
Issue No 31		17 September 1999

News

He Talks the Talk - But Can He Walk the Walk?

By Dermott Browne

The Community and Public Sector Union has called on Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith to match his words with actions after he called for workers to be given more control over their working hours.


	CPSU Secretary, Malcolm Larsen

Mr Reith made this 'surprising' pronouncement at the 1999 Corporate Work and Family Awards in Melbourne earlier this week.

Malcolm Larsen, CPSU NSW Branch Secretary, said, "Mr Reith's comments are welcome, if a little unexpected. We are calling on him to put his new found concern for workers to practical use by overhauling his Second Wave legislation to improve job security and give workers a real voice."

The CPSU praised Mobil and the other award winners for their efforts in making it easier for their employees to balance work and home responsibilities, but warned that there is still much to done on the issue.

"Unfortunately not all employers are as enlightened as those who won awards, which is why we need legislation that protects - not attacks - workers rights."

"We are concerned that research continues to show that for most people, hours are becoming increasingly 'unsociable' and many are experiencing serious health problems as a result,"

"Reports by the ACTU and the Social Policy Research Centre at NSW University reveal the extent of the problem. We believe there is direct link between decreasing staff numbers and people's ability to balance their work and family commitments,"

"Our members tell us again and again that the problem is simply that they have 'too much work and not enough staff to do it'.

If he has the political will, Mr Reith can turn this situation around."

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  Issue 31 contents

Interview: Sadly Vindicated
Labor�s foreign affairs spokesman Laurie Brereton has spent the past year warning that East Timor would explode without a UN peacekeeping force. Now he�s had to watch his predictions come true.

International: In the Bunker
One of the last reporters to leave East Timor, Workers Online's HT Lee remembers the week that Dili burned.

Republic: Tarred With the Same Brush
Neville Wran asks why it is that the most fervant monarchists are also the most eager union-bashers.

Unions: Hard Labour
Prisoner educators argue more attention needs to be given to rehabilitation through teaching, but they�re facing an uphill battle to convince authorities.

History: Labour and Community
A history conference in Wollongong next month will look at the changing role for labour into the next century.

Review: Bobbin' Up - 40 Years On
Forty years after its first publicaton and several European translations Bobbin Up, a classic of industrial fiction, is coming home.

Satire: East Timor Poll Triumph: Support for Jakarta Up 21 Per Cent
The Indonesian Government has declared that it is pleased with the result of the independence referendum in which 21% of East Timorese voted in support of maintaining links with Indonesia.

» Asylum Call for Independence Supporters

» Nurses Collect Vital Medical Supplies

» Industrial Faction for Pre-Conference Caucus

» Lees Backs Freeloader Laws

» Outsourcing Decision - Banks Under the Gun

» Reith Forces Truckies to Speed

» He Talks the Talk - But Can He Walk the Walk?

» Commission Tells AGC to Get Into the Nineties

» Cost-Cutting Puts Clinical Waste in Landfill

» Prisons Reject Free Computers

» US Defence Giant Eyes Welfare Sector