
Issue No 39		12 November 1999

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

Trades Hall

Paul Howes on Unions 2000

Just one week after Olympics Minister Michael Knight and Labor Council Secretary Michael Costa launched Unions 2000 it has already been heralded as a tremendous success.

Over 250 calls have been received by the Unions 2000 Call Centre as well as over 100 applications and with an average wage of $20.00 per hour, free travel to and from work as well as free meals its no wonder to response has been so large.

Special agreements have been had been made with some of the major employers for the Olympics who will endeavour to job match the Unions 2000 applicants in a wide variety of positions from Catering to Security. The great rates of pay are due to the Sydney 2000 Olympic & ParaOlympic Games Award, which was negotiated by the Labor Council of NSW.

The applicants come from all over the Sydney Region and have a wide variety of skills. Some of the initial applicants were skeptical about the scheme with one caller asking if the positions would be allocated in the same manner as the Olympic Tickets! The Unions 2000 staff assured the applicant the that all positions would be allocated on skill and indiscriminately unlike to tickets fiasco!

Regional Launches of Unions 2000 were held this week in Wollongong and Newcastle and the response from these areas has been overwhelming. In Wollongong TAFEs, High Schools, Job Network Members, the Council and the Unions have fully thrown their support behind Unions 2000.

People who apply for positions through Unions 2000 will receive industrial protection for the duration of their employment for only $6.00 per week. This provides a tremendous opportunity for unions to show to people who may not have previously been members of a union a positive imagine of unionism therefore making it more likely that they will join unions in later jobs. During the games up to 26 Organisers from the LHMU, AWU, SDA, MEAA and the Labor Council will be present to deal with any complaints from Unions 2000 workers and to make sure that all employers are complying with the award.

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  Issue 39 contents

Interview: Let Sleeping Dogs
Republican campaigner Jason Yat-Sen Li dusts off after Saturday�s vote. We ask him: where to now?

Republic: Readers Speak - Kerry the Face to Deface
We asked and you have spoken; Sydney heiress Kerry Jones is the Workers Online choice for desktop doodling, as the official winner of our Defacement of a Nation competition.

Economics: Understanding the Economy
Who was voted thinker of the millenium in a recent BBC Online poll? Karl Marx shooed it in. And another socialist, Albert Einsten, came second.

Unions: Come Fly Away!
With just four weeks to go, Labor Council's Organiser of the year Award is up for grabs. We've only had the one entry ...

Work/Time/Life: Better Times for Casuals in the Sunshine State
The Queensland Council of Unions has mounted a case in the Queensland IRC to increase wages for casual workers by up to $2.00 extra per hour.

International: All Black Fate Looms for New Zealand Right
The New Zealand economic experiment � for many years the cherished role model of the Australian Liberal Party � is just about to face an angry jury.

History: Who Remembers Egon Erwin Kisch?
Egon Erwin Kisch was a well known progressive journalist living in Germany when he was invited by the Australian branch of the world committee against war and fascism to speak at a conference in Melbourne in 1934.

Review: Bizarrism - Strange Lives, Cults, Celebrated Lunacy
The strange story of Donald Crowhurst or how to cheat and become a God.

Satire: Support Surges for Armenian Republic Model
The assassination by gun crazed extremists of the Armenian Prime Minister has been cautiously backed by Ted Mack and the Direct Electionist lobby as a possible new Republican model.

» First Social Audit Win For Rural Road Workers

» Y2K Bug Bites Rail Bookings

» Strikes Hit Schools - Before and After Class

» Olympic Uniforms Row Patched Up

» Charges to be Laid Over Gretley Disaster

» Jockeys Bucked On Compo

» Wag the Dog - Bosses Try the Back Door Strip

» Labour and Alliance Vow to Dump Contracts Act

» Bank Workers Win $3000 Payment for New Years Eve

» Union Organiser Thrown Off Bridge

» Justice at Last for Waterfront Asbestos Victims

» Timor Update: Positions Vacant; Upcoming Events.