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Issue No. 255 | 11 March 2005 |
A Skillful Ruse
Interview: Dot.Com Workplace: Dirt Cheap Industrial: Daddy Doesn�t Live With Us Anymore Economics: Who's Afraid of the BCA? International: From the Wreckage Politics: Infrastructure Blues History: Meat and Three Veg Savings: Super Seduction Politics: Popping the 'E-Word' Poetry: To Know Somebody Review: Off the Rails
Three Dollars Free For Readers
The Soapbox The Locker Room New Matilda Parliament Postcard
Banks Are Great
Labor Council of NSW |
News Once Upon a Time in Bexley
TCFUA representatives raided a suburban bungalow, this week, under NSW rights the Prime Minister intends to strip away when he gets control of the Senate. Inside, they found seven seamstresses and an employer, Chung Sheng Tan, who they said claimed to know nothing of workers compensation or superannuation. They said, the fashion industry bottom-feeder undercut "legitimate" operators, then required women to bid for the right to operate his machines. "Whoever bids the lowest gets the work," TCFUA secretary, Barry Tubner, said. "The paperwork we uncovered indicated he was paying rates as low as $4 an hour and, as far as he was concerned, workers compensation and super were the workers' responsibilities. "To earn that money, women were working six and, sometimes seven, days a week. "This is the American system in action and it will become the norm if John Howard takes over the state systems. "When he takes away the rights of unions, Workcover and the Office of Industrial Relations to inspect these operations he will remove all protection from workers and honest employers. "No legitimate manufacturer can compete with this type of exploitation." Tubner said Howard's proposed contracting legislation would seal the deal. The federal government intends broadening the scope of "contractor" and blocking union representation. It is the contention of Goldbridge Clothing that Bexley seamstresses are "independent contractors", running private businesses. "These people are employees, under NSW law, Australian tradition and any reasonable test," Tubner argues. Tan, who owns the Bexley residence and operates Goldbridge, confirmed the definition of contractor was central to the argument in correspondence with the union. The union says an hour-long video of the Bexley operation and paperwork supplied by Goldbridge back its claims. They reveal Goldbridge was making garments for name retailers including Myer, David Jones and labels like Cooper Street. Follow its raid, NSW Workcover inspectors visited the house and wrote out five notices for non-compliance with occupational health and safety requirements. New state regulations, imposing a code of conduct on the industry, come into force on July 1, the day the Coalition takes Senate control with a policy to override NSW industrial laws.
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