*****
With comrade Murdoch in the country The Australian has been leaving no stone un-thrown in demonstrating a fine sense of balance in its commentary and reportage.
No doubt the Sun King would have been mightily pleased by the latest set of lips to grace his profundity in the form of our Tool Of The Week, James McConvill.
James, who in his spare times advocates ripping wings off flies and limbs of anyone who may or may not be a terrorist, announced to the nation that his politics tends to the left.
This is self evident, given his adherence to those great left wing principles; individualism, the free-market, starving workers and torture.
Being such a rabid socialist McConvill is puzzled as to why workers across the country are not rapturously embracing the new WorkChoices legislation as labour market deregulation is in all our interests.
McConvill, an academic who can be seen orbiting earth on a clear night, claims to be a strong supporter of social justice, evidenced by his belief that no Australian CEO need live in poverty.
According to this dangerous Trotskyite, it is a shame that we have any workplace laws at all. Hey! It works so well in Botswana, so why not here?
Conveniently for this advocate of social justice we do not live in a society, but rather, a labour market. Being such soulless widgets bestows certain responsibilities upon those who actually do all the work, such as not impinging upon shareholders rights to another daiquiri.
Equally, according to this subtle genius, the market will allow people to be paid "appropriately". Now, working 60 hours a week and still struggling to eat may be appropriate to closet fetishists like McConville, but most of us will pass on that if given a choice.
Then again, this great advocate of social justice may believe that starving half the population in some Malthusian fantasy is appropriate. In this case we may be better off if we just call the men in white coats in now.
Apparently by getting rid of all these silly workplace rules McConville believes we can arrive at just outcomes. We await with bated breath his analysis that the road toll could be slashed if we got rid of all those unnecessary and costly traffic laws and just let anyone do what they wished on the roads; or how health outcomes can be boosted by letting anyone who takes a fancy to it hang out a shingle and set themselves up as a surgeon.
And why not! If someone has watched a few episodes of Doogie Howser MD then they're about as qualified to practice medicine as someone who has never done a days work in their lives, such as McConville, is to say that a fifteen year old kid and a multinational fast food chain operate on a level playing field.
This scion of the left also has a curious attitude to organised labour, saying that over half a million people taking time off work is somehow irrelevant?
No doubt his view that the union movement is irrelevant is shared by the victims of James Hardie, and the couple of million Australians that rely on award wages each week.
The employer-employee relationship is just a standard contract according to our Tool Of The Week.
Which is a bit like saying a marriage is something you did one weekend, or that kids are an economic drain on society.
McConville places a lot of faith in the free-market, which puts him morally on the same level as a heroin dealer and probably socially as useful.
But one thing is certain; McConville could only be labeled as left wing in the Murdoch broadsheet, where all sorts of sociopathic market daleks are treated as if they're sane.
McConville should stick to torturing people, his pathological forays into the "left" aren't helping anyone.
They defied a sustained campaign of intimidation, by John Howard and his big-business backers, to take part in the biggest act of civil disobedience Australia has witnessed.
An estimated 170,000 people jammed streets around Melbourne's Federation Square to hear ACTU secretary, Greg Combet, build on the theme with a pledge not to pay massive fines John Howard has in store for trade union activists.
" I will not pay a $33,000 fine for asking for people to be treated fairly," Mr Combet said. "And, I will be asking other union leaders to do the same."
The Melbourne centrepiece was beamed across the continent on a Sky Channel hook-up that linked more than 300 venues. Estimates of total numbers varied between 500,000 and an ACTU figure of 600,000.
Twenty five thousand rallied in Brisbane; while twin Sydney rallies at Martin Place and Belmore Park drew another 50,000. Several Sydney suburban protests, attracted thousands, including those at Stanmore, Gymea, Blacktown and Bankstown.
There were hundreds of other protest venues in towns and cities across NSW.
Eight thousand rallied and marched in Wollongong, while more than 15,000 turned up to venues in and around Newcastle.
At the other end of the scale, a dozen people turned out at drought-stricken Collarenebri; there were 53 at Coonabarabran; 131 at Doug Walters' old stamping ground, Dungog; 425 at Lake Cargelligo in the central west; and another 300 in two-pub Werris Creek.
Hundreds took to the streets, after the hook-up, in dozens of regional centres, including Wagga Wagga, Albury, Moss Vale and Bowral.
Thousands more stopped work in Perth, Dampier, Mackay, Townsville, Darwin and Adelaide.
Everywhere, the theme was resistance.
Thousands of building workers ignored threats of $22,000 fines issued by Workplace Relations Minister, Kevin Andrews, and his Australian Building and Construction Commission chief, John Lloyd, in the days leading up to November 15.
Similar lines were run, over and over in the build-up, in a bid to intimidate workers out of protesting.
Federal departments were instructed to deny people time off to express their opposition and threats were issued against those who attended on their own time.
Several departments, including Centrelink and the ATO, warned staff that using flexi-leave or personal leave to attend the rallies would be "unlawful".
CPSU officials said, last Friday, they had been contacted by more than 100 members concerned that they had been "unfairly or illegally" blocked from attending the protests.
The chief of the Australian Industry Group, Heather Ridout, told the media her organisation would assist individual employers to prosecute staff who joined the protests.
Two of the government's biggest IR supporters, Qantas and Visy, also played the intimidation card, threatening action against individual employees.
Reports are coming in of other acts of intimidation. At Glen Innes, in the NSW Northern Tablelands, hospital managers and the local council blocked employees from attending with threats of disciplinary action.
But the efforts failed to stop the largest single protest in Australian history.
Unions NSW secretary, John Robertson, summed up the mood when he told Sydney protesters the rallies were only round one.
"Today is just the beginning. We will be taking this battle into every electorate and every town in Australia," Robertson said.
"This government, and each of its members, will be held accountable for every family that suffers because of its actions."
The Prime Minister lobbed up on television to play statesman in a performance Unions NSW secretary, John Robertson, has labelled "dishonest" but "typical�.
"It was pure John Howard," Robertson said, "very clever but fundamentally dishonest.
"For weeks, every spokesman, every supporter he could muster had been threatening legal action and massive fines in a bid to intimidate Australians.
"It is a strategy, just short of outright lying, that we have seen from him over and over again."
Howard indicated that no retribution would be taken against workers who stood up to "Workchoices" because his Australia was a democracy where the right to protest was cherished.
Robertson accused the Prime Minister of using "cheap tricks" to undermine the trust that should bind governments with the government.
He cited Howard's invention of "non-core promises", and "double-speak" on Medicare, Children Overboard and Weapons of Mass Destruction as other examples.
Robertson said the strategy is further revealed in "Orwellian" titles the federal government chooses for its most contentious legislation.
"Workchoices is a classic. Academics, practitioners, almost every impartial observer who has entered the debate, accepts these proposals drastically limit, or remove, choice from people's working lives," Roberston says.
Howard backed-in protesters after a two-week campaign of threats and intimidation by his Workplace Relations Minister, Canberra's hand-picked ABCC chief, federal government departments and employers, including the AIG, Qantas and Visy.
All had warned that stopping work to protest against Workchoices would be "unlawful" and had threatened workers with the possibility legal action and substantial fines.
Similar marches were conducted across the state following the SkyChannel hook up, with regional centres such as Lismore and Wollongong recording their largest ever turnouts for an industrial rally.
Blacktown workers also raised nearly $3000 for locked out Boeing aircraft engineers, who featured in the hook up.
"The SkyChannel presentation inspired many people to get up afterwards and make their point," said convenor of the Blacktown meeting Martin Cartwright. "There was quite a number who attended from the general community."
Cartwright, who is involved in a committee in the local federal seat of Greenway, said the rallies had given the campaign to topple Liberal member Louise Markus a big boost.
Supporters have been organising street stalls, phoning residents, as well as leafleting shopping centres and train stations.
"It gives us a great impetus to keep the campaign going," said Cartwright. "A lot of people came up afterwards wanting to get involved."
The Blacktown experience was mirrored in places as diverse as Springwood and Glen innes.
Blue Mountains unionists estimate over a thousand attended rallies at five different venues, with the Springwood meeting marching on the office of local Liberal MP and chief government whip, Kerry Bartlett.
Mountains unionists are backing up the day of action with a forum on the IR changes next Saturday in Katoomba.
In Glen Innes over a hundred workers braved storms to meet at a local hotel last Tuesday.
Phil Shannon, an electrician said the rally had been a "big boost" to a growing number of people campaigning against Workchoices in the Northern Tablelands.
The Restaurant and Catering Australia submission into the reforms says real wages, in the sector, must be held down.
The peak body endorsed federal government and Business Council claims that people on the minimum wage earned too much.
John Hart told Senators his organisation employed a substantial number of minimum wage Australians and had been "great disadvantaged" by increases determined by the AIRC.
"We're hoping for a lesser increase for our industry," Hart said
Restaurateurs welcomed the ability to "eliminate" penalty rates and the opportunity to "negotiate sensible conditions."
But they slammed the government's 38-hour working week as "unnecessarily restrictive", and claimed annual leave, parent and carers leave minimums were over restrictive..
In other submissions, the Business Council of Australia backed the federal government's move to eliminate employee representation in determining the minimum wage.
"Minimum wages should be determined by a body comprised of people with sufficient expertise and appreciation of the employment market and factors influencing people's employment prospects to guide the determination of minimum wage increases," the submission said.
The Howard Government's hand-picked Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Pru Goward, also criticised the proposals.
She predicted they would bring about the end of paid maternity leave.
"If they don't have that capacity at the enterprise level to negotiate paid maternity leave for example, then we are really talking about all women then being back to square one," she said.
On questioning if the bill was fair, Goward replied: "I've met a lot of people who say a job is better than no job, even if it's not fair and I guess that's what this whole bill is about."
Public hearings to the inquiry concluded on Friday. It will report to the Senate on Tuesday.
Armando Quezada, a steel fixer from Fairfield, was taken to Mona Vale Hospital after falling more than three metres onto concrete at a St Hilliers site in Mona Vale.
The incident came a week after CFMEU officials warned management of a number of fall risks, including a lack of handrails, during an audit with the site's safety committee.
The CFMEU obtained minutes from the employer-union inspection, written by the site foreman, which had the word "bullshit" written next to issues raised.
"We expect these inspections to be carried out with a degree of integrity, and the last thing we need is to see notes with bullshit, bullshit, bullshit (written on them)," CFMEU North Shore organiser, Tom Mitchell said.
Mitchell said 130 workers walked off the job for a day and a half after the accident, as there were many parts of the job that were up to scratch on fall prevention.
CFMEU safety officer Dick Whitehead said St Hilliers sat on its hands on the issues raised.
"We've got an increasing amount of employers paying scant regard to safety issues being raised by unions," he said.
"I've been on the phone all morning arguing about safety with a number of employers."
Whitehead said it seemed employers were feeling emboldened by recent anti-union construction industry laws.
"This is only going to lead to more accidents - and tragically more deaths," he warned
He said St Hilliers was notorious for taking complaints to the union-busting Building Industry Taskforce.
The taskforce has since been beefed up as the Australian Building and Construction Industry Commission, with sweeping powers to interrogate building workers and impose thousands of dollars in fines for industrial action.
Year 9 student Isobella Buda told by a manager at Manly's Gelatissimo in August that she had �decided� she was not working there any more by not signing an AWA.
The AWA took away Saturday loading and Sunday rates and replaced them with an hourly rate $0.36 less than the award's ordinary rate, leaving her more than $40 a week worse off.
After Isobella refused to sign, she was removed from the roster, which the employer later claimed was because there was no "operational requirements" for her to work.
"My daughter's experience, which has somewhat soured my confidence in a fair and just society, appears to reflect exactly the type of employment arrangements that the government is now encouraging under this proposed legislation," Isobella's mother, Kate Lester, writes in a submission to the WorkChoices Senate Inquiry.
Prime Minister John Howard has consistently rejected suggestions workers can be forced to sign AWAs.
It was only after Isobella's case was taken to the State Industrial Relations Commission - which will be removed under the WorkChoices system - the matter was settled.
Prior to the settlement, Lester told Workers Online she was disappointed the inquiry was too short to hear stories such as hers.
"Definitely I think the inquiry was manipulated by the government to only hear from expert witnesses, so it didn't have to hear the real stories," Lester said.
"What I object to is that a 15-year-old doesn't have enough life experience to have the ability to make a decision like that."
A memo, dated October 26 and written by a Telstra manager, warns of penalties for leaking "customer" information - in this case the Federal government - and says staff may be searched and questioned regarding privacy breaches.
It also warns of fines of up to $10 million for Telstra, which was running the call centres, as well as potential damages for "humiliation and anxiety" of the government.
The memo followed the leaking of the entire operator script, as well as a log of callers complaining about the industrial relations reforms.
"I have previously spoken with all of you regarding this matter and have reminded you that you have signed a confidentiality and privacy document which I handed out to each of you last week to have a read through again," the memo states.
One former operator, who worked at the Canberra call centre, told Workers Online, security seemed to be more important than supply accurate information.
The 21-year-old student, who asked not to be named, said a fellow worker was sacked for taking pictures of the outside scenery.
"Apparently that breaches privacy laws, which seems incredibly ridiculous
to me," she said.
She said she had often heard operators, including supervisors, giving wrong information to callers.
One caller rang with concerns about negotiating an AWA.
"The floor walker [supervisor] was saying something like 'no, they can't negotiate to take away all your rights - there's lots of protection for you - and if you're concerned, the Office of Employee Advocate can step in on your behalf and negotiate for you.'
"I was thinking for one thing, it's the Office of the Employment Advocate, not Employee Advocate.
"They're a government-appointed body that will be doing nothing - and the whole point of the AWA is for it to be negotiated individually."
Workers Online understands Sunday researchers have stumbled across the influence wielded by the mining giant and anti-worker law firm, Freehills.
They investigate how the hard Right ideology, developed at those firms, was spread across the economy and welcomed into Canberra's halls of power.
Nine's promo for the program says this Christmas, Australian business will get its biggest present ever.
"Courtesy of control of both Houses of Parliament, Prime Minister John Howard will finally achieve a career-long dream - a stripped down system of industrial deregulation that prefers individual contracts between employers and employees, sidelines unions, scraps the "no disadvantage" test, removes recourse to unfair dismissal for employees of small business and reduces the minimum conditions of employment to a set of five. Sunday goes behind the scenes with the Minister and his advisers on the day the legislation is introduced," the Nine website says.
"John Howard admits his reforms are politically risky but says over time people will realise Labour's campaign is only scaremongering. While through the stories of employees, Sunday shows what life is like for the more vulnerable in the workplace."
John Howard's Industrial Revolution, screens from 9am on Nine.
American boss Sol Trujillo fessed up to the strategy, this week, in a bid to boost the telco's share price,
The announcement confirmed allegations made in early September by the CPSU, that were vigorously denied by Telstra spokespeople.
CPSU assistant national secretary, Stephen Jones, was specific about Telstra's intentions, saying a 104-page cost reduction document, authored by chief operations officer, Greg Winn, was calling for another 10,000 - 14,000 heads.
Jones warned that regional Australia would be severely affected, with the axe hanging over thousands of call centre positions in places like Wollongong, Grafton, Murray Bridge, Bendigo, Moe, Geelong, Toowoomba, Cairns and Maroochydore.
On September, 13, Jones called on Telstra to "come clean" on its job shedding agenda.
But the company fudged the issue. A spokesman denied the existence of the cost reduction document and said there were no fixed plans for sackings.
The timing is important because the Jones revelations came as Prime Minister John Howard was forcing legislation through Parliament that allowed the government to flog off its remaining 51 percent holding.
Crucial to the that vote was the support of Queensland National, Barnaby Joyce, who, said, last week, he had backed privatisation after Government Ministers assured him the sackings claims were untrue.
Joyce said that, given the choice between Government and Telstra assurances, and a union "rumour", he had gone with the government and Telstra.
Prime Minister John Howard, whose government is the telco's majority shareholder, gave the plan his seal of approval by telling displaced staff that, in historical terms, it was a good time to lose your job.
"The message to all of those people is that if we have a very strong economy and their prospects of getting re-employment are greater now than they would have been 10 or 12 years ago," Howard said.
Trujillo made his announcement, last Tuesday, as hundreds of thousands of workers were protesting workplace legislation that the Prime Minister says will deliver more jobs.
Joyce called the timing "sneaky".
"You've got to understand, they were all sitting on their arses for ten weeks with nothing to do. They all put on 5kg when they came back to work on these machines they weren't work hardened.," Kemalex Plastics owner Richard Colebatch told The Australian newspaper this week.
Colebatch, who refused to negotiate with workers at his Dandenong factory for six weeks during the strike, told the National Union of Workers "I only answer to two people, my mother and my wife".
The protracted dispute featured bikie gangs intimidating the worker's peaceful assembly, yet Colebatch claimed he was the victim of "union thugs" and "vandalism".
The NUW says they strenuously attempted to avoid a strike but Colebatch was motivated by "ideological" reasons, and was unwilling to negotiate during the strike, which involved women who were, in some cases, being paid less than the award minimum.
Colebatch had offered workers a pay rise conditional on them giving up meal breaks.
Thow says Colebatch has been caught out telling porkies with his claims that unions had OK'd the use of individual contractors.
"The use of contractors was never negotiated or approved by the union. When they arrived on site it came as a shock," says Thow. "He said words to the effect that people work better when they're under pressure and that independent contractors don't have sick leave."
Thow is appalled at Colebatch's attitude, especially after the factory owner had previously praised the union during a period of administration when unions co-operated to help secure the future of the Dandenong business. The union also worked with Colebatch at the resolution of the ten week strike to 'clear the air' following the dispute.
"For someone who claims to want flexibility he had a remarkably bureaucratic approach during negotiations," says Thow. "Every word had to ticked off by his barrister, solicitor, company board and a 'mythical' advisory board.
"So we were dealing with three or four tiers of decision making.
"In the current situation you can only speculate as to who his 'advisory board' is."
Colebatch Adelaide business treats all employees as independent contractors.
The 36-year-old mature age electrical apprentice had been working with a Wagga-based national enterprise when his supervising tradesman quit. His replacement was based in Leeton, 120 kilometres away.
The apprentice, who does not want to be identified because he is worried about future employment opportunities, was given the option of making the two-hour trip or camping out in accommodation that Electrical Trades Union organiser Matt McCann says, "you wouldn't put a pig in".
The ETU advised the apprentice that he was entitled to travel in the company's time or be paid for excess travel time.
When the apprentice raised this with his supervisor he was told that if he didn't like it he could camp in rundown company huts or leave.
The hut option would have seen him spending three to four nights a week away from his family in conditions McCann described as "filthy and disgusting".
The wage rate was another cause for concern, with the ETU concerned it could deteriorate further, given the push to enable the 'fair pay commission' set apprentice rates.
The mature aged apprentice started on a first year wage of $6.80, the award minimum.
"Most employers will pay mature aged apprentices on trades assistant rates,' says McCann. "Under the new laws those travelling allowances and arrangements he is currently entitled to would be a thing of the past."
A Wagga father of three is being forced to travel 240 kilometres to work for $8.90 an hour.
The 36-year-old mature age electrical apprentice had been working with a Wagga-based national enterprise when his supervising tradesman quit. His replacement was based in Leeton, 120 kilometres away.
The apprentice, who does not want to be identified because he is worried about future employment opportunities, was given the option of making the two-hour trip or camping out in accommodation that Electrical Trades Union organiser Matt McCann says, "you wouldn't put a pig in".
The ETU advised the apprentice that he was entitled to travel in the company's time or be paid for excess travel time.
When the apprentice raised this with his supervisor he was told that if he didn't like it he could camp in rundown company huts or leave.
The hut option would have seen him spending three to four nights a week away from his family in conditions McCann described as "filthy and disgusting".
The wage rate was another cause for concern, with the ETU concerned it could deteriorate further, given the push to enable the 'fair pay commission' set apprentice rates.
The mature aged apprentice started on a first year wage of $6.80, the award minimum.
"Most employers will pay mature aged apprentices on trades assistant rates,' says McCann. "Under the new laws those travelling allowances and arrangements he is currently entitled to would be a thing of the past."
According to a survey published in The Financial Review, last week, the average pay packets of Australian chief executive officers jumped from $1.35 to $1.7 million, last year.
The CEOs double as members of the Business Council of Australia, one of the most aggressive supporters of Howard Government proposals to ditch unfair dismissal rights, hold down the minimum wage, and strip awards back to five minimal standards.
Chief executives, whose increase nearly quadrupled the average movements earned by their employees, have taken the hat around their bosses to drum up a fund to advertise their support for WorkChoices.
The ads indicate that once government enacts their workplace wishlist, they will launch a campaign to slash tax rates for corporates and high income individuals.
Leightons chief executive officer, Wal King, who extracted $36 million from the building company, last financial year, has defended CEO pay levels.
King's income comes to nearly $700,000 a week, compared with the $484 earned by minimum wage Australians that the Business Council says are earning too much.
King is a BCA council member.
Others at the top of the CEO rich list, last year, were News Limited's Rupert Murdoch on $27 million (up 46 percent): Frank Lowy, Westfield Holdings, on $14.6 million (up nearly 10 per cent) and Qantas chief Geoff Dixon $6.1 million (163 percent).
"I've never been politically active before," she says. "I've never been part of a political party or particularly politically aware."
The mother of one and part time manager of a Penrith day care centre addressed a Nov 15 Day of Action meeting.
"I'll be going from middle class with pretty good money to working class, which will be a full on struggle despite my tertiary qualifications," says Jacobson about the new laws.
And out in Glen Innes in outback NSW, electricity linesman Phil Shannon watched over 100 people turn up for the biggest thing he has ever organised.
"Even a couple of retirees turned up asking if it was OK for them to join in," he says.
Both have been kicked into action by the threat Howard's new IR laws poise for them and their communities.
"Only two people turned around and said Howard was doing a good job," says Shannon of the day a week or so before the November 15 telecast when he handed out over 200 pamphlets about the new laws, adding the next time he organises such a protect he better use the RSL rather than the local tavern.
"Four months ago no one knew what industrial relations was," says Jacobson. "I've been very lucky in that with all of my jobs I have been protected by an award and had very good conditions. I have never needed to be a member of a union."
"Unfortunately not many people are knowledgeable about their awards either."
Despite widespread interest in the Sky Channel hook up, Shannon says quite a few people in his town were actively discouraged from attending.
"A boss from the RTA stuck his head in just to see who was there," he says, adding that one young female worker at the local hospital received a letter warning her not to attend and the local council only allowed a handful of its employees to go.
But as he and Jacobson have discovered, a lot of people still don't want to believe the big changes around the corner will affect them.
"A lot of people don't understand it and they don't want to," says Jacobson. "You say this will affect everyone and they look at you with this incredulous look."
"I have talked to kids who work at BiLo and KFC," says Shannon. "They tell me it doesn't affect them because they are only going to have these minimum wage jobs until they finish school. But I say to them, look, these changes are going to kick in once you are at university. They don't really understand as they are new to the workforce."
"People are busy with their work and families," says Jacobson. "They think they are going to be OK, particularly when you have got Government information packages saying 'Protected By Law'."
"I've told my in-laws about how the changes will effect the pension," says says. "Once the IR laws change, they will not have the increase you have had in the last nine years. History has shown that if Liberal governments had had their way you would be $50 a week worse off. This is what is going to happen with the Fair Pay Commission."
Describing the decision as regretful but necessary, Barry Johnson, General Secretary of the NSW Teachers Federation said that, "while it is sad that we are losing a cheap holiday resort for workers in NSW, part of John Howard's vision for Australia is that worker don't have any holidays."
The resort, established in 1949 to celebrate the creation of the 40-hour week and to provide a subsidised holiday destination for workers, is valued at between 8 and 15 million dollars.
John Robertson, Secretary of Unions NSW described the decision as a difficult one, telling delegates "the union movement needed to take this fight up to the Howard Government and, through a well thought out and strategic campaign, it's a battle we can win."
Unions NSW has been maintaining and developing the Currawong site in recent years by resurfacing the tennis court and painting the cabins.
With these improvements, the organisation has been able to increase rents on the property over the past four years, but, even then, other holiday accommodation providers in the area were matching Currawong's prices.
Unions NSW delegates, are required under the rules, to vote a second time on the property sale. They will meet again, next month, to confirm last week's decision.
The International Centre for Trade Union Rights has told Australian politicians Australia risks expulsion from the International Labour Organisation, a punishment yet to be inflicted on IR rogues such as Cambodia, Colombia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Myanmar and Zimbabwe.
In a submission to the Senate Inquiry into the WorkChoices Bill, ICTUR says the new laws "will cause outrage within the ILO and other international institutions."
"Australia will be one of the most non-compliant western democracies of all of the ILO states," the submission says, adding the government's latest assault on workers' rights, combined with breaches of Australia's international obligations under the 1996 Workplace Relations Act, may mean Australia's expulsion from the organisation.
In the past the ICTUR has correctly predicted the reaction of the ILO to the current Workplace Relations Act.
The ILO Committee of Experts has repeatedly criticised Australia's current federal IR law, saying it contravene fundamental ILO Conventions on freedom of association and the right to collectively bargain.
According to ICTUR, once the new laws are enacted, these fundamental rights "will be either entirely extinguished or so severely prejudiced as to render them of little value."
Schwarzenegger had sought to bypass lawmakers, taking his Proposition 75, which would have stopped unions from running political campaigns, to a public referendum.
The proposition was lost 53 percent to 47 percent.
"Labour's voice was not silenced-we spoke loud and clear. Today we kicked Arnold's butt," said Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation.
Unions pout the victory down to worker-to-worker contact on the job, the phones and at the door that, creating a huge turnaround in public opinion.
Unions also helped defeat a proposal to reduce teachers' job security and contract protections.
California union members passed out more than 2 million workplace leaflets and made more than 2 million phone calls to mobilize union family voters against the corporate-backed attacks.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Schwarzenegger's campaign was "financed chiefly by business interests, including real estate developers, technology executives, auto dealers, agribusiness and Wal-Mart heirs."
On thew same day in New Jersey unions helped elect U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine to the governorship.
Unions claimed Corzine as having a 100 percent pro-AFL-CIO voting record.
Politics in the Pub - Katoomba
Saturday November 26th 2005 at 2.00pm Hotel Gearin, 273 Great Western Highway, Katoomba
"Be informed, alerted and alarmed"
speakers to be announced come along to discuss: The changes to the Industrial Relations Act What is before the Federal Parliament: will debate be allowed? The High Court challenge How who and when? And How will this effect your employment Part time, full time, casual, pensioners and young workers These matters touch all of us convened by BMUC: Blue Mountains Unions Council
http://bmucinc.com http:.//bmuc.blogspot.com
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]
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
It's about time the labour movement raised the issue of (increasingly) poor driving wasting time and petrol, increasing petrol prices and costs to businesses, and giving the employing class another excuse for attacking working conditions. But look at who the main offenders seem to be; the best drivers in my experience are professional drivers such as ambos and Sydney buses, but the worst are the arrogant and selfish well-to-do. We pay for their complacency, while their attitude to simple and easy to follow road rules ("protected by law"?) indicates how weak that "protection" will be under new industrial rules. Please find below one of my two submissions to Senate enquiry, which deals with this issue:
There's one developing menace in modern society which must seriously affect business efficiency and productivity, which if properly addressed (primarily, by people taking responsibility for their own actions) may obviate the "need" to unfairly reduce labour costs. The fact that it has not yet arisen in debates, let alone been any announcement that it has been the subject of a Govt study, tends to prove the move to cut labour costs (as if humans were commodities like any other) is driven by a dangerous underlying ideology, where business efficiency and productivity is not as important as enslaving working people.
The menace to which I refer is the increasingly poor driving ability of modern urban motorists (most businesses today rely on road transport directly or indirectly). In my daily experience the main offenders appear to be trades vehicles (ie small business operators), cars driven by people who appear to be from the management strata (some of their cars even have "executive" marked on the outside), and SUV/4WD operators (especially mothers dropping off/collecting children from private schools) - those the Liberal Party represents and for whom the new laws benefit. Workers' pay and conditions will be driven down to sub-standard while these people continue to endanger life and limb, waste other motorists' time, and waste everybody's petrol.
The sort of poor driving practices that are becoming increasingly prevalent include:
* using mobile phones (I add to this point - this practice is illegal; what hope have we for a fair go from employers when clearly they have difficulty complying with even the simplest laws?)
* non-use of indicators
* non-use of head-lights (especially dark and grey or silver cars at dusk)
* inability to stay wholly within a lane (causing unnecessary delays for those behind them)
* too great a distance between cars when stationary in traffic
* not paying attention to what's happening on the road around them, especially when first in queue at a red light
* driving too slowly (a major cause of traffic jams)
* disregard for most traffic laws so as to not wait their turn in traffic like everyone else (pulling out then butting in, crossing double lines, disobeying road signs, etc etc)
* stopping in prohibited areas to drop off/collect people/things, or just to look at a street directory, or take a phone call
* queuing across intersections
* sadly, the list goes on
The whole attitude of these drivers seems to be that either the law does not apply to them, or they've made a commercial decision to risk the penalty for non-compliance (an indicator of their attitude to the paltry "protections" in the industrial law). I believe it has arisen in recent years because it follows from an increasing arrogance amongst the employing class. I don't see any reason why attacks on working conditions should even be considered until these people start taking responsibility for their own actions draining on the efficiency and productivity of the rest of the community.
Jon Shapiro
Welcome to Australia, the Hard Working State of the USA.
I can't believe that the changes to IR are even happening but then again I couldn't believe people would actually vote for Howard, again.
The reality is that anyone who isn't already employed FullTime and Prepared to stay in that same job for the rest of their life is never going to get anywhere in life, they will struggle to afford basics like Food and Water. Only the Rich will be Educated and every business will be a sweat shop. How can the future of every Australian under the age of 60 rest on the shoulders of a man who will soon retire with millions.
This is the end of Australia, our freedom and our relaxed way of life, I hope the tourism industry is prepared because no one will come to a country that is full of tired cranky bastards. Can somebody tell me where the lucky country is because Australia is no longer it.
Amy Rose
At the writing of this letter Telstra (nicely timed for Senate Committee hearings into controversial IR reforms) is expected to announce it will cut thousands of jobs, shut the CDMA network and even reduce dividend payments.
I think it would be a tragedy if the PM proudly exclaims that " essential actions taken by Telstra management highlight the need for greater IR flexibility for the good of the economy."
Also, timing of announcements may then raise questions, stranger things have happened, like alleged threats of jail or $200,000 fines against (WorkChoices) call centre workers if they breached contract by disclosing pay and conditions.
When the tide goes out and everything settles down we should be able to see if Australian workers (including those employed by Telstra), have, indeed, been swimming with sharks.
Until then I will remain cautiously skeptical about this week's events.
John McPhilbin
May I express my thoughts on the new Industrial Relations legislation the Liberal Government is about to put forward in parliament.
In the last five to ten years the Australian government and the corporate sectors have blindly followed the American work ethic of making the front liners work at breakneck speed and performing a 100 different tasks simultaneously. As a result, the Australian work ethic has changed, as the workplace attitudes of workers toward each other has significantly changed. We all know of our famous Australian attribute of knocking the person who does better than others, but we also possess that valuable, cultivated convention of supporting and looking after each other which has been entrenched by our 'Mateship' ethos. Yet, I have seen a development and general acceptance grow among the less educated and educated, of it becoming the norm to belittle one another or take the 'one up' vernacular to un attractive levels. And this new legislation will only increase this phenomena more so.
While I believe it is important for Australia to maintain a healthy relationship with our American and British friends; I have met Australians who lived and worked in the US and in Britain for a number of years under similar Industrial legislation and they all spoke of how they became disheartened with their work place and the people around them. It affected them to the point where they decided to come back to Australia for a more civil and secure way of life. Like in America, if this legislation is passed the work place attitude will worsen here as Australians will be forced compete against their workmate/colleague and neighbour for their very lively hood. Sadly this will filter through to their social lives as their attitudes will gradually mould toward fighting each other both psychologically and physically. Indeed it will encourage a 'dog eat dog', heartless, every man for himself attitude that will not benefit but poison our great lifestyle and society. To the point whe!
re violence, theft and drug trafficking will only increase. I am certain this new legislation will only erode the very core of what is so attractive to the rest of the world to be Australian. Infact, it is un Australian.
Thus, I put it respectfully to you 'is this dog eat dog' attitude really what you want?
Lincoln Coull
Seacliff SA
The sheer number of people who took to the streets, in capital cities, local suburbs and country towns, was enough to take the breath away.
The way they registered their dissent, with determination, humour and - in nearly every circumstance - a fierce determination to build support with the broader public, showed this campaigning is maturing into a genuine movement.
But it was the reaction of the key players in this class war -, the government, the business lobby, the media, the two wings of the labour movement - that said most about where the campaign is up to.
The Prime Minister who has bet the house on these reforms was ducking and weaving at his best - asserting that all the fuss would be forgotten within a year. After mobilising all available agencies of government - from the ABCC to individual departments to threaten and harass staff out of attending the protests, there he was, large as life on the TV news, asserting the right to protest.
Like everything about his legislation, things are not what they seem - WorkChoices means no choices; 'protected by law' means 'grand-fathered' and freedom now seems to look more like serfdom. In constructing a virtual universe where these laws are defensible, the Prime Minister is fast entering the realms of the self-delusional. It is dangerous territory.
Predictably, the business cheer squad tried to paint the day as a failure - with silly comments like those from ACCI boss and Reith acolyte Peter Hendy that 95 per cent of workers stayed at work. This spin ignores the historical context of these changes, an era where people are rarely moved to take political action on this scale. Then again, big business knows how it has to win from these laws and is prepared to say just about anything to back them in.
If they had any shame left, it surely evaporated when Telstra slashed 12,000 jobs an hour after the march concluded, just as the Fin Review was preparing to publish its annual rundown of mega-executive salaries.
The media coverage of the rally was overwhelmingly positive - we have (finally) reached the point where journalists are taking the running on the changes and seeking out their angles. The TV stations are giving the images of huge crowds full value; while even newspapers in lockstep with the government are finding it hard to maintain their position; although The Australian battles on gamely. Yes, terrorism trumps IR on page one; but to give the media due credit, they have refused to be fully diverted from scrutinising these radical changes
Even the ALP has stepped up a notch; Kim Beazley's vow to tear up the laws the day he wins power was delivered with sufficient passion to make one believe that such a scenario is not necessarily a fantasy.
As for the unions, the key message that the laws will be resisted - and that this is only the beginning of the campaign cut through. If there is still uncertainty about where the campaign will actually go; at least there is a real sense that this is just a step on a longer march - which can only end with a change in federal government.
In this context, November 15 was not just a set piece, but the culmination of six months of grass roots organising, at a workplace and a community level. And behind Tuesday's glitz, tens of thousands of workers were giving their emails and mobile numbers to a central database, what could be the most potent political weapon this country has seen.
There is no denying that once the laws pass the Federal Parliament there will be significant challenges for the union movement. But in building a broad alliance with the community to fight these changes on a cultural level, unions are giving themselves every chance of winning the long-term battle.
The Restaurant and Catering Australia submission into the reforms says real wages, in the sector, must be held down.
The peak body endorsed federal government and Business Council claims that people on the minimum wage earned too much.
John Hart told Senators his organisation employed a substantial number of minimum wage Australians and had been "great disadvantaged" by increases determined by the AIRC.
"We're hoping for a lesser increase for our industry," Hart said
Restaurateurs welcomed the ability to "eliminate" penalty rates and the opportunity to "negotiate sensible conditions."
But they slammed the government's 38-hour working week as "unnecessarily restrictive", and claimed annual leave, parent and carers leave minimums were over restrictive..
In other submissions, the Business Council of Australia backed the federal government's move to eliminate employee representation in determining the minimum wage.
"Minimum wages should be determined by a body comprised of people with sufficient expertise and appreciation of the employment market and factors influencing people's employment prospects to guide the determination of minimum wage increases," the submission said.
The Howard Government's hand-picked Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Pru Goward, also criticised the proposals.
She predicted they would bring about the end of paid maternity leave.
"If they don't have that capacity at the enterprise level to negotiate paid maternity leave for example, then we are really talking about all women then being back to square one," she said.
On questioning if the bill was fair, Goward replied: "I've met a lot of people who say a job is better than no job, even if it's not fair and I guess that's what this whole bill is about."
Public hearings to the inquiry concluded on Friday. It will report to the Senate on Tuesday.
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