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Issue No. 301 | 31 March 2006 |
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Issue No. 301 | 31 March 2006 |
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*****
Wilson Tuckey is off his medication again.
The man who believes that getting the sack is good for you showed us he also possesses a brilliant legal mind this week with a stunning observation regarding the efficacy of the government's new Workchoices legislation.
You see, Ironbar is a firm believer in laws, well, sometimes.
"When they change the speed limits on the roads, the police don't wait a month to go and catch you do they? They are out there the next day," said old Ironbar, who showed that not only is he a complete dropkick; he is a paranoid dropkick at that.
After all, Wilson should know all about the road laws. This is the same bloke who used his ministerial letterhead, as you do, to castigate the South Australian police minister after his son was pinched by the South Australian highway patrol.
The fearless crusader for the rights of underprivileged members of his own family was seeking a more appropriate penalty, such as getting off.
No doubt this is a consolation to Tuckey the elder should he ever be given the chance to apply this brilliant logic to the WorkChoices legislation, such as if his son is unfairly sacked.
Such commitment to family values is to be applauded, after all this is the man who, a while back, tried to get some tax concessions up for a business that owed his son a few quid.
Tuckey is chuffed that the full penalty of the law can now be thrown at those slaves who run away, which runs in stark contrast to his colleague, Brother Andrews, who believes that, when it comes to something trivial like employee safety, the law is a load of old tosh and these things are better addressed over a few cognacs down at the club.
The man who told us that a lot of bushfires are caused by trees burning, getting the sack is good for you and that James Hardie is a misunderstood victim of a wild left wing conspiracy, waded into the WorkChoices debate this week.
"People only dismiss workers if they have no employment for them," said Tuckey, who has obviously cancelled the newspaper subscriptions and had the TV turned off all week.
The sad fact is that clowns like Ironbar wouldn't know what work was if it fell on them, which is increasingly likely under the laws he supports, and his understanding of the modern workplace is right up there with his grasp of multi dimensional physics.
Tuckey said that people won't have to wait long for a job, and he's right. Many were offered their own jobs back as casuals on less money than they were before.
No doubt we await Tuckey's next contribution to the public debate, where he can inform us as to how impoverishing the population is good for the country. In the meantime, who can argue with the utterances of Wilson Tuckey QC:
"A law is a law is a law," says Tuckey.
And a tool is a tool is a tool.
__
Don't forget to order your Deck Of Tools, to be launched this Thursday Night in the Unions NSW Trades Hall Atrium from 6.45pm. Only $10. register your interest at phil@essentialmedia.com.au
The doctors, E Lau and K Lai, waited until John Howard's pro-sacking legislation was in force to drop new, non-negotiated terms of employment on three receptionists.
Walke, who shares a car with her TAFE-student daughter, said one of the main things she had wanted clarified was the doctors' insistence that she make herself available for duties at their Cabramatta operation.
"I had a job where I could walk to work and I wanted to talk to them about what the new terms would mean," she explained.
"I wanted to talk to the employer but I didn't even get the opportunity. I was given the new conditions on Wednesday and, about 12.15 today (Thursday) I was sacked by the office manager.
"I feel I have been unfairly dismissed because I have done nothing wrong. Why should all my conditions change, after 20 years, without any discussion?"
If the doctors had dumped Walke, last week, the longstanding USU member would have been able to challenge the decision through an unjustified dismissal action.
But one of the cornerstones of the Howard government's workplace changes, was to remove that right from any Australian at a workplace of less than 100 people.
The Prime Minister, last week, said the only person who needed to worry was the "office whinger".
Walke said she would "definitely" have sought redress if she had been sacked one week earlier.
USU executive president, Michael Want, said his union had advised Walke to talk to her employer about the new terms but the doctors had "clearly decided to take advantage of Howard's industrial relations changes".
Meanwhile, the AWU is going in to bat for a young Dad who was sacked on the spot after trying to stick up for a customer.
Windsor Turf Supplies jumped onto the Howard bandwagon when Waylon Vaughan questioned the quality of turf being sent to a customer.
AWU official, Nick Allen, said it was "ridiculous" that Howard had given business the right to dump a person in those circumstances.
He said Vaughan was a qualified greenkeeper with chemical handling certificates.
"He's raised a legitimate concern and the boss has said - right you're gone. No notice, no entitlements, just sent him on his way.
"An awful lot of people are waking up to the fact that this legislation is anti-worker, anti-customer and anti-Australian," the AWU's Nick Allen said.
The would-be tradesmen flung in their first fulltime jobs after JAL Landscape and Construction dudded them on wages and allowances, and failed to register their apprenticeships.
Stephen Pemberton and Brett Conlon joined the CFMEU and, with the support of their parents, began leafleting Sydneysiders about the reality of John Howard's workplace.
Conlon told Workers Online there was "no way" he thought he would be a union activist when he left St Pat's College, only a few months ago.
"It was unbelievable," he said of his treatment at JAL.
"When they offered me an apprenticeship I was very keen but, then, they didn't pay us.
"We didn't get paid for four weeks, there were no pay slips and no overtime. We were working long hours, until 10.15 at night. All we were getting was $250 a week.
"I would like to continue my apprentice but, after this, I'm not sure."
He said he had been comfortable seeking union support because his father, a bus driver, and teacher mother were trade unionists.
The CFMEU estimates both youngsters are owed more than $10,000 for work they did at JAL.
Pemberton's mother, Paula, explained how the families went looking for help.
"The boys were so happy when they got the apprenticeship offers," she told Unions NSW delegates.
"Then, we didn't know what to do so we put it into Google and up popped the union. We haven't looked back since."
The two 17-year-olds say they were required to sign individual contracts that contained no sick leave, overtime or public holiday entitlements.
Pemberton said JAL boss, John Lintmeijer, owed him thousands of dollars and he had no qualms about going public.
CFMEU secretary, Andrew Ferguson, praised the courage and commitment of the pair whose plight has attracted widespread media coverage.
"John Howard has written a rorters charter for the building industry," Ferguson said. "This type of behaviour is exactly what he spent millions of taxpayer dollars trying to stop us stamping out."
The CFMEU, supported by Unions NSW, is asking supporters to:
- contact John or Adam Lintmeiger from JAL and demand payment for Pembeton and Conlon. John Lintmeiger 0422 677199, Adam Lintmeijer 0412 120604. Email j.a.llc@bigpond.com
- contact Rudoph Belin of Newinvest, who contracted JAL to work on the site, and ask him to ensure that people who worked on his project are paid. 0410 606213. Email: Rudolph@bigpond.com
Ferguson asked supporters of the campaign not to be rude or abusive, during phone calls, irrespective of provocation.
The survey shows the Howard Government’s industrial relations changes could produce a record swing to Labor, with Coalition voters abandoning the Tories in droves.
But 23.6 per cent of Labor voters say internal divisions within the party would make them less likely to vote for the ALP.
Robertson said the message was clear for federal Labor.
"The Labor Party should stop focusing on its internal divisions and start campaigning on industrial relations from here until the next federal election," he said.
"Together, on this issue, we can shift the vote."
Robertson said as WorkChoices takes hold of people's lives he expects the level of dissatisfaction of Coalition workers to climb.
"As Australians find their family life compromised by the changes to their working lives that these laws will bring, their resentment of the Howard Government is only going to grow."
Meanwhile, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show union membership has grown by four per cent in a year.
The ABS recorded 70,000 workers joining unions in the 12 months to August 2005.
"These figures show that working Australians are voting with their feet and turning to unions to help them protect their job security, wages and basic entitlements in the face of the Howard Government's industrial relations changes," ACTU President Sharan Burrow said.
The ABS data shows union members earn an average $118 more per week than non-union workers.
Mark O’Neil, employed by Mission Electrical, was punted days after WorkChoices came into effect after asking why his redundancy benefits hadn’t been paid.
Mission did not deny there was enough work to continue to employ O'Neil, bringing extra staff from Sydney onto the job, which still has months to run.
"The one bloke I saw that had been brought on to the job was a fourth year apprentice," says O'Neil. "I'd rate the [trades] supervision of the job now as one out of ten."
Matt McCann from the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) said that WorkChoices could impact on the safety of the general public if the quality of trades work was undermined.
"We have to be concerned that companies will let highly qualified tradesmen go and replace them with cheaper, less qualified, workers," says McCann.
O'Neil, who was working on the construction of a medium density housing development of 98 units in Merimbula, had enquired three weeks ago as to why his boss wasn't paying into the MERT redundancy scheme after discovering the trust account designed to protect his entitlements was empty.
"I guess they thought that made me a trouble maker," says O'Neil.
A stores worker at Dana Australia found a high-frequency listening device amongst metal parts on an office windowsill, after a day of intense negotiations.
AMWU state secretary, Dave Oliver, has given the bug to Victorian police and lodged a complaint under Surveillance laws that provide for imprisonment and fines of up to $108,000.
"Welcome to John Howard's industrial McCarthyism," Oliver said.
"Our people are furious. First they tell us they are going to chop our wages and then this, in an environment where John Howard has made it an offence to even ask for conditions he doesn't like."
The discovery vindicates concerns expressed by Dana workers, at the Industrial Relations Commission, on February 3, in defending themselves against a company bid for orders under the federal government's Workplace Relations Act.
At that hearing, the transcript reveals, the AMWU argued a stoppage, the previous day, was not a strike but a report back session that had to be held off-site because of genuine concerns meetings were being bugged.
Dana employees had been discussing a 76-point log of claims, served under cover of WorkChoices, that would have slashed earnings by 30 percent.
Lowlights of company demands, on 400 people at its Clayton and Cheltenham sites, included annual five percent wage cuts, savage clawbacks on overtime, shift and penalty rates, and a 20 percent drop for new starters.
Organiser, Ian Thomas, admitted he had been sceptical when members first raised concerns they were being snooped on.
"I laughed it off as paranoia," he said. "I'd have them on about Mulder and Scully but then too many things started happening that couldn't be put down to coincidence.
"In negotiations, they would repeat things back to us exactly as they had been said in private.
"Even so, I was surprised when they found the listening device. One of the guys found it in the stores room when he was rummaging around for a part."
Thomas explained the head AMWU delegate was a leading hand in the tool room with his own office. As a matter of course, Dana delegates used that room for private discussions, during breaks in formal negotiations.
The device was discovered, immediately after "intense" discussions on the company's clawback agenda.
Melbourne's Age newspaper reported, this week, Moorabbin detectives were investigating the discovery of a listening device found at an "engineering firm".
Meanwhile, Dana Australia's parent company, Dana Corp, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US.
The business-friendly legislation allows companies that can't meet their commitments to continue trading whilst they renegotiate contracts causing them bother.
The AMWU understands that most of the contracts Dana Corp has in its sights are labour contracts.
Before filing for bankruptcy protection, Dana announced sweeping changes to its operations, including the closure of plants in North America and Australia.
Last December, Dana Corp lowered reported profits by $US44 million, since 2000, and admitted to improper accounting procedures.
Last month, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, announced it was opening an investigation into the Dana's financial practices and whether it had violated federal securities laws.
Contract drivers facing a loss of more than $20 million in pay-out entitlements are taking their case to Sydney drinkers with a petition calling on Tooheys to reverse its decision.
More than 1000 drinkers have already signed up.
Tony Sheldon from the Transport Workers Union said turning off the beer taps symbolised turning off the livelihoods of drivers' families.
"Sixty Australian family-owned businesses are on the verge of being destroyed," Sheldon said. "These drivers have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to set up their businesses to solely carry beer for Tooheys. Some of them could lose their family homes over this."
The TWU slammed the Federal Government's proposed Independent Contractors Act, pointing out it would strip contractors of any collective rights.
The drivers took their case to federal parliament earlier this week, presenting politicians with a bottle of beer to remind them of the impact the new law would have on workers in their predicament.
Staff reported one woman, later treated in hospital, was left doubled up in pain for half an hour after a power surge hit the corporation's River Quays building in Townsville.
Telstra call centres have been plagued by acoustic shock strikes that leave telephonists in agony and, in some cases, with debilitating hearing and balance problems.
Workers at Newcastle and Maroochydore call centres have been affected but the most infamous case happened more than two years ago at Chernside, Brisbane, when around a dozen ambulances were dispatched to the workplace.
One of the worst affected people at Chernside still hasn't had her compensation claim dealt with and CPSU official, Paul Girdler, says that is the essence of the problem.
"Fourteen people were treated at the scene, last week, and at least 11 were taken to Townsville Hospital but, the truth is, nobody would probably know if our job delegate hadn't just become a union organiser," Girdler said.
"Acoustic shock is a real problem but prevention is severely hampered by Telstra policies of secrecy and contesting responsibility.
"Telstra's whole approach to the problem of acoustic shock is to try and cover it up.
"They seem to feel that if nobody knows, or they deny responsibility, then they have a safe workplace.
"Telstra brought in the lawyers and fought Chernside claims all the way."
Last week's incident was not the first at Townsville.
A River Quays worker put in a compensation claim after receiving an acoustic shock, last April. The corporation is still contesting that case.
Workers Online understands that after last week's shock wave, workers were back on the phones within 24 hours, with one exeption - the line used by the person injured last April.
ABCC efforts to interfere in a health and safety dispute were brushed by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, last week.
Witnesses say employees were throwing up and calling for first aid following a gas leak at the Shedden Uhde job in Corio.
The company used Howard's laws to keep union officials, concerned about member safety, off the site.
After the gas leak, 260 people walked out to meet union reps.
Workers returned to work when immediate safety concerns were addressed, but not before the matter was referred to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.
Under Workchoices laws the AIRC had no choice but to recommended a return to work in one of the first examples of the industrial umpire being stripped of discretionary powers to refer the dispute to conciliation.
Shedden Uhde said Legionella and gas leaks posed no threat to employees.
Emma Walters, for the CFMEU, told the Commission the stoppage was not "industrial action" but "a cessation of work" in accordance with Victoria's Occupational Health and Safety Act. She confirmed union officials had been denied entry to the site in breach of the State Act.
The Australian Building and Construction Commission, represented by law firm Freehills, unsuccessfully sought to intervene in what the company claimed was "industrial action".
"This is a genuine occupational health and safety issue," says Electrical Trades Union spokesperson Phil Cleary. "Workers are frustrated by the intention of the company to use Workchoices."
The case is listed for hearing again this Thursday.
Bollard camped outside his workplace for the night after being dismissed on "medical grounds" and in the morning his workmates swung behind him when they found him outside the gates.
Bollard thanked his fellow work mates for sticking by him to help to save his job, saying Boral's decision to reinstate him demonstrated the strength of what sticking together could do in the workplace.
"This just goes to show what can be achieved when people in a workplace come together as members of a strong union.
"My situation has shown that legislation can change but when workers stick together they can achieve amazing results."
Sub-Branch said it was very good news Boral were able to find an alternate job for Mr Bollard.
"We are very happy that Tim will now be able to go back to work and continue to support his five children," says secretary of the ACT Transport Workers' Union Scott Connolly. "This outcome proves that when working people stick together justice prevails."
The final scoreline was confirmed when the Australian Industrial Registry pulled the pin on a 30-month taxpayer-funded campaign to have organisers Martin Wyre and David Glass banned from doing their jobs.
The Taskforce claimed the organisers had improperly entered a construction site, two and a half years ago, and wanted their right of entry permits revoked.
It rejected the contentions of Wyre and Glass that they were properly exercising health and safety functions and tried to shift the contest to tailor-made federal conditions..
Deputy Registrar Jenkins, after hearing 10 days of evidence, ruled both men had been exercising their rights and rejected the Taskforce demand.
Significantly, in his judgement, the deputy registrar drew attention to the fact one of the company's own witnesses had written in her notes, at the time, that Wyre had sought entry under OH&S provisions, but that this had not managed to make it into her Taskforce-prepared statement.
Wyre, who had earlier been singled out by investigators for the Cole Royal Commission, described the legal proceedings as "harrowing".
When the feds wrapped up their Taskforce, headed by controversial former policeman Nigel Hadgkiss, and transferred its powers to a permanent Building Industry Commission, it had failed in four of six anti-union prosecutions in NSW.
Shadow IR Minister Stephen Smith questioned Assistant Treasurer Peter Dutton in parliament over moves by the Australian Valuation Office to offer AWAs despite 91 out of 105 employees signing a petition in support of a collective agreement.
Smith asked why employees had been told that because of the WorkChoices legislation, the only option being offered was AWAs and no union involvement.
"How was that greater choice for the Government's own employees?" Asked Smith.
The CPSU says the individual deals cut base pay for junior executive valuers by up to $18,000 a year, from $97,951 in the current agreement to $80,000 under the AWA.
It says the AWA also cuts take-home pay by cutting out entitlements such as access to overtime payment, higher duties allowance, flex time and personal leave.
The Industrial Relations Laws
A song by John Dengate(c)John Dengate 2006
Tune: variant of Flash Jack from Gundagai
The industrial relations laws are good for you and me
They'll stimulate employment and foster industry
They'll make Australia wealthier I'm sure you'll all agree
The industrial relations laws are good for you and me
Johnny Howard told me and he is very wise
Johnny Howard told me and Johnny never lies
And I don't begrudge the millions they spent to advertise
We'll be more like America hooray you lucky guys
The industrial relations laws will lght the road ahead
Scrap the regulations and trust the boss instead
Keep away from unions they're terrorists or reds
Now I'm off to see the doctor he's examining my head
That's just one of a surprising number of Australian songs and poems dealing with the IR onslaught that starts today.
You will find a comprehensive list of IR songs and poems on the Union Songs site at
http://unionsong.com/reviews/irlaws.html
Most of them have mp3 files so you can listen to them online cheers
Mark gregory
Dear Mr Howard
Does your WhatChoice industrial law overrule equal opportunity law? What is to stop an employer who employs less than a hundred employees and finds out that some of his employees belong to groups he doesn't like and finds out he is saddled with twenty people that he wants to get rid of but can't. The twenty people consist of four lesbians, four homosexual men, four Muslims, four Torres Strait Islanders and four immigrants.
Prior to your WhatChoice legislation he was stuck with them once he hired them. To sack any one of them would bring down a fire storm of equal opportunity law, he could be sued out of existence in a series of one sided equal opportunity cases, now thanks to your WhatChoice law he does not have to explain his actions to any one and that includes the equal opportunity commission. He may hate Lesbians, Homosexuals, Muslims, Torres Strait Islanders and immigrants; now he can unfairly dismiss and not mention a word about his real reasons, religious intolerance, homophobia and racism. He would be free and clear and you have helped him.
My questions to you Mr. Howard are: Have you finally abandoned equal opportunity? If religious intolerance, homophobia and racism are allowed to flourish under your WhatChoice laws, why have equal opportunity? What are you going to do to stop this? Why is it that a small employer does not have to answer questions, but a large employer does? Why does an employer who employs less than one hundred employees be immune from unfair dismissal, but an employer with one hundred an one employees not?
Do you think that your whatchoice laws will encourage religious intolerance, homophobia and racism among employers?
If an employer can sack people with no excuse then it follows that he does not have to hire these people he hates and still offer no excuse.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The AWB was giving bribes before, during and after a the war in Iraq. Why haven't they been branded and treated as war criminals?
Widen the inquiry to include yourself and your ministers. Being the prime minister you are going to be held responsible in any case.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How about a bit of action on the legislation you are stalling that would enable Dick Pratt to get the justice he deserves.
Earl Downing.
Can nobody see the blinding irony in the government's response to addressing what will eventually, if it hasn't already, become a crippling skills crisis in this country? A crisis created by a government who has done nothing to avert the current situation, instead relying on their blind faith in the market‚ to fix all.
Al Stewart, Vic
Australia is going yet further down the path of Americanisation - Hi Guys!!! God that phrase makes me cringe, shiver and shake. Howard is a US sycophant as too many of our Pollies from both sides are. What next? - are we to go to war with Iran - how suicidally stupid can they get?
I am not religious and don't mind someone being Christian, Muslim, Buddist or whatever but I DO NOT WANT to be ruled by any theocracy! I also do not want to be governed by idiots who do the AWB's, Tampa's, Children Overboard etc etc.
The current IR scandal initiated by Howard and Company is obviously going to be made worse (keep current France in mind here) after the next election if Howard and Minchin are put back in plus don't forget Andrews and and the pseudo-Pom in charge of Foreign Affairs!
The ALP and all true working class people have to wake up and view reality and get the Bastards Honest at the next election by voting them out and placing them back in opposition where they rightfully belong.
Wake up Australia and get the ALP ball rolling!!!!!!!!!!
Mark Stubbs, NT
It's no surprise that the Howard Government chose to release the WorkChoices Regulations during the euphoria that surrounds the Commonwealth Games.
It again shows how opportunistic and arrogant this Government has become.
The Work(NO)Choices legislation will rip the heart out of the average workers of Australia and will lead to an increase in the already outrageous number of families who are the working poor.
It has led me to review our National Anthem and amend it for our future.
Australians once were prosperous,
Before Howard‚s reforms.
With I.R, Anti-Terror laws,
He‚s got us by the horns.
Our land is swamped by cheap imports,
From China and afar.
With histories page,
Lets show our rage,
This is all unfair.
The workers will stand tall again,
And Howard couldn‚t care.
Perhaps this Anthem is more appropriate.
Simon Scharf, Bell Post Hill
Unison the union which represents the majority of Council workers in the UK has authorized a a series of one day strikes starting on March the 28th 2006.
This is in response to the plans to scale back local government workers pension rights.
The proposal which the union agrees with is:
That the current retirement for local authority workers on full benefits at the age 60 is unsustainable and it be extended to 65, but the Union wants half the savings reinvested for their members.
What has really got up the nose of the union is the fact that better-connected and more powerful public-sector workers have carved out a better deal for themselves. Staff in Whitehall, the NHS, firefighters and teachers will keep their full benefits, but local authority workers face a cut.
In keeping with world wide trends the voting turnout for the ballot was pathetic as we have come to expect of trade union votes. The biggest turnout was among educational psychologists (45%).
What is not surprising is , the turnout from Northern Ireland public employees was just 24% because the return of their ballot forms was hit by ˆ a strike.
Tom Collins, Emu Plains
We have seen workers sacked because they are too expensive, because they refuse to travel to multiple workplaces where they have no transport, because they refuse to tick off on AWAs that cut their conditions.
We have seen collective agreements over-ridden, attempts at legitimate action stone-walled and union meetings secretly taped.
More than this, we have seen the culture of the workplace begin to shift, because all this is OK under WorkChoices - there is now no recourse.
There is little doubt that people don't like it - Unions NSW polling this week found that one in five Liberal voters are regretting their decision to re-elect Howard.
But the great unknown is whether this dislike turns into a sullen acceptance of this Brave New World, or if a real impetus to change emerges driven by a coherent, well-articulated alternate agenda.
Working Australians need a political advocate that pursues the issue relentlessly and passionately - and if they do, we will have a new government by the end of 2007.
The biggest test the ALP currently faces is mounting pressure to walk away in some quarters from its policy platform to abolish Australian Workplace Agreements, instead allowing them to exist with added safeguards.
This is dangerous territory on two levels.
For Australian workers, individual contracts, replicated by an employer but presented on a take it or leave basis to workers, is the primary tool to de-unionise the Australian workface.
They are the cancer that will eat away at the rights that underpin the Australian way of life and take us down the path to the Americanisation of the labour market.
Collective bargaining rights, or recognition ballots, are a treatment for this disease, but will never prove to be a cure.
As long as AWAs exist, managers will have an incentive to break down the collective, pick workers off one by one to drive their labour costs down.
But there are political dangers too; by walking away from the current policy will undermine the ALP's clear messages on WorkChoices and its ability to differentiate .
A national conference focussed on an internal debate on walking away from current policy will undermine this contrast, would be disastrous, bringing into question Labor's real commitment to knocking over the WorkChoices package.
Those advocating the change argue that taking a prohibition on AWAs to the next election is too risky because too many people will have been forced on to them.
But there are solutions; transferring AWAs to common law contracts overseen by an Industrial Commission, transferring AWAs to ocollective agreements, overseen by the Industrial Commission, without undermining what they have now.
Yes, there are risks when challenging Howard's industrial changes; the greater risk is not to. That would be suicide.
Peter Lewis
Editor
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