
Issue No 32		24 September 1999

News

Powerful New Years Eve Deal for TransGrid

Workers employed by the state's electricity grid, Transgrid, have secured a 500 per cent bonus for working on New Years Eve to be on hand in case the Y2K bug bites.

Staff employed between 9pm December 31 and 3am January 1 will receive five times the normal rate of pay.

This is the period where any problems in power caused by the Millennium Bug would be likely to hit.

While Transgrid is confident Y2K won't be a problem, they are putting a contingency plan in place with workers patrolling all key areas.

Unions across the public sector have nominated the 500 per cent figure as a fair New Years Eve remuneration and are negotiating with individual agencies on the claim.

Labor Council assistant secretary John Robertson says the deal recognises the one-off need to secure staff for the night in the power industry.

Half Day New Years Deal

Meanwhile, Industrial Relations Minister Jeff Shaw has approved a half-day public holiday from midday on December 31.

Unions had sought a full day holiday, given that thousands of workers will be called into work and monitoring the Millennium Bug.

But Labor Council secretary Michael Costa says the half day is a reasonable outcome that will benefit those workers who miss the night's celebrations.

But he's put employers on notice that the half-day public holiday will not stop site by site negotiations by unions to receive extra bonuses for the night's work.

"Employers have to be realistic," he says. "There will be a shortage of labour in some areas and they may have to pay a premium."

  Let us know about your New Years Eve deal

  View entire issue - print all of the articles!

  Issue 32 contents

Interview: His Daily Fix
Graham Richardson talks of his transition from national politics to talkback radio and his ongoing jobs as a fixer.

Politics: Requiem to the Third Way
The swing to Labor in Victoria shows clearly that once again Australian voters have rejected economic rationalism. The result, and the reasons for it, should worry John Howard.

International: A Common Struggle for Freedom
It may not get the headlines, but Western Sahara has some chilling similarities with East Timor.

Unions: Woolscour Workers say No to Peter Reith
Workers at Canobolas Wooltopping - a woolscour plant near Orange, in central west New South Wales, have just sent a message to Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith: thanks, but no thanks.

Legal: Outlawed Acts of Consicence
The recent boycotts in support of East Timorese indepndence highlights the extremism of Reith's second wave.

History: Was Manning Clark A True Believer
A Canberra history conference shines the spotlight on Australia's most famous historian.

Review: Paranoid Echoes
The calls to examine the Australianï¿½Soviet documents in the Moscow Literary archives have grown in volume over the past year.

Labour Review: What's New at the Information Centre
The latest issue of Labour Review - a resource for officals and students.

Satire: Kennett Boosts Chances: Two More Independents Dead
Caretaker Premier Jeff Kennett today admitted that voters perceived him as arrogant and out of touch, but insisted that they were wrong.

» Public Servants Seek Leave For Timor

» Goodbye Green Bans - Dumped by the Wave

» Government Rules Nobble Public Sector

» ACTU Pushes On With Privatised Portal

» Powerful New Years Eve Deal for TransGrid

» Banks Grill Staff on New Fees

» Off the Rails - Workers Gagged

» Staff Frustration Boils Over at Sydney Water

» Kennett Nose-Dive: Botsman Picks It

» Academics Fail Non-Union Deal

» Nike in Indonesia: Military Employed to Intimidate Workers

» The Laughï¿½s On Barry