*****
The little people were blessed with an illumination from the twin-set-and-pearls-that-took-human-form, Senator Judith Troeth, during the week.
While the good senator has mastered the art of opening a country show, and is a dab hand at cutting a ribbon, the intricacies of democracy, such as giving people an opportunity to express their viewpoint, appear to be a bit beyond her scope of work.
Chairing the of Senate's employment, workplace relations and education legislation committee, she proposed a model of "yes" and "no" cases, each nominating a panel of four experts to debate the WorkChoices package, rather than have a messy inquiry where people would be given an opportunity to drive a truck through the government's arguments - many of which stand as much chance of standing up as a two legged stool balanced on a bowling ball.
Apparently the criticism of WorkChoices has been rather tedious for Judith and this annoying democracy thingy keeps getting in the way of her families lifelong dream of re-establishing feudalism in the Wimmera.
There will be none of this silly taking of evidence from authors of the thousands of written submissions to the inquiry nonsense.
No doubt she is concerned that working people have had the temerity to express an opinion about whether or not they want laws that will enable them to be fleeced, just as the lambs are on daddy's farm.
She has also ruled out investigation of secret ballots, termination of bargaining agreements, pattern bargaining, remedies for unprotected industrial activity, strike pay, right of entry, award simplification, freedom of association and civil penalties on union officials.
None of these obviously has anything to do with industrial relations on planet Troeth.
Our Tool Of The Week represents all that is wonderful about Australia's bunyip-aristocracy, managing to encapsulate snobbery, ignorance, hard-heartedness and sheer bloody-mindedness in one fell swoop.
Judith, who put the word 'swill' in the phrase 'unrepresentative swill', also announced this week that people on award wages are being paid far too much.
"Government party senators take the view here that safety-net awards are probably too high - a matter to be addressed in the forthcoming legislation - and that this causes serious distortion in the wage structure, leading to discouragement of employment,' she said.
We'd all have a job if only we worked for food, remembering to bow politely and not get mud on the kitchen floor.
Troeth, who became a Liberal because she believes in "reward for effort" despite being a senator, passionately believes in the "strong family unit".
That is, of course, as long as that family unit isn't trying to survive on award wages. In that case, according to the good senator, the family unit can go to hell in a hand basket.
According to Troeth we should "care for those unable to look after themselves". Primarily this should take the form of not allowing them to bargain collectively, have any job security, demand decent wages if they're out-of-work or maintain employment standards for their children.
Thanks to the frank contribution of the good senator from Victoria we can now see that WorkChoices is neither. It's not about choice and it won't work.
The decision forced at least one worker to go before investigators, armed with sweeping coercive powers, without any representation.
The performance has been labelled a "disgrace" by the CFMEU which is calling for the head of ABCC Commissioner, John Lloyd.
"What we saw in Perth this week was an insult to any concept of democracy or justice," CFMEU national secretary, John Sutton, said.
"They are values Australians have fought for and we are not prepared to see them trampled by John Lloyd, or anybody else. He should either resign, or be made to resign."
The Commission was established by Workplace Relations Minister, Kevin Andrews, to investigate possible breaches of new building sector industrial laws, and to prosecute alleged offenders.
As part of its brief, it can compel rank and file workers to attend secret interrogation sessions where they are denied the common law right to silence.
Individuals who fail to attend, refuse to answer questions or produce demanded documents, can be jailed.
The Commission held its first interviews in Perth, where the federal government has made no secret of its intention to smash the CFMEU.
Eight rank and file building workers were dragged before Lloyd's sidekick, Nigel Hadgkiss, who had set up a Williams St office to look like a court of law, stationing himself behind the judge's bench.
Each proceeding opened with a warning that revealing the contents of any questions, answers, or documents seen, to anyone outside the hearing, was forbidden.
Workers were then grilled, for hours at a time by a Counsel Assisting, backed by a government solicitor, with Hadgkiss, "ruling", from his bench, on points of law.
"It is unbelievable," WA branch industrial officer, Karen Scoble, told Workers Online. "Hadgkiss sits in the judge's position and over rules our lawyer's submissions."
It was Hadgkiss, a former federal policeman who became a political activist with the disbanded Building Industry Taskforce, who barred workers from using their chosen legal representatives.
At 9am, on the second day, he ordered Perth lawyer, Jo Boots, out of the interrogation room, on the grounds that she had already represented another person, employed by Leightons on the same job.
Hadgkiss reiterated that "ruling" at 2.30pm, when Boots appeared with another worker, informing her she could not even make submissions on behalf of anyone else from the Leightons project.
Hadgkiss cited a National Crime Authority ruling for his decision.
Scoble said Hadgkiss and Lloyd were running the federal government's political agenda of portraying industrial action as criminal activity.
"They are applying rules, invoked to break organised crime, against individuals who haven't done anything wrong and are not even alleged to have done anything wrong," Scoble said.
"The whole process is about intimidating rank and file union members by subjecting them to star chamber proceedings that trample on their basic civil rights."
Scoble said if Lloyd and Hadgkiss, continued to bar lawyers from representing more than one person, costs would "increase massively" and, eventually, people could be interrogated without any legal support.
"One of the jobs their investigators are crawling over has more than 400 employees," she said. "This law gives them the right to interrogate every one of those people and there aren't that many lawyers in Perth."
�Under John Howard�s new laws these people could lose most of their redundancy payments at a stroke of the company�s pen,� assistant Victorian secretary, Steve Dargavel, said.
"Our priority is to ensure that Silcraft doesn't use Howard's new laws to renege on its agreement."
Workplace laws, rammed through federal parliament last week, give employers the ability to back out of previously-binding agreements, on their expiry, by giving written notice. In those situations, employees revert to award minimum entitlements.
Under current laws, agreed terms and conditions, remain effective until they are superseded by a new agreement.
The problem for people at Silcraft is that their EBA expires in March but the company won't shut down operations until July.
For workers, who have up to 25 years service with the auto components company, that could mean the difference between an $80,000 payout and a maximum of eight weeks at award rates, around $6000.
"We are confident we will sort this out because there is good organisation on the job," Dargavel says. "But it is a reminder of one of the ways in which John Howard is trying to rip people off."
Silcraft announced, last week, it would close after 50 years of producing auto componentry. The first 80 people will be shown the door before Christmas and the remaining 370 will be out of work by mid-2006.
The firm cannot meet 20 percent "cost downs" demanded by major car companies who, increasingly, are sourcing parts from low-wage Asian countries.
The demise of the Mount Waverley plant follows the recent closures of Autoliv, and Calsonic, at the cost of more than a thousand jobs in the dwindling sector.
The AMWU is urging state and federal governments to adopt an industry policy to prevent the "de-industrialisation" of Australia.
"Over the last three years, this country has lost 14,000 jobs from the auto sector, alone, while the Howard Government has sat on its hands," national secretary, Doug Cameron said.
"Since the re-election of the Howard Government, last year, 800 fulltime manufacturing jobs have been lost every week.
"It is time the federal government did something to arrest the disastrous decline.
"The reason for these job losses is that Holden, Ford and Toyota have all awarded supply contracts to foreign countries, including China."
Cameron said Holden receives hundreds of millions of dollars in government grants each year but shows "zero loyalty" to Australian suppliers.
In a move coordinated nationally, peak union bodies launched the bid in all states, except Victoria where the Kennet Government gave up workers to the Commonwealth in the nineties.
The plan is to pressure the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to hear one more claim before its powers are absorbed by the Australian Fair Pay (sic) Commission.
But even if this fails, unions are determined to keep real wages stable for the 25 per cent of workers who will not be immediately captured in the federal takeover.
If successful, the claim will add $19.30 to the minimum wage of $484.00 for all workers and will take affect from August 2006.
Announcing the NSW claim, Unions NSW secretary, John Robertson, said the increase would cover 400,000 workers employed on minimum rates within state awards in retail, hospitality and clerical industries, ensuring a wage increase that will meet increasing living costs such as petrol prices.
The claim does not apply to workers covered by the Howard Government's federal industrial relations system.
"We owe it to the most vulnerable members of our society to do this. These are the people who will be the most exploited under the new system," Mr Robertson said.
"It will be 18 months before the Fair Pay Commission is able to deal with this issue," he said.
"Then, when the claim is finally heard, it will be by a team of government-appointed economists, not an independent industrial umpire," he said.
"Our claim aims to make sure that workers employed under the NSW system are not left out in the cold - they are losing enough rights without having their real wage reduced as well," he said.
"Usually State Wage Cases flow on from national decisions, but we're not confident that the Federal Commission will have a chance to deal with this issue," he said.
"The Howard Government's 'No Choices' legislation will mean that minimum wage workers will not receive any sort of wage review for at least 18 months," he said.
In contrast to employers such as the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and Qantas, the Catholic Commission for Employment Relations has announced employees have the right to stop work to attend Tuesday's rallies.
"Catholic employers will be advised to co-operate with those employees who wish to exercise their right to participate in the "National Day of Community Protest," the CCER says in a statement.
The CCER has taken this position despite one of the Catholic Church's largest group of employees, those who work for Catholic schools, not being directly affected by Howard's IR changes.
According to Dick Shearman, General Secretary of the Independent Education Union, Catholic systemic schools are not "constitutional corporations" and many Catholic independent schools are not trading or financial corporations, thereby escaping being caught by the new Act.
The CCER decision affects thousands of people, employed mainly in schools and welfare organisations.
Its move came as Qantas warned employees they could face legal sanctions if they left work to attend the Day of Action protests. Qantas pointed out, that under laws it is paying to advertise, such action would be unlawful.
"We reserve our right to take whatever legal action is required to ensure our customers are not inconvenienced," says Qantas executive Kevin Brown.
Similarly, it has emerged that agency heads within the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations have been advised to deny leave, including flex time, to staff who might use it to join the ACTU protest.
Capital city focal points for the November 15 day of action include:
Federation Square, Melbourne, 9am.
Martin Place and Belmore Park, Sydney, at 9am.
Turf Club, Fannie Bay, Darwin, 8.30.
Southbank, Brisbane, 9am.
Princes Wharf, Shed 1, Hobart, 8.30.
The Esplanade, Perth, 12 noon.
Elder Park, King William St, Adelaide, 8am.
Betting Hall, Canberra Racecourse, Canberra, 8.30.
For more details of the Day of Action go to www.rightsatwork.com.au
Pacific National negotiators have told RTBU reps the push to dud new starters is not an issue of cost but rather one of �philosophy�.
Workers in four states will walk off the job for two days next week over moves to strip wages for new starters under an agreement being pushed by the rail giant.
The action comes after PacNat lawyers used technicalities to block three earlier attempts to stop work over a new agreement, to the point where 60% of the rail operators 2000 strong workforce pledged in writing to reject the company's offer.
Pacific National is seeking a three tiered system for maintaining wage levels that would effectively amount to a pay cut for employees that are re-classified in the future.
The Rail Tram and Bus Union has said company's view is as long it is the future employees who are affected the most, the RTBU should not be resistant.
"There will be few safeguards, if any, to prevent the company from re-classifying employees en-masse to suit their agenda," says RTBU national secretary Bob Hayden.
The RTBU recently surveyed to members asking whether or not they would vote for a non-union Enterprise Agreement. Members were given three days to return the survey. Of nearly 2000 employees, over 1200 responded, with only three saying they would vote for an agreement not supported by the RTBU.
"The message should be loud and clear for the management of Pacific National," says Hayden. "The membership has clearly stated that they do not believe that what the company has on the table is acceptable.
"Earlier this year Pacific National announced a 9 month net after tax profit of $78 million, a 39% increase from the previous 9 months.
"The success of Pacific National is as a result of the efforts of workers and they should be entitled to benefit from the success of the company."
The RTBU has exempted passenger services pulled by Pacific National locomotives from next week's industrial action.
Queensland state secretary, Andrew Dettmer, levelled the charge in response to Drake Personnel's announcement that it intends using short-term visas to flood the market with 3500 �trades people�.
The first 250 Filipinos, including welders, are being directed to jobs in Queensland and WA.
Dettmer said his members would welcome "Filipinos or anyone else" who came to Australia with a commitment to the country, and the right to going rates and conditions.
Dettmer said the federal government's continued support for fixed-term appointments that undercut Australian rates was "racist and hypocritical".
He highlighted the Prime Minister's rejection of Polynesian workers, at last month's South Pacific Forum, on the grounds that Australia only wanted people with a long-term commitments to the country.
"There is no doubt that we have short term skill shortages that need to be addressed. In those situations our position is the same as the stated position of John Howard. The only difference, is that we mean it," Dettmer said.
"These people are being used to deny opportunities to semi-skilled and unskilled Australians, and to drive down the wages of our skilled people.
"Howard highlights our unemployment figures but they are bodgey and he knows they are bodgey. If Australia used the same methodology as the European Union we would have the same jobless rate as Germany with all its dislocation after unification.
"The unemployment rate among semi-skilled and unskilled Australians is horrendous and it is horrendous because big business, supported by this government, refuses to give them opportunities."
Dettmer highlighted the situation of Ipswich-based, Bradken, which imported Filipinos on fixed contracts after claiming it couldn't attract local people.
The reason, for that, Dettmer said was that Bradken locked out AMWU members for three weeks to hold trades rates below $20 an hour while the going rate in Brisbane is between $23 and $24 an hour.
"It brought these people on the cheap, rather than train people from our community, then found they weren't genuine trades people at all.
"But, it was prepared to train them on the job, so it could hold down the wage rate.
"That's what this government's law and immigration policies are all about, exploiting guest workers as a way of holding back Australians."
Liberal Senator Judith Troeth, chairwoman of the committee that will inquire into the changes, has proposed that "experts" be appointed to debate the legislation during the five days allocated for public hearings.
This means workers who responded to calls for submission will not be able address senators.
Wellington Mum, Narelle Rich, who made one of the 5,000 submissions, said more time was needed for a proper debate, as the legislation affected future generations of Australians.
"How could anybody think that it's sufficient time," the executive assistant at a NSW local council said.
ACTU President Sharan Burrow hit out at the short amount of time allocated to the inquiry.
"Even if it takes just five minutes to read each submission from a concerned member of the public, this means each Senator will be reading 24 hours a day for 17 days to get through them all," Burrow said.
Burrow also criticised the Coalition's gag on debate in the House of Representatives.
"These new laws are the biggest changes to Australian workplaces ever and yet the Government is refusing to allow Parliament adequate time to debate their merits."
Last week, the Coalition used its numbers to shorten debate in the House of Representatives to four days, silencing 20 MPs.
"I put it to you Mr Speaker how much debate, how much more debate could this bill possibly require?" the Government's Leader in the House, Tony Abbott said.
In a move that has prompted the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia to call for federal government intervention, the planned sackings of hundreds of local scientists clears the way for more outsourcing of highly skilled and professional jobs overseas.
Telstra has confirmed its restructuring of its R&D will result in hundreds of job losses, but denies reports it is closing its main lab at Clayton in Melbourne in a matter of weeks.
But acting APESMA chief executive Geoff Fary is not convinced.
"Telstra can dress it up any way they like, but the fact of the matter is they intend to transfer most of its functions throughout other labs and the majority of people at Clayton are facing redundancy," he says, adding he suspects other Telstra R&D labs will also be effectively closed in the near future.
"We need to save jobs and also to ensure Australia remains competitive and innovative in our research and development efforts," he adds.
"60 to 70 percent of telecommunications R&D is now done in China and India where highly educated people are very cheap," says telecommunications analyst Paul Budde.
Budde says the effective closure of Telstra's Clayton R&D facility would be an acceleration of the demise of high-level telecommunications research in Australia.
"Around the world in the 1980s Telstra's R&D teams were considered world leaders," says Budde, adding that the Clayton team in particular were renowned for their research into solar powered telecommunications, something he says had commercial possibilities in countries such as Saudi Arabia and areas with unreliable electricity supplies.
However, Budde says Telstra began curtailing its elite R&D in favour of lower level research in the mid 1990s.
"Recently the research at Clayton has been all about the needs of corporate customers, such as the network needs of banks and mining companies," he says, adding Telstra will ultimately loose its race to compete with other telcos around the world if it continues to merely compete on price rather than building innovative products and services.
Under the leadership of American CEO Sol Trujillo, Telstra becomes the latest large Australian employer to consider the outsourcing of professional and highly technical jobs overseas.
Last month Qantas threatened to outsource over 3000 highly skilled maintenance and engineering jobs to other countries in an effort to meet cost-cutting targets.
AMWU assistant secretary, Tim Ayres, delivered the ultimatum as the former industrial blue chip announced a half-year net profit of $141 million, last week.
"If this is not settled, and James Hardie walks away from negotiations, there will be an unrelenting community campaign," Ayres promised.
Unions drove James Hardie to the negotiating table after it misled the Supreme Court and asbestos victims to relocate to the Netherlands in a bid to evade compensation owed to Australian sufferers of asbestos-related diseases.
Sixteen months ago, its chair Meredith Hellicar, announced an agreement with the ACTU and NSW Government that would see it pay billions of dollars from profits, over coming decades, to people whose lives had been wrecked by contact with its products.
Trade unions lifted boycotts and bans but, James Hardie is still to formalise the arrangement.
Workers Online understands it is wrangling with the state government in an effort to have taxpayers subsidise its commitments.
Concerns have been deepened by reports that some US-based directors want to cut and run to Delaware where rogue companies face a minimalist regulatory regime.
About 40 trade unionists and asbestos disease sufferers rallied outside the profit announcement venue in Sydney.
Asbestos Disease Foundation of Australia representative, Barry Robson, said members had died while the company dragged out final negotiations.
"We don't mind them making a profit but we want them to put some of it into that fund for victims," Robson said.
"James Hardie keep hoping we will go away and the victims will disappear. I am here to say, that is not going to happen."
According to executive remuneration specialists, RPC, pay for directors in miscellaneous industrial and transport industries increased, between 2003 and 2004, by 85 per cent, while those in alcohol and tobacco made do with 65 per cent hikes.
On average, pay for non-executive directors, over the same period, increased by 22 per cent, while chief executives jumped from 1.35 million per annum, to 1.7 million dollars, according to The Australian Financial Review.
Don Argus, Chairman of BHP Billiton and Brambles, defended higher fees for directors by saying that directors at BHP Billiton, "have to attend seven meetings a year here".
"If they're from the US, they have potentially seven long trips. They are not going to do that unless it's worthwhile," he said.
As news of the increases was released, Michael Chaney, who became a director on the board of Australia's largest bank the National Australian Bank, in December last year, and who is also president of the Business Council of Australia, told The Australian Financial Review that public uproar over the Federal Government's Work Choices legislation would subside.
"I think, in a year's time, people in the workforce will look back and say what was all the fuss about because life continued as we knew it," he said.
The Business Council of Australia, made up of Australia's highest-paid chief executives, is an outspoken backer of the government's workplace agenda.
Global Union federation the ITF has congratulated the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for responding to the pirate attack on the cruise ship Seabourn Spirit by calling on the UN Security Council to tackle the anarchy of the seas off Somalia - and beyond.
The ITF had made a personal plea to IMO Secretary General Efthimios Mitropoulos to bring in the Security Council, since it is capable of making the kind of necessary naval intervention that the IMO cannot. The Federation described itself as delighted by his response that the IMO had already planned to do so.
"This latest attack, coming hard on the heels of the shameful theft of two relief vessels, proves that the situation is almost beyond control. Even 100 miles offshore ships are unsafe. We must bite the bullet and admit that as a unified nation, Somalia has ceased to exist. That may well mean that other countries will have to enter its waters and take over the duties that it can no longer carry out," says John Bainbridge, who represents the ITF on piracy at the IMO explained:
"Piracy is a world problem, a growing plague feeding on global trade, and sad to say it goes far beyond just this one area.
"The Security Council will have to ask how many more attacks there need to be before real action is taken. They may want to remember what the response has been to a single terribles incident in the past - how a single terrorist attack against the Achille Lauro resulted in the adoption of the SUA Convention."
The NSW Government announced, last week, it would levy the industry to implement the recommendations of the Wran review into mine safety.
CFMEU national mining secretary Tony Maher said there would be no argument from the community over the levy, which will raise up to $13 million a year.
"People know the mining companies are making a fortune," Maher said.
"It's better that money is coming from the mining companies because no one wants to see it come out of schools and hospitals."
But the Australian Industry Group said the proposal would create excessive red tape.
"Stiff regulation does not necessary translate to safety," NSW director Mark Goodsell told the Australian Financial Review on Monday.
The Wran review was launched after the NSW Industrial Relations Commission found two mining companies, two managers and a mine surveyor guilty of charges that arose from the 1996 Gretley disaster, which killed four miners.
Key recommendations from the inquiry include:
NSW Mineral Resources Minister Ian MacDonald said the levy would bring mining into line with other industries in the state, all of which pay for their own safety regulations.
Maher said he was particularly pleased about the board of inquiry.
"What we have is the government setting up of an inquiry to monitor its own performance," he said.
Amid the pageantry, led by the victorious Wests Tigers, the Macarthur "Your Rights at Work" Campaign was one of the most enthusiastically received entries with the bright banners and flags of participating unions and even an ambulance brought along by HSU member Warren Boon!
This message was taken directly to Macarthur Liberal MP Pat Farmer who watched silently from the podium as the group marched past to the sound of cheers from the crowd and several dignitaries!
In a show of solidarity Member for Macquarie Fields, Stephen Chaytor, Camden based MLC Peter Primrose and former Mayor, Councillor Brenton Banfield marched with the workers.
The response from the thousands of spectators was very enthusiastic and highlighted the success that community based campaigning is having amongst workers in the region.
Everyone who came had such a great time that we are sure to do it again next year - bigger and better!
The Macarthur Your Rights At Work Committee was formed by local unionists and community groups concerned about the impact of the Howard Government's industrial relations changes on local families. The Committee is open to all local residents who share similar concerns.
To assist with the campaign email [email protected] or visit www.unionsmacarthur.org
Singing for our Rights
Trade Union Choir's tribute to our former member Norm Clark
Sunday 20th November
3pm - 5pm
Annandale Neighbourhood Centre
79 Johnston St Annandale
$15 ($10 concession) - refreshments provided
Booking - [email protected]
SAVE VAN TUONG NGUYEN - Stop the Execution
Please join us between 7.30 and 9am on Thursday 10th November to show support for Van Tuong Nguyen and to make a stand against the death penalty
Venue: Martin Place, Sydney
At this gathering you will be given the opportunity to light a candle for Van, sign a letter to the Singaporean Government, write a message to Van's family and call on the Australian Government to take a clear and unequivocal stand against the death penalty.
You can still make a difference
The Australian Government's appeal for clemency for Van Tuong Nguyen has been rejected by the Singaporean Government. However, there are other appeals in train at the moment and we are urging all Australians to get involved in helping save Van's life by writing to the Singaporean Prime Minister and Cabinet requesting that they reconsider their refusal for clemency. Attached below is a flyer for this event. Please copy and distribute this to your own contacts before Thursday.
For further information please call 9217 7670.
White Ribbon Day
Friday 25 November is White Ribbon Day.
Also known as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, it is an opportunity for community groups to focus on a problem that affects many people in Australia and internationally.
On 17 December 1999 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The resolution was supported by Australia and since this date the event has been marked with a range of community activities.
Wearing a white ribbon on 25 November is seen as a personal pledge never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women. Violence against women and girls affects everyone in the community. Men's lives are personally affected if their girlfriends, wives, daughters, mothers, grandmothers or sisters experience violence or the threat of violence.
Harmful attitudes and beliefs in the community are also a very important part of the problem, and tackling these will assist in building a community that is safer for women and girls.
Further information may be obtained from The Office of Women, Department of Family and Community Services (www.ofw.facs.gov.au) or from www.whiteribbonday.org.au
I Dream of Johnny
A musical comedy. Opening Thursday November 24,
Newtown Theatre. Cnr King & Bray Sts, Newtown South.
The play is a riotous musical combining 60's psychedelia, Gilbert and Sullivan type songs, dance routines and guest appearances from mythical gods as it steers its protagonists- namely John Howard and Tony Abbott, towards retribution for their policies on refugees and industrial relations.
Regular ticket prices are $25/20 respectively. However, union members are eligable for a $15 ticket in week two- from Tuesday November 29 to Saturday December 3.
The play has been made with generous support from unions such as the CFMEU and the Flight Attendants' Association.
After losing his passport and his memory John Howard finds himself on a boat to Norway as part of a 'refugees for nuclear waste' scheme, devised by his government and outsourced agencies. A series of mishaps lead to him being thrown over-board and stuck on a desert island with an irate Tony Abbott, who has been using his thinking time to devise a new dastardly portfolio for himself called the 'Department of Industrial Convalescence'. After being rescued from the island both men end up in the Baxter Detention Centre and must face the consequences of their past actions which winds up in an all-in rap battle and the appearance of Amanda Vanstone to sort things out.
The play features great musical and dance numbers, choreographed by Mark Daly, with music written by producer/playwright Joel Beasant and musician Matthew Campbell. The play was written by Joel Beasant, Robert Luxford and Leslie Marsh, and is directed by Jenelle Pearce, whose work recently featured in the Newtown Theatre's 'Short and Sweet' sessions. Adam Fraser and Rhys Wilson star as Howard and Abbott, respectively
. The play cleverly uses real dialogue from figures, such as Howard and Abbott, to challenge their actions towards refugees and the disadvantaged by literally placing them 'in the others' shoes'. John Howard finds himself in a number of situations where he appeals for humanitarian treatment, by re-stating quotes he has made in the past however, instead of being delivered by them, he actually gets the treatment his government has metered out. The irony is hilarious and made even better as it is regularly accompanied by groovy singing and dancing. The shows will run from Tuesday to Saturday at 8pm, with a 2pm matinee on Saturdays. Ticket prices are:
$25 full
$20 concession
$15 special price for union-card holders in week 2, from Tues Nov 29- Sat Dec 3.
$15 special price for students in week 3, from Tues Dec 6- Sat Dec 10.
Enquiries about the show can be made to:
Bookings MCA 1300 306 776 or online: www.mca-tix.com
For further information call Joel Beasant on: 02 9797133
Overland Presents...
Jenny Hocking in conversation with Ian Syson on her new political biography "Frank Hardy: Politics Literature Life"
6.30pm Wednesday 23 November
Dante's Back Room
Gertrude St FITZROY
$6 full/$2 concession
enquiries: 03 9919 4163
www.overland.express.org
I think it is unfair of federal opposition to accuse the federal government of any wrongdoing where AWB is concerned. (Saddam was always going to be good to make a buck or hundreds of millions out of)
Take Telstra for example, the PM, Treasurer and Communications Minister don't seem to have a clue about how it operates, despite a 51.8% stake in the company, so why would they have any idea about AWB's activities (especially since they no longer have a direct stake in the company).
You've got to admire their love of privatisation and it's free market philosophy - it allows government to step back every time there are kickbacks. See no evil, hear no evil.
Just wait until the IR reforms are passed - the standard Howard Government response to company's behaving badly toward employees will probably be 'we have no control over what companies try to do in their own best interests, they're not perfect and they make mistakes'. Or, 'we can't be held directly responsible for the death of workers because a company decided to cut costs in order to compete, that is just the nature of the market'.
Cynical, I know - but the PM seems to have carved a career out of being artfully vague when circumstances suit.
John McPhilbin, NSW
It is common knowledge that the role models for John Howard are "Bob Menzies" and "Winston Churchill" and Paul Keating ostensibly, is the persona that Peter Costello has adopted and these roles like many of the dunghill nobility resident in the pens of our federal and state parliaments they portray with great efficacy.
This passion for role playing only surpassed by that of rabid republican the member for Wentworth, Malcolm Turnbull, who paradoxically appears to have embraced all aspects of William Wentworth (1793 - 1872) was the Sydney Lawyer, Explorer and later New South Wales politician and whom the Electorate of Wentworth is named after.
Some of Wentworth's attempts in creating the "Bunyip Aristocracy" included a draft bill including limiting suffrage to land owners, and renters who earned as much as their landlords. Electorates were to remain the same as the gerrymandered ones of 1851 that gave undue power to landed interests. The bill also created a colonial aristocracy to populate the upper house and ensure the power of the landed interests.
Is the Member for Wentworths� advocacy for a republic and his suggestion that the sedition laws be removed or amended a perverse method of creating a new house of Harlequin Aristocracy for these would be Australian Mandarins?
Is it possible that under the current legislation, if it was applied equally to all, that those who advocate a republic could be convicted of sedition?
Reference: Dan Deniehy's Bunyip Aristocracy Speech 15th August 1853
Daniel Henry Deniehy was born in Sydney on 16th August 1828.
Tom Collins, NSW
Australians working longer hours for declining wages for those at the bottom of the income scale will be exacerbated by the SerfChoices laws. The result over time will not only be lower wages as everybody here knows, but it will also lead to lower productivity, and then further and predictable calls for lower wages and so on. The fact is that there is an inherent contradiction in all of this, apart form the sheer bastardry of the social and economic arrangements that the laws outline. The welfare to work changes which will cut in next year will force an increased number of people onto the job market. Increasing the numbers of people looking for work, in the absence of any deskilling or training effort will have the effect of lowering overall productivity, particularly as demand will fall as a result of lower wages overall. Longer hours do not increase productivity. They actually lower it-but they do increase the amount that bosses can pay themselves. These 'deforms' taken together are a recipe for a low wage, low skill economy, but it sure will increase inequality as you have pointed out. It is an economic and social disgrace.
Linda Carruthers, NSW
I am writing to you and your readers of this site to warn them that companies out there are already positioning themselves for the new IR changes being forced upon us.
Last night a friend of mine I hadn't seen in a while came over and was quite distressed that she was taking antidepressants due to workplace stress.
When I asked why she told how the American based catering company she has been working for has changed its name in a minor way and acquired a new ABN and therefore could sack the lot of them no entitlements of any kind and hire them on AWA`s which are much more restricted than earlier conditions.
When I said she should fight it in court she said that they were told if anyone went to the press about it they would be instantly dismissed.
So there you go already a so-called honest Howard backed company has jumped at the chance to kick us in the guts.
I was always of the thought that governments were elected by the people for the people, that clearly is not the case!
The only thing that was going to bring this government down was itself and I think that they have just handed a landslide victory to Labor - BRING IT ON!
Bryce Regnier, SA
All along I have thought the new Industrial Relations reform smelled incredibly like Freehills. They are ruthless. My husband is one of the retrenched miners referred to from Blair Athol. He was president of the CFMEU and their main target. I am sure if the media covered even a small amount of the unfair dismissal case that spanned seven years this government would have been disposed of at the last election. How could the general public know if nothing was in the media of the court case. People are now jumping up and down about what they have voted for when they went to the polling booth. We have had first hand dealings with Freehills and Rio Tinto and now the rest of Australia is about to get a taste. All this could have been prevented if only Australia knew.
Jacqueline Barnes, Qld
Once upon a time in the jungle, tigers hunted the herd of deer. The tigers killed a few deer, as other deer took turns to keep watch while most of them grazed. Both the tigers and the deer ate enough to survive and reproduce.
One dark night, a strange noxious gas blew through the jungle. Overnight, the deer lost their herding ability and became solitary animals. Each deer had to look out for tigers, while trying to snatch enough food to survive. The deer lost weight. As the tigers were able to kill more deer, the tigers became wasteful and ate only the tastier parts. Over time, the deer population declined, with the tiger numbers also falling.
The noxious gas will be the Howard Government's proposed changes to industrial relations changes.
Employees will lose the support provided by unions and some employers will exploit them. The social fabric of Australia will be irreversibly damaged. The Howard Government's propaganda asserts that it will not remove current entitlements, but it will certainly provide employers with the weapons to do so.
Mark Witcomb, SA
Kevin Andrews struck down the Northern Territory's euthanasia legislation, by retrospectively amending the federal legislation which gave rights to the Territory (to exclude euthanasia).
If State Labor governments are genuine about industrial relations, why can't they retrospectively amend their empowering legislation to remove that power from the federal government - as it applies to industrial relations? That is the Commonwealth would not be torn up, but the power of the commonwealth government with regard to industrial relations would be retrospectively amended.
This would be just, as this modus operandi is Kevin Andrews' invention.
Alan Pedley, Vic
I utterly deplore the thought of the passing the the proposed IR Legislation. Also, the knowledge that should it become Law the legislation under which we (in the NSW Public service) work will be "shredded". At present the policies under which we work include family friendly leave provisions which are allow a working person to balance care-giving needs and working life - these are a "God-send!" in situations where you are trying to combine work with your caring responsibilities. I now greatly fear that we will be forced to give up either working or care in the home under these proposals.
In a society with an ageing population, which in the coming years will require more assistance to remain in their homes, rather than move to nursing homes or hostels, this legislation is to be deplored. It's very name Work-Choices" is Orwellian. "Choice" is apparently very one-sided - that of the employer/organisation. I believe that this government is in the process of committing a grave error of judgement which will have enduring consequences for the working men and women of Australia.
Diana Groves, NSW
In view of the acknowledgement by the author of the Tool of the Week that domestic violence rates are soaring and recent reports in the media confirming that this is so, I thought it appropriate that you might want to mention in your "Activists What's On" section that Friday 25 November is White Ribbon Day.
Also known as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, it is an opportunity for community groups to focus on a problem that affects many people in Australia and internationally.
On 17 December 1999 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The resolution was supported by Australia and since this date the event has been marked with a range of community activites.
Wearing a white ribbon on 25 November is seen as a personal pledge never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women. Violence against women and girls affects everyone in the community. Men's lives are personally affected if their girlfriends, wives, daughters, mothers, grandmothers or sisters experience violence or the threat of violence.
Harmful attitudes and beliefs in the community are also a very important part of the problem, and tackling these will assist in building a community that is safer for women and girls.
Further information may be obtained from The Office of Women, Department of Family and Community Services (www.ofw.facs.gov.au) or from www.whiteribbonday.org.au
I also note that this is a very positive event for both women and men to unite behind in confronting the ugliness of domestic violence and to build community support for an issue that directly affects many working women and their sisters.
Julianne Taverner, NSW
The first statement is a concession that the accusations of a union 'scare campaign' over the changes are baseless; the second shows the arrogance of a government now exercising power without limits.
Under the cover of more than 1,000 pages of legislation and regulations is an agenda to criminalise industrial relations as we know it - with fines and even jail for officials and rank and file members prepared to assert their rights.
Let's be clear: we are currently witnessing the most brazen political power play since the 1975 Dismissal - only this time it is not a government being put to the knife but an institution that has been part of Australian life since before Federation.
We have seen the excesses of this approach in the building industry, where this week workers have been interrogated by government agents, without access to their chosen lawyer, with the threat of jail if they refuse to disclose what was said at a union meeting.
We also have the alarming situation where building workers who do not get a signed note from their employer are facing massive personal fines for attending the National Day of Community Action against the IR changes.
These laws have already passed through the Federal Parliament with little public debate and no real scrutiny of their purported justification of addressing 'corruption and thuggery' in the building industry. After all, building workers aren't cuddly and their plight doesn't seem to concern the commentariat as much as the plight of refugees or indigines.
The WorkChoices legislation carries the rest of the Australian workforce down this path, every crevasse of industrial and organising activity has severe legal restrictions and tough penalties for those who step across the new legal lines.
From entering the workplace, to framing agreements, to taking industrial action the laws are highly prescriptive, with regulations framed by the same corporate lawyers who will brief Australia's biggest companies as they begin to make hay with their new found powers..
The government accuses the union movement of crying wolf, but when union leaders are taking steps to divest themselves of their assets and seriously contemplating periods in jail, you get the feeling that we are entering a new era.
The question we must ask is: how have we allowed the situation to come to this? Are we so open to abuse to our leaders that they can just take away basic rights; or has the climate of terror reduced our threshold for individual freedom.
The joke is that this legislation has been presented under the pretence of deregulation ; it would be more accurate to describe it as a massive regulation of the labour market to prevent collective activity.
To call this legislation 'extreme' merely places it in its international context; but it is 'repression' that is at its heart; the repression of the rights of workers to bargain for decent wages and conditions in order to serve two converging ideological imperatives - the triumph of the free market over workers and the more crass mission of the Liberals to dismantle their opponent's institutional base.
The danger for the Howard Government is that the reality of workers and their elected leaders in jail could become the icon for a government that is out of control. That and the Mad Monk's air-kisses.
Peter Lewis
Editor
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