E D I T O R I A L

The Power of Ones
Lorissa Sevens is no shrinking violet; she had mown down attackers for her nation playing defence for the Matildas. But even this sort of toughness means nothing in the face of WorkChoices.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: The Month Of Living Dangerously
When the mobs took over the streets of Dili it was the people of East Timor that bore the brunt. Elisabeth Lino de Araujo from Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA was there to witness what happened.

Unions: Staying Mum
Penrith mums, Linda Everingham and Jo Jacobson, are at the heart of a grassroots campaign to boot Jackie Kelly, out of federal parliament. Jim Marr caught up with one half of the sister act.

Economics: Precious Metals
There's a lot of spin around AWAs in the mining industry, but Tony Maher argues all that glitters is not gold.

Industrial: The Cold 100
The Iemma Government has come up with 100 reasons why WorkChoices is a dud, with 100 examples of ripped off workers

History: The Vinegar Hill Mob
This month's Blacktown Rally was not the first time workers had stood up for their rights in the region, writes Andrew Moore.

Legal: Free Agents
Is an independent contractor a small businessperson or a worker? The answer depends upon whether the contractor is genuinely ‘independent’ or not, writes Even Jones.

Politics: Under The Influence
Bob Gould thinks Sonny Bill Williams is a hunk; he reveals all in a left wing view of The Bulletin’s 100 most influential Australians, questioning the relevance of some, and adding a few of his own.

International: How Swede It Was
Geoff Dow pays tribute to the passing of Rudolf Meidner, one of the architects of the Swedish model of capitalism.

Review: Keating's Men Slam Dance on Howard
These punk rockers are out to KO WorkChoices. Nathan Brown joins the fray.

N E W S

Jihad Johnny Targets Perth

Rio Sets Up Own Goal

Telstra Fails to Snag Protest

AWAs Bucket Queenslanders

Kev Gives Aussies the Finger

Movie Blue: Win-Win for Critics

Wage Cut Scam Legal

Hardie Boss Takes 60 Percent Rise

The Stack Goes On

Boss Opens Door For Thieves

Hendy Banks on Mass Amnesia

Eisteddfod Win: Your Rock At Work

Airline Crashes Into Paypackets

Canucks Can BHP

Activist's What's On!

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Work Choice: US Military Style
John Howard has learnt a few lessons on workers rights from his Texan buddy, writes Rowan Cahill.

Politics
Westie Wing
As Pru Goward slams into the glass ceiling of the NSW Liberal Party, Ian West considers how women are faring under the Howard-Costello Government.

The Locker Room
A World Away
Phil Doyle is pleased that a display of subtle beauty and athletic grace has been overtaken by some good old-fashioned mindless violence

L E T T E R S

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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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URL: http://workers.labor.net.au/314/news4_bucket.html
Last Modified: 07 Jul 2006