*****
Some misguided fools may think that the fact that Australia is a bigger terrorist target than we ever should have been, or that half the country is in hock and the other half is sold might be pertinent and pressing issues that face the nation.
Not so the man who is moulding our future betters at the Kings School, Headmaster Doctor Tim Hawkes.
According to the good Doctor it would be "a great tragedy for Australian sport" if wealthy private schools had to use teachers to coach their sports teams.
He has gone on the record to say that Australia shouldn't "pander to mediocrity".
Well when it comes to mediocrity you would think that the Good Doctor would be celebrating Kings' intellectually moribund and socially gruesome contribution to the national mediocrity register.
Alumni from this bastion of social uselessness include serial Tool John Anderson, who laughably passes as the Deputy PM when John is off being serviced by the President of the United States or Palau.
It was also the home of Anderson's predecessor, Doug Anthony, who came from where the men are men and the sheep are nervous.
Kings was where old boy Robert Webster, the one time NSW Minister who loved selling addictive carcinogens to teenagers and who also had a fondness for shredders, learnt all his virtuous morality.
Head had a teary this week claiming that big bad Westie Mark Latham had unfairly slandered his inbred charges and their filthy rich social status.
Of course Kings are prepared to offer opportunities to the less fortunate. They offer a number of cleaning positions that provide the lower orders with opportunities for employment as well as offering a scholarship to any working class boy who can pack tight head prop in the First XV.
Probably the most bizarre argument that has joined the hubris surrounding elite education's subtle social benefits this week was the heart rending tale of the poor grazier.
Not only struggling with the drought, many are down to their last five cars and have even given up the yacht in Majorca this summer.
No wonder John Anderson wants to sell the other half of Telstra. People that fall for this intellectual fertiliser might be in for a rude shock if anyone from the bush actually told the truth about the role these 'struggling graziers' play in rural society.
So while Doctor Hawkes clings to his desire to give Edmund Blethington-Smythe the opportunity to celebrate the fact that he was born with an entire silver service shoved in his mouth, he forgets that the rest of us live in the real world.
Many working Australians would consider that they wouldn't mind teachers coaching their kid's sporting teams, or even if their kid's sporting teams had some equipment, or even a sporting team.
Roy Masters and Warren Ryan were schoolteachers that rose up from the decent job of educating ordinary kids to coaching ordinary footballers in the Sydney Rugby League.
Way out west where the rain don't fall tennis is what's on TV instead of Letterman, not something that follows your private Physics tutorial at your schools own private particle accelerator.
It's a symptom of the two Australia's that are part and parcel of John Howard's legacy.
One Australia would be happy with textbooks from this century, while another frets over its ability to continue to provide future directors for Australia's inbred corporate community.
It was also nice to hear that Doctor Hawkins School For Fine Fellows had a Rifle Range, it just appears that the students are at the wrong end of it.
It's a lesson that our Tool Of The Week, Doctor Tim Hawkes, will find out the hard way.
Elite private schools should stick to what thy do best, producing criminals and self obsessed Trotskyites, and let the rest of us get on with running what is, after all, our supposedly egalitarian country.
Rail Unions have notified a dispute with RailCorp over the driver being kept "off the road" as question marks remain about the validity of the �psychometric� tests.
"The psychometric testing doesn't measure anything," says Unions NSW's Mark Morey. "They're using it on drivers and signallers who have made a mistake."
Unions NSW have called on RailCorp to re-instate two rail workers who have been stood down and suspend all psychometric tests until the NSW Premier's expert party report on what tests should be used and the appropriate way to use them.
"We have to make sure they're the right tests," says Morey. "We don't want this used as a disciplinary tool."
Morey alleges that RailCorp is slowly trying to expand psychometric testing to other safety critical areas such as electricians, guards and station assistants.
"It was not relevant to my duties," says Chris Cleary of the tests. "My career is on the line over this."
Cleary, a 16-year veteran of train driving, has been off the road for 14 months and was forced into undergoing the test after an incident in July 2003 known as a SPAD or Signal Passed At Danger.
It was Cleary's first SPAD in eight years. Immediately following the incident Cleary claims he "did the right thing" by immediately stopping the train and reporting it to the signalbox. He was told to take his train back to Blacktown.
"If it's not convenient to take the driver off the train they will leave the driver on until they've returned to somewhere where there is a relief driver," says Cleary.
Cleary was forced to attend the RailCorp training facility at Petersham following the incident where he was first tested with a SCAT test, involving crossing out letters on a page as instructed using speed and accuracy.
Then he underwent a personality test where he had to answer questions about what was most like him and least like him.
Next he underwent a test where he had to pick out the pattern in a line of objects.
The final test involved 16 modules using the IntegNeuro, a trade marked product for "cognitive profiling" owned by the multi-national Brain Resource Company.
The tests included the Mackworth Clock Test, a device that was used to test the aptitude of spitfire pilots during the Second World War.
The psychometric testing is conducted by an organisational psychologist who has never driven a train and only been in a driver's cabin a handful of times.
Cleary is unimpressed with RailCorp's use of psychometric testing to evaluate drivers and says that morale is plummeting in the organisation, which has been allegedly suffering from a well publicised driver shortage.
RailCorp has claimed that it is actively recruiting to combat the shortage of train drivers.
"Blokes are going across to private freight companies," says Cleary. "I think they're losing more than they are gaining."
Cleary would like to see RailCorp address real safety critical issues such as fatigue, maintaining running equipment and the long kilometres and lack of breaks that are being demanded of drivers.
Kodak blamed the "international market" for the bombshell it dropped on Coburg but affected workers told AMWU officials they had been on six-day weeks up until the announcement, and another 14 people had been scheduled to start today (Friday).
The American multi-national barred union officials, including AMWU national secretary Doug Cameron and his Victorian counterpart Dave Oliver, from the meeting where it told staff they were finished.
Oliver said Kodak had "totally mismanaged" the issue and called on it to "come clean" about the situation.
"We want to see their business plans and the arguments on which they are basing this closure. Members have told us they have been working increased hours," Oliver said.
"In the paper area, they have been doing six days weeks and expected 14 new starters to begin today. At the moment, it seems, Kodak's actions don't tally with its words.
"Kodak has treated these people with contempt and our mission is to save jobs, as many as possible. If we can only save one job it will be disappointing but it will be a better situation than we are in today."
AMWU officials brushed a city briefing with corporate lawyers to arrive at the Coburg plant in time for the announcement but were refused entry to the site and relegated to interviewing members as they left.
Oliver said Kodak hadn't responded to the union's first question - had it, at any stage, approached state or federal government about possible assistance for preserving jobs?
"In the middle of a federal election campaign, you would think, they would be in a good position to improve the situation if they wanted to," he said.
The AMWU is calling for a meeting with Kodak, the state and federal governments.
It is insisting that if jobs must go, the company offer voluntary redundancy across its operation.
Kodak blamed its decision to chop 650 production jobs on what it said was the international victory of digital over film. Four hundred administrative, sales and stores jobs will remain in Melbourne.
The company has rejected suggestions that Coburg jobs will be exported to a cheap labour site in China.
Bernard Macris, who was a delivery driver for clothing company Pashion says he delivered fabric to outworkers at their Sydney homes and picked up finished garments during his five years with the company.
The Marrickville outfit, which does work for Sass and Bide, David Lawrence, and Jigsaw claims to employ no outworkers.
But Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union official David Tritton says he believes the company used outworkers without providing them with award conditions like annual leave, superannuation and workers compensation.
"The company were not even keeping the required records to prove they were paying their workers award rates," says Tritton.
The company claims an alleged outworker identified by unions during inspections was only allowed to work from home on that day because their child was sick.
The union is considering prosecuting the company in court for alleged breeches of the clothing industry award.
Tritton says Macris, like the outworkers, has been treated disgracefully.
"The union believes he didn't submit the letter the company has produced in court, " says Tritton.
"Bernie deserves a fair go, he should receive the compensation he's entitled to after five years service
The operator of the controversial mine, Energy Resources Australia (ERA), has been blasted by Territory unions who blame the use of AWAs and an "ideological industrial agenda" for falling safety standards, including the uranium poisoning of up to 120 mineworkers.
Workers at the Rio-Tinto owned Ranger uranium mine drank and showered in water containing 400 times the legal limit of uranium in March this year.
"Falling safety standards can be linked to AWAs," says Didge McDonald from the Northern Territory Labor Council. "The aggressive anti-union policy of the operator ERA means worker involvement on OH&S is negligible.
"OH&S is more punitive than co-operative, which flies in the face of all modern practice.
"Their ideological industrial agenda has lead to potentially 120 workers being poisoned."
Rio Tinto owned ERA has been aggressively using AWAs leaving just a handful of Ranger employees on a union-negotiated enterprise bargaining agreement.
McDonald says that Territory unions are calling for major changes to mine safety legislation and for the enforcement role to be taken out of the existing government department and given to NT WorkSafe.
Unions have been critical of the NT Mining Management Act and the lack of an effective enforcement regime by both territory and Federal Governments.
"The underlying principle of the act is self-regulation," says McDonald. "Both enforcement agencies are close to the employers."
McDonald was also critical of the extensive use of contractors in the top end mining industry, claiming it was setting up a 'two tiered' workforce with two levels of safety.
Unions are eagerly anticipating the findings of a soon to be released NT Government report into the Ranger Mine.
Australia�s largest company, which just recorded a $4.1 billion profit, is holding out on Jackie Skelton, despite getting an improvement notice from Comcare relating to the situation that forced her out of work.
The Comcare notice said the Chernside call centre had to undertake an acoustic shock risk assessment; minimise associated hazards and provide an action plan to implement necessary controls. If followed a February incident when 100 employees were treated for acoustic shock injuries by ambulance officers and paramedics in the call centre car park.
One year earlier, Skelton's life had been turned upside down by a similar incident.
"I got an electrical shock through my head set and felt a burning sensation on my scalp," she recalled. "It cause me severe pain, knocked me back in my chair and made me nauseous."
She was diagnosed with middle ear damage and the resulting loss of balance forced her to leave the job.
Initially, Telstra insurer, GIO, accepted responsibility for medical costs and lost wages but reimbursements were slow and inconsistent.
On December 12, 2003, Telstra said it would table a settlement offer the following month but, CPSU official Paul Ingwersen says, that offer never eventuated.
Since February, 2004, Skelton has received no financial support from Telstra or GIO.
"I have had to sell my home in order to pay medical and living expenses," she said.
Ingwersen welcome the Comcare improvement notice as the "first official acknowledgement of a problem" at Chernside.
"It is implicit proof that Jackie suffered a terrible injury in that call centre," Ingwersen said. "It is high time Telstra spent some of its billion dollar profit on compensating a woman who has suffered injury, lost her job and been through 18 months of dreadful uncertainty."
Captain Cook Cruises boss, Anthony Haworth, made that clear on the first day of employer testimony to the NSW Industrial Relations Commission full bench.
Haworth said his company could employ more part-time staff as long as it wasn't obliged to offer them work or money.
"Ideally," he said, he would like to offer part-time workers "zero, total flexibility".
When Labor Council counsel put it to Haworth that he would not guarantee hours at all, he replied "you are making it sound dreadful. I guess the thing they would get out of it is pro rata holiday pay and sick leave and security of tenure of some kind. They would know that they are part of a core of people who would be given permanent accord, permanent status in the business, permanent part time status."
Haworth parroted the John Howard line that the key to greater employment opportunities with businesses like his was "flexibility" where, he reiterated, guaranteed hours for employers would be "ideally none".
Haworth was opposing guaranteed minimum hours of work contained in the part time section of the Caterers State Award.
Captain Cook Cruises, he said, operated four vessels on Sydney Harbour every day of the year with a permanent workforce of seven, supplemented by casual labour.
He agreed Captain Cook had the "work capacity" to employ more permanent masters and engineers than it did.
"You could put that case forward," Haworth said. "Yes."
Metalliferous Mining representative, Simon Billing, told the hearing that labour hire was helpful to companies who wanted to limit their Worker Compensation premiums.
He said a "predecessor rule" landed new owners with the claims history of a previous mine operator.
Billings said that if Labor Council's claim for the right to convert to permanent employment had been in effect it could have prevented the continued operation of Cobar's Elouera Mine when new owners used labour hire to avoid being landed with the claims history built up by self-insurer Pasminco.
NSW Labor Council is arguing for provisions that would ...
- entitle regular casuals to choose permanency after six months service with the same employer
- entitle labour hire employees to employment with the host employer after six months doing the same job for the same employer
- commit employers to full consultation with employees and relevant unions prior to contracting out, and to guaranteeing existing jobs, wages and conditions.
The case is continuing.
The claim follows a move by telco Optus to move to a national scheme amidst warnings that a move away from the state based workers compensation may not necessarily be a cheaper option.
"Like James Hardie the big companies are trying to get out of their obligations," says NSW Labor Council Occupational health and safety officer Mary Yaager. "Following the collapse of HIH workers should be very wary of moves by big companies to self-insure.
"The problem with big companies opting out is that it will put a lot of pressure on small business."
Labor states have stepped up their battle against moves by big companies wanting to switch out of state workers' compensation schemes and self-insure.
An application by Optus to become the first company to make the move has been frozen until after the October 9 election following a row between the Victorian and Federal governments.
Actuary David Zaman warned that there was a lot of speculation surrounding moves by companies to leave state based compensation schemes.
"Each organisation would have to analyse their employment structure," says Zaman. "It is not necessarily a cheaper option.
"Underlying administration costs for state based schemes are small compared moving to a national scheme."
Administration costs have been cited by some large companies as a reason to move away from state based schemes.
Zaman said that instead of giving companies opportunity to move out of state based schemes the Federal Government could address the Social Security system being used to prop up state schemes that do not adequately support injured workers.
On the same day that 5000 Sydneysiders rallied outside a Darling Harbour shareholders information meeting, American unionists picketed the company's US national headquarters at Mission Viejo California.
The Americans labelled the building materials giant a "lemon in Orange County".
Asbestos groups from Scotland and England joined Japanese and European trade unionists at a rally outside James Hardie's annual general meeting in Amsterdam today, demanding justice for dying Australians and their family members.
Their numbers were boosted by Netherlands parliamentarians from the Greens and Socialist parties and European ICFTU representatives.
The ICFTU has formally requested that the Dutch Government conclude a treaty with Australia that would prevent the recently relocated company dodging legal decisions in its former homeland.
Less than one percent of James Hardie's Australian shareholders attended this week's meeting that dealt with its treatment of asbestos disease sufferers.
The 140 shareholders were outnumbered by 5000 workers outside who demanded that James Hardie fully compensate around thousands of Australians expected to die from contact with its products.
Shareholders who did attend were denied explanations from leaders most closely involved with the compo controversy. Chief executive, Peter Macdonald, gave an address on operational matters but answered no questions and chief financial officer, Peter Shafron, didn't show up.
Counsel assisting the NSW Inquiry into James Hardie's corporate restructure has flagged the possibility of criminal charges against both men.
The pair helped devise a scheme that saw James Hardie's asbestos liabilities moved to a trust fund while the parent company moved to the Netherlands.
The fund, established in 2001, faces a possible shortfall of more than $2 billion.
Asbestos sufferers and union officials made statements and asked questions during the three-hour information meeting.
Newly-appointed chair, Meredith Helicar, who was a board member throughout the restructure, showed interest in a proposal from AMWU secretary, Paul Bastian, that James Hardie underwrite an education campaign to limit future asbestos-related deaths.
Protest rallies were also held in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart, last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Queensland's buyer-beware system of property conveyancing has made the state a priority target for advocates of tightened asbestos regulations.
AMWU officials held a summit meeting with deputy premier, Kerry Mackenroth, in Brisbane on Tuesday in a bid to fast-track safeguards for owners, occupiers and purchasers of domestic properties.
Unions and asbestos disease sufferers want a regime of domestic inspection certificates, backed by an asbestos household register, across the continent. But AMWU state secretary, Andrew Dettmer, said Queensland property laws made its situation "urgent".
"Legally, I could sell you a house in Queensland today that was riddled with asbestos and not have to tell you a thing," Dettmer said.
"The scale of private property renovations in this state makes the need for safeguards urgent.
"If you are a worker and you are exposed to asbestos, your employer is liable. If you own a commercial or industrial property, you are responsible and must have an asbestos register on site.
"But if you go into a private, domestic residence you have no protection whatsoever. Given the widespread use of asbestos prior to 1980, that is a real problem for home owners and renovators."
Asbestos support organisations have identified nearly 300 domestic building products, used in Australia, that contain the killer substance.
The AMWU wrote to Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie, last week, seeking urgent action and the state government agreed to today's meeting.
Unlike Queensland, legislation in NSW, Victoria and South Australia requires vendors to warrant to the condition of the domestic properties they are selling.
Airline unions have promised to campaign against the largesse, which would give directors the right to increase non-executive fees from $1 million to $2.5 million a year.
Australian Services Union official, Linda White, said her organisation would by urging members and fund managers to vote against the resolution at next month's annual general meeting in Brisbane.
Qantas revealed this week that it had paid chief executive officer, Geoff Dixon, $6.09 million for the 2004 year, up from the $1.67 million he took home after the company sustained a loss last year.
Chairman Margaret Dixon lifted her earnings from $372,000 to $484,000 last year.
Qantas is asking shareholders to return her and fellow non-executive directors James Packer, Particia Cross and Mike Codd to the board.
The union campaign against Qantas comes a year after a team of academics shattered the link between gold-plated remuneration and company performance.
They found executive pay levels had exploded from 22 times average weekly earnings in 1992 to 74 times average weekly earnings in 2003. And in the finance sector the figures were more perverse, CEOs earning 188 times the salary of customer service staff.
By analysing the performance of companies against three criteria - return on equity, share price change and change in earnings per share - the researchers found that excessive pay levels actually coincided with lower bottom lines.
"If you look at the numbers, it is accurate to say the more you pay a CEO the worse the company performs and the less you pay the better it performs," researcher Dr John Shields of Sydney University's School of Business said.
Applying this analysis, the authors identified a performance-optimal range for executive remuneration of between 17 and 24 times average wage and salary earnings, beyond which the performance of a company began to deteriorate.
Their figures suggested that any company paying its CEO more than $800,000 was on a bad bet.
Unions were considering a range of reforms to address executive greed and increase accountability, including:-
- Government use of purchasing policy to encourage firms with moderate executive packages..
- The Australian Stock Exchange's (ASX) regulatory functions are compromised, as the ASX is itself a privately listed company. These functions should be transferred to a fully independent entity such as the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).
- Restricting the use and abuse of share options by means of a specified cap on the ratio of executive options to the company's total share issue and via the imposition of a minimum vesting period of three years.
- Action, including legislation, to make superannuation funds more accountable for executive pay decisions, with nominees required to report to members on executive pay decisions.
- Registration of all organizations providing commercial services in the field of executive remuneration, with annual reports required to a relevant statutory authority.
- And, introduction of more stringent disclosure requirements, requiring formal shareholder approval for all executive salary decisions.
"They had no right to terminate me because I had done nothing wrong," Alev Atasoy said. There were no written warnings. This all happened because I stood up for my rights and consulted with my union."
Call centre operator CardCall began trying to move employees onto federal AWAs after dozens signed up the CPSU.
Communications Section secretary, Paul Ingwersen, confirmed the union would be chasing reinstatement for Atasov who he said had been subjected to years of bullying by her "rogue employer".
"We will be doing everything we can to have Alev reinstated because she needs the job and this sort of management behaviour cannot be tolerated," he said.
Atasoy had been informed by CardCall management that she would be promoted to team co-ordinator but this was subsequently withdrawn, leaving her the only senior staff member denied such a position.
After she arranged a September 14 meeting between management and her union, over the issue, she says she was called into a meeting and "berated" for involving the union and refusing to sign an AWA.
She said she was so upset by management's behaviour that she developed a migraine and had to go home sick. The following day she received a couriered letter at her home terminating her employment.
Ingwersen said Atasoy had been bullied for years by CardCall management.
In March, 2003, she reduced her hours after harrassment over looking after a sick child.
Ingwersen said, even then, she faced "months of further bullying" that resulted in her having to take unpaid stress leave.
Railway workers presented the train set fearing the Minister's failure to follow the recommendations of the Waterfall Inquiry is putting the travelling public at risk.
Staff have compiled a dossier of concerns which shows written records on safety demanded by the Inquiry have not been kept, safety staff have had their positions downgraded - and some safety officers are recruited without safety experience.
The workers also believe incessant restructuring is putting lives at risk, compromising their ability to do their jobs, and affecting public confidence in the system.
At a rally last week over 500 railway workers were told Premier Carr's recent claims management would become "safety fanatics" after two accidents that cost 14 lives were failing to materialise.
ASU secretary Kristyn Thompson said the dossier showed much of RailCorp's talk of safety was empty rhetoric.
"The reality is that the CEO and Minister have lost the confidence of their workforce and that's bad news for the travelling public," said Thompson.
Along with the train set workers presented over 3000 signatures on a petition to Minister Costa, calling on him to cease the incessant restructuring that is affecting public confidence in the rail system.
The development was flagged in a far-reaching ALP policy statement that promised to deliver the ABC an extra $100 million in funding and pull it out of the political firing line.
Shadow Communications Minister, Lindsay Tanner, said while funding would not be tied, the ABC's own policies suggested it would like to translate the ground-breaking Triple J project - birthplace of Roy and HG, Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel, ACDC, Frenzel Rhomb, Killing Heidi etc - to the small screen.
ABC staffers have complained about under-resourcing, creeping commercialisation and sustained political attacks since the Howard Government took office in 1996.
Soon after being elected the Howard Government slashed ABC funding by $66 million and exposed the broadcaster to the disastrous Jonathan Shier experiment.
Former Coalition Communications Minister, Richard Alston, personified his Government's undermining of ABC news and current affairs with an attack on workers and standards that went on for years.
Tanner and Shadow Arts Minister, Kate Lundy, say increased funding will be spread over four years.
In a bid to stop any Government stacking the future boards they will move to arms-length appointments to be overseen by the Communications Department.
Under Labor policy, vacancies would be advertised and the Minister would be presented with a shortlist after interviews by an independent panel, including departmental chiefs and the Public Service's Merit Protection Commissioner.
Under the policy, if a Minister went outside the panel's shortlist, he or she would be required to table a formal explanation.
CPSU spokesman Graeme Thomson predicted much of the Tanner-Lundy blueprint would win a thumbs-up from the workforce.
He said it would "go some way" towards redressing "chronic underfunding".
The underfunding has forced many creative and dedicated people out," Thomson said. "Any move to reverse this trend and support our talented broadcasters and program-makers is to be applauded.
Thomson said Government stacking of the broadcaster's board had lessened the organisation's independence and community standing. Moves towards wider public consultation, detailed criteria and an arms-length selection panel should be welcomed.
The "acid test" of a new Government's would come, he warned, when two board vacancies arose immediately after next month's federal election.
New Zealand's Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) has decided to take legal action against contractor Demolition Services Hawke's Bay, for an alleged breach of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992.
OSH area service manager Murray Thompson said an investigation was held into the demolition of the Church Of Latter Day Saints in Hawke' Bay after an unspecified amount of asbestos was found in floor tiling in the building.
Mr Thompson said that tender documents clearly warned of the risk.
The news follows a landmark New Zealand court decision that secures what unions claim is long-delayed justice for asbestos victims
A New Zealand District Court ruled that New Zealand's Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) must pay lump sum compensation to victims of asbestos diseases.
"The Aotearoa New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (CTU) is delighted that the Court has recognised the justice of the claim for lump sum compensation by victims of asbestos diseases," says CTU president Ross Wilson. "The current epidemic of mesothelioma victims is one of the hidden tragedies in New Zealand society.
"Asbestos exposure is the only cause of Mesothelioma which is inevitably fatal."
"It is only fair that society should recognise and compensate for this work-related exposure which continued in New Zealand workplaces, government and private, for decades after asbestos was recognised as a very dangerous substance."
"The ACC should set aside any idea of further appeals and accept its responsibility to these soldiers of industry who were never warned of this deadly hidden hazard in their workplace."
Tony Palladino from EE-Oz, which sets training standards for electricians, lineworkers, and other workers says many perspective apprentices fail to qualify for government training subsidies because they have already done much shorter "apprenticeships" at fast food shops or retail stores.
"All the talk from the major parties is about degree training and universities but noone is doing anything about trades training," says Palladino.
"Governments would have us believe there is no problem in the system because apprenticeship levels are at their highest ever, but these are not in the traditional trades."
"There has been an explosion of apprenticeships in a range of new areas in such as retail clerical, tourism and hospitality."
As well as poorly directed subsidy dollars the training supremo has also criticised past policies of privatisation which have led to the looming skills shortage.
And he believes the skills shortage is so severe in the industry it will eventually lead to higher electricity costs.
Palladino says governments in the past utilised their utility infrastructure in water, electricity and gas to engage larger numbers of apprentices than needed but for the community good.
"Over the last ten years Private enterprises and corporatised government entities have poached form each other and recruited from overseas rather than train locally to replenish their stock of employees," says Palladino.
"There may be some good companies doing the right thing out there, unfortunately they are the minority.
"The people of Australia sold enormous amounts of infrastructure to private enterprise and the question you have to ask is if they are treating their human labour like this, how are they treating the infrastructure?" he says.
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 and Picket nightly from 6.15pm - 28 King Street, Newtown.
DEFENDING OUR DEMOCRACY!
A Community Forum on Ethics in Government
Authorised: Tim Vollmer 15/42 Princess St Werrington
2PM SATURDAY 18th September, 2004
Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre 597 High St Penrith
MC Maree O�Halloran - President NSW Teachers Federation
Plus Meet the Candidates for Lindsay
with
Mary MacKillop Inst. East Timor Supporter
John Valder Former President of the Liberal Party
Merlin Luck Big Brother evictee and Refugee Supporter
Lindsay McDougall Rock Against Howard
Admission: Gold Coin Donation
Human shield sheds light on occupied Iraq
Donna Mulhearn, a volunteer aid worker recently returned from six months Iraq, will present a unique and personal account of life under occupation at a forum to be held at the NSW Parliament Theatrette, Macquarie Street, Sydney, Tuesday, 21st September between 1 pm - 2pm.
The event is sponsored by Australian Democrat MLC, Dr Arthur Chesterfield-Evans.
Dream on!
National competition for students - term 3 The Australian Council of Trade Unions' Worksite for Schools website 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 closes Friday 22nd October 2004. More information and an entry form can be obtained from the Worksite website
Please call 1800 659 511 (toll free) or email [email protected] if you have any questions.
Young People & Trade Unions
Blue Mountains Unions Council presents Politics in the Pub.
Featuring:
Heather Chaffey (Blue Mountains Youth Worker)
Paul Morris (ASU Organiser, Unions NSW Organiser of the Year 2003)
Joel MacRea (Greens candidate for Macquarie)
John Hayden (Democrats Candidate for Macquarie)
And the Blue Mountains Trade Union Choir
Gearins Hotel, 273 Great western Highway, Katoomba
Saturday September 25 at 2.30pm
Tackling the problems confronting young people.
All unionists welcome to a great day out in the mountains!
Saharawi benefit night
Celebrate the Saharawi�s love of dancing and the rhythms of Africa with the Caf� of the Gate of Salvation, Mohamed Bangoura (African drum and dance) plus special guest performers. All proceeds go to the Saharawi refugees in Algeria.
People of North Africa who have been waiting for 30 years to return to their homeland of Western Sahara. While Morocco occupies their country, they have survived in refugee camps in the harsh Algerian desert, one of the most inhospitable places on earth. It's the East Timor of Africa.
27 October 2004 $25/$15conc, The Basement- Sydney. 02. 9251-2797
Films, Politics and Learning Conference
Organization: OVAL Research, Faculty of Education, University of Technology 6 & 7 Dec 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 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. Deadline for entries is September 30, 2004. 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]
Interested if any one out there remembers Tony Abbott's involvement in the Young Liberals movement in the late 1980's.
Reading up on the New Guard reminds me of those days in the SRC at Wollongong Uni and this strange dude Tony Abbott gearing the young liberals up on the "education for young white males only" trip.
Does Riverview and Kings pump out right wing fascists? Convinced them that their parents work harder then those less paid, and since they work harder they deserve to have and others to not.
How can a modern government claim it's unfair if wealthy schools don't get excessive amounts of government assistance. The whole point of being an independent school is just that they have fees and fundraising projects to maintain their independence. I think it unfair for the innocent child to be removed from its community and placed in an unreal world where money is meant to replace a sense of being.
I believe the greatest threat to security in Australia today is New Guard
Abbott and his sly mates, disrupting positive growth of Australia to promote their misguided loyalty to the Empire and other fascist ideals.
Kylie
I refer to your editorial on 'Bully Busting' in edition 237 of Workers Online. As you are aware, I am a victim of psychological bullying myself, but I was also an business analyst in my previous life as well.
Well done! for someone who told me 'that nobody had really got their heads around this issue', the last time we met - you have certainly hit the nail on the head from where I sit.
Your editorial also prompted me to further analyse the issue of 'bullying' and it's impact on individual workers, organisational performance, and the Australian economy in general.
Given the fact that I have witnessed first hand the impact 'bullying cultures' have on organisational performance 'over time', has allowed me to rise above my own personal circumstances, and view this issue from a broader economic perspective.
Here is an interesting hypothetical that most people could relate to:
Bully Busting and The Intelligent Investor
Say for example, the Government was to give every person over the age of 18
$1,000 to invest in a business of their choice. The investment period, would be say, over the next 5 years (lets look long term!) and once that decision was made to invest in that business, there would be no going back
(speculative day trading is not an option).
Now the deal is, at the end of 5 years, those who have made a overall profit from their original investment would get to keep the principal and profits made over that period.
Those who have had overall losses have to return the initial principal (if there is any left) back to the government.
To add further to the stakes - those who make profits get to invest again - and those who make losses are out of the game completely.
This would prompt people to really look long and hard at the type of business (and culture) they were intending to invest in.
Everyone is given a list of companies to choose to invest their money. All things being equal, they (at present) all enjoy a significant market share in their relative industries and have all posted profits in the last 12 month.
However, there are some key differences that are not evident by looking at their current financial position, and they are:
1. Some have consumer goodwill, while others are in decline.
2. Some have good morale among workers, while others are experiencing low worker moral.
Now, you have to invest in one of these businesses without delay, which ones would you consider, and which ones would you completely avoid?
When you look at it from this perspective - it becomes obvious, the potential long-term damage 'bullying cultures can have on the economic performance of a business.
It is a hypothetical, however, yet it is these very qualities an 'intelligent investor' would carefully assess prior to investing his or her hard earned money.
Kind regards
John McPhilbin
Both the Coalition's positive and negative advertising is focused on the holy trinity of low unemployment, low interest rates and low inflation. With the economy going gangbusters, why change horses?
But how well is the economy working? Are these the indicators that reality define a healthy modern economy? And if we are going so well, why do so many Australians feel so squeezed?
Let's start with the credentials - the indicators traditionally used to define a healthy economy
Yes, unemployment is down; but this may have a bit to do with the way we define the unemployed; the Howard government has culled the ranks of the unemployed, not by finding them work, but by kicking them off the dole. It also defined as 'employed' anyone working even a couple of hours a week, even if they want to be working longer.
It is also true that inflation was the scurge of the seventies, the dying days of fixed currencies. It is also true that inflation looks good in 2004, but it's low everywhere because in the absence protectionist policies and a floating dollar there's nowhere for the dollar to go.
As for interest rates - the real issue is interest on what? The level of personal debt in Australia has sky-rocketed under Howard, while household savings rates have plummeted. Australians borrow more to own their home and, emboldened by the rising property process, then borrow even more against this value.
We are now at a point where even a small increase in interest rates will be disastrous - thanks to Howard Government policies that have actively encouraged speculation and debt.
As for the national debt, our current account makes the householders of Australia look thrifty - up 93 per cent since John Howard came top power.
Where interest rates were once a lever of economic policy, they are now a national straight-jacket, ensuring we all remain in hoc to the finance sector. And Howard and Costello have the gall to trot it out as a reason to vote for them.
And then there is tax - the Howard Government has imposed more than 32 new taxes and levies since 1996, the highest taxing government in Australia's history - putting the socialists to shame.
But there's strong economic growth, the Coalition insists. Again, there is a story behind the statistics - and this is where the Howard Government should really stand condemned.
Because under Howard and Costello, the years of prosperity have shifted the balance between wages and profits profoundly - wage as a proportion of the overall economy has fallen to its lowest level in a decade.
Growth has been a boon for big business and executives who have pocketed millions; for wage-earners the story is different; working longer and harder to service the debt that delivers the profits back to the top end of town.
It is this vicious cycle that leaves many Australian feeling they are on a treadmill and fast losing the race; if the economy is going so well, they wonder, why do I feel so squeezed?
The answer to their question can't contained in an economic indicator or a five-second grab - which is why it is so hard to counter the Howard Government's biggest lie.
The reality is that the economy of the 21st century is a highly complex and volatile beast, whose health can not be defined by a couple of economic indicators. And the key point of difference that tends to get lost in the statistics is that economies do not just run themselves.
The policy differences between the ALP and the Coalition are significant - where Howard takes his hands off the lever, Latham wants to take responsibility.
Initiatives like a Manufacturing Council to give direction to industry policy, support for working families, an Industrial Relations Commission that has some bite and curbs on executive excess are all part of the Labor mix.
The shiny suits in the boardrooms may be panicking, but for working people a government that looked at the national economy as more than just a set of numbers would be a welcome relief.
Peter Lewis
Editor
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