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Issue No. 328 | 13 October 2006 |
Straw Men
Interview: Australia�s Most Wanted Industrial: The Fox and the Contractor Unions: Industrial Wasteland International: Two Bob's Worth Economics: National Interest Environment: The Real Dinosaur History: Only In Spain? Review: Clerk Off
Classifieds the New IR Attack Dog States Keep Stakes in IR Blueprint Meatworkers Boned by WorkChoices Democracy Overboard in Bass Strait Unionist Targeted for Deportation Taxpayers Taken to the Cleaners Workers Lose Right to Choose Lawyers
Legends The Soapbox Obituary Fiction
The Unpromised Land
Labor Council of NSW |
News Taxpayers Taken to the Cleaners
Multi-national Serco Sodexho has had to import people from Wollongong, and put them up in a hotel for weeks, because it couldn't find Canberra cleaners desperate enough to wear its individual contracts. The farce is laid bare in a Defence Department memo appealing for staff to escort cleaners who don't have required security clearances. Victor Platen of the Defence Department's Re-Tender Team Project asks supervisors to alert staff to overtime "opportunities". "The security escorts will be required for possibly the next three weeks, Monday to Friday from 1700 to approximately 2200 hours, with the possibility of some weekend security escorting from 1000 to 1800 hours," he writes. The escort appeal came as the Office of Employment Advocate continued to sit on its hands over allegations that Serco Sodexho AWAs were illegal. The LHMU informed the advocated of its concerns on September 22 but has not had any response. Dozens of Defence Department cleaners quit their posts when Serco Sodexho insisted that they sign its AWAs. "Our members warned the company it would not be able to find enough cleaners in Canberra prepared to accept these AWAs," the LHMU's Lyndal Ryan said. "Now, it seems, the taxpayer is paying for a service that is not being delivered and may well be asked to pay overtime to Defence personnel in an attempt to cover up Serco Sodexho's failed IR policies." Ryan alleged the company was refusing to pay cleaners who started working at the Russell complex before signing AWAs.
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