*****
If television isn't bad enough with Big Brother and Eddie McGuire popping up at unexpected hours we now have the nightmare of an unparalleled advertising blitzkrieg designed to save John Howard's posterior.
Managing this campaign is none other than the Federal Government's hearts and minds expert Eric Abetz, fondly known as Erica to his many fans.
Erica is an 'operator' in what laughably passes as the Tasmanian Liberal Party, ensuring that conservative politicians from the Apple Isle remain somewhere to the right of Attilla the Hun.
His bold efforts have made the Tasmanian Division of the Liberal Party what it is today, an irrelevant sideshow.
In the meantime our Tool Of the Week has signed off on this mind numbing campaign designed to tell us ungrateful swine how we've never had it so good.
The problem arises that when we match what the government is actually doing to the health system and the state of the land, and compare it to these bizarre ads.
This multi-million dollar misinformation project also includes a domestic violence campaign that has been in the pipeline for some time - years in fact. It was reportedly held up because Eric and his colleagues felt that the tone of the campaign was 'anti male'. Maybe they felt that their former colleague, that great Australian, Noel Chrichton-Browne, would be offended.
Does Eric's medieval worldview extend to the position of women?
Coming on top of the fiasco of the $600 family payments bribe, one wonders what Erica's next move will be? How To Vote Scratchies? He's already moving to ensure that landless peasants lose the right to vote with his changes to the Electoral Act.
He is obviously a student on the great effort of Jeb Bush in ensuring that the poor huddled masses don't get so uppity as to actually think that they can participate in a democracy.
You can see why he believes that a decent education shouldn't be wasted on unwashed factory fodder.
The ads themselves are at a saturation level that even McDonald's and Coca-Cola can't match. It's more than likely that it will blow up in the government's face as they seem to be more irritating than informative.
"That's great, so what's different?"
Well, Eric is a big believer in helping people to help themselves. In this instance he's helping the advertising industry help itself to something in the vicinity of $120 million dollars of your tax dollars. Brilliant stuff.
Eric's campaign to expose the plight of some of the most disadvantaged advertising executives in the country has so moved sections of the community that many have been motivated to send mobile phones, laptops, Gucci shoes and other essentials to help Eric's mates keep helping themselves.
Behind his rather bizarre exterior Betz is a unique character who also appears to have his own Intelligence Service
He even went further than his Neo-con heroes in Washington over the Iraq palaver by stating on the public record that there were 'many' links between Iraq and Al Quieda. This was news to everyone, as even the CIA and the Pentagon couldn't substantiate that.
While this may indicate that he likes to think of himself as an Australian Donald Rumsfeld the truth is that he is far stupider, which is saying something.
In the meantime we can only look on in amazement as Eric pump primes Australia for the upcoming popularity contes...err...election.
So, the next time one of Eric's informative and entertaining commercials appears on your TV, thank our Tool Of The Week that your tax dollars are being so well spent.
Thanks to Eric, from 2004 no Australian advertising executive need live in poverty.
As for the rest of us, well, it's making the ABC more attractive every day.
This week�s victim is Ross Turnbull, stood down as head of the NSW motoring organisation, NRMA, after brokering a settlement to a long-running industrial dispute, that thwarted Stuart�s contracting out agenda.
The NRMA was this week denying rumours of boardroom division but sources insisted Turnbull had been "rolled" by Stuart supporters.
AMWU assistant state secretary, John Parkin, wouldn't buy into the wrangle, other than to thank Turnbull for bringing "common sense to a situation that was out of control".
The chairman stepped up after Stuart delivered NRMA members a million dollar legal bill, with the promise of another $4.8 million to come.
Stuart had been out-manouevred by 420 patrol officers who used corporate governance to defend their jobs and conditions.
The wrangle started when Stuart moved to NRMA headquarters, fresh from helping corporatise Sydney Airport.
The new CEO wanted to contract out patrol officers' jobs and clawback long-standing conditions.
Months of stopwork meetings, bans, lockouts and IRC appearances failed to break the stand-off. The NRMA turned to lawyers and spin doctors who helped oversee the federal government's 1998 attacks on waterfront workers.
Then, the patrol officers changed tack, seeking a special NRMA meeting to vote their conditions into the company's constitution. Effectively, they wanted a referendum on whether rank and file NRMA members endorsed contracting out and condition stripping.
To get the special meeting, patrol officers and AMWU activists had to gather written requests from 100 members. They had 4280 within a fortnight but Stuart questioned their validity.
The NSW Supreme Court rejected the NRMA challenge and ordered the organisation to meet 75 percent of the AMWU's legal costs.
Aware that a special meeting would cost NRMA members $4.8 million to stage, Stuart appealed.
Unanimously, the three-judge bench dismissed that action, this time ordering the NRMA to meet all the union's costs.
"Two weeks ago, negotiations had completely broken down and the NRMA was looking at spending millions on a special meeting," Parkin reported.
Enter former Wallaby coach Turnbull.
In little more than a week, NRMA insistence on contracting out; forcing senior patrol officers onto weekend rosters; cutting mid-shift breaks; and using GPS to carry out surveillance on workers had been taken off the table.
Patrol officers voted up an agreement that delivered annual increases of five, four and four percent on top of $2000 sign-on bonuses.
When the Supreme Court accepted Parkin's assurance that the demands of signatories had been met, the NRMA's obligation to convene a special meeting disappeared.
Within 48 hours, Turnbull had been replaced as chairman by Jon Brett.
Sources at the troubled motoring organisation insisted it was Stuart's revenge.
The ICAC investigation was launched after the Cole Royal Commission and the Building Industry Taskforce failed to address CFMEU allegations that "corrupt practices" were killing workers in the industry.
Workcover has used accredited outside "assessors" to ensure operators of heavy machinery are competent. The corruption allegations centre on kickbacks to the "privatised" assessors to pass operators who may have not been properly trained.
In a report handed down last week, the ICAC found thousands of competency certificates had been corruptly issued.
It recommended criminal charges be brought against six assessors, a trainer, and the boss of an Illawarra crane company.
"Assessment and certification processes for operators are fundamental to ensuring that only competent people operate potentially dangerous machinery," says the ICAC report. "When the procedures for minimising and controlling risks are compromised through corrupt practice the potential for harmful consequence escalates."
Michael Boland died while working as a dogman on a crane that struck overhead powerlines at Heathcote on Sydney's southern outskirts, last year. Charges have been recommended against his boss, Terry Donald Whyte, managing director of Whyco Crane Services, for allegedly giving false or misleading evidence to the ICAC inquiry, which examined the circumstances of Boland's death.
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"We can put this down to outsourcing and cost cutting," says Brian Parker from the CFMEU. "WorkCover should take the assessor role back. We feel these issues should be controlled by the government.
"The use of private assessors opens the door to corrupt practices."
Parker pointed to a rapid increase in injuries and accidents, as well as a number of crane rollovers and near misses prior to the inquiry.
"It's not just building workers whose lives are at risk, but the general public as well," he said.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption launched its probe after Parker went public with allegations that private assessors were taking kickbacks to issue certificates to operators who hadn't passed competency standards.
Union secretary, Andrew Ferguson, confirmed the complaints had been raised during the Cole Commission inquiry.
The Zoo, an official AWA ambassador, has signed up its 450 staff to the non-union agreements which pay all staff equally from reptile keepers to labourers and have abolished penalty rates for weekend and public holiday work.
Irwin caused a media storm last year by dangling his month old son in front of a hungry crocodile and, more recently, drew criticism for his behaviour in Antarctic wilderness areas.
"AWA's are excellent in terms of keeping it simple. As a base document to build our policy on, I couldn't ask for anything better," his HR manager, SandyWhitehead, said.
The announcement that Irwin had been co-opted to the AWA campaign was the last official engagement of controversial Employment Advocate, Jonathan Hamberger.
The federal government has used AWAs to undermine collective agreements and attempt to write trade unions out of the employment relationship.
Hamberger has promoted their use, even when they cut workers' earnings by thousands of dollars. Despite the support of Hamberger, and advocates like Irwin, less than three percent of Australian workers are covered by AWAs.
As employment advocate, Hamberger conducted a long-running campaign against the CFMEU and his 11-page report into the construction industry was responsible for the federal government establishing the Cole Royal Commission.
His office was castigated by Justice Marshall for putting up witnesses who had "artificially manufactured a confrontation" and told "untruths" in a court case against the CFMEU.
Hamberger, an ex-staffer of Industrial Relations Minister Peter Reith, will take up his appointment as a senior deputy president of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.
The Howard Government was accused of "stacking" the bench in the lead-up to the last federal election.
So far, it has made 17 appointments to the IRC, the vast majority from employer backgrounds.
They stopped work for three hours this week to appeal, over the media�s head, to Western Sydney people spooked by months of negative publicity.
Nurses took fliers and messages of professionalism into shopping centres, including Macquarrie Square, where a workmate in uniform was recently spat on.
Their two-pronged message also demanded that politicians, from both sides of the NSW parliament, stop using them as political footballs.
The action, supported by the NSW Nurses Association, followed months of negative publicity for the western Sydney facilities, including claims that patients had been "left to die like dogs" by nurses who didn't care.
One senior nurse said more drastic action would be contemplated if colleagues did not receive the resources and support they needed.
Unable to be identified, because of departmental regulations, she said 12 months of negative publicity had "absolutely devastated" workmates.
She said the campaign against Campbelltown and Campden had wrongly singled out health professionals trying to battle gross under-resourcing and under-staffing in critical positions.
The result had been threats and insults from patients; warnings from management of vigilante assaults; abuse in local malls and shopping centres; and, worst of all, patients delaying visits until their situations had worsened dramatically.
"The impression that nurses don't care couldn't be further from the truth," she told Workers Online. "We have very professional people at these hospitals trying to provide the best possible service to local people.
"Unfortunately, the publicity means the public has lost faith and the Government hasn't backed us. It gets very difficult when nurses have to go home and defend themselves to their own families.
"Our nurses have been accused of leaving patients to die like dogs but a recent study has shown that Campden and Campbelltown have a better record on adverse outcomes than comparable hospitals.
"We have been getting a raw deal and health services have suffered because of it.
"Yes, we did have a woman die in our waiting room but only because there was no bed available. That is an issue of resources."
The nurse said that official figures showed her hospital was on Code Red or Code Orange for 73 percent of May. Code Orange means the facility is on capacity and Red indicates no beds are available - "we are overwhelmed".
On any given day in May, her hospital had an average of 10 patients waiting in emergency for beds in the ward. At times, that figure went up to 22.
State Government has poured an extra $7 million into hospitals and western Sydney nurses say they will give new administrators a chance the situation around.
But they warn, remedial work will be difficult, because the publicity has made it "extremely difficult" to attract key clinicians to their hospitals.
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) is turning to leading arts activists for it�s �Get Safe Now� campaign in an effort to combat under reporting of injuries.
MEAA delegate and AFI award winning actor, Russell Dykstra, currently starring on stage with the Sydney Theatre Company's production of 'The Unlikely Prospect of Happiness', earned the "one of the sexiest men" accolade from official Michelle Hryce.
"The posters are devised to be placed on workplace notice boards, in dressing rooms, green rooms, on film sets and news offices, to remind people what to do in the event they are injured at work," says Hryce.
The campaign, which also features SBS newsreader Lee Lin Chin, leading Film Grip Ray Brown and Renee Isaacs from the acclaimed production of the Lion King, is specially designed for each section of the union's membership.
In conjunction with the posters the MEAA has produced stickers for members to refer them to the new
MEAA occupational health and safety website, UnionSafe and the NSW WorkCover website.
The WorkCover Assist Project is helping to fund the campaign.
Labor Council secretary John Robertson endorsed the MEAA campaign, but was outraged at the suggestion that Dykestra might be seen as the sexiest man alive.
Three hundred building workers walked off Grocon�s Eureka Towers development after the bug was found in their shop steward�s shed.
They handed the device to Victorian Police and returned to work, last Tuesday, sceptical over employer and Task Force efforts to distance themselves from illegal eavesdropping.
The discovery came after CFMEU official, John Setka, was prosecuted by the Task Force following a bitter union-Grocon dispute that drew the attention of leading Coalition politicians.
Hadgkiss' Task Force is also at the centre of allegations levelled in the Senate that it "illegally" and "covertly" bugged workers on a Perth construction site.
Hadgkiss told a Senate inquiry he didn't believe it was illegal for "anybody" to covertly record conversations under WA law.
Last year, a former undercover policeman told another parliamentary inquiry that Hadgkiss had recorded conversations, without authorisation, at the time of the NSW Wood Royal Commision.
Victorian CFMEU spokesman, Jesse Madisson, said workers were particularly upset about the Grocon listening device because of last month's death of a workmate in a motorcycle accident.
The union brought counsellors to the site and they used the shop steward's shed to hold one-on-one sessions with distressed former workmates.
"Our members were shocked to discover their private conversations were being recorded," Madisson said. "The guys would be upset by that at any time, it's an invasion of privacy, but this situation made it that much worse."
Hadgkiss refused to confirm or deny his organisation's involvement in bugging, in general, or planting the Eureka device.
""It's a matter before the Senate Inquiry and departmental inquiry and I am not going to comment any further," Hadgkiss said.
CEO and Californian resident, Peter Macdonald, had good reason to reassess that position as he flew out of Sydney, this month, after five gruelling days before the Jackson Inquiry.
The inquiry, launched by NSW Premier Bob Carr, was the result of constant lobbying and badgering by unionists incensed that Hardies appeared to have dudded thousands of lung disease sufferers, courtesy of, what Bastian called "an act of corporate bastardry".
They demanded to know how Hardies, a major producer of asbestos products for half a century, had relocated to the Netherlands and told Australian sufferers that, when it came to compensation, they could "go Dutch" as well.
The AMWU highlighted the restructure that left all Hardies liabilities with a grossly under-funded corporate creation, the Medical Research and Compensation Foundation. Bastian told key Carr government ministers MRCF would come up $800 short million of compensation requirements, minimum.
But it wasn't until two things became clear that Carr stunned the business community by announcing a formal inquiry. Bastian's figures appeared, if anything, conservative while Macdonald remained adamant the parent company had "no moral or legal obligations" to dying Australians.
Irrespective of what Jackson reports in September, demands for corporate law reform will surely follow testimony that ripped the veil off how the big end of town operates.
The Inquiry learned that ...
- in the late 1990s, James Hardie directors considered a number of options that would allow them to separate the operating entity from obligations to compensate suffers of asbestos-related diseases
- much legal advice warned of the dangers of any strategy requiring court approval
- the board, in 2001, opted to set up a trust to house AMABA and AMACA, the entities representing its asbestos manufacturing operations
- when Hardies decided, months later, to become James Hardie Industries NV of the Netherlands for tax and legal purposes, the move required Supreme Court approval
- the company assured the Court the creation of a new Dutch entity would not disadvantage anyone owed money by the Australian operation
- Hardies backed this by saying asbestos victims would have the right to call on partly-paid shares with a 2001 value of $1.9 billion
- In March, 2003, directors cancelled those shares at a "private" board meeting. Shareholders were not told and nor were astesbos victims, unions, the general public or the NSW Supreme Court
- the company's own lawyer warned, in a draft opinion, that this cancellation might mean the Supreme Court had been misled
- a former Hardies legal adviser, Wayne Attrill, testified that senior executives knew a press release saying MRCF would be adequately funded was dodgy but authorised it anyway. Attrill said the worry was based on actuarial advice in James Hardies' possession
- Macdonald "hit the roof", according to Attrill, when he learned the company's "retained experts", Trowbridge Deloittes, had posted "gory numbers" about asbestos disease rates on its own website
- the restructure was preceded by a major public relations offensive that used former ALP power broker, Stephen Loosley, amongst others to try and quiet political and public concerns
- James Hardie tried to limit restructure information to the business press where advisers felt "moral" issues would not carry as much weight
- MRCF will fall either $800 million or $1.1 billion, short of being able to compensate Australian asbestos victims and their families, according to separate actuarial figures supplied by Trowbridge Deloittes and KPMG.
Counsel assisting, John Sheahan, this week flagged the possibility of corporate law reform that could make corporate groups responsible for the liabilities of their subsidiaries.
Sheahan has also suggested James Hardie will have to answer a number of allegations about the legality of its actions, arising from the evidence.
The shortfall being investigated by the Jackson Inquiry relates to product liability rather than workers compensation that James Hardie was insured against.
Almost 4000 have registered their opposition to AUSFTA in emails to the Opposition leader's office through Global Trade Watch, just one of several mass organisations running campaigns against the deal.
Leading trade unions, including the USU, MEAA and AMWU, have also mounted email campaigns against the free trade deal being promoted by the Federal Government.
Enabling legislation for the FTA was passed last month in the House of Representatives. But opponents are banking on the ALP to block the move after a Senate debate, scheduled for August 12.
Global Trade Watch points out that Labor has repeatedly promised not to pass enabling legislation if the FTA results in increased costs for Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
"Last month, academics in both the US and Australia confirmed the FTA would increase PBS costs by up to $1.5 billion a year. Surely this satisfies the ALP's criteria for rejecting the agreement," said Michael Cebon, secretary of Global Trade Watch.
Political observers suggest Latham is being "heavied" over free trade by advisers concerned that the Coalition will portray him as "anti-American".
Both the MEAA and AMWU sent big groups of members to Canberra last week to lobby ALP politicians.
The AMWU highlights economic modelling by the National Institute of Economic and Industry Research (NIER) that predicts massive job losses in the manufacturing sector.
NIER warns the Australian economy could bleed 195,000 jobs and $47 billion as a result of signing the free trade agreement with the US.
Sub editor John Lawler's long running case against the Rupert Murdoch-owned Mercury, in Hobart, has finally arrived before the state's anti-discrimation authority.
The MEAA is alleging its Mercury delegate has been denied a deserved grade increase for more than two years, a position supported by senior colleagues on the paper, and mainland-based professionals.
It is 15 years since the Mercury last gave Lawler a merit-based increase in earnings.
MEAA Tasmanian secretary, Andrew Muthy, said the case was placed before the anti-discrimination commission after News Ltd changed its reasons for denying Lawler a grade rise during dispute resolution procedures.
"It is our contention, supported by evidence from industry professionals inside and outside the Mercury, that John should clearly be graded at a higher level," Muthy said.
"There is no valid reason to reject the request for an upgrade he made more than two years ago. We are saying it is because he is the face of the union at the Mercury."
Lawler has been involved in a number of disputes with Mercury management and co-ordinated stoppages there, during the journalists' last round of enterprise bargaining negotiations.
Muthy confirmed that several Hobart colleagues had agreed to put their names to statements supporting that contention.
"News Ltd is widely regarded as a strongly anti-union employer," Muthy said. "The survival of effective unionism rests on our ability to protect our delegates and that's what this case is about."
The CEPU has accused managers in NSW of distributing "bundles" of blank resignation forms in workplaces, and posting allegations against officials on noticeboards,
The matter went before the AIRC where Australia Post undertood to stop managers distributing the forms..
CEPU state secretary Jim Metcher says management actions are a direct result worker attempts to secure a reasonable enterprise agreement.
"It's a direct result of union members engaging in protected action when there has not been industrial action for over 20 years,"said Metcher "we have a group of managers in NSW at the most senior level who have embarked on a targeted campaign against the union to reduce the membership."
"These senior executives at Australia Post would be better served using their energy and resources in running a proper postal service for the community."
In the meantime, a union meeting about suspicous white powder in the mail led to Victorian postal union head Joan Doyle being banned from Australia Post premises by the IRC.
Doyle claims management completely ignored the episode, and the union had to brief its members about the potential dangers and procedures for dealing with unidentified substances.
Management told the IRC, Doyle should be banned because she delivered cakes to a shop-steward and had arrived late for two workplace meetings.
The moves come amid a pay and conditions dispute between Australia Post and the CEPU.
Metcher estimates Australia Posts's legal costs for its case against Doyle would exceed $200,000.
Australia Post was the inaugural winner of the Tony Award for being Australia's worst employer.
The latest action is over work practices that threaten to rip off workers hands as they move containers of fibreboard along processing lines, leaving them exposed to moving chains and gears.
"A blind eye has been turned to it in the past because it speeds up the process," says CFMEU Forestry Division organiser Adam Lincoln.
The company agreed to change work practices after workers stopped work over the issue.
The Carter Holt Harvey MDF fibre board plant in Oberon caused alarm several months back when it was revealed that hundreds and thousands of litres of hot oil used in softwood processing was close to exploding, creating a potential disaster for the small timber community.
"It was a ticking time bomb," says Lincoln. "Testing showed that the oil was dangerously close to self-ignition. All it would have taken was one leak, and this at a place that has a history of leaks and spills."
The site was immediately evacuated and testing has been put in place to monitor the problem.
Safety is a big concern for the mill workers who are supporting the CFMEU's safety campaigns.
"If we don't stand up to the company over this we'll never stand up to them," said one worker at the Carter Holt Harvey mill.
Leading Australian independent bands have put their music where their mouths are, saying they are "sick" of the Federal government and its "attacks" on workers.
In an effort to unseat the John Howard at the next election the bands have released a new CD to get the message across, and it's got the thumbs up from Australia's leading musician-turned-politician, Peter Garrett, who has labelled the project a "good idea".
The Rock Against Howard compilation CD features the likes of Frenzhal Rhomb, the Fauves, Something For Kate, TISM and Front End Loader.
"These bands, rock bands, hip-hop, dance, are all united in the need for a new government in Australia," says Lindsay McDougall, guitarist with Sydney's Frenzal Rhomb.
"The current government has been responsible for so many attacks on basic human rights: the rights of workers, the rights of Aborigines, the rights of children, the rights of refugees, women's rights, the right to healthcare, the right to marry whoever we bloody want to marry!"
"All these rights and more have been threatened or completely taken away by the Liberal government, under that little ball of hate with eyebrows, Johnny Howard."
The album came about when McDougall realised that every musician he knew felt the same way he did about Howard, and wanted to do something about it. McDougall called on these bands to put their music where their mouth is, and come on board the Rock Against Howard CD.
All musicians, artists, everyone donated their work and any profits are going directly to pro-refugee and anti-Howard charities
"These musicians are using their place in the Australian consciousness to fight for change, to get those Liberal party scumbags out of Government, and start this country on the road to recovery," says McDougall.
The CD has been backed by a number of politicians, including Carmen Lawrence, Federal President of the Labor Party:
"For the last eight years we've been subjected to the meanest and most manipulative government ever to hold office in Australia; a government whose stock in trade is the exploitation of fear; a government prepared to harm innocent bystanders to win votes."
ROCK AGAINST HOWARD is out now on F'ckAll Records through Shock, the record company of the revolution.
Telstra BigPond sales, service and call centre staff failed to win assurances over their futures in the wake of a memo suggesting regional operations would be "brought together" and this would be met with "some sadness."
John Jamieson from the CPSU says Telstra is playing word games with workers concerns.
Company "double speak", he said, centred on Telstra's position that labour hire casuals were not its business. Eighty five workers at BigPond, Ballarat, are supplied by labour hire company, DFP.
That company called the union last week to raise concerns over the future of its employees.
"Telstra will say they will not sack one Telstra worker in this re-structure but more than half of the workforce is employed by DFP - their jobs have not been assured" he said,
"These workers have been with Telstra for two years working 38 hour weeks, and are still treated as casuals, so they don't get any retrenchment benefits let alone sick or holiday leave."
Federal MP Kathryn King has sought assurances on the workers' futures from Telstra..
"People are frustrated they can't get a straight answer and they are looking to Telstra to do the right thing," Jamieson said.
The company email that caused the furore began, "Hi Team - Today, Ziggy made an important announcement" and went on to say the Big Pond "team", currently spread around Ballarat, Adelaide, Bathurst and Melbourne, would be "brought together".
The impact on Ballarat staff, is "currently being scoped."
But the changes would provide "an exciting opportunity" for Telstra to "intensively focus" on growing "this strategically important product", whilst "addressing and enhancing the process improvements" in many aspects of "the end-to-end customer experience."
Save Nursing at Sydney Uni: Online Petition
The National Tertiary Education Union has launched an online petition as part of a campaign to keep the Faculty of Nursing open at Sydney University and to keep Sydney University's orange campus open.
Click here to add your support.
UNMASKING EXPLOITATION
National sportswear workers speaking tour
A national speaking tour by Noi Pongkhwa and Yong Jaikla will give
Australians the opportunity to hear first hand about work practices in the sportswear industry. It will also provide us with an insight into the changes that can and are taking place. Fairwear and the union movement will also have input into these public meetings.
Noi is a former employee of the Bed and Bath factory in Bangkok that produced sportswear for Nike, Reebok, Adidas, Levi's, Fila, Umbro and nearly 40 other brands. The owner of the factory suddenly disappeared, taking with him all the wages and entitlements money of the factory's 850 workers. After months of protest the workers won some compensation.
Some of the workers then used their compensation to establish the
Solidarity Group co-operative clothing factory. They have now started their own clothing label called 'Dignity Returns'. Yong works for the Thai Labour Campaign and has a broad knowledge of working conditions in the sportswear industry in Thailand.
These quotes from former Bed and Bath factory workers highlight the situation sportswear workers too often face.
"I had worked here for three years with constant tension, with no time to relax or rest. Sometimes I had to work until 2am or much later. The employer demanded a constant speed of production."
"After I drank water added with amphetamine (by the owner), I lost my senses. When I worked at night, I did not feel pain when a needle pricked my fingers. But in the morning, I felt so much pain in my fingers."
"There was a small food shop near the factory building where I always ate.
The employer came to the shop, furious, and ordered us to go back to work while we were eating. I felt so tired. This was too much to endure."
SYDNEY
WHEN: 6pm Thursday 8 July - public meeting with Noi and Yong,
Louise Southalan (AFTINET) and
Dez Karlsson (Fairwear).
WHERE: Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, 280 Pitt St, Sydney .
Fundraiser for the Cuban Children's Fund
Merdith Burgmann, President of the NSW Legislative Council will host a fundraising reception for the fund as follows:
Friday July 9th, 5.30 pm - 7 pm
At the President's Dining Room, Parliament House, Macquarie St, Sydney.
$30 donation, plus surprise raffles.
RSVP by 2nd July To Claudine Lyons
Ph 9230 2548
The special guest will be: Anthony Albanese, MHR (Shadow Minister for Employment Services and Training). Anthony was a member of the recent parliamentary delegation to Cuba. During the visit he was able to visit the Wm Soler Hospital, the focus of the Cuban Children's fund's efforts. Anthony will talk about the progress of the hospital and his observations of Cuba generally.
In recent months the Fund Committee has been able to assist the further development of the Wm Soler Hospital with donations that have enabled the purchase of intensive care beds for small children and paediatric anaesthetic equipment.
If you would like to join the fund please return this email and I will send you the necessary information.
The fund is assisted and administrated through APHEDA - Union Aid Abroad, the ACTU's aid and solidarity organisation.
Business Ethics Forum
- timely opportunity to discuss corporate values and responsibilities
The second Oxfam Community Aid Abroad Business Ethics Forum on Tuesday 13 July 2004 comes at a time when global events have again thrown a spotlight on the social responsibilities of the corporate sector. The forum will bring together representatives from many top Australian companies, government departments, educational institutions and the general public to discuss values and ethics in the workplace.
The forum will take place in Federation Square in the heart of Melbourne's CBD and will feature distinguished keynote speakers:
Justice Neville Owen (Royal Commissioner, HIH Inquiry)
Christine Charles (Corporate Executive, Newmont Australia)
Sharan Burrow (ACTU President)
Corporate governance matters such as boardroom responsibility and shareholder interest, the environmental impact of business and best corporate practice are some of the issues that will be the subject of conversations at the forum.
Andrew Hewett, Executive Director of Oxfam Community Aid Abroad, says a constructive business ethics debate in Australia is vital in this era of corporate globalisation. "Corporations today wield an unprecedented level of influence and power over human development. Current patterns of globalisation are creating opportunities for those with skills, education and assets. People who have these opportunities can make a positive contribution so that the three billion people surviving on less than $2 per day and the one in seven children who have no school to go to are not left behind."
DATE: Tuesday 13 July 2004, 6.30pm to 8.00pm
VENUE: BMW Edge Theatre, Federation Square,
Corner Flinders & Swanston Streets, Melbourne
COST: $75 per head
Drinks and canap�s on arrival
For more information visit: www.oxfam.org.au/businessethics
The Day Before Tomorrow
The Real Threat of Climate Change and What Australia should do about it
Place: @Newtown
62 Enmore Road, Newtown (old Newtown RSL)
Date: Wednesday, 28 July 2004
Time: 7pm to 9pm
Guest Speakers:
world-renowned climate scientist Dr Graeme Pearman
Chief, CSIRO Atmospheric Research (1992-2002)
Anna Reynolds , Climate Change Campaign Director
Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF)
Kelvin Thomson MP
Federal Shadow Minister for Sustainability, the Environment
and Heritage
All Welcome
For more information: Shane McArdle (02) 9564 3588 or Paula O'Sullivan
(02) 9357 6366
Strategic Thinking And Planning
An East coast opportunity to work on your campaign or organisation's strategic thinking and planning.
Would you like to be an activist who knows where their campaign is going? Do your current strategies and tactics match the broader social and political context? Would you like to be the kind of community worker who is clear about the aims of their project so that you can clearly evaluate what you are trying to achieve? Many environmental and social justice advocates are flying by the seat of their pants and looking for effective strategies to address the challenges we face. Sometimes we can get stuck in reactive modes, or feel overwhelmed by the challenges of the moment.
The good news is that there are skills and tools for helping us become more pro-active, and creative as an organisation. We can become smarter at strategy!
So would you like to build the skills base in your organisation? How to develop a plan? Strategic analysis? Are you merely being more reactive about your work? This workshop provides you with an opportunity to not only reflect, but to learn new skills in strategic thinking and planning to add to your activist tool kit.
Four seasoned trainers will be facilitating two days of active and experiential learning on strategic campaign analysis and planning.
Workshop goals:
Develop skills in understanding how organisations create smart strategies for change;
Learn new tools for campaign planning;
Increase your skills for accessing creativity and understanding your gifts for strategic thinking;
And apply these skills and tools to your organisation!
When &where:
Brisbane :: Thursday 29th & Friday 30th July :: Brisbane Powerhouse
Sydney :: Monday 2nd & Tuesday 3rd August :: Quakers Meeting House
Melbourne :: Thursday 5th & Friday 6th August :: The Green Building
How much: $220-550 > sliding scale [includes GST unfortunately]
Contact Amy for more details: [email protected]
Work Interrupted
The ACTU will be co-sponsoring a conference on casual and insecure employment in Melbourne on August 2, 2004.
This timely national conference will examine the impact of casual and insecure work on Australian workers, business and the economy.
Casual employment as a proportion of the total workforce has grown from 13% in 1982 to 28% in 2003. It is widespread in many new industries and occupations and is increasingly long-term. Most jobs created in the 1990s were part-time and casual.
This conference will look at:
* the personal experience of casual workers
* international comparisons with Australian casual employment
* the economic impact of casual employment
* policy challenges for legislators, business and unions
This conference brings together some of Australia's leading thinkers and commentators and policy makers from business, unions, academia, politics, and the media to further this important debate.
Union places at the conference will cost $150 per head. To reserve your place download and complete the registration form below and fax it to RMIT University/CASR on 02 9365 6067. Or email your details to [email protected]. Or post the registration form with payment to: Work Interrupted, PO Box 7267, Bondi Beach NSW 2026.
http://www.actu.asn.au/public/news/1087890291_19647.html
hoWARd the arseLIcKEr
-Written by D.B.Valentine - Directed by Mark Cleary
-The Edge Theatre - Cnr King & Bray Sts Newtown
-Advance previews Wed 4th & Thurs 5th August.
-Opening Friday 6th Aug to Sunday 29th Aug.
-Time: 7.30pm (tbc)
-Bookings 9645 1611 or www.mca-tix.com
-More info go to: www.newtowntheatre.com.au click on "The Edge"
The U.S. response was certain and sure as well it ought to have been. However, with the "needed" protections we must be vigilant that we do not erode or lose our Constitutional rights. That necessarily encompasses the hard won rights of freedoms of speech and press, wouldn't you agree?
No matter how well intentioned a program may begin the possibility and potential for abuse(s) exists. We can have too much, and too many,
"needed" protections and thereby opening the door for abuse issues.
We have written a book titled, "IN THE SHADOW OF THE (Space) NEEDLE." We have a web site at: www.cmlb.net/starchild (all lower case lettering)
Feedback and opinions are much esteemed and greatly appreciated.
Respectfully,
Herman Bynum
The prohibitive costs associated with entering the housing market is emerging as a source of inter-generational tension, while Baby Boomers sit on millions in property the following generation can only look and wonder how they'll ever enter the market.
It affects the way we live (a rental market is more transient and tenuous); the way we manage our finances (without a mortgage there is less incentive to save) and even the way we think (without a piece of property from where will derive our sense of security?).
So it was timely that industry, welfare groups, unions and the government met in Canberra this week to discuss Housing Affordability, and while the agendas varied the take out was common - spiralling property prices are good if you are in the market, but present some long-term challenges to policy makers.
Having watched these debates played out, I can't help wondering whether the very building blocks of our housing market are the problem.
In short, we have a property market that both drives and is driven by bank profitability - banks lend to generate income and the more they lend the more money is in the property market pushing prices ever up.
And this orgy of lending fuels not just the first home, but one, two three investment properties underwritten by the family home, none of which will ever be paid off, but which continues the upward spiral in prices.
As CFMEU national secretary John Sutton pointed out this week, the federal government's current housing policy is little more than a series of tax incentives and handouts that poor money into the private rental market.
Sutton dubs it 'public policy insanity' because the end result is an over-heated market, that newcomers can't enter, that delivers more and more profit to those already in the market. So it is both inequitable and unsustainable.
The CFMEU proposal for industry superannuation funds to invest workers savings, in partnership with state and federal government to increase our public hosing stuck warrants consideration for several reasons.
First and obviously, it would alleviate the crisis in access to housing - and the flow on social costs of homelessness that is felt across the entire community.
Secondly, it would not only stimulate the job-generating construction industry, it would give the public a stake in the ever rising property market - bringing a return back to the entire community rather than just to those already at the table.
Thirdly, by making public housing more widely available it could take the heat out of the investment property market - the beast responsible for driving house prices the an unsustainable direction.
And finally, the knowledge that there are viable alternatives to land ownership might just allow us to step back from the crazy working ethos that is killing our families and communities.
How many of us work longer and harder in the increasingly vain hope that the massive mortgage could one day be paid off or the massive entry hurdles can be attained?
Maybe, just maybe, with a vibrant public housing sector, we may not feel as insecure, as needing of a Torrens Title to feel that we some ties to this earth.
Perhaps it would force us to look at models of co-existence where security is not defined by the height of our fence or the quality of our alarm systems, but by our connections to our neighbours
Socialism? More a sophisticated approach to the capitalist market: the CFMEU superannuation plan is no doubt radical, but the sort of idea that is worth discussing if we are to build an alternative to our current selfish, dog eat dog, Lotto society.
After all, it wasn't so long ago that ideas like driving trade unions out of the workplace and sending jobs to the market where there was the least regulation appeared to be the work of some mad, radical fringe.
Peter Lewis
Editor
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