
Issue No 23		23 July 1999

News

Actors Save Conditions from Reith Attack

Performers have scotched an attempt to remove standard conditions from their award as part of Peter Reith's award-stripping push.

After safeguarding their nudity clauses last year, actors faced losing the award protection of a Standard Contract which covered conditions for all live shows in Australia.

Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance state secretary Michel Hryce says without the standard contract, producers would have been free to drive conditions down.

"This would have turned auditions into Dutch auctions for the lowest price," Hryce says.

The win came when a full bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission ruled that the Standard Contract was an "exceptional provision" which should not be subject tot the award stripping process.

They rejected argument from lawyers for Peter Reith argued that the contract should be deleted from the award, opening the way for individual non-union contracts to cover performers.

Actor Genevieve Picot says the Standard Contract was introduced in 1992, disputation in the industry had dropped and actors had been able to concentrate on their performances rather than on negotiating pay deals.

Meanwhile, performers in the Sound of Music and Chicago will meet with employers on August 3 to nut out a deal on payment between shows.

Producers of the two shows had attempted to cut the payment between dates in capital cities, sparking threats of a walk-out by cast members.

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  Issue 23 contents

Interview: An Economic Wet
Dr Christopher Sheil on economic rationalism and the 1997-98 water failures in Adelaide and Sydney.

Unions: The Stench from the South
In 1997 the entire Adelaide metropolitan area was drenched in foul, sulphorous, sewerage odours, emanating from the Bolivar waste water treatment plant.

Environment: Trading into Trouble
Seattle, USA, is shaping up as demonstrator mecca in the lead up to World Trade Organisation talks.

History: Eveliegh Rail Reunion
Former workers and their families from the historic Eveleigh Railway Workshops in inner-Sydney are holding a picnic reunion and folk music festival on the site on Sunday, August 29.

International: Bosses Use Armed Gangs to Break Russian Picket
On 9 July 1999, eighty masked, uniformed gunmen accompanied by the local prosecutor and other officials tried to storm the Vyborg Pulp and Paper Mill, under occupation by workers for the past eighteen months.

Satire: New Refugee Crisis: Journalists Flee Peace Zone
The camps are once again full in the Albanian border town of Gruntiez.

Review: 10 Reasonably Interesting Moments in Film
Cultural theorist Snag Cleaver flies off the handle again..

» Water Staff Pull Plug on Pay Talks

» Hotel Survey Warns of New Years Labour Crisis

» Pfizer Jerks Workers Off

» Shafted: Howard Squibs on Entitlements

» Olympics Jobs Shortage Looms

» Nurses Change Tack on Public Health Campaign

» Actors Save Conditions from Reith Attack

» Global Mariner Shines Spotlight on Howard Shipping Policy

» New Currawong Deal Ends 25 Years of Trying

» Hands off Workers Comp

» Scully Off the Rails Over Contract Security

» PiersWatch and The Chaser in Mega Merger Deal

» Apology to Dr Bridget Griffen-Foley