*****
In Coffs Harbour they have a big banana; his name is Luke Hartsuyker.
Last Tuesday night he shared his wisdom with us, which didn't take long.
Luke is the National Party member for the Federal seat of Cowper on the NSW Mid North Coast.
As such he will vote on the government's proposed new Masters and Servants Act, which isn't the scary bit.
Luke attended a meeting held over the issue of whether or not it was a good idea to let employers pay their staff with a rock and a shiny thing if they wish, which, while being alarming, is not the scary bit either.
The meeting was well attended and many of his constituents expressed more than a little bit of alarm at the prospect of watching their job security become rather mortal; scary, but not the scary bit here.
Luke addressed the meeting, calming everyone down by saying we needed to work the country harder and be more competitive with China and India; extraordinarily alarming if it means we take on the working standards of either nation, but not as scary as it could be.
After opening and closing his mouth and emitting sounds for ten minutes Luke sat down again, much to everyone's relief.
No one who is in that room will have that ten minutes again, which is a shame, for in that ten minutes they learned only one thing, and that was just how blissfully ignorant the good member for Cowper was.
Then came the scary bit.
During a Q&A, after Luke's great contribution to intellectual flatlining, he told the assemblage that the prospect of being on an individual contract was a boon to local workers.
Luke expanded on this unique take on economics by saying that workers in service and hospitality industries are in a "strong bargaining position" when it comes to negotiating their pay and conditions.
While one of the attendees politely described Mr Hartsuyker's contribution as "a joke", the rest of the room was incredulous.
How could somebody so blindingly stupid possibly have enough intelligence to remember to breathe.
While Hartsuyker's diminished intellectual capacity may reflect on the National Party and its unhealthy obsession with animal husbandry, it nonetheless remains a fact that it is he and his political allies that will determine the fate of all Australians in the workplace.
That is a scary thought.
Someone who is so devoid of intellectual ability that he thinks that we will become a nation of fast talking negotiators like his mates over at the Westpac Bank must have a genius that can only be described as subtle.
Still, there is no such thing as a useless person. Hartsuyker could always come in handy if we could get a blueprint of his brain in the event that we needed to build a moron.
Hartsuyker is keen for income to be linked to productivity.
A curious idea given that any measure of his efforts to protect or improve the lot of his constituents would see his income heading south faster than a newspaper truck on the Pacific Highway.
That, of course, would entail Hartsuyker having to abandon his long cherished principle of being a bottom feeding hypocrite, something the National Party excels at on the Mid North Coast.
Working people voting for the likes of these clowns is about as smart as a Turkey voting for Christmas.
Still, our Tool Of The Week invokes an old political adage:
You can fool some of the people some of the time.
You can fool all of the people some of the time.
But you can't fool anyone if your arguments make about as much sense as Tony Abbott's family tree.
For Luke, who has never done a days work in his life, the truth is going to get pretty scary.
Sachie Murata told the Industrial Magistrate's Court she didn't even know she had been employed under an AWA until informed by her solicitor, 18 months after the document was rubber stamped by the Office of the Employment Advocate.
Murata said, Dion Woo, operator of Soy Franchise at Sydney Airport, had forced all staff to sign unread documents at the end of 2002.
"I did not want to lose my job as Mr Woo had on previous occasions said that if I lose my job with Soy Franchise I would lose my visa and have to leave Australia," Murata said.
"Mr Woo did not explain the contents of the document to either myself or any other members of staff and he did not let me read it so that I could understand it before signing."
Murata said she managed Woo's airport franchise on $15 an hour. She did not qualify for overtime until she had worked more than 50 hours a week and received no extra payments for Saturday or Sunday work.
She testified that her relationship with her employer soured after she met an Australian man who she later married.
Once, she said, when she had tried to negotiate holiday payments, Woo responded: "Ever since you met Al you have been asking too many questions. Stop asking too many questions, you know I can just cancel your visa and you'll never see me again."
Murata's counsel said the Office of the Employment Advocate had okayed Soy Franchise AWAs, although they were "grossly inferior" to award entitlements.
"The evidence will show how weak are the protections for those who become parties to AWAs and how feebly those protections are enforced by the OEA," he said.
He said the failure of the OEA to do its job had left his client "even more vulnerable to the duress applied".
Counsel said, should penalty be imposed, "the Employment Advocate should be asked to make submissions as to appropriate penalty and as to their power, or the power of this court, to withdraw or revoke approval of the AWA."
Soy Franchises denies that it applied any duress to Murata. It says she was aware of the terms contained in the AWA and signed of her own free will.
The case is continuing.
Brock Miller, a partner with Quinlan Miller and Treston, made the allegation after the Taskforce pulled three coercion prosecutions, halfway through hearings, in the Federal Court at Brisbane.
Miller likened the actions, against building industry unions and BLF organiser, John Lund, to old-fashioned show trials.
"The proceedings were a travesty of justice," Miller said. "They amounted to the federal taskforce trying to win political points for the federal government.
"The claims related to alleged incidents in 2003. The trial was set down for hearing months ago but on no fewer than seven occasions the Taskforce amended the allegations it wished to put before the court.
"The federal government has deep pockets and, I would estimate, this action probably cost the parties close to $100,000, before it was abandoned."
The case turned on a memorandum of understanding between head contractor, Barclay Mowlem, and the BLF that sub-contractors should be parties to enterprise agreements.
Hadgkiss' agency pulled the cases after the employer it was championing, Brant de Hennin of The Tile Connection, admitted, under cross examination, that he had not told the truth about the status of his employees.
It's 11th-hour withdrawal denied respondents the opportunity to recover any of the costs spent in defending themselves over the last two years.
The allegations came one week after Hadgkiss, armed by Canberra with a suite of new coercive powers, launched an overtly-political report into the activities of his agency.
Hadgkiss recycled Tony Abbott's contention that if construction industry earnings could be slashed to the level of the largely unionised domestic housing sector, everybody would be better off.
"The Taskforce," he wrote, "has strived to help decent, honest building and construction industry participants eradicate un-Australian, lawless behaviour ..."
Hadgkiss illustrates every page of his document with unsourced quotes designed to damage the reputation of trade unionists.
Page 4's contributor says "One rotten egg in the industry and it's the unions"
Other large-print quotes, generally taking up a full third of a page, include:
- "the unions keep moving the goal posts"
- "Unions have more power than the police, but they don't have a uniform."
- "There isn't a site you can get on without being members of the union or having an EBA."
- "Something has to be done about this. You can't have CFMEU stewards and delegates walking around with the sort of power."
- "Stop union thugs from doing what they're doing."
- "Nobody can take the unions on."
- "Unions insist on having industrial unrest."
CFMEU assistant national secretary, Dave Noonan, says the vague, unsourced allegations are part of an orchestrated campaign.
"The report is a mish-mash of part-truths, half-truths and untruths designed to smear construction workers and their union," Noonan says.
"This campaign has nothing to do with the rule of law. It is about holding down the living standards of building workers and their families.
"Hadgkiss is a drama queen and he is doing his masters' bidding."
She was just one of the many voices from regional New South Wales who spoke up at forums held as part of the Your Rights At Work tour across the north of the state last week.
Kim Connolly, who grew up in Canada, moved to Australia 19 years ago because she was impressed by the principles of mateship and the security of workplace laws.
"It's all about the bottom line and the average working person gets crushed in the wake of it," says Connolly of her experiences of working in the United States. "It's a dog eat dog world that sets employee against employee. There is no mateship."
Connolly told an evening forum of around a hundred workers at Coffs Harbour of the perils of the US system, and of her desire to take out Australian Citizenship so that she could vote against Howard at the next election.
She said she would be campaigning for other permanent residents to take out citizenship so that they could do the same.
Coffs Harbour was one of eight communities across northern NSW visited by the bright orange Unions NSW 'Your Rights At Work' tour bus last week.
Lismore and Tamworth also featured well-attended evening forums, while lunchtime crowds gathered in Macksville, Armidale and Newcastle.
Grafton and Glen Innes were also visited, along with workplaces in Maclean and Byron Bay.
In Lismore Big Brother contestant Tim Brunero promoted the Your Rights At Work campaign, being mobbed by over 400 screaming fans at a shopping mall in the process.
The tour explained the impact of proposed changes to workplace laws, which are set to radically affect working conditions across the country.
"The federal government's changes to industrial relations will reduce people's rights at work with penalty rates, annual leave, minimum wages, unfair dismissal and more all up for grabs," said Unions NSW secretary John Robertson.
Warehouse supervisors at Express Data management in Botany were dismissed after objecting to what has been labeled �industrial blackmail� and taking industrial action.
"I have given Express Data ten years of loyal service and now they want to force me to sign a contract," said one of the affected workers, Craig Trimmer, who was astounded at his treatment.
"It is nothing but corporate thuggery."
National Union Of Workers (NUW) organiser Amanda Perkins said she was surprised at the actions of Express Data.
"The company has acted completely unreasonably," said Perkins. "They have called police to try to remove our members from the premises and have tried to use security officers to throw me out of a meeting where we were seeking a reasonable resolution to this matter",
NSW Secretary Derrick Belan has branded the company's ultimatum as "outright industrial blackmail".
"Dismissal notices were issued to our members today because they took action in support of their colleagues," said Belan "Express Data's bullying tactics will not work. They have told their warehouse supervisors they must sign the individual contracts or be stripped of their positions.
"This Union will not allow that kind of outright industrial blackmail to happen.
"The Union is seeking an urgent compulsory hearing to get the company to withdraw their threats of dismissal against our members and to end their AWA ultimatum.
"Unfortunately, with John Howard's I.R. changes just around the corner, many companies now think it is open season on workers."
The gambit, part of an increasingly nasty battle being waged on the Pacific National work force, only failed when it was explained to the judge that it was impossible to organise advertisements in the time period given.
TAggro Ads New Industrial Weapons
The orders were sought after RTBU members endorsed a 24 hour industrial stoppage over Pacific Nationals ongoing failure to negotiate a decent agreement.
While the action was taking place in the legally protected bargaining period, Pacific National lawyers invoked the controversial high Court Electrolux decision to argue the action was illegal.
On achieving this ruing, the company upped the ante, successfully seeking orders that the RTBU issue advertisements on all national and regional newspapers and radio stations to communicate the decision to the 2300 members.
RTBU national secretary Bob Hayden said the tactic was clearly aimed at doing the union financially.
"We have sophisticated communication networks of delegates and members - and the idea we need a half million advertising buy to get information across is laughable,_ Mr Hayden said.
"Ultimately the orders pertaining to the advertising were reversed when we advised the Commission that it would be impossible to produce and place ads in the time frame given, - but the fact the orders were sought shows that the big legal firms are cooking up new ways to hurt unions._
The advertising play followed a decision by Pacific National to sue the RTBU and seek damages for a 24-hour strike held in August.
"At the end of the day the only way to resolve the issue is for Pacific National to suit down and negotiate a fair agreement with its workforce."
Their $66 million claim is one of dozens facing the corporate union-buster.
The lawyer for the plaintiffs, Fred Furth, told a Californian jury most employees dared not ask management about missed meal breaks. "Some of the braver ones did ask, and I'm going to prove Wal-Mart ignored their pleas to hire more help," he said, last week.
Under Californian law, 30-minute meal breaks are required after every five hours of work. Wal-Mart's employee handbook says workers whose breaks or meals are interrupted to perform work will be paid for the missed time off.
But despite the policy, the employees allege Wal-Mart's cost cutting culture meant they were not compensated and stores were routinely under-staffed.
Wal-Mart employees are suing for up to US$66 million in damages.
The action is one of many facing the retail giant. There are 40 similar "lunch break" suits filed against Wal-Mart in other US states.
Wal-Mart also faces a class-action in San Francisco, filed on behalf of 1.6 million female employees, alleging sexual discrimination.
The plaintiffs claim the company routinely paid female workers less than male workers. Wal-Mart is challenging the women's right to launch the action.
Last week, a workers' rights advocacy group, the International Labour Rights Fund, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles against Wal-Mart on behalf of hundreds of workers abroad who were allegedly exploited by companies supplying goods to the retailer.
The suit describes a woman in Bangladesh who allegedly worked from 7.45am to 10pm and was not given a day off in six months.
Terry Collingsworth of the Labour Rights Fund said the case would be a test of whether codes of conduct drafted by corporations such as Wal-Mart were "simply public relations devices or whether they mean what they say".
Unions NSW secretary John Robertson said all of the state will be barracking for the Swans, as the Sydney based football club tilts at the grand final.
He called on employers to allow staff working weekends to tune into the match where it doesn't undermine their ability to carry out their job.
"The Swans came out of the South Melbourne football club," said Unions NSW secretary, John Robertson. "They were a club that had a long association with the working people of their community.
"Their last flag was in 1933 during the depression, when working people really had to stick together.
"Since they've come north they've become a part of Sydney life, but we salute their tradition of being part of a proud community of working Australians."
Robertson said he was disappointed that John Howard couldn't back his hometown team after the PM came out in support for the West Coast Eagles.
"We wish West Coast well, but I think you'll find that the combined spirit of Sydney and South Melbourne will be too strong," said Robertson.
"Community spirit is a great thing. You have to stick by your community through thick and thin. I hope they get up. It's been a long time and they certainly deserve it."
Coal miners stand to lose up to $100,000 in entitlements when the Government strips long service leave provisions out of federal awards.
This will force Australia's 25,000 coal miners onto state awards, which are less generous than their current federal award, and do not allow the portability of long service leave.
CFMEU Mining and Energy President Tony Maher says the CFMEU has a mandate to "shut down the industry on this".
Since 1949, coal miners have been able to accrue long service leave while moving from company to company under a federal industry-funded scheme.
Miners are also entitled to 13 weeks leave after eight years of service under the federal award.
This would be reduced in all jurisdictions under a state award. For instance in New South Wales they would have to work 10 years for 8.6 weeks leave.
"It's not uncommon for coal miners to get only two out of 14 weeks off and the extra long service leave allows miners to spend more time with family," Maher said.
The CFMEU also rejected the idea of a two-tiered system - keeping current workers on existing arrangements and having new workers under the new system.
Maher said such a system would "lead to a riot - and if they want a riot in the coal mining industry, we'll give them one."
Maher says employers and workers are happy with the current arrangements and don't need the bungling of a third party.
"The Government obviously hasn't thought this through," he said.
"Employers don't want this. They are crying out for labour, but guys are not wanting to move to different sites or start on new mines because by doing so they're slashing their long service because portability isn't protected."
The proposed Human Rights Act would protect Australians from the possibility of prison for refusing to dob-in workmates over industrial issues.
Next month, Fraser, the ACTU's Greg Comet, legal luminary Elizabeth Evett AC and others will launch their push for new protections from the Federal Government's extreme social and economic agenda.
The union-busting Australian Building and Construction Commission will probably fall foul of their proposed law.
Earlier this month, CFMEU construction secretary John Sutton said Australian workers would, for the first time, be subjected to imprisonment for refusing to testify to the new Commission about workmates who take part in industrial action.
"All Australians should be concerned about these changes as the government has already made it clear they are the future blueprint for the whole workforce" Sutton said.
And, it would seem, Fraser's team agrees.
"If workers are forced to testify and possibly incriminate themselves, the Commission would fall foul of the Australian Human Rights Act," said Associate Professor Spencer Zifcak, who is in charge of drafting Fraser's proposed law.
Fraser, Combet, Evett, Zifcak and others are part of a group called New Matilda. It is motivated by the "inhumane" immigration policies and an increasing lack of accountability by the Government.
The new Act, which the group is drafting itself, seeks to protect rights in the workplace, as well as the right to vote, to a fair trial, to decent health services and education.
The campaign for a Human Rights Act will be launched at Sydney Town Hall, next week.
Teachers, parents and students rallied around Helen Mortimore and Marlene McPhee, who between them had 26 years service in the canteen and had been job sharing, after it was revealed they had been dismissed by letter but without by the school P&C.
A community campaign to reinstate the women formed when they told their story to a stunned audience of 150 at Charles Sturt University, two weeks ago, which had gathered to hear about the Howard Government's brave new world of uncertain working conditions.
The women's dismissal came at a tough time for the Bathurst community, which had been in a state of shock following a devastating fire that destroyed many of the classrooms and canteen at Kelso High School.
"It came as a real kick in the guts," Mrs Mortimore said. "We'd been told we could reapply for our jobs but that only one of us could possibly be employed in the new arrangements."
Teachers and parents took their demand that the women being reinstated directly to the school principal and Superintendent of Schools last week.
The reaction of the community forced a rethink and the women have been temporarily re-employed by the school to run the canteen until the P&C's finds its feet again following the fire.
The workers, who have just squashed an attempt to bring strike breaking labour hire workers from Melbourne, will be seeking to tie the Williamstown dispute to a strike by 18,300 US based Boeing workers.
Members of the International Aerospace and Maintenance Union employed at Boeing have been on strike for two weeks as part of their campaign for a new collective agreement.
Adam Szady and Adam Burgoyne, Australian Workers Union delegates at Boeing Williamstown, have joined Bill Shorten from the AWU on the trip.
Szady and Burgoyne will be speaking to the US colleagues on picket lines in the States, while Shorten is pushing for a meeting with Boeing CEO John A Bell.
They are hoping that they can include in the resolution of the US strike recognition of a collective agreement at Williamtown.
The locked out Williamstown employees, who are refusing to sign individual contracts, have celebrated a minor win after attempts to bring 20 strike breakers up from a Melbourne aviation labour hire firm have been squashed after representations were made to the firm concerned.
The workers also have a case pending in the AIRC that would see whether or not employees wanted a collective agreement put to a secret ballot.
"We'll be leaving no stone unturned until we get the resolution we are looking for," said local AWU organiser John Boyd. "We've been here for 115 days and we'll be here for another 115 if we have to.
"Boeing has to wake up to that."
Cameron Ayliffe, 21, remains in a critical condition in hospital after suffering a ruptured liver and burst artery at a construction site at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle.
WorkCover's improvement notices relate to training and the use of equipment, and investigations continue.
Unions, also investigating the incident, allege Ayliffe was left in a site shed for 45 minutes by John Holland management before his supervisor noticed and took him to hospital.
"It is outrageous that anyone could be stupid enough to risk this young man's life by moving him after a serious injury, and not calling an ambulance or doctor from the hospital to treat him," CFMEU's Safety Officer Dick Whitehead said.
Unions also raised concerns about health and safety taking a back seat in the current industrial relations climate.
AMWU Assistant Secretary Tim Ayres said recently passed anti-union building legislation was being used to prevent effective safety inspections.
It was revealed two weeks ago AMWU safety officers were repeatedly blocked from entering John Holland's West Wyalong mining and construction project.
The former Imperial Mushrooms employee will this week appear on ABC's Four Corners talking about her experience of being sacked for questioning why her AWA left her worse off than the award.
The Australian Workers Union's Paul Farrow said Carmen's success in the Industrial Relations Commission highlighted the crucial role of the indiustrial umpire, which would be sidelined by Howard's reforms.
"Carmen reached settlement through being able to take her case to the independent umpire - a right which will be removed in the future.
Meanwhile, Farrow said her success had sent a positive message so her co-workers, who had flocked to join the union when it was revealed many were being shortchanged on overtime.
The union is in the process of examining the company's wages records to identify the amount owed, but it is expected it could run into tens of thousands of dollars.
Farrow said a $1000 "gift" Imperial Mushrooms recently provided to workers would have no impact on their wage claim, which would continue.
Four Corners will screen its Brave New Workplace report at 8.30pm Monday 26 September.
Assistant national secretary, Dave Noonan, confirmed the construction union would proceed with an IRC case aimed at lifting first-year apprentice rates, currently as low as $6 an hour.
The commitment came as the Prime Minister announced a radical shake-up of apprentice pay and training that would turn over remuneration to his hand-picked Fair Pay Commission which would set "levels that ensure they are competitive in the labour market".
Unions say that is John Howard's code for slashing training rates and green-lighting second-rate programs that will leave youngsters without readily marketable skills.
The Master Builders Association, however, has cited the Prime Minister's announcement as a reason for the CFMEU case to be put on ice.
"We won't turn our backs on young people who are struggling to get the skills our economy needs on wages as low as $6 an hour," Noonan said.
"At the moment, they could make more money at Maccas. Where's the incentive in that for dealing with our skills crisis?
"The MBA's opposition is opportunistic. It is scared to have the merits of the claim examined by the independent umpire."
The AMWU and ETU have joined the CFMEU in opposing Howard's plan.
ETU secretary, Bernie Riordan, says handing over training rates to the "Low Pay Commission" can mean only one thing - lower rates for apprentices and trainees.
He said government had also announced plans to strip limits on the duration of apprenticeships from awards.
"This will allow employers to embark on very narrow training, leaving young people with limited skills and the community short of the broad skill base necessary to support economic growth," Riordan said.
Federal workplace relations minister Kevin Andrews says that even if the Australian Industrial Relations Commission hears the ACTU's minimum wage case the government will ignore its decision.
The ACTU has lodged with the AIRC an application for a four percent pay rise, saying it is needed to maintain the value of minimum wages relative to other workers and to help the lowest paid keep up with rising petrol and living costs.
But the Federal Government says it will block the AIRC from awarding a pay rise and will stop the case from going ahead. It wants workers to wait until Howard's Fair Pay Commission starts making decisions at the end of 2006 though says there can be no guarantees any decisions will then be made in favour of employees.
ACTU secretary Greg Combet says low paid workers cannot afford to wait 18 months until Howard's Fair Pay Commission starts handing down its first decisions, saying the delay would be tantamount to a wage freeze.
"Petrol prices and other rises in the cost of living are putting working families under pressure. Many working people are struggling just to keep their heads above water and yet the Howard Government is offering no prospect of an increase for at least 18 months," Combet says.
He says a four percent pay rise represents an increase of $19.38 for people on the minimum wage - lifting their gross income to $503.80 per week.
Federal parliamentarians' own base salaries rise once a year, in 2005 jumping 4.1 percent to $111,150 per week or $191,734 for members of Cabinet. The Treasurer and PM are on $208,406 and $288,990 respectively.
Parliamentarians are not expected to have a wage freeze on their own take-home pay while Howard's new industrial laws are being introduced.
Meanwhile the ACTU is already a step ahead of plans to thwart its case, encouraging state labor councils to run simultaneous claims in their local industrial relations commissions if the AIRC claim is blocked.
The Council for Civil Liberties joined with the Asbestos Diseases Foundation and Tasmanian forests campaigners at NSW Parliament on Wednesday to call for a Bill of Rights that would protect free speech.
"The removal of peace campaigner Scott Parkin and the $6.8 million civil lawsuit Gunns Limited, the Tasmanian woodchip company, has taken against 20 campaigners raises huge concerns for the future of free speech in Australia, Secretary of NSW Council for Civil Liberties Stephen Blanks said.
"Tough national security laws and the threat of legal action over speaking publicly about issues that impact on the community are intimidating and laws to uphold freedom of speech are urgently needed to restore public confidence.
"In may parts of the United States, anti-SLAPP legislation has been introduced to protect people's rights to free speech and to petition government, but this has not happened in Australia despite their being an obvious and urgent need for it."
SLAPP suits (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) are often used by a corporation or developer to sue an organisation in an attempt to scare it into dropping protests against a corporate initiative.
"Community campaigns in Sydney and across NSW, such as the ones to prevent a charcoal plant at Mogo on the south coast and lifting the lid on the terrible impact of asbestos, would no longer be possible if the legal action Gunns Limited is taking now is successful," Gunns 20 defendant Louise Morris said.
Standing up for free speech and the rising national awareness of Tasmania's forests are also the focus of the Forest and Free Speech National Tour, which held a public meeting of more than 100 people on Thursday night at the University of Technology, involving Federal Labor MP Attorney General Duncan Kerr and Greens Senator Kerry Nettle.
"Gunns Limited is suing 20 defendants, claiming damages for media statements, disruption to its logging operation and what they claim is unlawful lobbying of shareholders, customers and governments. This is a landmark case, which may forever change the face of free speech in Australia," Morris said.
Neilson comes to Sydney
An exhibition of new paintings by Peter Neilson will be held at Australian Galleries in Sydney from September 6 to October 1, 2005
Drifting South, Always South
Australian Galleries
15 Roylston Street
PADDINGTON
NSW 2021
02 9360 5177
"The art of Peter Neilson is very much a product of urban Melbourne radicalism. He was born in East Melbourne in 1944 and grew up in the inner - Melbourne suburb of Essendon where he formed a life long affiliation with the local football club." (Dr Sasha Grishin 2002)
Justive for Jack - Court Vigil
Stand up for civil liberties!
Speakers: Brian Walters SC, President, Liberty Victoria
David Risstrom, Greens
Alongside the recent deportation of US activist Scott Parkin and the likelihood of more draconian "anti-terror" laws being introduced, the case of Jack Thomas - dubbed "Jihad Jack" by the media - provides a concrete example of the political way that these laws are being used. With the suggestion of closed courts, demands for ASIO clearances for his lawyers and the use of evidence taken without Jack's legal rights being observed, this is a crucial test case with grave implications for civil liberties.
We encourage those concerned about the erosion of our civil liberties to take part in this peaceful vigil at the beginning of the preliminary hearings into Jack's case.
9am Monday, October 3
Supreme Court, 192-228 William St, City
(near the cnr of Lonsdale St)
Contact [email protected] or call 0409 399 429 for more information.
www.justice4jack.com
Organised by the Justice for Jack Campaign
Tribute to HT Lee
Photojournalist - Independent film maker
Trade unionist
Activist for East Timor
07.08.1946 - 27.07.2005
Saturday 8th October
2-6pm
Gaelic Club
64 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills (upstairs)
Speakers include;
� Andrew Refshauge (former Deputy Premier)
� Andrew Ferguson, State Secretary, CFMEU
� Katherine Thomson (Playwright)
� Kim Gago (East Timor Community)
� Neil McLean
� Peter Chandran
� Carmela Baranowski
Other speakers to be confirmed
Performances by Enda Kenny and a choir
Entry by donation
Money raised will go to the HT Lee Memorial Political Film-makers Fund to assist people going to East Timor to work on film documentaries
Jointly organised by Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (Construction & General Division) and the Australia-East Timor Association (NSW)
www.cfmeu-construction-nsw.com
AUSIRAQ union solidarity Jazz night.
Money raised to go through Union Aid Abroad (APHEDA) to unions in Iraq.
Entry donation: $39 dinner & live jazz. $19 jazz only
CFMEU auditorium, 12 Railway St, Lidcombe
Tuesday 18 October
From 6:30pm to 10pm.
Children & unwaged 1/2 price. Drinks available
AUSIRAQ union solidarity Jazz night fundraiser
Money raised to go through the ACTU's Union Aid Abroad (APHEDA) to unions in Iraq. Best to book ahead for the meal so AUSIRAQ knows how many to cater for.
Contact Lynn Smith: 0439640118
One Year Down & Two to Go - Can Labor Win in 2007?
With John Singleton (Advertising Executive), Geoff Walsh (former ALP National Secretary) & Julie Owens MP (Member for Parramatta)
When: Wednesday 26 October from 6.00pm to 7.30pm
Where: LHMU Auditorium, 187 Thomas Street Haymarket
Cost: Free
Chair: Michael Samaras, Secretary NSW Fabian Society
http://politicalyouth.blogspot.com/2005/09/spot-difference.html
Above is a link to my web-blog in which a comment is made regarding your "Tool Shed" article on Alex Hawke.
I thought it was only fair that you be informed!
Kind Regards
Michael May
I do hope you will not be ignoring Latham's diaries. I am stunned that there's been nothing entered on Latham in your achives (search engine) since 2004! It's just possible that Latham's hissy fit could be the "new direction" Labor voters have been waiting for. Please don't deny us this opportunity, simply because ALP officials and Beazley et al don't approve.
Ann Cooms
Qld
What a carry on over the Latham Diaries. Who cares? Latham was a bad bad decision in the first instance. However one would think that the people who the working people elected to represent them are the only ones who matter.
The real issue here is the damage this man Latham is doing to the workers. While Beazely and his mates are running around like the sky is falling, Howard and his bandits are destroying the very foundation of this country.
What needs to happen and happen now, is for the Labor party to focus on the real job and that is to protect the workers and there rights. Frankly all I want to hear from Beazely is that when the labour party is elected to office they will without delay, repeal Howard's IR legislation.
So please can we have some leadership from our side of politics and less of this nonsense.
James Tongue
NSW
Like the state's roads, there were good and bad moments, providing a real insight into the challenges and opportunities in building union connections in rural and regional communities.
Across the State we found working people engaged with the issue, particularly up on the north coast, where people put their hands up to take on the responsibility of leading local campaigns.
Some of these campaigns had come off the back of months of ground work, others had sprung up recently but were buoyed by an enthusiasm and a resolve to stop the federal government's agenda.
What was common was a thirst for information about the changes, deep-seated suspicions of the Howard Government's industrial relations agenda, and a special appreciation that the dilution of work rights will undermine community structures.
Rural communities, more than the big cities, rely on their human capital, and speaker after speaker on the road trip made the point that changes to work were making it harder for them to commit regular time to communities.
The unifying theme was that the loss of rights was yet another step in the State's walk away from regional Australia.
They've lost their banks and they've lost their government services. Now they've lost their phone services and on top of this the industrial safety net is being handed over to big business.
While there currently may be a strong market for workers in the cities, many regional towns don't have the same pressure to push up wages and conditions, meaning the impact of the changes felt there will be harsher.
Communities already struggling to keep their young people are concerned that there will be fewer opportunities for stable and secure jobs; while those that rely on tourism have a secondary threat - plans to whittle away the current standard of four week's annual leave.
All these concerns were laid bare at the public meetings coinciding with the bus trip - effectively throwing down the gauntlet to the Prime Minister to justify his radical changes.
But the bus was designed to leave behind more than awareness and it was the building of more than 40 local campaign committees that was the real achievement of this road trip.
There may be even more, as a pit-stop in Glen Innes revealed a local committee that had sprung to life organically out of the local sky channel meeting.
There is no one size fits all model for these local committees - the underlying energy was organic. In many conservative towns trade unionism was emerging publicly for the first time in many decades.
From those attracted to the meetings who had never been to a union function in their lives, to the two neighbours in Coffs Harbour who had known each other for five years without being aware that the other was a union activist, the meetings were about forging links within communities.
Part of the plan is to build up a network of local union networks, once the focus of many regional towns - but this needs to be done without imposing some rigid outside model.
It is the organic nature of the regional committees that is their strength - equipping local workers with the tools to link up with colleagues; and the skills to build community networks that are in step with their neighbourhood.
People are able to talk about how this issue will affect their community. It is the all-important relevant local detail that gives the national campaign a context. It reminds people, including those outside the movement such as local small businesses, that there will be no escaping these changes for anyone.
It also works as a tool to hold politicians who support these laws accountable. Liberal Garry Nairn in the Federal seat of Eden Monaro may be able to dodge a 14 tonne bus rolling around his electorate, but he can't hide from his constituents in Cooma, Queanbeyan and down the South Coast forever.
The campaign also builds on growing levels of cooperation between affiliates in servicing country members and provides real impetus toward more creative ways of recruiting and marketing unions outside the cities.
No one suggests a single lap of the state is anything but the first step in building these networks. But it is a timely first step in planting the seeds for a resurgence in regional unionism.
Peter Lewis
Editor
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