
Issue No 42		17 December 1999

News

What Price Aussie Jobs as Olympics Loom

Young Australian workers are being bypassed by employers and the federal government in the lead-up to the 2000 Olympics, raising fears of a Games without hometown benefit.


	Young workers picket Kathmandu clothing outlet

The NSW Labor Council has sounded the jobs warning on the heels of a successful protest against clothing retail chain Kathmandu this week. The company scrapped plans to fly in young New Zealanders to work for under-award wages, after union protests against the policy drew national media attention.

A group of young activists picketed Kathmandu, claiming there were sufficient local job-seekers to fill the position. Within hours Kathmandu management had agreed to source the labour locally and enter into talks with unions for an agreement to cover staff.

Labor Council secretary Michael Costa says employers have a responsibility to source jobs from the local market wherever possible.

Ruddock Lets In More Foreign Workers

The federal government is doing their impersonation of Kathmandu by lifting the number of foreign workers who will be granted working visas in 2000.

While the government claims there are shortages of skilled hospitality workers, unions believe the change is motivated by a need to fill Games jobs without having to train local workers.

Unions 2000 Shows Way

Meanwhile, the trade union movement's initiative to find Olympic jobs for young Australians is gathering pace with more than 700 applications for its Unions 2000 project in its first month.

The Labor Council hopes to secure 5,000 applications by April 2000 for hospitality, security and cleaning work. Workers who register for Unions 2000 will have their applications sent to major Games employers and receive industrial protection for the duration of the event.

Labor Council bard Chris Christodoulou says the first 700 applicants have come from very diverse backgrounds including the long term unemployed, people seeking a second job and women wanting to re-enter the workforce. Almost 40 per cent of those applying have a second language, Christodoulou says.

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Issue 42 contents

Interview: Costa Bravo
Labor Council’s chief trouble maker chronicles the battles of the past year and ponders those still to come.

Unions: More Wins Than Losses
Workers Online ranks the Top Ten industrial relations stories from a year of frenetic activity.

International: Eric Lee's Year in Review
The editor of Labourstart looks back over his favourite stories of 1999.

Politics: So Many Questions
It was a year in politics that threw up more questions than answers. We look at some of the sticky ones.

Republic: Referendum With Class
Labor heretic Michael Thomspson analyses the failure of the Republican proposition.

Environment: Seattle Kills Greens V Jobs Bogey
The sight of US unionists, environmentalists and human rights activists being attacked by police in Seattle shows how far the progressive movement has come.

Deface a Face: Give Him a Hairdo
What better present could Michael Costa offer Workers Online readers than the chance to give him a Deface a Face style make over?

Labour Review: What's New at the Information Centre
See the latest issue of Labour Review, our resource for officials, activists and students.

Review: Cultural Wasteland
Workers Online resident door-bitches Zanga and Paul pass judgement on the year that finished the millennium.

» What Price Aussie Jobs as Olympics Loom

» TWU Activist Named Organiser of the Year

» Unions Lock in New Years Eve Deals

» 'Scrooge' Destroys Staff Christmas

» Rule Changes to Restructure Council

» The Great Salary Rip-Off

» George to Kick Start NSW IR Reforms?

» Shaw Loses Key Advisers

» More New Faces at the New ACTU

» Reith Second Wave Not Beached Yet

» Peace in the Gong

» Workers Support Register Gathers Steam

» Pay Equity Enters Campaign Mode

» Union Aid Agency to Establish Dili Office

» Job Vacancies at the LHMU

» Guest Report

» Sport

» Trades Hall

» Piers Watch

» Aquilina's Insult

» Well Done 1999

» US Union Site Worth a Look

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