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Issue No. 314 | 07 July 2006 |
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The Power of Ones
Interview: The Month Of Living Dangerously Unions: Staying Mum Economics: Precious Metals Industrial: The Cold 100 History: The Vinegar Hill Mob Legal: Free Agents Politics: Under The Influence International: How Swede It Was Review: Keating's Men Slam Dance on Howard
The Soapbox Politics The Locker Room
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News AWAs Bucket Queenslanders
WorkChoices was leapt on by Brisbane-based, Jaws Buckets, which has spent the past five years trying to chop employees' off from their union.
The company, which manufacturers buckets for the resources sector, has refused to deduct union fees; dodged renegotiating its collective contract; and used body hire and guest labour, to limit AMWU access to its staff. AMWU Queensland secretary, Andrew Dettmer, said it was exactly the sort of company AWAs had been designed for. "Jaws Buckets is John Howard's IR wet dream," Dettmer said. "Its attitude is - workers should be thankful to have a job, and that's it." The AWAs were drafted by Graeme Haycroft, of the Small Business Union, the outfit that put together infamous Marabein Mushrooms AWAs. Haycroft was stripped of his preferred partner status by the Office of the Employment Advocate after a NSW mother was sacked for seeking union advice about one of those individual contracts. The Caloundra businessman is a member of the HR Nicholls Society and runs his own labour hire firm, Labour Hire Australia Group, which pays employees flat hourly rates. The second clause in identical "individual" contracts informs Jaws Buckets employees "there are no minimum hours guaranteed in this agreement". The contracts state: "all allowable award conditions" are "expressly excluded from applying to this agreement." It then goes on to highlight the following negotiated award entitlements as being specifically excluded ... - ordinary hours of work, rest breaks, notice periods and variations to working hours - incentive payments and bonuses - annual leave loadings - ceremonial leave - observance of days declared as public holidays and entitlements of employees to payment in respect of those days, and days to be substituted for such - monetary allowances for expenses incurred in the case of employment - monetary allowances for responsibilities or skills - loadings for overtime of shift work - penalty rates - redundancy pay - stand down provisions - dispute settling procedures - definitions of type of employment such as fulltime, part time, casual or shift work - conditions for outworkers - entitlements to long service leave "Not contributing to a positive team profile and maintaining a cheerful disposition" is listed as a sackable offence. Employees have to agree to attend company-appointed doctors, in their own time, for annual check-ups and "with respect to any sickness, Workcover or workplace health and safety claim or issue". The documents are scheduled to last for five years and contain no guaranteed wage adjustments.
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