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Issue No. 189 | 01 August 2003 |
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Issue No. 189 | 01 August 2003 |
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*****
Just as Great Leader John Winston Howard was reassuring everyone that everything was fine and that we could all come out of our bomb shelters, the US Decided to tell everyone else that Australia was, in fact, a likely terrorist target.
The claim came from the rather alarmingly named US Department for Homeland Security. Ubergroppenfuhrer Tom Ridge, who allegedly runs the quaintly named department (it is reminiscent of a certain 20th century regime from central Europe) that has been whipping up the general sense of panic and paranoia in the US prior to the next American presidential election.
The warning was quite specific; it said that "Terrorist actions may include, but are not limited to, suicide operations, hijackings, bombings or kidnappings. These may also involve commercial aircraft. Other potential threats include conventional weapons, such as explosive devices, or non-conventional weapons, such as chemical or biological agents."
Well that has narrowed it down.
Following on from the advice of George Bush's very own Chicken Little, Tom Ridge, the Australian government issued a clarification - assuring someone that Ridge�s bureaucracy simply bungled. Considering that people like Ridge are what stands between us and the forces of darkness (or crude oil hitting $30 a barrel, which is the same thing) it is alarming that they are not more alert.
Either that or we must be led to believe that when the US Department of Homeland Security says that there is a grave and credible threat that it actually means that there is no threat at all.
Ridge tried to cover up his faux pas by saying that Australia would be the STARTING point for any terrorist attack, not the TARGET.
Well, that's reassuring isn't it!
So with the official level of warning shifting from Panic to General Confusion we can thank our lucky stars and stripes that our capable ally the US is just as incompetent as anyone in our own intelligence services or Prime Minister's Department. Many people in the tourism and hospitality sector will also enjoy this little joke courtesy of our Tool Of The Week, Tom Ridge and his band of merry pranksters.
Ridge was initially reluctant to amend the travel advisory but relented when it was pointed out that it could cause electoral damage to the Australian Federal Government.
Ridge, who does sound like he is a character on the TV soap the Bold And The Beautiful, has pioneered the first Homeland Security "centres of excellence". File that one under :Only In America".
Ridge, a former US Governor from Central Casting, was appointed by Bush so that it would appear like he was doing something useful after September 11. While he was a Governor Ridge cut taxes for the wealthy, which apparently helps the poor. No one is quite sure how, but apparently it does. In any case it certainly helps the rich, and that was a good thing in Dubya's eyes. Ridge also managed to run a pro environment program that boosted pollution.
So while the End Of Life As We Know It continues apace George Dubya's right hand man in The War On Error, Tom Ridge, can safely take cover in the Tool Shed. Or can he? Who knows? Certainly not the general public.
The disability support workers this week rejected an IRC recommendation to return to work, holding out for the reinstatement of team leader, Jennifer Cumming, who was dismissed for refusing to cut staffing levels at the day care facility.
Job delegate, Hodges, told NSW Labor Council the issue was health and safety.
"A lot of our guys have very colourful histories of assaulting their families, our staff and other clients, resulting in hospitalisation for a few unlucky people," she said.
"I think you will understand what I mean when I say that unsafe, for us, is potentially fatal."
And not just for themselves. Colman and Hodges reel off a list of "incidents" they have seen with their own eyes, sometimes from very close range...
- a fellow worker wrestled to the ground and nearly suffocated
- biting and scratching on a near daily basis
- workmates and clients being punched
Colman has had chairs thrown her at work.
Both clearly recall the day they had to lock themselves in a van and call for back-up as a 130kg client turned a day visit to St Alban Botanical Gardens into a riot, attempting to punch and kick them.
While they took cover, a second client marched into a nearby supermarket and started eating "stuff". The man had a range of allergies and the
women, responsible for his welfare, knew one bad choice would mean a serious allergic reaction.
Another time, a client cut loose at the Parramatta Bowling Alley, assaulting five staff before he could be subdued.
Colman is one of a number of staff, required to carry a PRN sedation drug, at all times.
Some of the workers at Dural earn less than $14 an hour for performing a service to the community most would run from.
Colman has a six-year-old with autism, and a number of workmates have family members with the condition.
Adequate staffing, she says, is a "must", in everybody's interest.
"Even with the present staffing, things get hairy," she says
Cumming, who sold up in New Zealand to become the third manager of the Autism Association's Dural facility in two years, won the respect of
workers by refusing a budget-driven demand to "lose three staff".
Autism Australia is playing hard ball, changing locks on the building, refusing reinstatement and calling police to the picket line. But workers have been buoyed by the response of local people, especially the
parent and client who joined their picket on Thursday.
"We also have people that abscond at the first opportunity." Hodges said. "But we love our jobs. We make a difference."
NSW Labor Council assistant secretary, Chris Christodoulou, confirmed this week that several potential witnesses would only put their heads above the parapet if the IRC moved to protect them from retribution.
Christodoulou said the need for witness protection showed how far the employment pendulum had swung.
"Casualisation has made insecurity a major concern for a lot of workers and their families," he said.
"Even the most fundamental rights, such as raising an issue, or grievance, are not being exercised out of fear."
Workers, from warehousing, construction, local government and state government will give evidence supporting the need for restrictions on the ability of employers to further casualise the workforce.
The Test Case is being supported by four key unions - the NUW, PSA, CFMEU and MEU - Labor Council will argue that specific awards they are party to should contain a clause, or clauses, that ...
- entitle regular casuals to opt for permanent employment after six months service with the same employer
- entitle labour hire employees to employment with the host employer after six months doing the same job for the same employer
- commit employers to full consultation with employees and relevant unions prior to contracting, and to guarantee existing jobs, wages and conditions.
Christodoulou said the state public service had been added in a bid to "flush out" where NSW's Labor Government really stood on basic worker protections.
The boss at Sydney�s privatised international airport is contracting out 160 jobs in a re-run of the debacle that saw Adelaide Airport punt contractors and re-employ maintenance staff after a series of alarming incidents.
When Adelaide Airport was sold the new owners removed experienced staff within 18 months, largely by slashing wages and conditions through the use of AWAs.
A labour hire company put newcomers into their positions with potentially life-threatening consequences.
In one incident, the Instrument Landing System was shut down after a labour hire "safety officer" parked his vehicle in front of the Glidepath aerial, ignoring signs forbidding entry to the area.
On several occasions lighting was lost as electricians battled with airport requirements. At least once, it had to be restored by regular employees with no electrical qualifications.
Sydney Airport maintenance officer, Alan Dale, can see the similarities.
He is one of 14 workers employed on jobs from fixing perimeter fences to repainting taxi way lanes, maintaining lighting, and repairing runways.
The potential for safety blunders with labour hire workers, he says, is real.
"It's one thing to ride a mower or drive a tractor properly and its another thing to do it at an operating airport," he says.
"I hear the pilots on the radio, all the time, when I am on the runways. They always ask, does he know I am there?
"It's the same with any job, a lot of safety comes down to experience and knowing your workplace."
Dale and his colleagues are in a similar position to that which resulted in the majority of Adelaide workers seeking other jobs.
Moore-Wilton's sub-contractor, operated by the Botany Council, is offering wages they estimate would cost them between $20,000 and $25,000 a year, after losing sick, holiday and other entitlements.
CPSU representative, Larissa Andelmann, says security will come more sharply into focus in the next round of Moore-Wilton's cuts which focus on staff, including baggage handlers and safety officers.
SACL returned a $380 million in its first year after privatisation, slashing labour cost nearly 11 percent, and Moore-Wilton has announced his intention to double that figure over the next 12 months.
The IRC has ordered SACL to put off forced redundancies until August 12 when it will hear a report on negotiations between the company, the CPSU, AMWU, CEPU and APESMA.
Under the plan, the airline would test sick workers not just for illegal, but also prescription drugs, with workers who refuse the test facing dismissal.
Two thousand Qantas workers will attend a briefing on the drug testing plan on Tuesday, where they will hear from union and medical experts on the impact of the plan.
The airline has angered workers by releasing its policy prior to a proper consultation process and have ignored the recommendations of its workplace safety committee.
Labor Council secretary John Robertson says the targeting of workers who take sick leave amounts to intimidation.
"What Qantas is saying is that if you access your sick leave entitlements you will be treated differently from other workers."
"We don't support people turning up for work under the influence of alcohol or drugs, but Qantas is going about this all the wrong way.
"Unions believe that the tests used by the NSW police which have a 95% succes rate to test drug test drivers on the roads and is based on impairment - should be the standard for all
workplaces."
ACTU president Sharan Burrow waded into the debate over 29-year-old, Anne-Marie, calling her situation "fundamental" to working women.
Burrow condemned Australia's biggest company, still half-owned by the public, for sacking a woman who worked for it right up to an hour before giving birth.
"If Telstra won't do the right thing the Communciations Minister should intervene to see justice done, on behalf of Australians," Burrow said.
"It is important that companies learn they cannot discriminate against women on the basis of their family responsibilities."
Anne-Marie, who doesn't want her surname used for privacy reasons, told Melbourne's Herald Sun her manager told her she would be a burden as a part-timer.
She said the Telstra representative claimed she would be better able to look after sick children if she accepted redundancy, and that her skill levels had dropped during 12 months on maternity leave.
During nine years with the company, Anne-Marie was promoted from telemarketer to business analyst.
She is a CPSU member and that union has been trying to negotiate a settlement to her situation for a fortnight.
CPSU communications division secretary, Stephen Jones, accused Telstra of double standards, pointing out its own HR policy talked about valuing staff and their families.
Jones said it was an "unavoidable fact" that when companies such as Telstra embarked on staff cuts they saw women on maternity leave as "vulnerable".
Jones said Telstra had been given enough time to deal with Anne-Marie's case and the union was considering unjustified dismissal and anti-discrimination actions.
ADB workers walked off the job to rally outside the Governor Macquarie Tower where ADB acting president Laurie Glanfield had invited guests to commemorate the occasion.
Glanfield, who is the head of the Attorney general's De[partment, has been put in charge of the ADB to implement funding cuts announced by the NSW Government earlier this month.
It has announced massive cuts to the ADB, with this year's budget reduced by $750,000 - a cut of 23 per cent. A further 30% cut is expected next year.
PSA industrial Officer Stephen Spencer says the cuts will have a serious effect on the ADB's ability to administer anti-discrimination legislation in NSW.
"Is it a birthday or is it a funeral?" Spencer says, "These cuts are a direct attack on the Anti-Discrimination Board's ability to promote human rights issues."
"The cuts seem to be targeting the legal and policy arms, which cuts back the ADB's ability to undertake its important community education functions, such as monitoring workplace discrimination."
Spencer says work on pay equity, paid maternity leave and indigenous issues would all be compromised if the cuts go ahead.
New South Wales was the pioneer in anti-discrimination legislation when it was introduced twenty-five years ago.
"The PSA calls upon the Carr Government to maintain that tradition." Spencer says. "The arms of the ADB should be strengthened, not emasculated."
The decision to send sensitive army equipment to the Solomons aboard an FOC vessel flies in the face of US policy which regards such shipping as a serious security risk.
The US funds a fleet of 47 American crewed ships to service its army and navy.
"When it comes to security logistics, Australia is an amateur," acting MUA national secretary Mick Doleman said.
"As a US ally you would think the Australian Government would follow Washington's lead, do its homework on the security risks posed by FOC shipping and employ national flagged and crewed ships during war, or peace keeping missions."
Instead, the Federal Government has decimated Australian shipping, giving the green light to flag of convenience operators who typically dodge taxes, industrial laws and safety regulations to move cargo at cheapest-possible rates.
Doleman said flag of convenience ships, registered in tax haven, had a long history of security breaches and criminal activities.
He cited the 1999 use of a FOC freighter by suicide bombers who blew up US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; last year's seizure of Tongan-registered Karine in the Red Sea, loaded with 50 tonnes of weapons; and last month's arrest of the explosives-laded, Comoros-flagged, Baltic Sky, by Greek authorities.
The Howard Government is using the St Johns registered, Bermuda flagged, Russian-crewed Global Trader to support Australia's Solomons mission.
Twelve percent of Australian merchant seamen lost their lives during the second world war, and they were highly praised by the military for their efforts in supporting peace keeping in East Timor.
Victoria's Workcover is a shareholder in Futuris Corporation, owner of Elders
Australia Ltd which has a 41 per cent holding in ownership of Geelong Wool Combers, site of a company lock out.
GWC locked out its 93 workers on May 1 when they refused to accept workplace changes and a 25 per cent cut in wages.
The members of the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia say they are appalled to find Workcover holds more than three million shares in the company responsible for their hardship.
"This lockout has caused workers to lose their homes," TCFUA secretary Michele O'Neil says. "One couple's wedding plans had to be postponed."
"Others are struggling to put food on the table and it's especially offensive when Workcover holds shares in the company inflicting that misery on workers.
"Workcover is supposed to make worker's lives safe and secure, not be part of lock out tactics that cause workers to lose their homes and their livelihoods.
"Premier Bracks needs to explain how this investment by a Government agency is justified."
O'Neil says the workers were prepared to negotiate with the company,
and that GWC should abandon the lock out and let workers back on the job.
She says the workers had never taken industrial action and the lock out was extreme action by the company.
With projections that some areas of the state could face black-outs, the Electrical Trades Union has questioned the wisdom in privatising Pacific Power Internaitonal last year.
ETU secretary Bernie Riordan has called on the government to plan for increasing energy needs and maximise the existing network by investing in staff and equipment.
Roirdan says the proposition that the private sector could run the energy grid was rejected in 1998, but that advocates of privatisation were still driving government policy.
"Michael Egan needs to swallow his words and concede that the government needs to build more power stations," Riordan says.
"PPI shouldn't have been sold off because we know that only the public sector can build the sort of infrastructure we need for a secure energy supply."
More Staff and Resources
Riordan says that much of the reporting this week has missed the basic point that the current system is not operating at full capacity.
One of the reasons for this is that a massive number of workers have been taken out of the industry - since 1989, the workforce in the NSW energy industry has dropped from 22,500 to just 11,000
Meanwhile, since 1997, $2.7 billion has been returned as dividend to the NSW Government - money that could have gone into upgrading the substations and better resource the maintenance of these facilities.
"The good news is that because unions blocked moves to privatise the industry in 1998, we can now deal with the energy shortfall as a community, rather than relying for private companies to do the work for us," Riordan says.
"This puts NSW in a substantially better position than states like Victoria, where the profit motive now rules supreme."
While the issue has been referred to ICAC, the Public Service Association says the issue highlights problems with unfair dismissal laws.
After eight days on the job, the probationary clerk discovered misuse of lunch expenses by a senior manager.
PSA industrial officer Stewart Little says that after the clerk put concerns in writing she was terminated.
Little says the incident sparked widespread concern among the workforce at Taronga at the continued deterioration of employee relations at the Zoo.
"This is the latest instalment in the sorry state of industrial relations at the Zoo"' Little says.
"Here you have a young employee fresh on the job trying to do the right thing and informing senior management of a potential wrongdoing and instead of receiving a sympathetic ear she is sacked for her trouble."
Sunshine Magistrates Court found trucking company Boylan Distribution Services guilty of the illegal dismissal of driver Brian Davies, after he raised safety concerns.
Magistrate Donna Bakos found the company guilty of sacking Davies because he made an occupational health and safety complaint. The offence attracts a maximum penalty of $100,000 but the penalty is still to be ruled on by the Magistrate.
Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary, Leigh Hubbard, says the decision was a victory for workers because it vindicated their right to speak out on occupational health and safety concerns without fear of intimidation or reprisal.
"This decision sends a clear message to employers that they cannot discriminate against workers simply because they raise OHS concerns, " Hubbard says
"It is also reinforces the message that working people are entitled to speak up for their rights and refuse to undertake tasks that might result in them being injured or even killed."
Hubbard says the Victorian union movement applauded any action that viewed workers' safety as paramount in the workplace.
He said that the VTHC would launch a campaign encouraging workers to speak up for health and safety next Monday (4 August) to complement a recent WorkSafecampaign on the same issue.
The Pat Dixon Award is for outstanding leadership and contribution to the promotion of Indigenous people in the Labour Movement.
Tobler, a 20-year veteran organiser was a popular winner with 400 people at the annual Indiginous Labour dinner. Long term contributions to both the
indigenous community of Western Sydney and to building workers were acknowledged by speakers.
Tobler's latest initiative was this year, negotiating funding from Deputy Premier Andrew Refshaugue to set up a TAFE "ready for work" training programme for young Aboriginal men seeking work in the building industry. A dozen graduates are being helped into employment by Tobler.
CFMEU State Secretary Andrew Ferguson paid tribute to Tobler today.
"Les was our organiser at Homebush during the Olympic building programme," Ferguson said.
"He is an inspiration to young Aboriginal building workers across the city. This award is just recognition for an outstanding individual."
Officials discovered broken asbestos sheeting and asbestos piping "littering" a site where a row of houses had been knocked down in preparation for road works.
Organiser, Jock Miller, said the whole area, including the ground outside Liverpool West public school, had been contaminated.
After an unsuccessful approach to roading contractor, Brefni, CFMEU representatives contacted Workcover who issued prohibition and rectification notices. The job has been closed since Tuesday.
Miller told Workers Online asbestos was a public health issue.
"We are concerned about the well being of workers but we are also concerned about the general public," he said. "Asbestos is scattered everywhere, even on the public footpath.
"It's a magnet for kids, they pick it up and use it as chalk."
The union was meeting the RTA, Liverpool council and the contractor today about possibilities for cleaning up the site.
Burma Fundraising Trivia Night
CFMEU is holding a trivia night to raise money for Burmese refugess in Maesot, Thailand.
The Karen people live in a war zone in terrible conditions. It is hoped the money can be raised to establish a much needed workers health centre.
Wed August 6
7.00pm, Dolphin Hotel
412 Crown Street Surry Hills
$35 includes food
Bookings Karen iles on 02 9749 0480
*******
South Sydney Speaks
A series of community forums discussing issues of importance.
At 2pm Tudor Hotel
Corner of Redfern St and Pit St
Sunday 10th August
The Lies that Howard has told
A panel discussion
Peter Symond talks about the Solomon�s nth Korea and Boganvile
Margo Kingston will talk about Tampa confirmed
As well as a speaker on national security
Ring O416 347 501
For info on speakers
Sunday 31st August
At 2pm
Tudor Hotel
Corner of Redefern St and Pit St
Self Injection Rooms
Lets Have One in Redfern st
Bill Crews Exodus Foundation
other speakers to be confirmed
Approached a spokesperson from self injection rooms
and a good discussion from the floor
More info on 0416 347 501
South Sydney speaks is Supported by the South Sydney Herald Darlington / Chippendale Peace Group
Darlington ALP and South Sydney Uniting Church
********
Aidwatch Film Night, 19 August
Aidwatch is having a film night on Tuesday 19 August and we would be greatful if you could forward this email on through your networks. The feature is a wonderful film that will appeal to movie buffs as well as people interested in development issues and the shorts are great.
Many thanks - we hope to see you there,
Aidwatch
9557 8944
I agree with Lorraine Blaney that there should be more information, especially in the form of CASE examples relating to workplace bullying.
I believe that there should be suggestions on tactics about how to deal with this widespread and unethical practice.
Regrettably I believe that the author of such CASE examples should be kept confidential as based
on my experience and the experiences of others I have observed, making public statements and assisting others in a similar predicament would only
result in more bullying by the employer
Anne Greenaway
Like lots of other unionists I have been scratching my head trying to figure out why it is that people arent joining unions any more when real wages have gone backwards compared to inflation, the average working week has risen from 38 to 44 hours and Australia has the highest rate of casualisation in the western world.
A quick scan through Greg Mclean's letter to Workers OnLine 18/7/03 made it all pretty clear to me.
Gregs letter is a cracker in singing the praises of the ALP for establishing consumer protection legislation 20 years ago the letter neglects the fact that it is the workers in Ombudsmans offices not the politicians that have to confront the insatiable appetite for profit from these newly privatised and corporatised water, electricity and gas suppliers.
The reality is that private companies and corporatised government agencies either continue to make bigger and bigger profits or they go bust.
Every single state and national government in Australia over the last twenty years has been complicite in allowing these cowboy capititalist to squeeze profit out of tax breaks for industry, workplace productivity at the workers expense and now finally through cost shifting onto consumers.
Indeed it was the Hawke/Keating government that let the genie out of the bottle by trashing what little control the government had over capital markets and throwing open the doors to foreign investment and American corporate culture.
Magazines like Workers Online are one of the very few places that people with jobs can establish a sense of identity as unionists outside an individual work place. It is selling us all short to praise the very same political party responsible for allowing the corporate excess that has seen workers go backwards while the bosses and politicians have never been doing better.
Simon Flynn
FBEU
Workers Online
Dear Sir,
"Our Purpose"
The common possession of a rich heritage of memories: also the actual agreement and desire to live together, and the will to preserve worthily the joint inheritance. To share the glories of the past and a common will in the present: to have done great deeds together and to desire to do more - these are the essential conditions of a people's being."
As always, I await in anticipation every Friday for the delivery of your publication Workers Online to arrive in my inbox , thereby enabling me to have my weekly fix of Industrial Activism, this enhancement of my otherwise mundane life ( see: Tom in the Manger issue 187), giving me a warm inner glow, something akin to the euphoria and or elation experienced in the initial effects after the excessive consumption of alcohol or other mind altering substances of personal choice.
My receipt of your Issue 187 created much more than my usual exhilaration, in fact, it created a myriad - nay a plethora of conflicting emotions, particularly on reading the almost wistful letter from Comrade Assistant National Secretary - ASU Greg Mclean, in his extolment as to the virtues of Sid Einfield and Greg�s own Grandfather, who was President of the Waverley Branch , in what could only be described as an eulogium articulated as a poignant literary presence and almost comparable with the pathos expressed by Oscar Wilde as he (Wilde) physically and spiritually rotted in Reading Gaol for the then heinous crime of Sodomy.
I must admit although some time ago I was informed of what could be described as an apparent dementia as to our previous Union business relationships by a Hastings Shire Councillor , Greg and I have had many interactions over quite a period of years, including many unprecedented invitations I obtained for Greg while visiting a TUC Conference in Blackpool , to meet with political party leaders then involved in the Northern Ireland Peace Talks , so with this regard to the past ,this is a facet of Greg that I had never been previously aware of being exposed to , and I must confess I was more than surprised at this revelation of sensitivity and attachment to the past , as I had always seen Comrade McLean as an efficient Contemporary political combatant , always participating within the machinations of ALP , and its inherent political intrigue , so to have such candour of sensitivity and attachment to past memories publicly exposed , this prose to me is as fresh as a spri!
ng shower and bring to mind the words of Wilde �With the last shower, sweeter perfume bring �in his poem, The Burden Of Itys , and perhaps even , in my mind , accommodating the context .
Greg also accurately asserts �we need more great Labor men and women�, an opinion that even the Liberal Government passionately promulgates at every opportune moment ; the least not being during question time in the House of Representatives as they parry with consummate ease the ill thought out questions hidden amongst the blether of the opposition benches, the intent of which in the words of the famous Jamaican reggae singer , Bob Marley as he paraphrased Proverbs 26:27;�And whosoever diggeth a pit, Lord, Shall fall in it - shall fall in it. Whosoever diggeth a pit? Shall bury in it - shall bury in it.�
So I too, not only join in the Amens to Gregs� intense observation: �we need more great Labour men and women� but I also include the ALP in this tribute as they too have fallen prey to their own beast of Political Correctness, a beast which they have embraced of recent years as a weapon of retribution to be savagely sool upon dissenters.
Again, the poetic language of Wilde expresses the duplicitous kisses of Caiaphas on this issue, far better that a mere literary philistine such as my self:
Yet each man kills the thing he loves from all let this be heard; some does it with a bitter look some with a flattering word; the coward does it with a kiss; the brave man with the sword.
Tom Collins
In an era where more workers are employed at the day to day whim of an employer, or increasingly, a labour hire company the notion of stepping up and telling the world what's going on at work has never been as intimidating.
As someone whose job is to get union stories covered in the media, I know there is a real thirst and demand for 'real workers' to illustrate stories about the modern workplace.
But it's becoming a big ask. To speak out is increasingly seen not as an act of principle, but an act of stupidity.
That's because any worker who does speak out knows they will be branded a trouble-maker, have their hours cut back or simply taken off the roster.
All of which make young women like Megan Colman and Rachel Hodges, who have taken strike action in support of their manager who was sacked for refusing to cut staff numbers, all the more courageous.
As for the young zoo worker who raised issues of management impropriety while on probation, she should be being congratulated rather than looking for another job.
Understandably though, these young women are the exceptions that prove the rule.
At a time when we routinely send troops overseas in the name of freedom, we seem to have surrendered our voices of dissent in the workplace.
While individuals, like bank manager Joy Buckland, have won in the courts after being disciplined for talking to the media, a system where individuals have to take further action to assert their rights is hardly an option.
The end point must be legally enforceable rights to speak up on workplace issues, fundamental rights that override any confidentiality clauses in employment contracts, recognising that freedom of speech can't be traded away.
But a great starting point would be a strong statement from the NSW Industrial Relations Commission that casual workers who give evidence in the Secure Employment Test case will do so knowing they are safe from retribution.
If it doesn't, the prospect of getting a real picture of the impact of economic policies on our working lives will remain seriously diminished and with it working lives of decent families will remain a secret battle.
Peter Lewis
Editor
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