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Issue No. 230 | 23 July 2004 |
Kill the Lawyers
Interview: Power and the Passion Unions: Tackling the Heavy Hitters Industrial: Seeing the Forest For The Wood Housing: Home Truths International: Boycott Busters Economics: Ideology and Free Trade History: Long Shadow of a Forgotten Man Review: Chewing the Fat Poetry: Dear John
It�s Official: Eggs Come Second Workers Demand Act of Contrition Wollongong�s $4000 Hamberger Company Pays for Casual Affair Convenience Store Detains Student
Politics The Soapbox The Locker Room Postcard
The Agony Of The Refugee
Labor Council of NSW |
News First Test for Death Law
Dimitrios 'Jimmy' Theodorelos, a 60-year-old electrical assistant, suffered massive head injuries after falling from a shipping container at Canberra Airport. Federal Police and WorkCover are investigating the death of the popular worker, the first workplace fatality since the introduction of industrial manslaughter law in the ACT.
That legislation allows courts to gaol employers if they are responsible for negligent practices which kill workers. Previously courts could only fine employers. The ACT is the first state or territory to legislate for industrial manslaughter. The close-knit Canberra building community was saddened to lose Theodorelos, a veteran of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, and has banded together to help his family. "The community spirit shown by contractors in conjunction with the Electrical Trades Union has been fantastic," says Matt McCann, local ETU organiser. McCann said "tens of thousands" had been raised for Mr Theodorelos' family through the building community. In the harsh Canberra winters, workmates remembered, Theodorelos would come onto site at five AM to start heaters and get a fire burning in a 44 gallon drum, ready for his workmates. Theodorelos had planned to semi-retire to his son's new fish and chip shop when the airport job finished. Following his death, the ETU banned the storage of material and equipment on top of containers or sheds. The collapse of a hangar on the same site last year led to six individuals and four firms facing fines of several hundred thousand dollars, under pre-industrial manslaughter laws. Most workers were at lunch when the hangar collapsed. ACT WorkCover issued three prohibition notices for serious safety breaches at the site and seven improvement notices.
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