 |
Icarus Rising
Right now John Howard is flying. Watch him soar in his Vodafone track-suit, further than the Hawke into unchartered skies.
Interview: Australia@Work
Labor's Penny Wong has the job of getting more people into the workplace and keeping companies honest. In her spare time ....
Unions: State of the Union
Unions NSW secretary John Robertson unveils the annual survey of attitudes of workers to their jobs, thier lives and the union.
Industrial: Fashion Accessories
Jim Marr unpacks the unlikely claim of a suburban house to be considered the New Mecca of the New Right �
Legal: Leg Before Picket
Chris White looks at how the federal industrial changes will impact on the basic right to strike.
Politics: Business Welfare Brats
Neale Towart asks why the only form of legitmate welfare seems to be going to the top end of town.
Health: Cannabis Controversy
Zoe Reynolds looks at how drug and alcohol testing is leading to some addled outcomes.
Economics: Debt, Deficit, Downturn
As the indicators head south, Frank Stilwell wonders whether it is the way we do economics that is to blame.
History: Politics In The Pubs
Phil Doyle reports on the increasingly-popular Struggles, Scabs and Schooners day out.
Review: Three Bob's Worth
Doing their best Margaret and David, Tara de Boehmler and Tim Brunero have different takes on the new Australian flick Three Dollars.
Poetry: Do The Slowly Chokie
Workers Online bard David Peetz teaches how workers to dance to Howard's industrial laws.
 Health System to Subsidise Shonks
Who Likes Bing Lee?
Death Threats Shut Campsie
Thumbs Down for Union Busters
Advocate Pours Salt on Wound
United Front Beats Drug Boss
Kev Backs Double Standard
Victorian Morality Shafts Teacher
Doctors Prescribe More
Multinational Banks Jobs
Working Class Idol
Greens Protect Entitlements
Activist�s What�s On
The Soapbox
Notes From a Laneway
Mental Health Workers Alliance member Toby Raeburn shares a week on the frontline. The Locker Room
War, Plus The Shooting
The Socceroos aren�t their own worst enemy after all, or so says Phil Doyle Culture
Life Imitates Art
The jokes have been around for some time about the economic rationalist's approach to the orchestra, writes Evan Jones. Parliament
The Westie Wing
Ian West takes the secret passage out of Macquarie Street to deliver his take on NSW Parliamentary Committees and other goings on.
Students Bear Brunt
Security Lacking
Bus Lanes On Vic Rd
Dirt Cheap Right On Money
|
| other LaborNET sites |
|
Labor Council of NSW
Vic Trades Hall Council
IT Workers Alliance
Bosswatch
Unions on LaborNET
Evatt Foundation
|
|
|
News
Kev Backs Double Standard
Federal Government is green-lighting pattern individual contracts as it moves in parliament to make pattern collective agreements illegal.
Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews is proposing massive fines on rank and file workers, and unions, who pursue pattern agreements. At the same time, his Office of the Employment Advocate is offering fast-track approvals to bosses who use pattern AWAs.
In a desperate bid to boost AWA take-up rates, the Office announced, last week, it would also flag no-disadvantage tests for bosses who got employees onto pattern AWAs.
The no-disadvantage test rule was supposed to have ensured workers wouldn't be disadvantaged by moving from collective to individual contracts. But it hasn't stopped call centre rates being slashed by as much as $10,000 a year, or employers using AWAs to dodge penalty rates and allowances.
The latest initiative follows hard on the heels of the Employment Advocate unveiling a pattern AWA for small business that does away with the concept of a 40-hour week, removes overtime entitlements and job security.
AWA's have been touted by federal government spokespersons, including John Howard, Tony Abbott, Peter Reith and Kevin Andrews as "flexible" arrangements that allow workers a real say in establishing wages and conditions that reflect their personal circumstances.
In truth, they are imposed on new starters without agreement; used to deny employees the right to choose union representation; and, in the case of pattern AWAs, are neither "flexible" nor specific to individual circumstances.
 View entire issue - print all of the articles!
Issue 257 contents
|
