
Issue No 33		01 October 1999

News

Arch Apologises for Youth Wage Debacle

Federal Labor's industrial relations spokesman Arch Bevis has conceded the junior wages deal struck with the Howard Government was handled in an unsatisfactory matter.

Bevis has written to the NSW Labor Council accepting the process could have been handled better, but maintaining the deal he cut was a good one.

"I accept that the process on junior rates was unsatisfactory," Bevis writes. " Since then I have met with senior officers of the ACTU at which additional procedures were agreed to ensure a similar problem does not arise.

"There is a shared desire to improve our communication process. I am personally committed to ensuring this is so."

Federal Labor outraged the union movement last month by striking agreement with the Howard Government that saw them overturn their plans to phase out youth wages.

Bevis says its important to recognise that Peter Reith had backed away from taking active steps to extend and entrench junior rates into new areas of the workplace.

And he says the deal still gives unions the opportunity to argue against youth wages through the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.

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Issue 33 contents

Interview: The Boys
Labor Party heavyweights Eric Roozendaal and Damian O'Connor will lock horns this weekend. They fire their first shots.

Economics: Reasons to Be Cheerful
Can we change the way we look at the economy to better reflect community happiness and well-being?

Unions: Breaking the Wave
ACTU President's submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Workplace Relations Act.

International: The Wisdom of Solomon
A disturbing case from the Pacific where corporate lawyers are playing a deadly game.

History: Groundhog Day
Ghosts of Conferences past: some strangely familiar debates and decisions from previous state ALP conferences

Legal: Bad, Bad Things
Some of Australia's leading industrial lawyers argue that the Workplace Relations Act breaches basic international obligations.

Review: Tailing Out
As the BHP steelworks close in Newcastle a special book chronicles the stories of working live that have just become history.

Satire: Police Cut-Backs Lead To Drop In Organised Crime
An audit of the NSW Police has revealed that they have been seriously cutting back their operating budgets to ensure that they will be able to afford the increased security costs of the Olympics.

Work/Time/Life: It's Official: Aussies Work Harder
Australians continue to work long hours in contrast to a world-wide trend in industrialised countries that has seen hours at work remaining steady or declining in recent years.

» Station Cuts Derailed - But More Hits for the Scull

» Social Audit Backed by Community Groups

» Unions Take Common Priorities to State Conference

» Simmering Discontent Hits Boiling Point

» Public Sector Job Numbers Rubbery

» Timor Protest to be Dumped in Reith Wave

» Big Lunch Break for Stress-Free Day

» Arch Apologises for Youth Wage Debacle

» Clean Air Policy Up In Smoke

» Child Carers Stretched to the Limit

» Building Workers Wonďż˝t Settle for Half Pay

» Life, Art and Politics