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While the ABS latest figures show union density is stable, behind the headline rate of 23 per cent lie some interesting trends.
Interview: Baby Bust
Labor's Wayne Swan argues that the plight of our aging workforce is only one side of our demographic dilemma.
Safety: Dust To Dust
Failure by authorities to police safety in the asbestos removal industry is threatening the lives of members of the public, writes Phil Doyle.
Bad Boss: Shaming in Print
Delegates from print shops around Sydney will publicly shame this month’s Bad Boss nominee with a rally outside his new Alexandria operation next Thursday.
National Focus: Work's Cripplin' Us
Noel Hester reports on a spin doctors' talkfest, workplace pain, stroppy teachers and IWD party time in the national wrap.
International: Bulk Bullies
An extraordinary five month struggle over affordable health care, by nearly 70,000 Californian supermarket workers, has just come to an end, writes Andrew Casey.
History: The Battle for Kelly's Bush
Green Bans saved a piece of bush before they saved much of the Sydney’s built environment, writes Neale Towart
Economics: Aid, Trade And Oil
Tim Anderson reveals Australia’s second betrayal Of East Timor is playing out before our eyes.
Review: The Art Of Work
Workers and westies are being celebrated as the cultural icons they are thanks to two Sydney exhibitions reminding us there is a world of art in the everyday, writes Tara de Boehmler.
Poetry: Sew His Lips Together
Wondering where the next porkie is going to come from? Resident bard David Peetz knows.
 "Grubs" Derail Revolution
Blackouts Hit Sydney
Pig-Out at Restaurant
Smith’s Charity Begins At Work
Air Rage Set To Soar
Boxers Union Lands First Blow
Drug Tests On Hold
"Anarchy" Warning from Builders
Burmese Generals at it Again
Sugar: Sweet Taste of Survival
Workers Endorse "User Pays"
State Water, Forests Face Sell-Off
Pirates and Ports for Classroom
Activists What's On!
The Soapbox
Iraq and Your Mortgage
How high interest rates go will be a key issue in 2004 and if you are looking for a clue, there's no better place to look than the war in Iraq, writes Michael Rafferty. Sport
Hang Onto the Day Job
Show someone else the money, says Phil Doyle.
Politics
Westie Wing
Ian West shows why Eveleigh Street’s not so far away from Macquarie Street Postcard
Don’t Give Up the Fight
Get Up, Stand Up is the logo of choice on a popular range of subversive condoms. Ken Davis from Union Aid Abroad reports from Zimbabwe’s second city
Grubby Poseur
Militancy
Tom On Drink
Howard Screws Vets
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Bosswatch
Unions on LaborNET
Evatt Foundation
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News
Smith’s Charity Begins At Work
Workers at The Smith Family will be forced into unpaid overtime and would lose all penalty rates for weekend and shift work under individual contracts being pushed by the charity.
They have called on workers who donate to the charity to suspend payments until the individual contracts are withdrawn.
The Australian Services Union is urging all Smith Family workers to reject non-union Australian Workplace Agreements as one of the worst examples of charities asking their workers to become martyrs.
The proposed agreement, which has been circulated to The Smith Family's 200 staff nationally would abolish:
- Annual Leave Loading
- Overtime payments
- Weekend and Shift penalties
- Payment for working public holidays
Workers would also give up the right to be conculted on workplace changes, could be directed to work outside their rostered hours for no extra payment and could be stood down without pay as a result of industrial action - whether or not they are participating.
All these conditions are being traded off for a three per cent pay rise - even though the next Minimum Wage increase would deliver 2.9 per cent without any trade-offs
ASU state president Sally McManus says the Smith Family's AWA is one of the worst examples of a charity cashing in on the goodwill of a dedicated workfiorce
"Workers enter the community services field aware that they will not make a fortune, but at least they can have the protection of a union and some decent conditions," McManus says.
"It appears that The Smith Family wants to embrace the very workplace policies that lead to the social breakdown it puts so much hard work into redressing."
The NSW Labor Council has backed the campaign calling on all workers to withhold workplace donations while the Smith Family pushed their current industrial agenda.
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Issue 213 contents
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