E D I T O R I A L

Don't Bank on Costello's Oil Shocker
Did the economy slip on a banana skin or an oil slick?

F E A T U R E S

Interview: A Life And Death Matter
Macquarie Street and Canberra are squaring off over safety in the workplace, NSW Minister for Industrial relations, John Della Bosca, explains what's at stake.

Unions: Fighting Back
When John Howard's building industry enforcer started threatening people's homes, one couple hit the road. Jim Marr met them in Sydney.

Industrial: What Cowra Means
The ruling on the Cowra abattoir case highlights the implications of the new IR rules, according to John Howe and Jill Murray

Environment: Scrambling for Energy Security
Howard Government hypocrisy is showcased in its climate change manoeuvring, Stuart Rosewarne writes:

Politics: Page Turner
A new book leaves no doubt about whether the faction came before the ego, Nathan Brown writes.

Economics: The State of Labour
The capacity of the state to shape the political economy and thus improve the social lives of the people must be reasserted, argues Geoff Dow.

International: Workers Blood For Oil
A new book by Abdullah Muhsin and Alan Johnson lifts the lid on the bloody reality of US backed democracy for Iraq's trade unions

History: Liberty in Spain
Worker Self-Management is good management. The proof in Spain was in Catalania, Andalusia and continues in the Basque Country, as Neale Towart explains.

Review: Go Roys, Make A Noise
Phil Doyle thought he'd find nostalgia, but instead Vulgar Press' new book, Maroon & Blue is a penetrating insight into the suburban mind under stress.

N E W S

Ah, Sol

Telstra Contractors in Bush Raid

Spooks Go �Nuclear�

Drivers Under Attack

Stacks on the Hill

Advertising Works

29 Face Secret Interrogations

Bureaucrats Sit on Wages

Blue Mountains Fit Through Loophole

G Spot for Rally

Chalkies Give WorkChoices An F

Howard Base Shaky

Deaf Workers Lose Voice

Canberra Scratches WorkChoices Handicap

MUA Hungry for Change

Vanny Changes Story

Activists What's On

C O L U M N S

The Locker Room
Ruled Out
Phil Doyle plays by the rules

Fiction
Tommy's Apprentice
Chapter One - Tommy and "The Boy"

Politics
Westie Wing
Ian West wonders what might happen if the NSW Coalition actually did win power next March at the State elections.

L E T T E R S

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Deaf Workers Lose Voice

Omir Majstrovic, 37, was sacked after he was told five times by foremen at formwork company Formbrace to withdraw his claim, on two occasions being threatened with the sack.

Workers Online understands 11 other Formbrace workers have been sacked for the same reason.

CFMEU state secretary Andrew Ferguson said Majstrovic has no means for redress under the Howard Government's industrial relations laws, or the State Government's occupational health and safety laws.

"These workers have done nothing wrong," Ferguson said.

"All they did was undergo a hearing test where a doctor confirmed they had serious loss of hearing caused by their work, and when they put in a claim they were bullied and eventually sacked for standing up for their legal rights."

Majstrovic first learnt of his deafness after following up on a pamphlet he found in a work lunch room advertising free hearing tests.

A doctor at Westmead Hospital confirmed the diagnosis, leading Majstrovic to make a claim for compensation.

"After I put in my workers compensation claim a company foreman threatened me, told me to stop the claim, and warned me I would be sacked if I didn't back down," Majstrovic said.

Ferguson called on the Iemma Government to ensure workers making a compensation claim were protected under state laws.

"Someone who is injured at work should be guaranteed protection from dismissal, but increasingly we are seeing unscrupulous employers use clauses in Howard's new laws that allow workers to be sacked without reason."

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  Issue 318 contents

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URL: http://workers.labor.net.au/318/news82_deaf.html
Last Modified: 04 Aug 2006