Workers Online
Workers Online
Workers Online
  Issue No 24 Official Organ of LaborNet 30 July 1999  

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News

Howard Ministers, Employment Advocate in the Dock


Peter Reith and his Employment Advocate are facing legal action under his own anti-union laws to stop them interfering in the construction industry.

The country's largest construction union, the CFMEU, has launched the major legal challenge to the Federal Government's industrial relations agenda for the construction industry.

The CFMEU has named two Federal Ministers, Mr. Reith and Mr. Fahey, as well as the Employment Advocate Mr. Hamberger, as respondents to Federal Court proceedings claiming breaches of the Workplace Relations Act and the Trade Practices Act.

The CFMEU alleges that the Government's Code of Practice for the Construction Industry amounts to unlawful interference in the process of reaching and maintaining agreements with employers.

Since the Code came into effect, the Government has made it a condition for working on federally funded projects that all aspects of the Code, including it's prescriptive, anti-union industrial relations measures, be complied with.

The union also alleges that the Employment Advocate's role of enforcing the Code is beyond it's statutory power.

John Sutton, National Secretary of the CFMEU's powerful Construction Division says contractors that are employing our members are being told they must tow the Government's line on industrial relations or miss out on government work.

"We have thousands of perfectly legal collective bargaining agreements which have been certified by the Commission," Sutton says.

"If they happen to have clauses the Government doesn't like, the company party to the agreement can be banned from government contracts. Our members miss out on work as a result."

Sutton says workers are sick to death of hearing the tired old libertarian rhetoric about the evils of so-called "third party interference" coming from precisely the same people who are using the Government's commercial clout to tell the industry what is and isn't acceptable in agreement making.

"Mr Reith's attempts to provoke employers in the industry has failed," he says. "Now we see the use of the government's purchasing power as a lever. "This is public money the government is spending. It's not a slush fund for union busters.

The union claims that the Commonwealth has breached of the Workplace Relations Act and that the Code amounts to a secondary boycott, misuse of market power and unconscionable conduct. It seeks injunctions restraining the Commonwealth, the two Ministers and the Employment Advocate together with damages and penalties.

"We are confident we can put some rotten legislation to good use," Sutton says.


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*   Issue 24 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: The Man in the Hot Seat
WorkCover general manger John Grayson cut his teeth in the trade union movement. Now he�s trying to save the state�s workers compensation scheme.
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*  Unions: Turning Up The Heat: Bush Fire Officers Seek Award Justice
"We want an award for the job that we do, not the job other people want us to do". Donald Bushby, and his fellow Fire Control Officers, know what they want. It's simple: an award for FCO's and deputy FCO's, an award that recognises who they are, the job they do, the pressures they have to live with.
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*  International: The Virtual Labour Congress
International trade unions are launching an online debate on Labour in the 21th century.
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*  Legal: The Source of the Issue
Recent legal developments place the spotlight on the outsourcing of government activities.
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*  Review: The Split that Changed a Nation
A new book looks at the Cold War ALP split that redefined politics in this country.
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*  Labour Review: What's New at the Information Centre
Read the latest issue of Labour Review, Labor Council's resource for unionists.
*
*  Satire: Man Takes Home Pay - More Pokies Needed
The NSW government has expressed concern following the release of a second report by the Productivity Commission which shows that a majority of employed people still spend their pay on luxury items such as food and clothing for their family.
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News
»  Sixty Cents A Week to Protect Entitlements
*
»  Workers Comp � The Rorts Have to Stop
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»  Steggles Roasted Over Family-Busting Policies
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»  Youth Worker Death Prompts Safety Fears
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»  Rail Security Guards Miss Danger Spots
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»  New South Coast Labor Body Seeks Recognition
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»  Howard Ministers, Employment Advocate in the Dock
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»  Management Vandals Take to Sydney Water
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»  Boston Fiddles While Teachers Burn
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»  Lundy to Star in Workers Online Net Night
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»  STOP PRESS - Firefighters Seek End To Safety Apartheid
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Columns
»  Guest Report
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»  Sport
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»  Trades Hall
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»  Piers Watch
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Letters to the editor
»  Snag�s Filmsy Evidence
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»  Amnesty Acts on Timor
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»  Cash in Transit
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»  Second Wave Action Hits North Vic
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»  Compo: Tips from the Dark Side
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