*****
The Central Coast used to be a lovely place - until the Liberal Party and their developer mates got a hold of it.
We are reminded of this by Erina's finest, Chris Hartcher, taking us all for a wonderful trip down memory lane with a bizarre outburst about the perils of Trade Unionism that revealed more about our Tool Of the Week than it did about anything to do with the real world.
The amazing lack of talent in the Liberal Party was on display as the property developers mate had a tantrum about not being able to pay backpackers $10 an hour cash in hand.
In a press release written on the back of a serviette after a long lunch Chris wailed about a proposal that would ensure that vulnerable workers aren't taken for a ride by unscrupulous bosses.
"It's an ill-though-out plan designed to make it harder for small businesses to hire anyone who doesn't have a union membership card," said Hartcher, who forgot to add that it would also make it harder for his mates to hire people who don't have a visa, workers compensation or a tax file number.
Who has gone into bat for illegal workers who have been killed in NSW? Not the worker's friend, Chris Hartcher, that's for sure.
It's been a union, the CFMEU - which he accuses of sponsoring a racist policy - who have stood up for workers who've been killed.
What is racist is saying tripe like "it was well known foreign workers were reluctant to join trade unions".
It's also racist to take advantage of vulnerable people and pay them by piecework, or as little as $6 an hour, knowing full well that they can't complain. If Hartcher has a problem with illegal workers he might well want to have a look at the practices of some of his business mates.
Hartcher needs to be reminded that it isn't the union movement that is pitting worker against worker. Unions aren't pushing a "Free Trade" agreement that doesn't allow the vast bulk of humanity to take the only 'product' they have, their labour, across borders.
It isn't the union movement that locks up people who have committed no crime, who simply wish to flee tyranny.
If he's got a problem with racism he might want to take it up with his colleagues Amanda Vanstone and John Howard, who have turned it into a trade secret.
Hartcher's dream of paying workers in sawdust was matched by his no-brainer that unions should work with the Department of Immigration
Well, after you've woken up and smelt the coffee Chris, you might want to know that, shock horror, they are!
Einstein Hartcher's coup-de-gras last week was his revelation that Tony Abbott has nothing to do with the collapse of the Public Health system.
Still, coming from a party that believes that the Foreign Minister isn't responsible for Foreign Policy and the Defence Minister isn't responsible for Defence and the Prime Minister isn't responsible for anything this shouldn't come as a surprise.
Truth be known, what Chris Hartcher knows about Public Health could fit on the back of a postage stamp, with plenty of room left over for his complete knowledge of the realities of working life.
The time has come for our Tool Of The Week to leave the Pelicans of Brisbane Water alone and get a real job. He isn't much of a politician so working on a cash-in-hand death trap might just open his eyes to the realty of the fate that befalls those Australians his party forces to work without union protection.
The high-stakes stand-off is unfolding at Yandi, about 150km north of Newman in the Pilbara, where miners with BHP contractor Henry Walker Eltin are resisting the imposition of another round of AWAs, backed by big financial inducements.
Less than a fortnight after BHP was ordered by the IRC to pay equal wages and conditions to union members, it appears to be re-fighting the issue through its remote-site contractor.
For the first time in WA, miners overwhelmingly rejected AWAs when Henry Walker Eltin put them on the table, this month. Only 15 percent of the workforce accepted the increased earnings.
A picketline was thrown around the mine and residential camp, last Sunday, after workers learned the company was flying in Global Security guards, many with military training, to lock them down.
Henry Walker Eltin moved AWA workers out of the camp on Sunday afternoon, bunking them down at nearby Hammersley Iron, alongside security guards and management contractors.
However, Hammersley construction workers demanded the removal of "scabs" from their camp and those preparing for the assault on Yandi were eventually turfed out.
The dispute turned nasty on Monday when the company's force used vehicles to try and smash its way through the picket of AWU, AMWU and CEPU members.
"It's Patrick's all over again," ACTU organiser Will Tracey reported from the front line. "We've got un-badged goons here in the standard blue overalls. At least two picketers were hit by a car when they first tried to break through.
"This is a very remote site and we are worried about the safety of our people. We are a long way from anywhere and a long way from anybody."
By Monday, 14 police had been flown to Yandi from Newman, Karatha and Port Hedland stations.
Some of the tensions were relieved when miners returned to work on Thursday where they will continue their industrial campaign through regular stop work meetings.
They are demanding pay equity and the right of new starters to decide whether they are employed on AWAs or a collective agreement. The employer insists it will only employ those who accept non-union individual contracts.
"They have tried the old trick of buying people off and it didn't work," Tracey said. "This whole dispute is about the contractor's refusal to recognise equal pay and freedom of choice. That's all our people are holding out for.
"It is a very important issue for workers everywhere. The people on the job have been fantastic but the company is playing hardball and we need help from the broader union movement."
Miners and supporters will hold a rally outside Henry Walker Eltin's Perth office on Monday morning.
The recommendations on findings were tabled this week by Jackson Inquiry counsel assisting, John Sheahan, SC.
He says the evidence supports adverse findings against company lawyer, Peter Shafron, managing director, Peter Macdonald, chairman, Alan McGregor, and chief financial officer, Phillip Morley.
Sheahan submits the commission could find Macdonald may be liable to prosecution for misleading the stock exchange.
The sensational submissions came as it was revealed the trust set up by Australia's largest asbestos producer was likely to fall more than $2 billion short of meeting entitlements of sufferers of asbestos-related lung diseases.
Hardie had told the High Court and the state government it would leave sufficient funds in Australia to meet forseeable claims. Months later, at a secret board meeting after moving its headquarters to the Netherlands, it cancelled the relevant arrangement.
AMWU secretary, Paul Bastian, who has fought a three-year battle for James Hardie to compensate lung disease sufferers and their families, said vindication of his union's position would not be enough.
"We have said all along that this was an act or corporate bastardry designed to sanitise James Hardie's name and remove its assets from the reach of dying Australians," Bastian said.
"These submissions vindicate that position but the real issue is to make the company meet its responsibilities and ensure some justice for the people who will die."
His union has written to NSW Premier, Bob Carr, with a five-point proposal to remedy "injustices" identified by evidence to the Jackson Inquiry.
The AMWU is urging government to ...
- replace management of MRCF, the trust fund created by Hardies when it moved to Holland.
- establish the office of a special James Hardie Prosecutor who would be given power, by legislation, to pursue all claims against the company, its advisers and officers who can be shown to have engaged in wrong doing.
- amend statutes of limitations in regard to proceedings against the James Hardie group and its various subsidiaries
- enact special purpose legislation to expedite litigation. Centrally, the AMWU believes evidence before the Jackson Inquiry should not have to be relitigated
- lift the corporate veil through amendmens to corporations laws and proposed amendments to the federal Corporations Act that would make Dutch-based James Hardie Industries NV accountable for the wrongdoing of it and its subsidiaries
In its final submission, James Hardie denied any wrong doing.
Commissioner David Jackson will report his findings to the NSW Government in September.
The Task Force is keeping its Melbourne address secret from the AMWU and four members it is seeking around $100,000 in fines against as the result of a four-hour picket, last year.
Frustrated industrial officer, Maurice Addison, described the Task Force as the "ASIO of industrial relations".
"They demanded a ridiculous amount of information and when we attempted to defend ourselves with injunctions and related exhibits they refused, point blank, to reveal an address.
"They told us any material had to be faxed," Addison said.
"The discovery orders were an unwarranted intrusion into the privacy of people who try and look after their workmates. They are out to finger any activist in Melbourne and try to shut them down."
Amongst other things, The Task Force sought the names of all AMWU officials; all their pay and taxation records; the names of every delegate who attended a Melbourne seminar last year; all documents associated with that seminar; and the names of rank and file delegates and safety reps.
After the orders were criticised by a Federal Court judge the Task Force agreed to amend them.
The next day it handed redrafted demands to state secretary, Dave Oliver, and after the union returned to court that "fishing expedition", also, was aborted.
Now charges under the Workplace Relations Act have been laid against the union and individual members Ali Mulipole, Fergal Eiffe, Ian Collins and Steve Mansour.
They arise from attempts, last July, to have a steelfixer pay industry rates at two inner-city construction sites.
The Task Force, established to hunt down corruption and thuggery, alleges the union, and its members, engaged in "coercion".
"There was a four-hour picket, that was it," Addison insists. "That's what this whole issue is about. We notified a bargaining period, under the act, and nobody was threatened.
"This is the federal government's secret enforcement agency, once again, interfering in the normal cut and thrust of industrial relations on behalf of the employer."
Anti-worker law firm, Freehills, will act on behalf of the Task Force in matters set down for a Federal Court directions hearing on September 3
The decision is believed to be the first conviction for verbal bullying in Victoria.
Reginald David Mowat, 34, was working for Radio Ballarat where he continually lost his temper with workmates, Ballarat Magistrates' Court was told.
Mr Mowat, of Ballarat, pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to care for the health and safety of others in the workplace and wilfully placing at risk other people in the workplace.
The news comes as WorkCover NSW has called for a bigger fine to be imposed on directors of a company prosecuted over a bullying incident earlier this year.
The NSW Chief Industrial Magistrate handed down a $1,000 fine to directors of a Lidcombe joinery firm after an asthmatic 16-year-old labourer had his mouth filled alternately with sawdust and glue and was left on a trolley resting near a four metre drop for half an hour,
WorkCover has now appealed to the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW, saying that the penalty imposed on the directors is too lenient
Meanwhile the Adelaide City Council is set to deal with bullying following an internal review.
The council has undertaken to monitor the workplace for signs of bullying and to act immediately to deal with bullying issues.
The decision is part of the council's new Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare guidelines, adopted last week.
Bullying Survey
in response to the growing issue of bullying the NSW Labor Council is currently conducting a survey.
The peak union body has received hundreds of responses in the first week of issuing a survey form to unions.
Copies of the survey form can be obtained by calling Dan Walton at the NSW Labor Council on 9264 1691.
The Australian Services Union, representing employees in Sydney Water, says the FTA is designed to prevent governments from placing regulations on essential public services.
"The agreement would freeze the current regulations but ties the hands of future governments to deal with issues that may arise such as dealing with water shortages, threats to water quality and environmental safeguards," say executive president Sally McManus.
Under the agreement, she said, the US Government could intervene and prevent a state government from introducing laws affecting the people it governs.
"If, for example, the state government wanted to increase fees for high users of water, the US Government could veto the legislation," McManus says.
"The reason for these barriers is that the Free Trade Agreement is designed to open the way for future privatisation of state assets, where regulations are seen as an impediment to the free operation of the market.
"This is just one of the many crazy ways that the Howard Government is planning to trade off our national sovereignty"
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) sold the rights at the union's first-ever foreclosure auction in a stand against problem producers.
The union says that the effort sends a message to delinquent producers that it will not stand by as its members are deprived of the full compensation owed them for their work.
"Producers who do not take their contractual responsibilities seriously must understand that this was not a one-time event. We will protect our members from problem producers who have a track record of not paying our members for their work," says SAG Deputy Assistant General Counsel Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.
As part of the Guild's collective bargaining agreements, producers frequently guarantee payments to performers and use the film rights as a form of collateral. In this instance, once the producers defaulted on their residual payments - which total over US$400,000 for the seven films - SAG began pursuing the delinquent residuals until finally exercising its option to foreclose.
The seven titles auctioned by the Guild were all independent productions that feature a number of notable lead performers. One film sold for five figures.
The seven titles are: Blood Money (1996); Delivered (1998); The Linguini Incident (1991); Skeletons (1996); Telling Lies in America (1997); Traveller (1997); Under Heaven (1998).
Established in 1933, SAG has a rich history in the American labour movement, from standing up to studios to break long-term engagement contracts in the 1940s to fighting for artists' rights amid the digital revolution of the 21st century.
SAG, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, represents nearly 120,000 actors in film, television, industrials, commercials and music videos.
The federal court, this week, rejected an application by anti-union activist, Len Buckeridge, to deny the CFMEU access his employees on Burrup Fertiliser's Dampier development.
CFMEU state secretary, Kevin Reynolds, called the decision a "major victory for basic workers' rights.
"This has ramifications right around the country," Reynolds said. "People have exactly the same problems at mines in Kalgoorlie, South Australia and Queensland where employers argue that AWAs effectively bar unions from involvement.
"Well, here is a federal court decision that makes it clear we can talk about recruitment, the benefits of collective agreements and health and safety."
Reynolds steered away from the temptation of taunting his old sparring partner Buckeridge, a hard-right favourite, who has publicly claimed to have made a "hit list" of trade unionists.
Instead, he said, overseas-owned Burrup Fertilisers should have a "good, long look at itself" for forcing the CFMEU to spend "hard-earned workers' money to establish a basic democratic right".
"Buckeridge is Buckeridge," Reynolds said. "He's a tough nut and he will always go down that line but Burrup Fertilisers is a big corporation that already knew the IRC had ruled in our favour.
"It was Burrup Fertilisers that chose to set the site up as Stalag 13, with pill boxes and sentries, just to prevent workers having contact with the union."
In his decision, however, Justice French said union officials were not authorised to hold industrial meetings with people on AWAs "at a time or in a manner which would be in breach" of individual contracts.
Workplace Relations Minister, Kevin Andrews, criticised the court decision and suggested the government could appeal.
He said union access would place an "unacceptable burden" on business.
Unions have put in place Green Bans in an effort to stop the hazardous waste store being built at Nowingi, south of Mildura.
"We're putting the 'unity' back in 'community'," says Mallee Murray Trades & Labour Council (MMTLC) Secretary Allison Smith. "This is a completely community driven campaign."
"They're talking about 5-17 trucks a day carting hazardous waste. Every community between the Sunraysia and Melbourne is at risk."
Smith says the community is "horrified" at the prospect of toxic heavy metals being dumped in their backyard, threatening a $1 billion plus agriculture export industry and tourism, the areas two major job creators.
"Even Mr Bracks is a tourist here each summer,' says Smith. "We will not back down over this."
"This is set to destroy local industry and Mildura will become a ghost town."
Regional trades and labour councils across Victoria and the Victorian Trades Hall Council have backed the move by the Murray Mallee Trades and Labour Council.
Truck and train drivers and building and electrical workers have black-banned work on the proposed dump and will picket the Victorian Government's preferred site for the facility in the state's northwest which is also opposed by Victoria's largest local government area, the Mildura Rural City Council.
Veteran Mildura community and union activist Ken Carr, who was behind green bans on pipelines across Port Phillip Bay in the 1960s, believes green bans can overturn the decision.
Local trade unionists will be joining community leaders in taking their case to Melbourne in the near future.
Workers at troubled Victorian die-caster Forgecast prevented an immediate liquidation of the company at a Creditors Meeting last week.
Unions negotiated to ensure that the Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) governing the rescue plan would keep the company trading for the next two years.
"We've told the company we're serious about the future," says Zeljko Curak from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU). "We'll be closely monitoring the situation for the next two years."
Curak says that while there are no guarantees there is hope for the workers with leading vehicle component manufacturers, including Unidrive and Ion, indicating that they are willing to remain Forgecast customers.
The Forgecast workers were presented with a "terrible choice between two evils" according to Australia workers Union (AWU) National Secretary Bill Shorten because of management failures and the Howard Government's weak corporate and redundancy laws.
Mr Shorten criticised the National Australia Bank - a secured creditor of Forgecast for $2.6 million - for refusing to share the workers' losses.
"The Howard Government's broken promise to stop banks having priority over employees in insolvencies has left the Forgecast workers more than $2 million worse off," says Shorten.
Canadian Auto Workers Union president, Buzz Hargrove, said no argument could be made for the Free Trade Agreement to Australian workers because it exists to increase the power of corporations.
"Canada lost its status as number one auto assembler in the world on a per capita basis and since 1989 when we signed the FTA we have moved right down to eighth position," Mr Hargrove said.
"People have to understand what the FTA means. It means that corporations have the right to invest where they want and that governments lose their power to govern in the interest of their own people.
"We lost those two million jobs to the US and Mexico and the agreement killed any ability for our government to make a better deal for Canadian workers."
Mr Hargrove said Australians need to be aware of the impact any FTA would have. He said he was "surprised" that there was not more outrage from the community particularly over health and culture.
"The Canadian Government was ready to include those two areas into the FTA but there was a huge outcry from the Canadian population about it," he revealed.
He urged the Australian Labor Party to take a strong stand against the agreement.
Mr Hargrove suggest that ALP leader Mark Latham could take comfort from the fact that over 60% of Canadians voted against the Free Trade Agreement in the last election.
"I'm sure that if Australians really knew what John Howard was giving away, the vast majority would also be completely opposed," he said.
Latham Highlights Social Costs
Speaking at the AMWU national conference, last week, Latham, lifted the bar on ALP acceptance of the agreement.
He presented a critical assessment of AUSFTA, arguing any economic gains would be offset by social policy deficiencies.
Latham stressed the federal party would be guided by a senate committee report that already had unearthed "social costs", including pressure on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme; and threats to intellectual property rights, Australian culture and manufacturing jobs.
He described the decision to leave sugar out of the deal as "un-Australian".
Latham said the federal government's own support for the FTA was based on presumed benefits to Australia of $53 million a year but that "overwhelmingly" this came from increased US investment, rather than improved Australia's export receipts.
He called that benefit "mild" and suggested it could be outweighed by "social policy concerns".
AMWU national secretary, Doug Cameron, left the Opposition Leader in no doubt about what his members expected on the FTA.
"If it becomes a reality, never will an Australian Government have given up so much, on behalf of so many, for so little," Cameron responded.
"Mate, the AMWU has fought many battles alongside the ALP, and we will continue to stand up and fight those battles arm in arm with you. But there are battles we will fight on our own for our members and for their families.
"We urge you to consider the long term interest of Australian industry and Australian workers and do what the community expects which is to stand up for their interests."
Hundreds of AWU and CFMEU members downed tools after learning of the killing and won't return until they have safety assurances on the future of the $680 million Baulderstone Hornibrook job.l
Ronald Shaws, a Maori tunneler, had been a member of the AWU since starting work on the site.
AWU secretary, Russ Collison, said tunnel workers would hold a mass meeting on Monday at which they hoped to learn the contents of coroner's and Workcover reports into Shaws' death.
"Tunneling is a very, very dangerous occupation and we are not apportioning blame at this stage," he said. "But we do have the ability to limit risks and we insist that is done.
"Workers want to know what caused this tragic accident and want some assurances about future safeguards. They will discuss those issues on Monday before deciding whether or not to return to work."
Collison said the union would also be insisting that Maori cultural requirements were observed.
The CFMEU, which has a large Maori membership, is liasing with the community about holding a ceremony to honour Shaws.
State secretary, Andrew Ferguson, said if reports pointed to culpability in Shaw's death, his organisation would insist on prosecutions.
"We again call on the NSW Government to pursue a relentless zero tolerance policy when it comes to workplace safety," Ferguson said.
The trainee engineering officers are employed outside the award that covers 3500 workers at Energy Australia.
They have no sick leave, holiday pay, or long service leave - one had done over 10 weeks work for no payment whatsoever.
After working for substandard pay rates, up to $10,000 a year less than award trainees, and without many basic entitlements some of the youngsters are receiving over $35,000 in the hand.
Third year trainee Adam Nelson, who has $16,000 and six weeks paid holidays coming to him, says he was notified in March by the ETU he wasn't getting award entitlements.
Nelson says it's so hard to get meaningful full time work that provides a life long career he was prepared to accept any offer to get a chance.
"We are happy to have it sorted out and to be official full time employees of one of the best companies in the state," says Nelson.
ETU delegate Mike Brien says once Energy Australia was made aware of its error it was quick to make amends.
"We had them over a barrel, they didn't take us to the Industrial Relations Commission because they knew they'd lose," says Brien.
Brien says the victory is an example of great teamwork between the trainees and ETU organiser Steve Butler.
Figures released this week show 170,000 tradespeople will leave the workforce in the next five years while only 40,000 will enter - and in the past year government figures reveal a 20 percent jump in trades vacancies.
The government's 'New Apprenticeships' program is being blamed for the problem with the worst hit trades in printing, metal and electrical work.
Less than a third of the apprentices in the program are in traditional trades - two thirds are trainees in areas such as hospitality.
The government's $4125 incentive is given to employers of one-year trainees and four-year apprenticeships - turning off traditional tradespeople from taking on juniors.
Poor apprentice wages is also a problem with an 18-year-old manufacturing apprentice earning $100 less a week than a fast food junior.
Local and state governments used to turn out thousands of electrical tradesmen from workshops every year.
In the 1970s, outfits like State Rail and Sydney City Council would each offer opportunities to 400 youngsters every year.
The private sector keenly snapped up the finished product.
But with the rush to privatise government enterprises in the 1980s came accountants who transformed apprentices from investments into costs.
Some unions, such as the Electrical Trades Union and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union set up training centres in the early 1990's to address the skills shortage.
The ETU created a non-profit company, Electro Group, with the sole business of employing apprentices.
By sending apprentices to "host" employers for periods of a few weeks to 12 months, the non-profit company reduces the burden of taking on apprentices for employers.
Electro Group currently employs 300 apprentices.
CEO Norm Cahill says Electro Group is "future proofing" the electrical industry against the short sighted views of the past.
Comet Training was the body the CFMEU's initiated to give apprentices a start in the building industry.
Construction and general division state secretary, Andrew Ferguson, called on the Federal Government to increase subsidies to employers to make it easier to train youngsters.
"The demographics in the industry, especially for bricklayers and carpenters, are frightening because kids are just not getting a start," says Ferguson.
Boycott and Picket the Safari Restaurant
SUPPORT UNPAID SUBCONTRACT BUILDING COMPANIES IN THEIR CAMPAIGN FOR JUSTICE
How can you help?
Boycott the Safari Restaurant
Sign our Supporters Petition
Make a donation to the campaign
Picket nightly from 6.15pm - 28 King Street, Newtown.
Dream on!
National competition for students - term 3
The Australian Council of Trade Unions' Worksite for Schools website (www.worksite.actu.asn.au) is currently running a national competition for school, TAFE and RTO students - Your Dream Job.
To enter, students must write about the job of their dreams. There is $100 for the student winner, $50 for 2 runners-up, and $25 for the winner of the special effort category.
The competition will not only give students a chance to win, it's a great way for them to learn about the workforce and get them excited about their working future.
Worksite is a terrific source of information about the workforce, providing statistics, encouraging debate, creativity and analysis.
The competition closes Friday 22nd October 2004. More information and an entry form can be obtained from the Worksite website - www.worksite.actu.asn.au.
Please call 1800 659 511 (toll free) or email [email protected] if you have any questions.
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:
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
Oxfam fundraiser - The Corporation
Oxfam Community Aid Abroad invites you to the screening of The Corporation an award winning documentary film by Michael Achbar.
THE CORPORATION is a film which is resonating with audiences all over the world. Analyzing the very nature of the corporate institution, its impacts on our planet, and what people are doing in response, filmmakers Mark Achbar (co-director of MANUFACTURING CONSENT), Jennifer Abbott and Joel Bakan provide a darkly amusing account of the institution's evolution as a legal "person," and a powerful indictment of the roots of corporate power.
Based on Joel Bakan's book "The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of
Profit and Power", the film has been generating popular support from street
level to the boardrooms of the Corporate Social Responsibility movement.
Featuring interviews with CEOs and top-level executives from some of the world's largest corporations and critical thinkers including Noam Chomsky, Peter Drucker, Milton Friedman, Naomi Klein, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva, Steve Wilson, Michael Moore, and Jane Akre.
Winner of the AUDIENCE AWARD for DOCUMENTARY in WORLD CINEMA at the 2004
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL and numerous other awards including 7 audience
choice awards.
Special Guest: Mark Achbar, Co-director of The Corporation
will give a brief introduction to the film and will be available for
questions after the film.
When: TUESDAY, 3 AUGUST @ 7:00pm
Where: The Chauvel Cinema
Paddington Town Hall, Cnr Oxford Street & Oatley Road, Paddington
Entry $20 / $15. For bookings phone: 93615398 ($10 to OCAA and ACCA)
Nibblies provided. Drinks at the bar.
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"
HIROSHIMA DAY MARCH
Friday 6 August, 6.00pm at Town Hall, marching to Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park for a Crane and Candle ceremony.
Information: Hiroshima Day Committee, telephone Bronwyn Marks, 9982 4192.
The Republican Movement and Reconciliation
ARM Sydney Speakers Series #2: author and academic Mark McKenna - Tuesday 10 August 2004
Further details at
http://www.republic.org.au/ARM-2001/news&events/Sydney_Speakers_Series_Flyer.PDF
Labor and Community Organising in Los Angeles: a popular education approach
12 August Kent Wong seminar - Pop Ed in LA for unions and community organisations
Centre for Popular Education Seminar
Kent Wong Director UCLA Centre for Labor Research and Education
How do unions and community organizations organise in Los Angeles? What role can a University center play as a bridge between the University and the Labor community in Southern California? And how have the dramatic changes in the Southern California economy in recent years shaped this relationship?
Kent Wong, the Centre Director, will talk about the Center and its concentration on working with unions, immigrant worker and other community unions/associations, and how its research - which encourages and draws upon community scholars - provides an important source of information for unions and community organisations. Perhaps this explains why the Center's future has been threatened by Governor Arnold Schwarzennegger's proposed 2004-05 state budget, which aims to dramatically reduce its funds.
When: Thursday 12 August
Where: Centre for Popular Education, UTS
5th Floor Conference Room
235 Jones St, Broadway
Time: 3-5pm followed by drinks
RSVP: [email protected] 9514 3866
IRISH WORKERS TD (MP)TO SPEAK IN NSW
Joe Higgins TD (Socialist Party, Dublin West) is to tour Australia in August 2004. Jailed last year for a month for his involvement in the Bin Tax dispute, Higgins - who worked as a construction worker in Sydney in the 1970s - will be speaking at meetings of the Irish Community, workplace meetings, at a National Union of Workers delegates� meeting and at public meetings in Newcastle, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne about recent workers� and community struggles in Ireland and Europe.
Against an international backdrop of understandable cynicism and distrust of politicians of all political persuasions, Joe Higgins stands out as one politician prepared to back his words with action. Joe is nationally known as a fighter for working class people and for standing for working class unity and socialism, in the South and North of Ireland. Working class people in Ireland know of Joe�s reputation as a class fighter � they have witnessed him fighting for their communities for years, including being sent to prison, along with Socialist Party Councillor Clare Daly, and other activists, during mass anti-bin charges protests, last year.
WHEN AND WHERE:
NEWCASTLE: 6.30pm on Friday August 13th at the Commonwealth Hotel, 35 Union St, Cooks Hill, Newcastle.
SYDNEY: 3pm on Saturday 14th August at the Gaelic Club, 64 Devonshire St, Sydney (near Central station).
Republican Film Night - Tuesday 31 August 2004
Further details at
http://www.republic.org.au/ARM-2001/news&events/NSW_Film_Night_31_August_2004_Flyer.PDF
Parliamentary Theatresports
Just a quick reminder that this coming weekend's opening night of "Parliamentary Theatresports" at Belvoir Street features guest judge Sen Aden Ridgeway (Democrat NSW Senator in Fed Parliament) as well as Nova FM star Bianca Dye and comic Gabby Millgate (among a cast of super impro comics).
The shtick is mock political, with 'parties' competing for the audience's vote...
There'll be the snouts in the trough section (for bribing the audience... this week with Krispy Kreme Doughnuts!) and ample opportunity for audience suggestions ("questions without notice")!
See the attached press clipping - one of many already... or visit http://parliament.improaustralia.com.au
Films, politics and learning conference
Organization: OVAL Research, Faculty of Education, University of Technology
Dec 6 & 7
These nights aim:
- To bring together radical film-makers, radical film buffs, and radical educators.
- To inspire educators about ways they can use film in their work.
- To inspire film-makers about ways they might facilitate learning about politics.
- To foster discussion and advocacy about this field of practice.
We are seeking videos and films under 2 categories:
1. Agitprop: protest, guerrilla, activist, political, subversive short films /videos.
2. Participatory film-making: community films/videos as social intervention.
The nights will focus on short films and video from artists, activists and educators from the international scene. Your work will be presented to an audience of educators, activists and artists delegates from of the "Education and Social Action" international conference and the general film buffs interested in activism.
The nights are a non-profit event without competition. There are therefore no prizes and no pay involved, but of course you keep the rights.
There is no limitation of geographic origin but speaking Films/Videos must be in English, or subtitled in English. Fiction, documentary, animation or experimental are accepted. Videos must be no more than 10 minutes.
The only format accepted is DVD.
Send copies with entry form to Celina McEwen, The Centre for Popular Education, UTS, PO Box 123, BROADWAY NSW 2007 AUSTRALIA. Entry copies will not be returned, so don't send originals. To confirm receipt your video/film, send a self-addressed stamped postcard.
Deadline for entries is September 30, 2004. Individuals and organisations can submit unlimited number of films, but should complete a separate entry form for each film. All the films may be put on the same tape.
Entry forms can be downloaded from www.cpe.uts.edu.au/pdfs/FPLentry.pdf
For further information email Celina on (02) 9514 3847 or [email protected]
Am I missing something, or does Mark Latham's recently-released women's policy NOT include an entitlement to paid maternity leave? The "Baby Care Payment" will not help working women to do anything more than pay for a carer from outside the family during workdays for the first weeks. Without an entitlement to leave, these women are apparently expected to return to paid employment (unless the boss is feeling sympathetic) while attending to feeding and changing babies several times each night. Australia, together with our "master" the US, is amongst the last two OECD nations to provide an entitlement to paid maternity leave. When will an entitlement to leave AND payment for new mothers become a reality if our only hope is this neo-conservative, pro-corporate "opposition"? Come on workers of Australia, it's time to support your wives, sisters and daughters!
Chris Connors
QLD
It is with regret that I observe that with every day that passes there are more and more examples of how alienated the ALP is from mainstream opinion. The union movement�s decision of detachment is no different and reflects a growing mood within contemporary society which is more regularly questioning how it makes sense to remain linked to a party which represents a small minority of society (18% private industry). In recent times many people have taken the decision that the future of Australia does not lie with a failed adversarial roles of militant and reactionary political parties. It is also clear that more union members are coming to that view and voting with their feet to leave only a few who have yet to recognize the diminished role of Unions and the disenfranchisement of ALP members. The realignment of Australian society will continue while the the liberals continue provide strong and clear leadership, taking the nation forward to a better future and in stark contrast to the regressive and fragmented policies of the rudderless ships of socialist politics.
Tom Collins
ACTU analysis released this week paints a stark picture: in the next five years 170,000 trades people will leave the industry and only 40,000 will enter it; within a decade there will be a shortage of 250,000 traditional trades apprentices
The ACTU estimates that this skills shortage will cost the Australian economy $735 million a year in lost output - or up to $9 billion over the next ten years.
It also warns that the lack of apprentice opportunities in the traditional trades will have a massive social impact, in part by contributing to youth unemployment.
This skills shortage points to a major failing in government policy: the Howard Government's glossy New Apprentice Scheme, which sees no difference between a teenager flipping burgers as someone learning a trade that will set them up for life.
It also points to a total lack of leadership by the business sector, which these days prefers to engage contract and casual labour rather than invest in a future workforce.
After all, when capital is footloose and pressure is on for hyper-profits, where is the incentive to invest in a long-term employee?
And there is another factor: the aspirations of the time, which drum into young people that a tertiary degree in Linguistics or Performance Studies is a better passport to job security than an electrical trade.
And for those who do not pursue university, there is the economic reality that an apprentice earns less than a trade assistant on the average building site.
Those youngsters who do opt for a trade are, in many ways, remarkable people with maturity beyond their years, prepared to invest today for their career future of tomorrow. If they can find a job ...
So who is filling this void of leadership? In many industries it is the trade union movement, who see the future of their industries as core business and are taking on innovative ways of training their future members.
The NSW Electrical Trades Union, for instance, has invested in the trade by establishing its own group training company, which trains more than 200 apprentices every year.
The apprentices are actually employed by the group training company, which places them with 'host' employers bound by their industrial agreements to employ a set number of apprentices.
It is work that is delivering benefits not just for the young apprentices involved, but for the entire nation.
Just don't waste your time waiting for John Howard to recognise the contribution next time he gets stuck into the union movement.
Peter Lewis
Editor
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