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Issue No. 314 | 07 July 2006 |
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Issue No. 314 | 07 July 2006 |
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*****
When the appropriately named Andrew Laming, the brave and bold Liberal Federal Member for Bowman, ran away from sacked Canberra mum, Emily O'Connor, it initially came as a surprise.
Y'see, Andrew is a big champion of WorkChoices.
So much so that when Emily's situation was raised in parliament, while she was in the gallery, the Member for Bowman had the decency to heckle her from the floor of the chamber, telling her to "get a job".
This was a very brave thing to do.
There are some churlish souls that would declare Laming's outburst as the act of a bulling cad or a bottom-feeding toad, but this wasn't entirely the case.
It was actually the ranting of a very disturbed man. Crazy brave stuff. An attitude that writes large the accelerating imminent train wreck that is the Howard government.
Laming was meant to meet Ms O'Connor at a Family Fun Day in Brisbane, but went MIA when he realised he'd have to face the woman he had taunted from the safety of the leather benches in Canberra.
So, instead, he decided to keep his integrity from the light of day and bravely skulk away instead.
What exactly Laming has against family fun, or battling childcare workers, isn't immediately clear (apart from perhaps a pathological hatred of anyone who has the temerity to stand collectively), but nonetheless he was a no-show.
The ambivalent state of Laming's intellect became all to clear when, in a previous address to the good people of Bowman, Laming explained how WorkChoices is really like a, err, pizza:
"Consider the relationship between bosses and workers as ordering takeaway pizza.
"At present there is 2,300 federal award pizzas and around the country another 1,700 state award pizzas and as an employee, the boss is entitled to only serve you one variety.
"These reforms open up the choices. If you are a meatlover you should be able to ask for more pepperoni and a little less capsicum.
"Under the present system, the unions are out in the kitchen counting the pineapple pieces on every pizza. We need the unions out of the kitchen but available to the employee on the odd occasion that the pizza is unacceptable. The basic awards remain in place and more often than not there is another pizza shop across the road with a better offer."
So there you have it, workchoices is the pizza we had to have.
The truth is Mr Laming's WorkChoices pizza comes in many flavours, all of them brown - and bearing a distinct resemblance to the sandwiches Eddie McGuire is serving up at the Channel Nine cafeteria.
And obviously no one has pointed out the perils of a junk food diet to Laming; for we do not live on pizza alone.
If there is an appropriate analogy of pizza and workchoices, which most sane commentators severely doubt, it is with the pizza oft found on the city's footpaths early of a Saturday morning, congealing in the sun, and reminding us to tread carefully when passing the pub.
Laming's deep and considered analysis of the effects of workchoices is more than a little underdone, it's beyond insulting to rip people off and then suggest that being fleeced is good for you.
The idea that job security and rights and conditions fought for, for generations, can be reduced to how many pieces of pineapple is on a pizza is beyond bizarre and is a curious insight into the troubled mind of one Andrew Laming., Federal Member for Bowman and this weeks most deserving Tool Of The Week.
Read more stunning logic from laming at
http://www.andrewlaming.com.au/icreate/documents/CommSpeech05.pdf
The experienced rigger was one of 107 individuals targeted for fines of up to $28,000 as the Howard Government unleashed the biggest political witch hunt in Australian history.
"It's time to stand up or shut up," the father and husband said in an exclusive interview with Workers Online.
"I am hoping Aussies will step up and tell this government, enough is enough. These attacks on our democratic rights have got to stop."
Last Thursday night, agents for the Australian Building and Construction Industry Commission raided homes across Perth.
They delivered dozens of writs to building workers who had struck in response to Leightons' sacking of their job delegate Peter Ballard.
Workers Online's contact said he hadn't received a writ "because the bastards don't know where I live" but that his name appeared on a list of over 100 colleagues that had been delivered to the site.
Writs, seen by Workers Online, were all signed by controversial former federal policeman, Nigel Hadgkiss, who aggressively targeted union members as head of the now-defunct Building Industry Taskforce.
Commission boss, John Lloyd, told Perth media his organisation intended charging another 22 former Perth-Mandura project employees.
That would see the federal government chasing more than $3.8 million in fines from Perth workers.
Our contact said many of his workmates were in a state of shock.
"You hear about these attacks overseas but nobody expected them in Australia in 2006," he said.
"I'm typical, I don't know what to do. There's no way I could pay a $28,000 fine. They are talking about seizing assets. What assets?
"My wife and I are trying to buy our first home, it's been a hard road but we're nearly there. Now it looks like, if we get it we will have to sell it to pay John Howard.
"Mate, I don't know if I am coming or going. I feel like just getting on the piss and forgetting the whole thing.
"What saves me is my wife. She's the strong one. She will be mighty disappointed if we lose this house but she is more determined to fight than I am."
The man spoke from the Perth-Mandura rail project on condition of anonymity.
He said Leightons had followed the raids by "culling" employees and it would be "next to impossible" for anyone publicly associated with the project to find alternative employment in WA.
The Leightons-Kumaigi joint venture has been plagued with problems since it began. Shortly before the pivotal sacking of the CFMEU delegate a union safety inspection identified more than 80 shortcomings.
A WA government department promised an investigation but nothing has been heard since.
Howard in Denial
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Howard has denied any link with charges laid by an agency he established, using laws his government rammed through federal parliament to chase fines he wrote into law.
"This action has been taken by an independent body, the Government didn't decide to prosecute these people, the Government didn't take the decision and the Government has no power to intervene," Mr Howard told the Nine Network.
The establishment of the Building Industry Commission to police the Building Improvement Bill came after years of Coalition rhetoric against construction workers and their union.
In Perth, last week, Leightons suggested the prosecutions would be unhelpful in completing the project.
"Over the last few months, we have been getting good productivity and there was a good feeling on the job," company spoksman, Ashley Mason, told the Australian newspaper.
"Put yourself in these guys' positions and the idea of being dragged into the Federal Court and fined."
But Lloyd said the prosecutions would serve as a lesson to other workers.
CFMEU national secretary, John Sutton, said they were a product of the Howard Government's "mad class hatred".
Labour hire outfit Mining and Earthmoving Services supplied workers to Coal and Allied after it used John Howard's first round of IR reforms to punt 190 direct employees.
Lorissa Stevens, 21, a Young Matildas defender, was sacked for refusing to sign an AWA that allowed MES to fine her $200 if she was suddenly taken ill.
The non-negotiable individual contract required 12 hours notification of any sickness to avoid the penalty.
Legal firm Maurice Blackburn Cashman will challenge the dismissal in the Federal Court and Australian Industrial Relations Commission.
Senior associate, Lisa Doust, said Rio Tinto-controlled Coal and Allied's arrangement with MES placed a layer of contractual relationships between the real employer and the employee, to avoid award obligations.
Doust said MES's involvement in employee relationships was virtually non-existent.
She said Stevens' training was performed by Coal and Allied and she was to work on a full time permanent roster alongside Coal and Allied staff.
"The extent of the relationship so far as MES was concerned was to sign her up, hand her the AWA and tell her where to turn up," Doust said.
The CFMEU will assert Coal and Allied is the real employer of MES workers in the Federal Court and will argue its "employees" should attract the same wages and conditions as others doing the same job.
CFMEU mining's Keenon Endacott said it was part of the industry's mission to undermine award terms and conditions.
Rio Tinto coughed up $25 million to get rid of direct employees after the CFMEU won an unfair dismissal settlement. The global resources giant held up the process with a string of appeals.
Maurice Blackburn Cashman has lodged a claim with the Federal Court, which alleges Stevens was bullied, harassed and threatened with dismissal if she did not sign the AWA.
Stevens says a senior manager threatened she would never work in a Hunter Valley Mine again.
Related proceedings filed in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission allege Stevens was dismissed because of her refusal to sign the AWA.
"This is an important case which will test whether there are real protections in the new workplace relations legislation for employees who want to have a say about their terms and conditions of employment," Doust said.
"This was one of the most punitive employment documents I have ever seen, and it is remarkable that this young woman was able to withstand the pressure heaped upon her."
Apart from the $200 sick leave penalty, the AWA contained a 50 to 60 hour working week and forced Stevens to pay for her own induction.
The Federal Court action is expected to take at least six months.
The company came up with its meaty distraction to try to lure dispatch centre workers away from a protest in Parramatta, last Friday.
CEPU members were protesting the telco's plans to relocate their jobs to Newcastle on individual contracts that would cut salaries by $10,000 a year.
CEPU organiser Shane Murphy said Telstra was doing its best to stop people from attending the demonstration.
"They used all sorts of tactics from threats if they left a minute early to a barbeque on the roof of the building," Murphy said.
More than 130 Parramatta dispatch centre workers, direct technicians to jobs, have been asked to apply for 63 positions doing the same thing in Newcastle for $10,000 less a year.
Under their enterprise agreement, the dispatch centre workers earn about $55,000 a year.
Murphy said the Federal Government's industrial relations changes had emboldened Telstra's penny-pinching.
"This is what John Howard's AWAs are about, slashing the wages of ordinary workers," Murphy said.
"The agenda of big companies like Telstra is to cut costs, through job losses and slashing pays, and AWAs are the key to making that possible."
Murphy said the barbeque at the protest proved more popular, with the vast majority avoiding the scab snags.
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.
Andrews said a Coalition controlled-Senate would block any attempt to “tear up” WorkChoices, irrespective of how Australians voted.
"We're hardly likely to turn around and say: 'Oh, well, we'll just allow the Labor Party to rip it up'," Andrews told Melbourne's 3AW radio.
Andrews' promise came as the latest Newspoll showed Coalition support dropping four percentage points, placing the Government well behind Labor on a two-party preferred basis.
Labor's support grew by four percentage points, giving the party a 53-47 advantage.
Prime Minister John Howard's approval rating dropped seven points to 43 per cent.
The results came immediately after Australia-wide union protests against the Government's work laws.
Labor leader Kim Beazley said Andrews was treating Australians' with arrogance and contempt.
"Middle Australia did not want these extreme IR laws when they were introduced, they do not want them now, and they will not want them in the future," Beazley said.
Adelaide-based Austral Tree and Stump Services was fined $14,000 in the Industrial Relations Court, last year, after pleading guilty to failing to provide a safe workplace. Now it has a star turn in a Canberra propaganda stunt.
Austral, an official AWA partner of the Office of the Employment Advocate, found itself in court after an employee tumbled from the basket of a moving cherry picker and broke both wrists.
Court records show the AWA employee also suffered damage to his jaw and teeth.
This week, Austral was enlisted by Andrews to counter information about AWAs ripping income, conditions, safety standards and security away from Australians.
Austral is one of three companies that appear in a short film, unveiled last week, to illustrate what Andrews describes as a "win-win situation for the business".
Andrews launched the film in a bid to divert attention from young Australian women's soccer representative, Lorissa Stevens, who revealed she had been sacked from a Hunter Valley coalmine for refusing to sign an AWA.
John Howard's Office of Workplace Services has ruled it was legal for the Cowra Abattoir to punt 29 union members and rehire them on contracts that slashed incomes by up to $180 a week.
The Abattoir pulled its stunt during the first week of WorkChoices but withdrew the notices after Workplace Relations Minister, Kevin Andrews, copped a barrage of flak from commentators and worker representatives.
WorkChoices allows employers of any size to sack Australians for "operational reasons". AWAs, at the heart of Workchoices, greenlight the hiring of "new" staff on rates and conditions inferior to those contained in negotiated agreements.
Industrial lawyers have warned that "operational reasons" is an effective carte blanche and the Industrial Relations Commission, dismissed a case, last month, with a warning that it was next to impossible for a worker to challenge such grounds.
Under WorkChoices, employers can refuse any applicant a position if he/she won't accept company-determined standards, irrespective of merit.
"After a thorough investigation, the OWS is satisfied that the only reason for the actions of Cowra was the poor viability of the firm and its attempt to address the problem," the office said, last week.
At the time of the Cowra sackings, the Workplace Relations Minister said the mere fact of an investigation proved workers were protected.
CEO Louis Gries will trouser $4.7 million, this year, a 60 percent increase.
The company's annual report says it has spent $45 million so far dealing with the asbestos victims scandal.
James Hardie says the chief executive's pay reflects an increase in the company's profit.
"I think it's obscene that anybody should be paid that sort of money over 12 months - I think it's just obnoxious," health campaigner Bernie Banton told ABC radio after news of Gries windfall was released.
Pay rises for most working Australians are in the vicinity of 3-5%.
John O'Sullivan, a senior advisor to Kevin Andews, will slide onto the bench next week.
The job-for-life will see the Liberal Party staffer take home an annual salary of $239,430.
O'Sullivan honed his anti-worker credentials during 12 years with the employer group now known as the Australian Industry Group (AiG) and the NSW Farmer's Association.
In his new role, O'Sullivan will have the responsibility for interpreting and applying WorkChoices. Given his Liberal Party connections and intimate involvement in developing the legislation, his impartiality has been questioned.
The Federal Magistrates Court is currently looking at the Pow Juices AWA case and matters relating to the exploitation of Filipino guest workers in Canberra, as reported by Workers Online.
Courts expect a sharp increase in industrial matters as the tough new laws begin to bite and workers have access to informal disputes resolution removed.
Political appointments have been a hallmark of the Howard government, rewarding Liberal party supporters and government staffers with key public posts.
Thieves smashed a four-wheel drive into the Whitlam Library at the Parramatta campus after UWS management put out a proposal to slash 30 percent of security staff.
An Organisational Change Proposal circulated to staff by UWS management on 19 June, recommends "the security staffing establishment at Parramatta campus to be reduced by the equivalent of 5 full time Security Officer positions", arguing "there are no known occupational health and safety implications resulting from the changes proposed".
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) says concerns exist amongst staff and students at the Parramatta Campus for their safety after dark.
UWS Parramatta hosts evening lectures and tutorials five nights a week and is currently undergoing a massive expansion.
"We are concerned that cutting back on experienced security personnel may risk the safety of staff and students on Parramatta campus" said Jo Hibbert, Vice President of the NTEU (UWS Branch).
"While we are pleased and relieved that it appears nobody was hurt in this incident, we do hope that it demonstrates the need at least to maintain the current level of security staffing at Parramatta and Westmead campuses.
"It is sad that an overall shortage of university funding could result in an institution looking to cut back through redundancies in this area."
The WorkChoices champion is trying to sooth backers in Canberra with assurances that voters will no longer care about WorkChoices next year.
One month after the Employment Advocate admitted every single AWA extinguished at least one "protected" award conditions and a national poll showed the ALP surging ahead of the Coalition, Hendy urged big business backers to hold their nerve.
He described stories, from all over Australia, highlighting cuts to wages, conditions and job security as the 'mother of all scare campaigns".
Hendy said now was not the time for pollies to assess their handiwork.
He advised them to hold off judgement until March next year.
"I predict, basically, most of the Australian population, at that time, will say - what was all the fuss about?" Hendy said.
The former Peter Reith staffer is the spokesman for Australia's largest companies who further their collective agenda under the banner of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI).
The Chamber was an outspoken supporter of WorkChoices and its WA branch was actively involved in the expoitation of foreign tradesmen imported to Australia in a bid to undercut negotiated wage rates.
Hendy welcomed WorkChoices, a set of employment laws based on the replacement of collective negotiations with non-negotiated individual contracts.
When the system was first floated he assured working people it would deliver them "considerable gain".
Renowned Canberra musician Simone Penkethman, who was part of the judging panel for the eisteddfod, saying the experience was like watching "Metropolis on ice".
"There was a feeling before the show that Calwell was taking a risk, however their piece had strong entertainment value. It featured very powerful images without being didactic.
"It opens like a Busby Berkeley production about how great the IR changes are, but over the piece we find out what the changes mean for young people.
"It's entertaining without pulling any punches."
The dance performance, which took a satirical look at the Federal Government's controversial industrial relations changes, featured Year7 student Matt Dromgold dressed up as Prime Minister John Howard.
Penkethman was impressed by the use of images of cogs and the sets as part of the choreography to show how the changes dehumanise workers.
"We're thrilled to have had our work recognised," says Cheryl Diggin from Calwell High. "We based our piece on a series of political cartoons published in Australian newspapers over the last 18 months.
"We were also influenced by The ABCs, The Chasers War on Everything, Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times and Fritz Lang's Metropolis.
"During the process the students gained a greater understanding of the issues involved and the impact it will have on them now, as casual workers, and later when they leave school and move into fulltime work.
"Some of them have already been forced to agree to a flat rate after having penalty rates abolished by their employers.
"They understand that employers have been given all the power with few safeguards for the workers."
ACT Senator Kate Lundy was thrilled by the win and congratulated the hard work of the kids involved.
"Calwell is an area that does it tough. These kids and their parents are at the forefront of the impact of the laws and know only too well what Howard's laws will mean for them."
Calwell High will now take the performance to the national eisteddfod in October.
Global Tele Sales (GTS) has been investigated by the Victorian work rights watchdog, which has referred its AWAs to the Equal Opportunity Commission over fears the contracts are discriminatory.
The AWAs, put before 80 call centre staff, include penalties for taking sick and carers leave under a "bonus scheme".
"Deductions to an employee's bonus will apply even where they are taking leave within the legal minimum provided by the Federal Workplace Relations Act," says Australian Services Union (ASU) state secretary Ingrid Stitt. "Employees who take sick leave or carer's leave are penalised financially under the company's bonus scheme."
The Company has introduced an elaborate and confusing performance bonus scheme which delivers bonuses ranging from 0% - 4% per quarter. Maximum bonuses are linked to exceeding KPIs (key performance indicators), taking no more than one personal leave day, and never being late for work.
The Australian Services Union (ASU) says the complex bonus scheme will be virtually impossible to achieve.
The Company's own briefing concedes employees' base wages will be cut by up to 10 per cent. Penalty rates are also cut across the almost 24 hour operation, with penalties for work on public holidays and Sundays reduced by a quarter and the penalty for work before 7am and after 7pm Monday to Fridays removed completely.
Global Tele Sales claims it is not putting pressure on employees to sign the AWAs, but in their own documentation the Company makes it clear that:
* The conditions offered are not negotiable;
* The Company will not negotiate a new collective agreement, but if it does it will be on the same or less favourable terms;
* Any employee who doesn't sign won't get Lufthansa travel privileges, and
* If targets for productivity increase and cost efficiencies are not met, "the Company [will have] no choice but to seek concessions from those who have not signed an AWA".
Public Service Alliance of Canada members at the Ekati diamond mine in Yellowknife voted to ratify a tentative agreement, ending a strike that began April 7 and securing the mine's first union contract.
"Ekati workers voted 66% in favour of the one-year contract that contains a full grievance procedure to provide wage increases, protect workers from arbitrary and unfair treatment, a signing benefit, more vacation days and other improvements," said Jean-François Des Lauriers, PSAC Executive Vice-President-North.
"This has been a tough strike but our members are going back to work with significant improvements in their workplace as a result of their determination," Des Lauriers said. "And we will be back at the bargaining table on our members' behalf next year."
Todd Parsons, President of the Union of Northern Workers component of PSAC, which represents Diamond Workers UNW Local X3050, said the vote results indicate it was a difficult decision for members to go back to work.
"Ekati workers clearly had hoped to achieve more in this round of bargaining but facing a mulitnational employer who makes $7.5 billion in annual profits and just getting a first contract with the terms and conditions we won is quite an accomplishment," Parsons said. "Our union is now in place and we can build on this success in the next round of negotiations."
Parsons said PSAC's Dirty Diamonds campaign urging an international boycott of Ekati-produced AuriasTM and CanadaMarkTM diamonds is now over and the union will instead encourage consumers to buy union-produced diamonds.
The tentative agreement announced June 23 was reached with the assistance and direction of the Canada Industrial Relations Board.
Ekati is Canada's first diamond mine. It produces 6 per cent of the world's diamond supply by value or 4 per cent by weight and yields 3 to 5 million carats annually. It is located 300 km northeast of Yellowknife and 200 km south of the Arctic Circle.
The victory was facilitated by a world-wide campaign on LabourStart which generated 2,245 messages of protest to the employer.
An Urgent Appeal From Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA
We need to raise money immediately so that the people of East Timor can rebuild their lives after the recent unrest.
Please send a generous gift to assist local organisations in rebuilding a peaceful, free and productive society in East Timor.
Click here to donate using our secure online donation form https://secure.fantasticone.com/apheda/order_form.php Select East Timor from the drop down menu under 'section C. Once Off donations'.
OR phone our toll free number 1800 888 674
OR send a cheque made out to APHEDA Inc. with a note alerting us that it is for the East Timor Appeal
The recent conflict in East Timor has severely disrupted the day-to-day lives of the population and has been a blow to the confidence of this young independent nation. Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA would like to provide additional support to its partner organisations in East Timor to help rebuild infrastructure and restore confidence. Support from donors like yourself can help make this happen.
Union Aid Abroad -APHEDA will need to quickly respond to the needs of local partner organisations in East Timor when they are able to resume their work. These key civil society organisations focus on strengthening vocational skills, developing the union movement, resolving conflict peacefully and informing the population through independent media.
Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA's partner organisations are likely to need assistance in the following:
Repairing any damaged infrastructure or equipment
Replacing stolen or damaged goods
Restarting their programs
Developing programs that encompass reconciliation and peace building activities using community radio and theatre groups
Providing vocational and income generating skills to unemployed young men so they feel they have a share in the future of their community.
You can help by donating:
$1000 - To fund a vocational training workshop targeting young unemployed males
$500 - To fund a theatre tour to rural villages to promote reconciliation
$100 - To partially fund training for community radio stations on developing programs that support peace building and reconciliation
$50 - To help make a gate to secure an office building
$30 - To help replace stolen/destroyed office equipment
By donating to East Timor you will be helping the traumatised people of this nation redevelop confidence and hope that their nation can continue to grow and prosper.
You will be supporting programs that equip individuals and communities in East Timor with skills and experiences to create a peaceful, free and productive society.
Your support for the people of East Timor is so important for them at this difficult and unsettling time.
Day of Action for Asbestos Victims: THURSDAY JULY 13 The $4.5 billion dollar compensation deal for James Hardie asbestos victims is at risk of collapse as the Howard Government refuses to guarantee charitable status for the scheme established to pay the victims.
While legal advice has said the scheme should be deemed a charity and compensation schemes of other former asbestos producers are treated as charities, the Australian Tax Office has refused to support the James Hardie victims.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union, and the Maritime Union of Australia are supporting asbestos victims and their families by demanding the Howard Government put the interests of victims and their families ahead of tax revenue.
You are urged to support the Day of Action and join asbestos victims as they demand Liberal members of Parliament in marginal seats stop sabotaging the viability of the compensation settlement negotiated by the ACTU for James Hardie asbestos victims.
Blacktown - office of Louise Markus MP
11am, 30-32 Campbell Street, Blacktown
Penrith - office of Jackie Kelly MP
1pm, Cnr Woodriff and Tindale Streets, Penrith
Central Coast - office of Ken Ticehurst MP
12noon, 14 Pioneer Avenue, Tuggerah
Fair Go From Here?
Industrial Relations Forum:
2nd in the 'Fair Go' conference series
Pope Talks IR
Monday 25 September 2006.
Brisbane Work and Industry Futures QUT, and the Department of Industrial Relations Griffith University are convening a one-day conference that explores Work, Industrial Relations and Popular Culture.
David Pope, the cartoonist behind the Heinrich Hinze cartoons will be Keynote Speaker with his presentation - "Is the pen mightier than s356? Cartoons and Work" (www.scratch.com.au)
We welcome any paper that explores the manner in which popular culture is used by unions, management or policy makers or alternatively, how work and industrial relations is represented within popular culture.
Sub-themes for the conference include: - Policy, Influence and Modern Mediums - Which is Reality, Work or TV? - Popular Music: Is it the End of the Working Class Man? - Working in the Movies: What do we see? - Popular Culture as a Teaching Tool. Call for Papers. Abstracts are due 14 July 2006 Full papers are due 11 September 2006 Location; Southbank, Brisbane.
The convenors would welcome participants to submit proposed titles earlier to assist in preparations. For further information please contact Keith Townsend ([email protected]) or David Peetz ([email protected])
Rekindling the Flames of Discontent: How the Labour and Folk Movements Work Together
A Conference - Dinner - Concert
The Brisbane Labour History Association is holding a Conference/Dinner/Concert on Saturday 23 September. This event will explore the historical relationship between the labour movement and the folk movement in Australia with a particular emphasis on Queensland.
Why? To celebrate the history of the interaction between the Folk and Labour movements, and promote its longevity.
When? Saturday 23 September. Conference from 1pm. Concert from 7pm.
Where? East Brisbane Bowls Club, Lytton Rd, East Brisbane, Next to Mowbray Park
It is still in the formative stages, but to date the following are confirmed:
1-5pm CONFERENCE (will include music with the presentations):
5 - 7pm Drinks followed by DINNER
7 - 11pm CONCERT
For more information contact the BLHA President Greg Mallory on [email protected], or Secretary Ted Reithmuller on [email protected], or Dale Jacobsen on [email protected]
Thursday 24th August 2006
Sofitel Wentworth, Sydney
For more information please visit the conference website at: www.iceaustralia.com/ir
Conference Secretariat:
ICE Australia
Email: [email protected]
Doug Eaton on John Manifold & the Communist Arts Group in Brisbane, Brisbane Realists
Bob & Margaret Fagan on Sydney Realist Writers
Mark Gregory on trade union & labour songs/music, nationally/internationally
Lachlan & Sue on international perspectives
Combined Unions Choir
Bob and Margaret Fagan
Mark Gregory
Jumping Fences
The Editor of the Australian sure know how to keep his job, just read the editorial in Saturday's Australian.
He knows damn well what type of employers the "Scumbag Bus" is targeting and they are not the one's quoted in this Editorial.
Just another case of crawling to the boss.
L Crossing, SA
Lorissa is the latest face of Rights at work campaign, denied her dream off a job in the mining industry because she refused to sign an AWA which would have penalised her $200 for calling in sick to work.
Perhaps it was the combination of grit and confidence that is part of being an elite athlete that prompted Lorissa to stare the bullies down, but she is one of a growing legion of ordinary Australians refusing to be cowed into submission by a government gone too far.
Next in line could well be the 107 building workers on the Perth to Mandurah rail project, all facing personal fines of $28,000 for walking off the job in support of their sacked delegates.
Were these guys angles? Probably not. They certainly defied an order from the Australian Industrial Relations Commission not to strike, seems they acted contrary to their union's advice too.
But does this mean they deserve to lose their homes? That's where the witch hunt against the construction union has taken us, working families losing their homes because the Howard government hates unions.
Even the employers wants to drop the issue, the project is back on t rack and there has been industrial piece for some time - but the government insists on punishing workers individually for standing up for what they believe.
These are not the powerful vested interests that the conservatives have for so long attempted to portray organised labour as; they are battlers, simple union members who always believed that if you work hard you get ahead.
These are the sort of Australians who have never seen a conflict between being a union member and voting for Howard, especially when Labor seemed to have been hijacked by minorities whose issues had nothing to do with their day to day realities.
One in three of them voted for Howard last time, concerned about interest rates, but comfortable with the Liberals' apparent ethos of rewarding effort and respecting individual rights.
How ironic that at the point of the Liberals' greatest power since Menzies, the pursuit of an ideological obsession has left the Liberal Party's original mission - the protection of individual rights - in tatters.
How fitting, that it is this excess that has driven the Labor Party back to its historic base, rendering its leader more focussed and cogent than many of us ever thought possible.
These are the dynamic now at play - a government adrift and an Opposition on song; but this is not to say the game is over,
It all comes down to the people - their courage to take stands; speak out, stare down abuse and, ultimately, make the most decisive contribution than have to make in their capacity as citizens - their vote.
Peter Lewis
Editor
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