia the TCFUA and Fair Wear have succeeded in pushing industry and government towards steps aimed at eradicating the exploitation of outworkers in the fashion industry," according to NSW Fair Wear Chairperson Debbie Carstens.
The move comes some two months after the new Code was ratified by the Australian Retailers Association and the Textiles, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA).
It was drafted to replace the old Retailer Code after that code was proven ineffective in making retailers accountable for the treatment of clothing workers.
Yet although individual retailers were involved in negotiating the new code most of them are now dragging their feet in signing up, Carstens says.
Many retailers continue to argue that they have no control over the treatment of clothing workers, but Fair Wear remains adamant that the buck stops with them.
"Ultimately retailers must be held responsible for the culture of exploitation that has developed as a result of the drive for higher profits at an ever mounting human cost," Carstens says.
To spell it out to those retailers choosing to remain in the dark Fair Wear is staging a demonstration at the Pitt St Mall in Sydney CBD Tuesday 10 December. Actions are also being staged in Adelaide and Melbourne on the same day.
The organisation has promised to "name and shame" retailers who fail to sign the code by this date, which is also International Human Rights Day.
The demonstration will kick off at midday at the Grace Bros end of the mall.
"Political parties like to talk a lot about law and order, but police officers are sick of being used as political footballs," Police Association president Ian Ball says.
"What police officers want to see is real action to assist us in protecting the community.
The Police Association wants all political parties to accept three basic principles:
� Respect: for police officers through a Blue Ribbon Superannuation Scheme for police injured in the course of their duty.
� Recognition: of the risks of policing by committing, in the next pay round, to a system which properly rewards experienced operational officers to keep them in the force longer, increasing the return on the significant public investment in training new police.
� Resources: commitment to a coherent strategy for resourcing police stations, rather than the current ad hoc and politicised system by governments of all persuasions that has left many stations in disrepair.
"The attitudes towards these issues should be the true test of a political party's commitment to Law and Order - a well-resourced, well-remunerated force," Ball says.
"Our members are taking their concerns out to political candidates around the state and will seek the support of local communities for our claim."
A full copy of the Police Association blueprint has been circulated to the major political parties, with a response sought by mid-January. It can be read in full at: http://www.pansw.org.au
Australian Workers' Union State Secretary Russ Collison says the provision of unpaid labour would lead to farmers laying off their remaining farm workers to replace them with cheap work-for-the-dole labour.
Collison also warned of the safety implications of having inexperience workers using complicated and sometimes dangerous farm machinery.
"Rural workers have already suffered enough, many of our members can no longer afford to make their mortgage repayments," Collison says.
"Now the Government has hatched a plan to increase rural dole queues by dumping the city unemployed onto drought-effected farms."
Christmas Charity Run To Cobar
Meanwhile, a charity drive sponsored by city workers to support drought-affected communities in far-West NSW left Sydney this weekend.
The initiative, sponsored by the Australian Workers Union and the Australian Hotels Association, delivered 50 pallets of non-perishable gifts and hamper items
The goods have been collected from Sydney worksites by the AWU and supported by members of other trade unions.
AWU President Mick Madden says the Cobar Run was both a practical and symbolic show of support from city workers to their country cousins.
"Cobar's one of the worst affected areas by the drought and we'll be travelling out there this weekend to send them the message they are not being ignored," Madden says.
While the Independent Education Union union recognises the importance of attracting more male teachers, it says using scholarships in a discriminatory fashion is not the way to go.
NSW/ACT IEU General Secretary Dick Shearman has labelled the plan "simplistic and unnecessary".
"Scholarships should be available to men and women. The Catholic employers are too keen on exemptions from laws which apply generally to protect employees from discrimination," he says. "There is a range of reasons young men are not taking up or remaining in teaching jobs in primary schools."
Shearman says special efforts should be made to visit senior year classrooms in boys' schools to tell them about the profession but says things are unlikely to change until current issues are addressed.
He has named a range of initiatives that would help attract and retain young male primary school teachers, including:
� More professional development opportunities
� Increased salaries
� Increased mentoring
� Lighter workload
� Assistance in classroom management
� Reducing overload of paperwork.
The CEO has applied to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission to be exempted from section 21 of the Sex Discrimination Act for a total of five years. It wants to commence offering the scholarships to students who completed their HSC this year.
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Peggy was a stalwart of the Miscellaneous Workers Union holding the position of South Coast Sub-Branch President for many years, as well as in the broader movement having served on the Executive and being a life member of the South Coast Labour Council. Peggy's other achievements included her role in assisting the establishment of the South Coast Workers Medical Centre and the South Coast Workers Childcare Centre.
Above all however, Peggy made an enormous contribution to the rights of migrant women workers particularly in the cleaning industry, where she successfully mustered the collective strength of the movement in support of this struggle.
Arthur Rorris, South Coast Labour Council Secretary said Peggy will be remembered for her lifetime of struggle both in and outside the workplace."
"Peggy Errey was a true pioneer for the rights of working women in our region and one of the great union women in Australia."
"Peggy's campaigning for equal pay for woman, her tireless role in promoting unity and solidarity in the South Coast union movement and her commitment to social justice over 40 years will be her lasting legacy."
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Eulogy for Margaret "Peggy" Errey by Ian West MLC
Margaret "Peggy" Errey was a life-long activist, feminist and trade unionist.
Peggy was a strong, principled and humanitarian woman. She never lost sight of her aims and beliefs as she engaged in the various struggles in her life. She was a realistic and hard-working person who expected no greater reward than the satisfaction of helping others to help themselves.
Peggy was born in 1914 in County Cork, in the south of Ireland, when the Irish troubles were brewing and the Great War was consuming Europe. She grew up in a large family that was committed to the Republican cause--a commitment she held throughout her life. She would tell of how as a child she would hide under her bed while the Royal Constabulary--the "Black and Tans"--raided the family home.
Peggy's early teenage years in Ireland gave her an acute appreciation of the importance of good health, employment and education. The family was poor and struggled to find work and food for the children. The little joys that there were came from highlights such as the local dances organised by Sinn Fein, where they would laugh and dance and sing songs about the dream of a united Ireland.
As a young adult Peggy went to England to search for work and was at one stage living in Manchester. She got a job as a trainee cook that allowed her to enjoy what she had been deprived of in Ireland--work and good healthy food.
World War 2 had a great effect on her and she would tell of being in the underground shelters during the Bombing of London and how she lost her hair through absolute fear. The fight against fascism was very important to Peggy because she learnt the importance of basic values of freedom and equality.
Peggy came to Australia in the post-war period and she ended up as a cook at the Fairy Meadow Commonwealth Hostel. She would listen to the steelworkers and wharfies who would tell, over the meals she cooked for them, about their struggles. Her time at Fairy Meadow really was her apprenticeship in Industrial Relations in this country. Before long she was a workplace delegate for the Liquor Trades Union.
So began her career as a trade union activist.
One event at Fairy Meadow that Peggy would recall with glee was a dispute she had with the Hostel management when they wanted to water-down the food being served to the hungry steelworkers and wharfies. Peggy told the management where to go and was sacked because of her stand. All the staff followed her out the door and surprise, surprise, management put her back!
Many of those steelworkers and wharfies were returned serviceman from the Second World War and during those early Cold War years the Peace Movement had significant support. So Peggy was appalled when Prime Minister "Pig Iron Bob" Menzies was fighting to outlaw the Communist Party and divide the Labor Party. Peggy saw this attack on the right to organise and bargain collectively as the first step in the loss of freedom of speech and association. She feared the next step would be an attack on independent trade unions, which she believed were a cornerstone of a free and democratic society.
During that period, Peggy also became involved in the South Coast Labor Council. In 1953 she became a delegate to that Labor Council from the LTU. In the 1960s, she worked at the Wollongong Campus as a cleaner and joined the Miscellaneous Workers Union and became a delegate to the South Coast Labor Council from the Missos.
Her involvement in the Miscellaneous Workers Union included:
� Being a Delegate from Wollongong University campus
� Becoming a Supervisor in 1970
� Becoming Illawarra and South Coast sub-branch President
� Being a State and Federal Councillor, Executive Member and Vice President of the NSW Branch
� And becoming a Life Member of the union in 1980.
All this work for the union she did for no financial reward.
In 2000 the LHMU set up the "Peggy Errey Advanced Delegates Course". Peggy epitomised the organising model that is now being reinvigorated by many unions.
It was during this period from 1960 to 1980 that, through Peggy's organising capacity, the University of Wollongong became an industrial site with conditions that were second to none in Australia for the MWU workers. The full-time cleaners at the University were envied for their 30-hour week and excellent wages. Peggy strove to make sure they appreciated the conditions that the union had won.
Peggy was continuously active in trade union affairs because she knew that many struggles were long and difficult. Her reputation as an advocate for workers spread across the Illawarra. I recall being on a picket line and a Police Sergeant recognised her from 20 years previously! Such was her patience and commitment to a chosen cause.
All the while, Peggy would have some other project going on. She helped establish the South Coast Medical Centre by lobbying Wollongong Council for a house and minimum rental. She cleaned and repaired site with so many other unionists such as Jack Lawry, Fred Moore and Joy Boserio--to name but a few of the many she was worked with. And she managed to help win funding from the State Government and private donors.
Some of the many other campaigns she was involved in were the Women's Centre at Stewart Street the Jobs for Women program and the Migrant Resource Centre. With the ACTU she worked on the Working Women's Charter Committee and was a Delegate to ACTU Women's Conference.
Peggy would say that no matter what the crisis "if you don't go fashionably then you might as well not go at all!". She was known for wearing high-heels all the time. In fact I recall when Peggy bought a pair of knee-high boots in the 1970s, she asked me how she looked. Now here was a 5-foot Irish woman with slightly bowed-legs (due to childhood malnutrition) prancing along in these high heels. I had to be honest and told her that she looked like Puss-in-Boots!
Another important cause Peggy was heavily involved in around 1968-1970 was against the British Occupation of the 6 Counties of north-east Ireland. She was instrumental in tying various committees together into one organisation, Australan Aid to Ireland, where she did a lot of work alongside Anne Duffy-Lindsay. Peggy never forgot her roots and this was certainly an issue she always felt strongly about.
Some of the other causes that Peggy was involved in that are no less important were:
� Anti-Vietnam war protests
� Anti-apartheid protests
� Struggles to gain Aboriginal rights and
� Work with migrants
I last saw Peggy in late July and she was as enthusiastic as ever--full of that Irish blarney that saw her through her life. She really was a "Twentieth Century Activist".
When I first met Peggy in 1977 in Wollongong I was a young and na�ve union organiser. Peggy taught me a great many things; she taught me to listen to people, to respect people without judging them and she taught me to organise like a good unionist.
Besides being a friend, a mentor, a comrade and a teacher, Peggy's presence made my task as Sub-branch secretary of the MWU so much easier.
One example of this was when the waterfront watchmen were engaged in a dispute over staffing on an overseas vessel. I tried everything I could to convince the members that it was time to talk but they didn't want to listen to a baby-faced blow-in from Sydney. They said "let's ask Peggy", so it was only after she gave the go-ahead that they were prepared to sit at the negotiating table with their bosses.
Being such a people person, Peggy knew what was going on in the lives of many others. This was illustrated to me early on in my days in Wollongong. Walking down Crown St with Peggy would take you hours because every second person would stop for a chat. People would wave from cars and buses as they went by. When people had gone by Peggy would explain who they were, where they worked and who their kids were and their aunts and uncles and what their ailments and industrial issues were! Such was Peggy's love and knowledge of the people of Wollongong.
Personal Struggles
And it was the personal struggles of individual members of the union that Peggy was involved in that meant so much to her.
Peggy was great on the workplace issues such as wages and conditions, unfair dismissals, harassment, vilification etc. but the off-the-job issues were just as important to her.
She was often helping a battered wife or a person battling drug addiction or someone needing a place to stay for the night. She was there when someone had issues over sexual orientation.
No personal issue was out of bounds for Peggy because she tried hard not to be judgemental. She could treat all women and men equally because she could empathise with anyone.
Yet she helped people to help themselves rather than getting too mixed up in their private affairs. That is why she was and will always be so deeply loved and respected.
However, Peggy was not a soft touch. She believed in responsibility and that respect had to be earned. She believed that people should take pride in their job and do it honestly. She believed in a fair go and "keeping your word"--once you made an agreement you had to stick to it. She was a true believer in the labour movement but her faith was not blind; on many occasions she openly expressed her frustration with the Labor Party and argued passionately at union forums.
Peggy also believed strongly in education as an empowering tool for the working class; she fought strongly for the establishment and improvement of Wollongong University because she had never had the opportunity of a formal education herself. She would walk the streets to get petitions signed to support the establishment and funding of the university because she knew that life lessons alone were not enough.
Peggy hoped that education would instil into people the importance of the fundamental democratic principles of free speech, independent courts, a free press and the universal right to vote. She also knew that education taught people to question themselves, their own values and authority.
Peggy the Labor Party Activist
Peggy was a true believer but not uncritical when she thought the Party was taking the wrong line. She was very active within the Party and in local campaigns for forty years.
She did a lot of work to help John Kerin get elected to the Federal seat of Macarthur and Peggy was not going to let him forget it.
When John Kerin was Treasurer of Australia in the early 1990s, Peggy led a delegation to Canberra to see him. When she was told that he was too busy to see them, she told his Secretary to "tell him it's Peggy Errey and then he'll want to see me!" and sure enough they were having tea with the Treasurer five minutes later.
Peggy may have been involved with more causes and campaigns than you could remember, but she never forgot her roots or her family. She was always proud of her son and daughter and her grandkids, whether showing you all their photos around her house or telling you their latest news.
Peggy highlighted for us all the rich complexity of collective humanity.
Everyone who knew Peggy will carry her memory in our hearts and will remember her always.
Vale Comrade
UNIONS SEMINAR ON GATS
9 -10 DECEMBER 2002 - SYDNEY
VENUE: York Street Function Centre, 95-99 York Street, Sydney.
REGISTRATIONS TO: LESLEY TWIGGER, CPSU SPSF Group. Phone 02 9299 5655; Fax: 02 9299 7181;
Email: [email protected]
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Fair Wear Rally
A reminder for all to come join our pre-Christmas festivities on the Tuesday 10th December at 12 Noon at Pitt St Mall. Tuesday the 10th december is International Human Rights Day!
We will be publicly naming those companies who have not signed the Ethical Clothing Code of Practice and are actively tying in Workers Rights as Human Rights into the message of the day.
Look out for "The Grinch That Stole Christmas" who will show up- ready to steal outworkers rights for decent wages and working conditions! Demand fair wages and conditions for outworkers this Christmas - come and stop the Grinch!
Your demonstration of support will not only add pressure to the Retailers to sign and comply with the Code of Practice - it will also go a long way to reminding the Government and industry as a whole that the community will not tolerate such an abuse of Human and Workers Rights in our society.
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Pluto Events: Sydney
Wednesday December 4 6.30 PM
Launch of Ghassan Hage's 'Against paranoid nationalism'
Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Road, Glebe
Philosopher and writer Ghassan Hage will talk about his new book 'Against Paranoid Nationalism' which examines the demoralising effects of the new culture of 'worrying' on white Australian politics. Ghassan Hage reveals a history of white paranoia and how this has been recently transformed into the present culture of Australian fundamentalism in the wake of Pauline Hanson, stalled
reconciliation with Indigenous Australians, the Tampa incident, border protection and the mandatory detention of asylum seekers.
Ghassan Hage believes there is an alternative to this damaged and shrinking society - an alternative to nationalist paranoia. His search is for 'a caring society' where people respect and care for each other.
'Against Paranoid Nationalism' is a sequel to his ground breaking 'White Nation'. Read more at:
http://plutoaustralia.com/news/1036622740_19043.php
Admission: Free
RSVP mailto:[email protected]
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Pluto Events: Melbourne
Saturday 30th November, 2.00pm
Comedy Club, 380 Lygon St Carlton
Guy Rundle in conversation with Max Gillies; Max Gillies the star of 'Your Dreaming' will talk with the writer of
"Your Dreaming' Guy Rundle.
'Your Dreaming' is the book of the popular stage show published by Pluto Press
Admission: $10/8.00
Some tickets still left at the door.
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Sunday December 1 12.30PM
Launch of 'The Suicidal Church'
Caroline Miley's controversial book on the future of the Anglican Church in Australia will be launched by Archdeacon Phillip Newman at St John's Anglican Church 82 Clendon Road, Toorak after the Christmas advent service beginning at 10.00AM and following the parish
Further details: Caroline Miley: 03 9458 1058
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The Australian Fabian Society (NSW Branch)
Wednesday December 18 How to argue with an economist -
"How to Argue with an Economist: Debating the Value of the Dismal Science"
Upstairs Caf�, Berkelouw Books
70 Norton Street, Leichhardt
Using a provocative new book by economist Lindy Edwards, How to Argue with an Economist, this forum seeks to broaden political debate in Australia and questions the value of economics in every day life.
With special guest speakers:
* Lindy Edwards: Former Economics Adviser in the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet, former Economics Adviser with Natasha Stott Despoja, Sydney Morning Herald journalist and author of How to Argue with an Economist: Reopening Political Debate in Australia. Ms Edwards is based at the Australian National University.
* Dr Steve Keen: Associate Professor of Economics and Finance at The University of Western Sydney and author of Debunking Economics: The Naked Emperor of the Social Sciences.
Agghhh, "The Old Silver Bullshit Artist" is at it again.
"Youngsters today kidding themselves", "iron grip onit","Our factional warfare was better than yours". Fair dinkum I can picture the current ACTU leadership, Trades hall and Alp people adoring and groveling over and around "The Silver Bullshit Artist" and being conned by his "spell" but the current generation of workers and activists are not. His government, Accord and the ACTU leadership of the time is the reason for today's shrinking of the organised workforce and the rise and rise of Howardism, Reithism, Abbott and Costello.
The Federal electorates, after seeing off "The Silver Bullshit Artist" after his attacks on the Pilot union and the Cain led attack on the BLF then saw off in succession all architects of the accord including Paul Keating,Kim Beazley,Kelty chose wisely not to contest, and Crean will be next. Labor sold out workers mainly the organised ones who now vote green,Socialist or Independent but can change seats ie Cunningham ,Morwell, Inner Melbourne. And ACTU, Trades Hall and Individual Unions wonder where they went.
It's funny when the Victorian Unions went lefter through factions including Recharge in the ETU, Workers First in the AMWU, and the Left of the CFMEU the ALP,ACTU and Trades Hall have been deafly silent on Attacks from Federal Libs, Vic Libs and the Right wing
Media Bosses including mates of "The Silver Bullshit Artist".
So Workers in Victoria and the sold out Latrobe Valley will not accept the wisdom of "The Silver Bullshit Artist" and cannot wait until the GENERATION change away from the architects of the ACCORD is complete and when LABOUR return to representing and defending traditional workers and their families.
Steven Presley, Morwell Vic.
P.s Please pass on to Bob. This help may remind him that his recollection is a little different to ours.
Dear Peter,
I would like to categorically deny my stunning win in the Golden Thong category was due to "committed vote rorting" as stated in Workers' Online, but rather to my commitment to improving sartorial standards in a round which is sadly lacking in any fashion direction. Such attempts to besmirch my good reputation will not be taken lightly - watch out for me wielding my Mandarina Duck "VB" when next we meet...
Cheers,
Tracy Ong
Brought to you today by Wayne Cooper's Brave label
The ACTU campaign for a cap on overtime hours work is fundamentally flawed, is out of touch with the workplace reality and reinforces employers' born to rule mentality that they know whats good for their employees.
Has anyone at the bloody ACTU ever had to grub for a living or are u all bunch of university trained activists who have only worked in an ergonomic chair within air conditioned comforts and easy reach of tea and biscits.
The issue is low pay full stop.
Dont dictate to people the hours they have to work. The ACTU needs to realise that in the past 12 months you can no longer purchase a home on a single wage. It now requires more overtime than ever before. Working overtime is far better and much safer than having a second job and easier on tax.
The job the ACTU needs to do is make sure that penalty rates on overtime continue to be paid, upgrading skills of people so they can compete for higher paid jobs and paid time off to achieve that, such as an employer/government paid allowance would be a worthwhile goal.
Cut out the paternalistic rubbish and and stick to the fundamentals. Now how does someone who has actually worked in the real world get a job at the ACTU?
Paul Palmer
So the next great leap forward is the outsourcing of the ownership of our public schools.
Ask any teacher what happened to the quality of school cleaning after it was outsourced.
Dick McDermott
As a junior media officer with the Carr Government circa 1996 I remember it being drummed into me: "safety and security" - we had to put the words in every media release; industrial relations, transport, health and of course that hoary old chestnut law and order got the treatment.
They've been playing the security card up at Macquarie Street ever since: making people feel scared, then convincing the same people to thank them for getting tough on the things they fear.
This week, the NSW Police signalled they'd had enough of this politicising of law and order. I suspect most of the public has too; after all the fear has moved onto a much broader international stage.
It is insecurity that drives anti-globalisation and the Fair Trade movement, as well as the reactionary Hansonism that John Howard has absorbed into his own political doctrine.
And then security became terror as September 11 and October 12 shook us from insular complacency to insular paranoia.
All of which is why John Howard is still in The Lodge and the Federal ALP is in disarray - a party seduced by opinion polls and the easy grab is now caught in the wedge between its conscience and the flaws in its modern modus operandi.
Labor is stuck in a phoney discourse that requires a 'tough government' digging in and defending us from our perceived and real vulnerability to the dangerous hordes; to the Other.
Labor will never win on this turf. As the Party of change it needs to shift the debate to the broader stage about values. Values not fear.
The debate surrounding asylum seekers is threshold because it reflects the broader dilemma facing the ALP.
Labor values demand it take a position that will actually make it harder to win short-term political backing. It is this long-termism and the necessary pain that Labor must conquer before it will win office federally again.
A dialogue based on Labor values of fairness, equity and, yes compassion. As a movement we need more federal MPs like Carmen Lawrence, prepared to put values above expediency to give us a Party worth fighting for.
The challenge for the union movement is to support Lawrence and others, from all factions, who are prepared to stand up for true Labor values. Because only when they are prepared do this, will they also be prepared to promote a union agenda.
As one ALP Insider observed this week: "when Australians want a piss-weak, do-nothing, middle of the road government, we're a shoe in".
They don't, they won't and they never will. Until the Federal ALP accepts it has to stand on its principles, even in the face of opinion polls and right wing ranters, it deserves to languish in Opposition.
Peter Lewis
Editor
This is our last weekly edition for the year. Our bumper Year in Review Edition will be posted on December 20
Under the Code, Coles will monitor clothing supply chains to ensure proper wages and conditions reach workers who produce the garments.
Many of them earn as little as $2 to $5 per hour, work 12-hour days, do not get paid superannuation and frequently suffer work-related injuries, Fair Wear says.
It says the Code will force larger players in the industry to take some serious measures to generate a new culture of work for clothing outworkers that does not involve degrading their wages and conditions.
"After six years of solid campaigning in NSW and around Australia the TCFUA and Fair Wear have succeeded in pushing industry and government towards steps aimed at eradicating the exploitation of outworkers in the fashion industry," according to NSW Fair Wear Chairperson Debbie Carstens.
The move comes some two months after the new Code was ratified by the Australian Retailers Association and the Textiles, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA).
It was drafted to replace the old Retailer Code after that code was proven ineffective in making retailers accountable for the treatment of clothing workers.
Yet although individual retailers were involved in negotiating the new code most of them are now dragging their feet in signing up, Carstens says.
Many retailers continue to argue that they have no control over the treatment of clothing workers, but Fair Wear remains adamant that the buck stops with them.
"Ultimately retailers must be held responsible for the culture of exploitation that has developed as a result of the drive for higher profits at an ever mounting human cost," Carstens says.
To spell it out to those retailers choosing to remain in the dark Fair Wear is staging a demonstration at the Pitt St Mall in Sydney CBD Tuesday 10 December. Actions are also being staged in Adelaide and Melbourne on the same day.
The organisation has promised to "name and shame" retailers who fail to sign the code by this date, which is also International Human Rights Day.
The demonstration will kick off at midday at the Grace Bros end of the mall.
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