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.
Penton was nominated for his work in the private bus industry and the waster industry in organising workplaces from low levels of membership and activism to over 90 per cent coverage.
He beat off a strong field, that included shortlisted finalists Gillian Davies from the NSW Nurses Association and Sean Mountford from the Community and Public Sector Union.
The award was judged by ACTU president Jennie George, Labor Council secretary Michael Costa and TUTA director Michael Crosby.
"Bruce Penton has been organising for just over one year. In that time he has changed the face of the TWU on the Central Coast," the judges said.
"He has revitalised the union's membership throughout the region. In each of the industry sectors he has established activist committees and encouraged them to take action on their own initiative under his leadership.
"His efforts have meant that Bus Drivers and Waste Operators on the Central Coast are now amongst the most strongly organised sections of the TWU
"The award of Organiser of the Year is given in recognition of his ability and commitment in empowering activists and members over a range of issues throughout the year."
ALL WORKERSin New South Wales have been granted a half day public holiday for December 31, starting at Midday, following lobbying from the Labor Council. Other state governments have refused similar claims.
PUBLIC SECTOR NSW public servants have been offered 400 per cent pay deal plus a special standby allowance for working New Years Eve.
The offer from the Public Sector Employment Office involves a base rate of pay plus 300 per cent for the period covering 15 hours from 6pm 31 December to 9am January 1. There is also a $250 standby bonus
Unions representing ambulance officers, police, firefighters, nurses and bus and rail drivers have accepted the offer.
TAXI DRIVERS
The Transport Workers Union has struck a special New Years Eve deal that will deliver cabbies an extra $5 per passenger for trips up to to 20km; and $10 per passenger for journeys beyond 20km. The TWU reckons this will lead to a minimum average earnings of $40 per hour.
HOSPITALITY
Hotel workers struck the first blow for New Years Eve bonuses when the Crown Casino agreed to pay workers 400 per cent for working on the night. Since then, many hotels and restaourants have struck deals using this benchmark. Some prestige restaurant have locked in staff with lucrative four figure sums.
BANKS
Workers at a leading bank have secured New Years Eve bonuses of up to $3000 as the Finance Sector Union moves to lock in millennium pay rates across the industry.
The FSU has negotiated site agreements with NAB which include payments of up to $3,000 for working after 8.00pm on the 31st December and a special payment of $500 plus 3.5 times normal hourly rate for NRMA employees.
ANZ is offering a range of bonuses - $250 for 7pm to midnight, $5000 for midnight to 7am and $250 for January 1. Westpac have a similar scale but their rates are scabbier.
National mutual are offering their IT staff a bonus payment of one day's pay plus 2.5 times the hourly rate - with a minimum payment of $450.
GIO and NRMA are offerinf triple time plus $5000, while AMP is giving workers the option of triple time plus $500 or three hours time in lieu for every hour worked.
WELFARE
NSW Home Care workers will get four times their regular pay rate for working New Year's Eve.
POWER WORKERS
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.
MEDIA
News Ltd is offering journos cash bonus ranging from $350 to $600 for working on the night. Maximum payments for those rostered on after midnight. The company is also offering prizes, gifts and special events for those working. At press time, Fairfax journalists were attempting to finalising a claim with cash bonuses up to $650 for workers rostered between 10pm and 5am.
Channel Seven journos will be paid triple time after 7pm and receive a $280 cash bonus or a $200 David Jones voucher. On-call staff get a $180 bonus. ABC staff have snared triple time for workers on after 6.00pm, with quadruple time for any forced to work overtime. AAP staff get double time and a half plus a $100 bonus for working through midnight. SBS get double time and a hlaf plus a $200 bonus. Channel Ten bonuses include a $250 bonus and an extra day's holiday for those working New Years Day. Commercial radio journalists can expect double time and a half after 6pm.
OPERA HOUSE
Performers and staff working at the Sydney Opera House on New Years Eve will have their loved ones close at hand after management agreed to invite partners to parties being held on the big night. Each staff member will receive two tickets to the party, under a deal struck between Opera House management and the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance.
General Opera House staff have agreed to a deal which includes sliding pay rates for the night; improving on the normal rate of $25 per hour to $62.50 per hour until 4pm, $87.50 between 4pm and midnight, $124 per hour between midnight and 4am and $150 per hour between 4am and 8am.
General staff will also receive a $100 loyalty payment, free parking, free food and drink on the night and two tickets for family to attend the party on the Opera House forecourt. Management will also provide 60 beds for staff who are unable to leave the site at the end of their shift. And security staff who finish at 6pm New Years Eve and start at 6am the next day will be able to sleep on site and attend the forecourt party.
Performers, orchestra and staging workers employed by Opera Australia to perform a concert on New Years eve will receive a $500 cash bonus on top of their normal wage, plus a $100 bonus if ticket sales reach 90 per cent.
They will also receive a free ticket to the Gala Concert for their partner, two free tickets to the Opera Australia party valued at $850, free parking and a cabcharge home. They will also receive childcare assistance to the value of $250.
The 83 staff targeted for retrenchment, including 31 staff in NSW, were ordered by management to pack their belongings and were escorted out of the office.
The Finance Sector Union has lodged a dispute in the Industrial Relations Commission. In a hearing earlier this week, the Commission directed QBE to begin immediate talks with FSU to develop a proper and fair process for handling any future staff reductions.
FSU NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Mr. Geoff Derrick said, "QBE Mercantile > Mutual is this year's Christmas Scrooge. The company's decision to sack 10% of its workforce on the eve of Christmas is heartless and irresponsible."
"The way QBE Mercantile Mutual has handled these sackings is disgraceful. Staff with over 20 years service are being marched out of the workplace and sent home to tell their families that they have lost their jobs just two weeks before Christmas." he said.
"This quick-fire and callous approach to downsizing is a throw back to the corporate culture of early 1990's. The company has made no genuine attempt to find alternative roles for the redundant staff and has completely ignored the most basic right of staff in these situations to be treated with respect and dignity. The companies decision to implement these cuts on the eve of Christmas only makes matters worse." said Derrick.
Mr. Derrick said that QBE Mercantile Mutual's action would have a negative effect not only on the 83 staff who lose their jobs but also on the rest of the company's workforce.
"Other staff will see the way these sacked workers have been treated by management. The morale and productivity of QBE Mercantile Mutual's entire workforce will be negatively affected," he said.
Mr. Derrick said the actions of the joint venture company were particularly appalling considering QBE and Mercantile Mutual made a combined profit of $190 million last year.
Under the changes proposed by the Secretary the current rule allowing any seven affiliates to veto any property transaction, would be qualified by the requirement that those seven must represent 25 per cent of all affiliated unions.
The change follows the use of the veto rule this year to frustrate the planned development of Labor Council's Pittwater property. While 90 per cent of affiliates backed the proposal, several small unions used their veto power to block the plans.
A restructured deal was later approved, but Secretary Michael Costa flagged at the time that it would prompt a review of the seven union rule.
"I think the whole Currawong highlighted the absurdity of a set of rules that were put together in the thirties to stop people seizing control of 2KY applied to other property assets," Costa says.
"If the Labor Council is going to operate effectively and ,manage the resources of affiliates it needs some flexibility."
The rule changes also sees a restructure - with an optional deputy secretary position and the creation of three assistant secretary positions with specialist responsibility for organising, community affairs and industrial issues.
And there is also a proposed change to the Council's objects which would formally loosen ties with the ACTU; by replacing the requirement "to uphold the policies of the ACTU" with an object to: "participate in the national affairs of the National Trade Union Movement through the processes of the ACTU and other bodies with similar objectives.
While Costa denied it's a distancing, he says the change reflects the diverse responsibilities held by the Council.
"While we support the policies of the ACTU, we also do more than that," he says. "We initiate policies, we have international relationships ourself and we have national obligations as well."
Now you can visit the LHMU's website at http://www.lhmu.org.au/feedback/ripoff.html to find out if you are one of them.
Often, people who are "put on salary" simply accept that they have to work unlimited hours and weekend work, without any additional compensation.
But this is not the case.
The gut feeling many salary people have that they are being "ripped-off" is actually true.
Minimum salary not enough
The minimum salary (25% above the award rate) only covers employees for about 42 hours per week, and the working of one weekend in five.
Very often, hotels fail to keep track of what hours salaried staff are actually working, and in many cases the salaries are simply not high enough to cover all award penalties and entitlements.
If you are on salary, and have often thought "I'd be better off being paid award penalties for the hours I work", you are probably right.
If you are on salary, and not getting adequately paid for all the hours you work, you are entitled to back pay.
To find out if your salary is not enough, check out the LHMU website (www.lhmu.org.au). All information will go directly to a union organiser in your state and will be strictly confidential. A union organiser will contact you to discuss what action can be taken.
NSW Labor Council secretary Michael Costa is lobbying the Carr Government to appoint George to chair a high-level committee looking at the spread of labour hire and the casualisation of the workforce.
Costa says it's an important issue for governments to address and that George is ideally suited to the task of chairing a committee of union, employer and community representatives.
George announced she would be leaving the ACTU on International Womens Day, in March 2000, at the ACTU Council meeting earlier this month. Another former teacher, Sharan Burrow, is tipped to replace her.
NSW unions paid tribute to Jennie at the Labor Council Executive Dinner, presenting her with a scroll of honour in recognition of her services to unionism.
Costa said that despite some in the movement attempting to rewrite history, George would be remembered for her role in holding the movement together after the fall of the Keating Government.
"I have no doubt, that were it not for Jennie the union movement would be in worse shape than it is now," he said.
Chief of Staff Adam Searle is taking long-term leave to qualify for the Bar, while senior policy adviser and former union official Bruce Grimshaw is moving to law firm Turner Freeman's industrial practise.
Both played key roles in ensuring Shaw's office was the most accessible to unions of any of the Carr Government ministers. Despite the changes, Shaw insists that he is not going anywhere.
Shaw says his office has had the benefit of a great deal of stability over the term of the Carr goverbnment, which he says is "farily unusual in the rough and tumble of state politics".
Workers Online understands Shaw will be recruiting replacements from within the union movement.
Marles will become one of only two assistant secretaries, down from the three, joining stalwart Bill Mansfield. This follows the departure of Tim Pallas - who is new Victorian Premier Steve Bracks' chief of staff - whose position will not be filled.
It is understand Marles will have primary responsibility for legal and industrial issues, while Mansfield will retain his focus on community and international campaigning.
Colleagues of Marles say he is a thoughtful and thorough operator, with the ability to get his mind around complex briefs and think strategically. "He is certainly approachable and somebody who can take the union movement forward," one said.
The rise of Marles is the culmination turnaround in relations between the TWU and the ACTU. It was only four years ago that the TWU disaffiliated from the ACTU over a lack of consultation over strategic direction.
A member of the Victorian Right's Centre Unity faction, Marles will also act as a balance to the likely Left-Left leadership ticket of Combet and presidential hopeful Sharan Burrow.
ACTU secretary elect Greg Combet has also flagged the resources saved by not filling one of the Assistant Secretary positions will be channelled into an expanded communications department.
Combet intends restructuring the ACTU into five operaitonal sections: secretariat, organising centre, wages and employment rights, communications and campaigns and international/community relations.
"I want to make sure that in the future the ACTU is working to clearly articulated priorities within each of these key operational areas," Combet says.
Workplace relations minister Peter Reith has announced that he intends to continue with this legislation next year and also he is currently working on his plan to use the corporations power of the Australian Constitution to attack workers' conditions.
Meanwhile, the Australian Democrats are in discussion with the Government concerning the five schedules of the Bill that they are not opposing totally.
While Reith promoted the Bill as merely a few minor adjustments to the 1996 legislation, in reality the Bill was a concerted attack on workers and unions.
The ACTU coordinated an intensive campaign at both State and National levels by the union movement seeking to have the legislation withdrawn. In conjunction with this campaign the Australian Labor Party opposed the Bill in the Parliament on the grounds that it was regressive and, on top of the major changes made in 1996, would continue to have serious and far reaching negative social impacts particularly on the most disadvantaged Australian workers.
Ultimately a Senate inquiry was held into both the effects of the 1996 legislation and the proposed Bill. More than 550 written submissions were made to the inquiry and public hearings were held around the country. Individual workers, unions as well as many community organisations made submissions opposing Peter Reith's legislation. The overwhelming evidence produced during the Senate inquiry proves beyond doubt that Peter Reith's second wave legislation was unbalanced, unnecessary and fundamentally flawed.
In addition the evidence presented relating to Peter Reith's 1996 first wave made a mockery of John Howard's promise 'that no worker will be worse off'. There was evidence that incomes have been reduced as well as a feeling of less job security now than at any time for Australian workers and their families.
Following the tabling of the report and the announcement by the Australian Democrats that they would oppose 13 of the 18 parts of the Bill the Government effectively withdrew the Bill for this year
This however is not the end of the debate -- next year may prove to be an even more critical year for workers as Reith is likely to press even harder in his attack on workers basic terms and conditions.
The movement there had been in meltdown since June, when Paul Matters claimed victory in a disputed ballot for the leadership of the South Coast Labor Council. Matters has since announced his retirement.
Disaffected unions quit the council and moved to set up their own competing body, before union stalwarts Tas Bull, Tom McDonald and John Whelan stepped into to broker a compromise.
Members of the South Coast Labor Council and the breakaway Illawarra Council of Trade Unions has agreed to hold elections for a reunified SCLC in March 2000.
Independent arbiters, labour lawyers Wayne Haylen and Steve Rothman will oversee any disputes over the electoral roll.
The NSW Labor Council has agreed to put $30,000 into a special fund to meet a range of outstanding accounts owed by the SCLC.
Under the deal all unions who walked out of the SCLC will reaffiliate and agree to abide by the outcome of the ballot. Whelan and McDonald will continue to oversee the peace process.
Issues came to a head in October when the ICTU sought formal recognition from the NSW Labor Council.
by Sarah Kaine
The Workers Support Register was launched at the rally against the 'Second Wave' of Reith legislation on August 24 this year.
It is basically, a list of supporters prepared to be involved in activities which either defend the rights of workers to organise or assist in organising campaigns.
People who sign onto the register opt for varying levels of commitment - from taking part in 'peaceful community assemblies', to becoming correspondence activists, to giving up a Saturday to help organise non-members.
So far the response has been encouraging with over 250 people agreeing to be involved with organising efforts. More encouraging than simply the numbers, is the fact that the majority who signed on are prepared to help in any way needed.
We've already asked those on the register to assist with a situation facing housekeeping staff at the Hyatt Auckland - but more support is always needed so please consider joining our register and send a letter or fax (as outlined below) to help the Hyatt workers who are facing a management strategy intent on contracting out their jobs.
Mr Uli Hoppe
Hyatt Hotel Auckland
AUCKLAND
NEW ZEALAND
Fax: 0064 9 303 2932
Dear Mr Hoppe,
I wish to express my concern at the way you have treated your housekeeping staff.
I understand many of your housekeeping staff have long service with the hotel and much valuable experience.
I believe that:
1. You have acted with complete disregard to the staff by not consulting with them prior to announcing the decision to contract out.
2. Conducting contract negotiations whilst secretly tendering for their work is an act of bad faith and unworthy of a good employer.
3. Forcing housekeepers to reapply for their own jobs on less terms and conditions is unfair and wrong.
I urge you to reconsider your contracting out to Jani-King.
Meanwhile, if I ever visit Auckland I will ensure that I do not stay at the Hyatt Hotel and will most certainly be recommending to my family and friends not to stay at the Hyatt Hotel in Auckland.
Yours sincerely,
by Naomi Steer
As a first step in the campaign , an information leaflet will be distributed in the community and in workplaces calling on pay equity supporters to start lobbying the government to bring about the necessary changes in legislation.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign, Labor Council Secretary Michael Costa reaffirmed his organisations commitment to achieving changes to the NSW Industrial Relations Act to achieve pay equity in NSW.
The campaign is in response to what many women see as unnecessary delays in implementing the report's main recommendations. The Pay Equity report was released on Christmas eve last year . Almost one year later women are still no closer to getting the remedies that the Commission set out in its report.
Why the delay? Part of the blame must fall squarely at the feet of the employer organisations who argue that there is no need for the solutions set out in the report despite the overwhelming evidence that the current system is not working. In addition they are now objecting to the Commission's own report being used as evidence in Labor Council's case currently before the NSW Industrial Relations Commission to introduce the changes that the report recommended. This means in effect retuning the inquiry at a significant cost to the employers, Labor Council and most importantly the government.
The NSW government has also been slow in delivering on its promise to enact the legislative amendments the Inquiry said were necessary to advance pay equity in NSW.
The Inquiry concluded that the NSW Act needed to be amended to deal with the following areas:
� clarifying the distinction in the Act between remedies for undervaluation and those for discrimination
� ensuring that the references to remuneration in the Act encompass not only earnings derived from awards but earnings outside the awards systems
� amending the Act to ensure that the Commission considers pay equity when it exercises any of its function
� amending the Act to allow the President of the Anti Discrimination Board to refer matters arising under the Anti Discrimination Act 1977.
Implementation of these legislative proposals would mean that women might actually start to receive the benefits of the decision before the next millennium ie 3001!
Anyone interested in being involved in the campaign should contact the Labor Council of NSW. In the meantime write to the Premier Bob Carr and your local member to let them know that you want pay equity now.
This will enable APHEDA to liaise and coordinate with the leadership of the East Timorese people, the CNRT, in developing programs to assist the East Timorese people.
Planning is underway for developing programs of vocational training and community health worker training with the East Timorese, and a project is progressing well to provide the CNRT with a number of community radio stations.
Phillip Hazelton, APHEDA Executive Director, shares the concerns of the CNRT leadership in relation to agencies not consulting with the CNRT in delivering programs in East Timor.
"It is most important that agencies consult with the East Timorese people themselves in planning programs for them. Having an office in Dili will mean that APHEDA can work closely with the CNRT in delivering our programs and in ensuring that the real needs of the East Timorese people are recognised and addressed," he said.
Ramona Mitussis from the Civil Service Association of Western Australia is coordinating the establishment of the office and projects in East Timor during this initial phase. Ramona has been an activist for East Timor for many years, speaks fluent Indonesian and went on the APHEDA study tour to East Timor in July 1999.
After this initial establishment phase, APHEDA will appoint a coordinator in Dili for one year, beginning in March 2000. Applications for this position close on January 28, 2000. For a job description and duty statement, please contact APHEDA on 02 9264 9343 (phone) or [email protected] (email).
Appeals for rebuilding East Timor continue with the membership of a number of unions, including the Australian Nursing Federation, the CFMEU, the Australian Education Union, the Independent Education Union, the AMWU and the Australian Services Union. Secretary-elect of the ACTU, Greg Combet, has called on all Australian trade unionists to continue their generosity to assist the people of East Timor through these appeals.
To make donations to any of these appeals, please contact APHEDA: Box 3 Trades Hall, 4 Goulburn St Sydney 2000
02 9264 9343 (phone);02 9261 1118 (fax)
mailto:[email protected]
National Publications Officer
This person will work in our Communications and Recruitment Unit and must have good design skills, some experience in campaigning and project management.
Pay: $35,000 - $42,000 + allowances and super.
For more info contact mailto:[email protected]
National Education Officer (part-time)
This person will assist with the implementation of LHMU's education strategy, in particular working closely with our branches in the Northern Territory, ACT and Tasmania.
Pay: approx $44,000 + allowances and super.
For more info contact mailto:[email protected]
Commitment to organising and trade union principles is essential.
The new "award" from Aquilina via Boston is the biggest insult I have experienced in 32 years of teaching. It strikes me that both men named above have read a copy of the Peter Reith "Industrial Relations" manifesto, and have taken it to heart.
I had great pleasure in returning my copy, after retrieving it from the toilet where I kept it case of constipation, to its rightful owners. Perhaps they can find a better use for it.
If we lose the fight many a small school will close while their students are transported to larger centres. Teachers made redundent by this move, and increased teaching hours will be pleased to be part of the pool to combat the teacher shortage.
Keep up the fight and see this document for what it is worth. Be honest and show Aquilina and Boston for the dishonest people they are.
I Dando
Congratulations on such a good start in '99. As an ex-union delegate, now retired, I find much of interest in your newsletter.
Please keep up the good work.
Dawn Quinlan.
Dear Editor
In Workers Online #39 there was a letter from an American unionist, John Pierce, who works in the television industry. He and his co-workers are in dispute with their employer and John was asking for suggestions about dealing with this.
In reply to an e-mail I sent John forwarded me the address of the website they have set up. It is well worth looking at, they are really fighting hard. It is http://www.myfreeoffice.com/local24.
Carol Quinn.
by Peter Lewis
We are approaching the Christmas break with high levels of industrial disruption in the public sector. What prospects are there for a peaceful 2000?
It's been unfortunate that there has been a lot of disputes in recent times. But I am confident that the SLAC process set up at the ALP State Conference will start to resolve that. We have had a number of sub-committee set up under SLAC, one to look at public sector wages and other to look at competitive tendering. They'll be coming back to the main committee, which are the two key areas of concern with the government's approach to industrial relations.
How do you work through a pay process where there has been no money allocated in the budget for public sector pay rises?
The government has just got be realistic that it will have to meet a realistic market test for wage outcomes. I don't believe there's no money in the budget for public sector wage outcomes. I think there is an amount there. More importantly, I think the unions want to have a centrally coordinated approach so there is no leap-frogging and they maintain their relativities. I think the principle, the government sees the logic in that and certainly we will continue to push down that path.
The pay issue raises a broader question about how unions and Labor governments interact. Do you think unions have been getting a fair hearing from the State Government?
I think unions always get a better hearing from state Labor governments. There's no doubt that we have great levels of access to Ministers - excluding John Aquilina of course. The issues that have really underpinned the tensions has been the budget strategy. I think the government made a strategic mistake by not putting a wages figure forward very early in the piece and, in fact, entering into discussions before the budget. What I'd like to see occur is negotiations before the budget so everyone will know what outcomes will be, rather than announcements at the budget, and then unions either misinterpreting those announcements or being deliberately misled about what it available, then the tension builds up. The government has got to come clean, it's got to lay it on the table and have sensible discussions and that will go a long way to avoid the tensions on wages.
In terms of competitive tendering I just think that the government has got to recognise that the tide has turned. The Kennett election clearly indicates the community is very concerned about the extent of public sector reform. They want to see some guarantees in terms of service quality and where those policies impact on rural NSW there's clearly concern and the government needs to take that on board and ensure that it is not following a policy of competitive tendering for the sake of competitive tendering. It should be an outcomes driven policy. The unions' view is that they are happy to live with benchmarking, happy to see efficient use of government dollars, that doesn't necessarily mean contracting out.
Does that leave unions locked into an anti-reform agenda?
Absolutely not. Unions have been supporting reform for a long, long time. There concern is about the mechanism for reform. What they're saying is that compulsory competitive tendering is an inappropriate mechanism for reform. I agree with them.
So what are the alternatives?
There are a number of alternatives. On is incremental public sector change, which has been a fact of life for a long time. Another is to benchmark those services that can be benchmarked against the market place and expect unions within a reasonable time frame to meet those benchmarks. Those benchmarks have got to be realistic, they have to take into account public sector conditions and once they have taken those into account I am sure that unions can produce the same levels of productivity. The major concern is competitive tendering as a code for avoiding public sector award conditions. We will not accept that. On the one hand you have the government mandating conditions in terms of occupational health and safety, anti-discrimination, workers compensation, and on the other hand its trying to avoid those very conditions through competitive tendering as a mechanism for getting out of public sector awards. That's a tension, they've got to manage, not us.
Back to public sector wages, why do you think the government took the approach it did by bringing down a budget with no numbers in it for public sector pay rises?
I don't think the Treasurer did bring down a budget with no numbers in it. I'm sure there is a number in there for public sector wage rises. You would have to be silly and foolish not to. What the Treasurer has done is deliberately not told us what the number is to control, in his terms, public sector wage expectations,. I think it's had the opposite effect, and you've seen huge claims across the public sector for wages - and the reason is that they've benchmarked those claims against what the going rate is in the private sector which is between three and four per cent.
At the State Conference the Premier announced SLAC in an effort to quell union dissent. How effective has it been?
You've got to give SLAC a bit of time. We've had one meeting to set broad perameters,. Out of that meeting a number of sub-committees were set up. The sub-committees have had one meeting each - they been productive but there is some distance to go on this,. My view is that SLAC will evolve into a very important structure for the government and the trade union movement. Given that you've got the number of political heavies on it - the Premier across to some key Ministers and key figures in the ALP, this can evolve into a positive structure. What will kill SLAC is if it's used as a forum for esoteric debates about general broad directional misdemeanours on either side. What I'd like to see it as is a concrete forum where the government presents what it believes it strategies in certain areas and the union movement has some input to point out the consequences of the proposals, from their members' perspective.
How does this differ from an Accord type structure?
People have said - tongue in cheek - that this is Costa's Accord - given my criticisms of the Accord it's quite ironic. The difference here is that we are not setting wage targets in these areas, we're not looking at making trade-offs with the social wage. I don't see it as that sort of forum. It should be about dialogue, understanding government concerns and the government understanding our concerns. I think the Accord was much more rigid than that 0- it became quite mechanical - 'for four per cent you have to do this'. A lot of the social wage stuff happened outside the Accord structure anyway.
The industrial relations reform package appears to be held up in the Cabinet Office, how important are those reforms for long-term relationship between the unions and the government?
I think they are critical reforms for the survival of the government., The pressure that is emerging around the issue of casualisaiton is one that no government can ignore. You've seen the surveys - the big issues out there are security, uncertainty, a sense of things being adrift. I think part of that is explained by the insecure employment relationships. While I don't expect the government to be able to turn that around - there are other factors in the economy that are dealing with those - to have some of the more onerous and more ill-disciplined components of the labour hire industry regulated is important in showing the government is concerned about the changes that are occurring.
For the union movement the agency fee proposal is a very critical one. Whilst there's still debate in the unions, I think the notion that we are moving away from a system of industrial relations that essentially had state support, both financial and moral, to one that's based on enterprise bargaining, means that we really have to deal with the free rider problem. The trade-offs that allowed people to cope with free riders in the past are no longer there, the system as its currently operating is very costly, its a system that requires enormous resources in negotiating outcomes and there is a moral and also a broader requirement that people meet their obligations if they are going to get the benefits of those operations. So to be the agency fee is a move to enterprise bargaining.
Are you confident that there will be movement on theses issues in the New Year?
We'll continue to press these issues. the government is going to have to confront a union movement that is determined to do something about contracting and sub-contracting.
During the year you raised the issue of the ongoing utility of the factions and argued that the traditional Left-Right divide had passed its use-by date. There was expectation of a State Conference debate that never came and the issue seems to have dropped off the agenda. How do you intend re-activating it in 2000?
I don't think the issue has dropped off the agenda. What has occurred is that practical manifestations of that have become more important than the theoretical debates. We're changing the rules of the Labor Council to accommodate a second person from a Left background elected to Council. that's a significant move and that was done outside the context of any Left-Right negotiations. It was reflective of my view that people should be put into positions based on their ability to work as a team and undertake their responsibilities, rather than on the basis of their factional allegiances. I think that's happening already .
In terms of a debate, there is still a need for that. it was unfortunate that the State Conference didn't have any time for the scheduled debate,. There has been some talk about doing something in the new year and I'd be happy to support that. But the practical thing is to ensure that we continue to operate, as we have been, on a non-factional basis. The bona fides of my position will only be tested if its delivered in practice. you can put all sorts of intricate and sophisticated arguments about why factionalism is dead and I think most people would intellectually agree with it. but unless you have practical results of organisations operating in a non-factional way and people accepting that in practice in can happen, the intellectual arguments will not carry the day. It's about practical outcomes.
And what are those practical outcomes?
The fact that the Labor Council has operated over the last period in a non-factional way. Anyone who looks at the operations of the Council would have to take that view. We've taken up issues that have been traditional Left issues on the one hand. On the other side some of the culture that the Left claims is being seen in Right-wing unions in terms of the move back to the workplace and organising. So I think there's a real blending of and merging of the cultures.
Within the Labor Council, you have pushed for a shift to an organising approach - how do you translate into a shift for individual affiliates?
It's very difficult. At the Labor Council all you can do is articulate the arguments, provide some resources to support those arguments, encourage the individual affiliates top accept the approach - bearing in mind that I don't uncritically accept it - I do think affiliates have got to tackle the elements that work for them and integrate them into their functions. but I'm very encouraged - I think we've made great inroads in this state. We have gone further, I would argue, than any other state, or the national body, in pushing along the organising model. The Organising Centre was important as a symbol as well as having a practical importance in terms of the Olympics. the use of Michael Crosby, Sarah Kaine at Labor Council, Workers Online - all those things have helped changed the culture. People have seen results - and that's what will carry the organising model through to the affiliates.
At what point do those positive results have to translate into increasing membership levels?
I don't think you'll get increasing membership levels through the organising model short of half a decade. We're talking about a significant cultural and structural change, Anyone who has a look at the next set of figures - which I'm sure some of the members of the media will do to declare the organising model a failure - will be really deluding themselves and not understanding the sort of change we are talking about. if we don't get them in the next five years, I would than be prepared to make judgements about the success or failure of the model.
Looking ahead to 2000, the AGM is going to consider some rule changes - one of them brought on by difficulties with the Currawong property. Why are you pushing through changes to the property rules?
I think the property rules are absurd. I think the whole Currawong issue - which we did successfully resolve by changing the strategy - highlighted the absurdity of a set of rules that were put together in the thirties to stop people seizing control of 2KY applied to other property assets. If the Labor Council is going to operate effectively and ,manage the resources of affiliates needs some flexibility. By the way, the rule that I'm proposing is I still think is highly inflexible - the whole hurdle process is still there with one minor change, that means that if you have seven unions objecting they ought to at least reflect 25 per cent of the membership base of the Labor Council. I think that this is consistent with the principles of the people that drafted the rules - they wanted a 75 majority for property proposals. They gave the principle of seven unions because we had less unions at the time and it may well have made sense then.
The AGM will also consider a rule change that would distance itself from the ACTU. What is the thinking behind this?
I don't think the rule change distances Labor Council from the ACTU. It clarifies what the role should be, and that is to manage the affairs of state affiliated unions, our relationships with state government and manage the labour market in NSW. That ought to be done with reference to the ACTU and in conjunction with other national or international obligations we have. So I think it's more a clarification rather than a distancing.
So what's the effective change?
It's just a technical issue of modernising the rules to reflect the current period. That rule's been around for a long, long time and I just don't think it reflects what we do. While we support the policies of the ACTU, we also do more than that. We initiate policies, we have international relationships ourself and we have national obligations as well.
So would that free you up to run agendas contrary to the ACTU?
The Labor Council in the past has not been shy to take up certain aspects of the Accord, for example, that it didn't like - even though it may have had ACTU endorsement. This is a vibrant Labor Council that often has different views. The Vizard proposal for example, we had different views on that, and I would hate to see someone trying to impose, by way of a rule, obligations on this Council that the majority of people here don't support.
On the ACTU generally, it will enter 2000 with a new leadership team. What will be the benchmarks of their success?
I think they've set their own benchmark: whether they can translate the organising approach through the national movement. To me, there's other benchmarks; whether they can work within all the grouping s of the labour movement; for the first time two people from a Left background are in the two senior positions. they need to be mindful of the fact that they have to deal with unions that don't have the same cultural base and they have to be mindful that process is important if you have that configuration of officials.
I think Greg Combet has some very specific challenges in modernising the administration of the ACTU - which I think he is very capable of doing. And if Sharan Burrow is elected as president, she has a particular challenge to reach out to sections of the movement that she hasn't had a great deal to do with in the past.
Assuming they can be successful in that, their next challenge is setting the movement on a path of organising and revitalising itself, and doing so in a constructive way, not a prescriptive way, but a way that is much more encouragement and general direction setting, which is the sort of thing we're doing in NSW. If the ACTU tries to be prescriptive in any way, it will lose a great deal of support. I hope they've learnt the lesson about the best way to convince people
What do you think is the greatest single challenge facing the union movement in the year ahead?
I think the greatest challenge in the year ahead, and the year after, and the year after that is to reposition itself as something that's still relevant. That means dealing with the cultural issues - I have concerns about the seniority mentality that dominates some parts of the movement. We need to be able to get younger people into the movement, it needs to be relevant to those young people and it must change its culture to accommodate them. It also needs to have a look in a very genuine way at how it could do things better. It needs to be more entrepreneurial, it needs to explore alternatives - and that means to accept failure . To me it's a question of positioning, revitalisation and experimentation.
So in terms of the union movement, are you a millennium doomday-ist or an optimist?
I'm an optimist. One thing I've always been impressed with, is the amount of young people attracted to unions. I'm not impressed by the fact that we can't keep them because we don't have structures that can accommodate them, but we seem to constantly have a lot of bright enthusiastic people around the place. If you're attracting those people, you've got to be optimistic about your future. The real challenge is to ensure that they quickly move into positions of influence in the movement, so that you essentially have them developing the strategies to attract people like them.
1. Bill Kelty Resigns
The mercurial ACTU secretary finally called it quits after nearly two decades as the titular head of the national trade union movement. From the high point of union influence as the ACTU's Accord power-broker and close confidante of Paul Keating to his latter day role as the invisible leader of a movement under siege, it's been a roller coaster ride for the Kelster. To some he was a visionary, who championed superannuation and brought unions closer to the centre of power. To others he was a distant leader who has presided over a movement losing touch with its membership through the flawed amalgamation strategy. The jury is still out and will probably be for years to come. .
2. Line Drawn on Labour Hire
1999 was the year unions finally stared down the labour hire industry that threatened to eat them alive. While individual unions like the CFMEU took direct action against firms using labour hire as a crude means of cutting staff entitlements, the NSW Labor Council drew up plans that would better regulate the industry, including tying labour hire workers to the conditions of the workplace they are placed in. These proposals were still before the Cabinet Office at Christmas.
3. Oakdale Miners Entitlements Win
It took a group of shafted miners to re-establish the value of trade unionism. The 150 Oakdale miners who were shown the door owed more than $6 million in unpaid entitlements refused to lie down and take the kicking. Within weeks, their plight had become a national campaign as unionists took up their cause as clear evidence that the pendulum had swung too far. Their mobile truck toured regional Australia as the Howard Government reluctantly moved to action. Their legacy will be fairer company laws for all Australian workers.
4. Reith's Second Wave Dumped
The Australian Democrats may have put Reith's Second Wave to the sword, but it was the thousands of trade unionists who mobilised during the year who can take the real credit for galvanising public support to such an extent that another Democrat capitulation would have been political suicide. Highlights included a Sydney rally which had them dancing in the streets and listening to the real impact of labour market deregulation on the lives of ordinary workers. While Reithy was still talking about bringing the laws back in little pieces next year, even he seems to accept that the nastier aspects are dead in the water.
5. Organising Embraced
The NSW Labor Council, and then the New ACTU, threw their collective weight behind the Organising Model of trade unionism. The theory is to devolve power back to the workplace by nurturing networks of activists, rather than casting the union as a service provider. Successful in parts of the US and Canada, Organising has been promoted by TUTA, the union's training body, and adopted by a handful of union branches, notably the NSW division of the Transport Workers Union which has been vigorously moving into non-unionised areas of the workplace such as private sector bus drivers.
6. Shaw Gets Some Friends
After spending much of the past six years in a minority of one, NSW Industrial Relations Minister Jeff Shaw finally has some allies on the National Labour Consultative Comittee. This is the body responsible for setting broad industrial relations agendas, and for much of the recent plus has been more interested in commissioning reports to justify further cutting back of the industrial relations system. But with new Labor Governments in Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria, Jeff is now part of a majority of ministers at the quarterly meetings. More encouraging is the fact that they are all looking at this 1996 Industrial Relations Act as a model for re-regulation.
7. Rio Tinto Finally Hits A Wall
The company that drove the anti-union agenda of the late 1990s. Rio Tinto, was exposed as keeping a Black List of trade union members in court proceedings that also raised allegations of tampering with evidence. The action, over the sacking of union activists at its Blair Athol coal mine, marks a new chapter in the ongoing saga between the giant multi-national and Australia workers. Earlier in the year the Federal Court used Reith's legislation to justify a ruling in that Gordonstone workers could not appeal a AIRC decision, even if it was wrong. The AIRC then effectively dealt itself out of enterprise bargaining by ruling that "all was fair in .love and war".
8. Hotel Workers Get Militant
If the bounce back in falling membership is going to come it has to start in the services sector. A small group of hotel housekeepers showed how it could happen. When the workers at Sydney's Hyde Park Plaza got organised, management decided to offer them lucrative non-union contracts. The workers, mainly migrant women, decided to stand firm, secured the backing of other NSW unions and called a snap strike. As media attention focussed on the hotel and protesters gathered outside, the hotel capitulated, giving the Hyde Park Housekeepers the Workers Online Win of the Year
9. Workers Celebrate New Years Eve
It will be a happier New Year for thousands of workers forced to miss the Big Party and work across a range of public sector, service industry and IT jobs on New Years Eve after unions secured big Y2K bonuses. The LHMU struck first, securing healthy bonuses for hospitality workers at a series of organised workplaces. Following intense lobbying from the Labor Council, the Carr Government proclaimed a half-day public holiday for Dec 31; then offered public sector workers a 400 per cent bonus. Anyone working on the night and questioning the relevance of unions need only check their pay packet.
10. A Unionised Olympic Workforce
First they locked in a decent pay deal for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, then they went about ensuring all workers had access to union membership., In a ground-breaking initiative, Labor Council and affiliates formed Unions 2000, a body to filter workers into the Games workforce, while offering them industrial protection for the duration of the event. While the program won't reap millions, it will give thousands of workers an introduction to the concept of unionism. By Christmas, 1,000 workers had signed up.
As editor of LabourStart (http://www.labourstart.org), I've been in a unique position to observe developments in the international labour movement in the past twelve months. It's not easy selecting the top 10 labour news stories for last year, but here goes:
1. Global: The international campaign by trade unionists and others against the WTO surely has to head anyone's list of top labour news stories. The real story in Seattle last month was not a few hundred militants battling Darth-Vaderesque police (though that was certainly photogenic) but the presence of tens of thousands of trade unionists in the largest street demonstrations the US has seen for a generation,backed up by a huge international mobilization.
2. China: The largest working class in the world has no free, independent trade union movement - but that is changing. 1999 saw numerous demonstrations, strikes and - unfortunately - arrests. There was even an attempt to launch a new, illegal, labour party. Thanks in part to the Internet, there were swift global responses by unions and human rights groups to the government's repressive measures and by all indications the independent Chinese labour movement grows stronger day by day.
3. South Korea: All through the year the unions were engaged in a struggle on two fronts - fighting against an economic crisis that has left their country devastated and also against a repressive regime that jails trade unionists by the truckload. There were some major gains - in the year's beginning, legalization of the teachers union, and just a few days ago, recognition of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. But even as I write these words, the Kim Dae Jung government continues to break up peaceful demonstrations and jail trade union leaders instead of engaging them in dialogue.
4. South Africa: Despite a government overflowing with friends of the labour movement (and many ex-leading officials of the trade unions), increasingly the union agenda and the government's agenda have been coming into conflict. The year was marked by a number of major strikes in the telecom, postal, public sector and coal industries.
5. Western Europe: Though the continent is now nearly completely "pink", with social democratic governments everywhere, unions are becoming increasingly estranged from those governments as they pursue free market policies. Tony Blair announced this year that "the class war is over" but someone forget to tell the unions (and the employers) and the UK saw quite a bit of minor strike action, almost entirely in the public sector (such as strikes on the London Underground). A series of mass strikes in Germany led by the giant IG Metall union threatened the Schroeder government which is pursuing its own variant of the Third Way. In both countries, the ruling parties suffered devastating defeats in local elections as working class voters withdrew support.
6. Kosovo/Chechnya: The war between NATO and Serbia deeply divided the international trade union movement with the Russian unions and many left-wing unions in the west coming down hard against NATO while US unions and others supported the effort. Passions were deeply aroused on both sides, though this did not happen later in the year when Russia launched a savage aerial and artillery bombardment of Grozny.
7. Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union: The year was marked by a series of bitter strikes. Miners and teachers in Romania, railway workers in Hungary, and nurses in Poland (who went on a sustained mass hunger strike) were in the forefront of long and difficult struggles which sometimes erupted into violence. In the former Soviet Union, there were some dramatic scenes including a shootout at a St. Petersburg factory occupied by workers as well as strikes at the Chernobyl nuclear power station and at the Kaliningrad docks.
8. North America: In the US, the unions continue to grow, experiencing their first large net gain in many years. Seventy five thousand joined one union in a single organizing effort and the largest textile plant in the country was also organized. Unions flexed their political muscle by supporting Clinton during the impeachment battle, but are divided over who to support in next year's presidential contest. Canada experienced several "illegal" nurses strikes and these led to large mobilizations in support of the ever-popular nurses.
9. Latin America: I counted general strikes in at least four countries (Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia and the Dominican Republic), mass protests in Venezuela and Brazil, and killings and death threats in Guatemala and elsewhere. There's no lack of drama in the Latin American labour scene, but also no clear progress in securing trade union rights and better conditions for working people.
10. Did I forget someone? Oh yes - Australia and New Zealand. Much of the news in 1999 was surprisingly good. The electoral victories in Victoria and in New Zealand were a good way to end the century. The mobilization of Australian unions in support of the people of East Timor were a wonderful example of international solidarity as it used to be done. On the other hand, Rio Tinto workers have suffered a series of defeats and even under Labour governments, as in New South Wales, teachers and other public sector workers have sometimes had to take strike action to win their rights.
As one looks over the labour news for 1999, we see victories and defeats, great successes organizing and the continued experience of repression for many trade unions. One of the bigger disappointments for unions seems to be the failure of many social democratic governments to carry out the kinds of policies unions would like to see, such as full employment and a shorter work week. In the former Communist countries, unions - now finally free and independent - find life under capitalism nearly as difficult as it was under Stalinism, and in some ways more difficult.
But the beacon of hope is the consolidation and growth of a resurgent international labour movement, one capable of global campaigning on the issues that matter, such as child labour, fair trade and trade union rights. That new international movement is now possible in part because of the new communications technologies -- including the Internet.
Is Bob Carr Too Popular?
The Premier was swept back into power in a landslide; is riding high in the opinion polls with more than 60 per cent approval, yet has never been more unpopular with the labour movement. Some unkind souls have suggested that the only people who are currently opposed to Carr are his natural constituency. A mid-year budget that failed to make any provisions for public sector pay rises has ensured an acrimonious wages round, that has already sparked action amongst fire fighters, police, nurses, parking police, national parks staff and, of course, the teachers. Meanwhile rural workers wonder how Labor and competitive tendering can mix while rail workers are rocked from one confrontation to the next by management trying to impose the will of their hairy-chested Minister, the Brereton-esque Carl Scully.
All of which prompts Workers Online to ask the fundamental question: should a Labor Government dedicated to social justice issues ever be this popular? If more than 60 per cent of the population is comfortable and relaxed with its performance, is Labor really fulfilling its historical brief of standing up for the battlers? More fundamentally, is it healthy to have a government with such a superiority over the Opposition? Then again, Carr only has to look South to realise how quickly the polls can turn.
Is a GST Enough to Kill Howard?
Federal Labor has publicly put all its eggs for the next federal election in the GST. Adopting John Winston Howard's strategy of wrapping oneself into the smallest political ball imaginable and sneering at his opponent; Labor is now banking on the June GST start-up being met with universal fear and loathing. All of which makes smart politics, provided the negative expectations can be met. The risk Beazley's crew are running is that if the sky doesn't fall in, the punters, who expect the worst, will say - well, that wasn't so bad after all! In which case Labor will be left with a very empty election cupboard.
More fundamentally, the tactics raise questions about the nature of modern politics. Can a Party win on a purely negative platform? Particularly when the Opposition admits they won't be able to unscramble the tax egg? And devoid of any broader vision, what sort of Labor Government would we be locked into? A purely reactive one? Or just one lacking a broader mandate for change?
Where are All the New Ideas?
Has the Left finally accepted the Cold War is over? The demise of the Evatt Foundation to a mere shadow of its once influential self, has left a void in the generation of new ideas. Moving to fill in the gap are, in one corner the Third Way-ists like Mark Latham - who is agitating with newspaper columns in two separate newspapers and Peter Botsman who's taken corporate money to set up the Brisbane Institute and bid to put a human face on capitalism. At the other end of the spectrum, net-based activists like J8 and Critical Mass who run a guerilla war against the powers that be. Somewhere in between are a range of new initiatives like Lindsay Tanner's Open Australia discussion room, Strewth and The Chaser magazines and, in all modesty Workers Online.
But while the noise is there, the coherence of the ideas is still wanting. Major questions remain unanswered. Like: How does one oppose the excesses of globalisation without being trapped in a purely reactionary position? Where do questions of equity sit in the new age of information? How can we spread the benefits of change as well as the costs? As national borders collapse, where do our communal responsibilities begin and end? And, most importantly, how can any one thinker master all the complexity of the Age to frame a coherent critique?
Will We Survive the Games?
September will see Sydney playing host to the 2000 Olympics, ending nearly a decade of hype, hope and broken dreams. While the Games have undoubtedly delivered a boost to the state economy, sparked by the Olympic construction program, the two weeks are shaping up as hell on earth for Sydney's residents and any hope of seeing an event has now vanished. As we lurch towards Sydney 2000, the Olympic dream is fast losing its tarnish and if the Gold medals don't come, the whole thing could become a collective downer of millennial proportions.
So if it is a shit sandwich, who will we blame? The Government? The jingoistic marketeers who implore us to Go for Gold? Or our own acquiescence in backing a bid that never looked good on paper? And what about the post-Games depression? If the promised tourism boost doesn't come, who will be the scapegoats? With both sides of politics and all of the media backing the Games from Day One, it may be hard to find the right people to blame.
Latham - Was It Suicide or Murder?
It's one thing to quit the front bench and bag your leader straight after he went within a whisker of winning an un-winnable election. It's one thing to take up a column in the tabloid press to push your idiosyncratic world view. And it's one thing to wed yourself to a breed of feel-good Third Way-ism that is the product of US marketing wizzes.
But to bag Warnie? That's suicide. In an era where politicians are only marginally more popular than peadophiles and sports stars are royalty, Latham's attack on Warne under the veil of Parliamentary privilege smacks of political self-destruction. The big question is: why did he do it? To snipe at Kerry Packer? To fulfil a long-term commitment to Scott Muller - (whose post-dropping spray was of Latham-esque proportions)? Or is it just that he's had enough and wants to go out in a blaze of glorious controversy?
Who Cares Anyway?
As the dark long years of conservative rule in New Zealand has shown, as government loses touch with the people, the people don't fight back, they just lose interest in government. Many people - in a country once renowned for its robust civil society - have simply given up on the political process. A comprehensive survey conducted this year by a team of academics from Massey University found that 39 per cent of New Zealanders favoured a team of experts or board of directors - not a government - making decisions 'according to what they think is best for the country.' Seventeen per cent actually supported the idea of a dictatorship , with 'a strong leader' presiding over the country without having to 'bother with parliament or elections.' Two per cent favoured army rule. Only 75 per cent supported a democratic system.
It's a worrying trend, that the republican referendum tapped into astutely. Don't like politicians? then vote for the status quo. In fact, it's a tactic that plays into the hands of conservatives. To win popular support for change you need to have a trusting and engaged electorate. Alienate them and the one thing you won't get is political change. With the policy of voluntary voting still sitting just below the conservatives' political surface, one of the prerequisites of social justice campaigns is to re-engage the electoral and build faith in the democratic structures.
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Just a few questions to ponder over your Christmas roast. Any revelations gratefully received.
At the ballot box, the model of parliamentary appointment of the president was rejected by the Australian electorate. With approximately 55% voting No and 45% Yes, it is nonsense to say, as Andrew Robb did, that it "nearly got across the line". In a general election, a political party registering 45% of the vote would suffer a landslide defeat.
Further, the vote split neatly along class lines. Labor's traditional blue-collar electorates in the outer suburbs, such as Banks and Paul Keating's old seat of Blaxland in Sydney, solidly voted No.
It came as no surprise. In the week leading up to the vote, one commentator wrote of a poll conducted in the first week of the Constitutional Convention that "[a]sked what model they preferred, 68% of Australian's favoured a head of state elected by a majority of the people. Only 16% wanted a head of state elected by a two-thirds majority of both houses of parliament."
Other than the Monarchists, why did the political elite hasten to the vote with a model of presidential appointment by Australia's political leadership?
There were those among the ARM, such as David Williamson, who, "in good faith, pushed a minimalist model because [he] believed it was the only one that had any hope of a 'yes' vote". Labor leaders like Bob Carr were genuinely concerned about the president's powers under a directly elected model.
But one suspects there were other, unstated, reasons for the haste.
For instance, with "virtually every media outlet advocating a Yes vote" (as Garry Morgan said in The Bulletin), they may have thought aggressive marketing would get them over the line.
Or maybe they simply did not trust ordinary Australians to vote for the president?
There is evidence to support this theory. As Dennis Shanahan said (in The Australian on 11 November 1999), the republican's explanation for the defeat was "[t]hat those who voted no are ill-informed and ignorant; all they have to do to see the light is to be shipped off to re-education camps and given a second chance ... ABC's Triple J radio said that 'ignorance has won the day'".
In the same vein as most of the ABC, Phillip Adams thought that "[w]e deserve this outcome. ... In light of the referendum vote, big bums and small brains seem entirely appropriate. For we are, quite clearly, a nation that can't think and won't get off its arse". Not to be outdone, Pamela Bone wrote (in The Age on 8 November 1999) of the "other group: the ones who voted no because we told them to vote yes, and they don't like us. Us - journalists, politicians, academics, lawyers, commentators. The chattering classes, the chardonney set. The elites."
But as Shanahan rightly observed, "even if you don't possess a degree or have access to the full array of the media, it doesn't mean you are ignorant". In truth, these outbursts were not engendered by the No case's victory; rather they encapsulate the chattering class's feelings for ordinary Australians, particularly the blue collar workers. The other side of that coin is the chattering class's "moral vanity". As Bone put it, "it is usually the educated middle-classes who are more imbued with notions of justice and equality than any other group."
But does this theory help explain the voting down of the republic in working class seats?
Well, one battler in the seat of Werriwa was alienated by the campaign's "tone". He did not like the way republicans were saying "if you don't vote for a republic you are pretty stupid" (quoted in Leonie Lamont's article in the Sydney Morning Herald on 8 November 1999).
One poll (in The Bulletin on 9 November 1999) showed that after the launch of Labor's "Yes, It's Time" campaign, "Yes support ... fell from 55.5% to 46.5% among ALP supporters". Did the campaign create the impression that sympathisers with the Keating era were influential within Labor's parliamentary leadership? Interestingly, former Attorney-General Michael Lavarch admitted (in The Courier-Mail on the 8 November 1999) that his being seen as "part of the Keating era" meant he "carried too much baggage".
And, for Paul Kelly, "it was not just a vote against the republic on offer; it was, at a deeper level, a vote of distrust in the political class and its agendas of 1990s reform". This meets Charles Maier's definition of "moral crises" in Foreign Affairs, a broad distrust of political representatives regardless of ideology. In my book, Labor without class, I argue such a "moral crises" characterises ordinary Australians' attitudes towards their political class (including the media).
In any event, as it was defeated so decisively, many people believe the referendum was a massive waste of money. For the working class, the republic was never a priority. They have now had a gut full of it. If they are annoyed with anyone, it is with the ALP for treating the referendum as if it were a federal election campaign - knowing they wanted a directly elected president (although, to his credit, Kim Beazley did not fudge the fact that they wanted a directly elected president). A recent authoritative Newspoll in The Australian suggests they are annoyed, and that they are giving vent to it. According to the survey, during the last two weeks of the republican debate the Coalition's support rose four percentage points from 42 to 46 per cent, while the ALP's fell two percentage points from 44 to 42 per cent.
If Labor goes to the electorate with a plebiscite for a blank cheque republic, to be followed by the rejected model at a later referendum, people are very likely to see this as the Party refusing to accept their verdict. Instead, Labor should be saying it unequivocally accepts the people's verdict, and follow Peter Beattie's advice of pushing for a direct-election republic in the future. This may involve, as The Courier-Mail notes, consideration of other changes such as the Senate's powers and codification of the powers of the president. So be it. Australia is a mature democracy.
If it does not, and the republic becomes a focus of debate at Labor's next National Conference, any electoral consequences will be easy to predict. After all, those who voted Yes in Bennelong will not vote Labor at the next Federal election; those who voted No in outer western electorates of Sydney and similar seats in other States may vote for an alternative to Labor.
Michael Thompson is author of 'Labor Without Class' (Pluto Press)
by Lee Rhiannon
Building alliances between groups is now a primary tactic of those working to make the world a more equitable, safer and healthier place. For too many years the cry of environment versus jobs has kept natural allies apart. In Australia this has been seen most sharply in the forest dispute with many people blaming "selfish greenies" for the loss of their jobs.
The demand of jobs AND environment is now being played out with environmentalists and unionists not just supporting each others campaigns but integrating their work for job security and environmental justice.
In Australia this is well illustrated by the style of work adopted by the Earthworker organisation formed a few years ago in Melbourne. This group brings together a number of unions, environment groups and student bodies to work on specific projects.
Earthworker has launched an industry plan From Fossil Fuels to Renewables, in response to the fact that Australia emits more greenhouse gases per capita than and other country.
With renewable energy second only to the information technology industry in terms of worldwide growth the potential to create more jobs and clean up the environment is huge. In Victoria this project has been undertaken by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and the Electrical Trades Union and is supported by a number o other unions, local councils, and manufacturing and energy companies.
Alliance building has also been a key to the strength of the campaign opposing Rio Tinto's aggressive actions to maximise profits by de-unionising its workforce, disregarding environmental safeguards, and ignoring the rights of indigenous peoples.
In Australia this has seen the CFMEU working closely with a range of groups and assisting communities overseas whose lives are shattered when the Rio Tinto bosses take over their land for another mine.
Cooperation between progressive groups is now commonplace in north America and across Europe. In the US environment and labour organisations have joined forces to launch the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment (SJE), which brings together blue and white colour unions together with a number of radical green groups. This body was the force behind the Seattle anti-globalisation protests.
Director of the United Steelworkers of America and SJE Alliance co chair noted that "According to the WTO, our democratically elected officials no longer have the right to protect the environment, worker safety and jobs."
The SJE Alliance is also targeting specific companies. Steel workers and forest activists have combined forces to take on the forestry company Maxxam's Pacific Lumber and its subsidiary, Kaiser Aluminium, with protestors filing lawsuits, organising rallies and even running for Maxxam's Board of directors.
Comments of Don Kegley, a locked out steelworker, reflect how alliance building is not just an agreement between the upper echelons of the organisations involved, but has been taken up by rank and filers.
"Steelworkers were always told that tree huggers were out to get our jobs. This year has taught me it's the greed of corporations that's the real danger. I never thought I'd be working side by side with environmentalists to get my job back," stated Don Kegley.
As developing alliances has become more crucial to running successful campaigns, the need to carefully identify allies is essential. In Australia unionists and environmentalists recognise that the Democrats have moved over to the conservative side of politics and are rarely part of a progressive alliance these days.
When the Democrats swung in behind the GST and the Coalition outrage was palpable. Having sacrificed working people and the union movement when former leader Cheryl Kernot agreed to Reith's first wave of IR legislation, the Democrats this year agreed to a tax that would put the greatest burden on those with the least ability to pay.
The GST will also prove a disaster for the environment. Democrats' leader, Meg Lees, in negotiations over this regressive tax conceded a massive subsidy for diesel users which will benefit mining, transport and logging corporations. This in turn will penalise all Australians as these practices will lead to huge health and environmental costs.
On top of this the Democrats alliance with the Coalition has further undermined environmental protection with the passing of federal legislation that hands powers on environment matters back to the states.
Despite these set backs the Australian progressive movement remains committed to working together when there is common purpose.
The power of united struggle has reverberated through the C20th century right down to the anti-WTO protests a few weeks ago. Seattle is now synonymous with one of the sea changes of this century - overnight so many people came to know what WTO stands for. This engine room of globalisation is now exposed, thanks to those protests. And those protests were so strong because of the alliances that made them a reality.
Give the man with the nude nut something to wear upstairs, someone becoming of a man of his stature.
Perhaps you believe he's looking a bit old? Maybe its time to go the dreadlocks? Or would a green rinse give him the real look of a fashion leader?
Go crazy on Costa, and enjoy the New Millennium.
by Neal Towart
Community Based Labour Hire Firms
The not-for-profit firm, Career WorkKeys, says that recruitment and job placement agencies need to start looking at job seekers in terms of dynamic labour flows, rather than as a static labour pool. ACIRRT has recently completed a report on the first 18 months of the firm's operations.
(Workplace Change; issue no. 44, November 1999)
Working in the New Millenium
How will workplaces change in the early part of the 21st century? This article is based on current trends and statistical projections to 2016. Trends expected to continue include:
� Ageing of the workforce (over 80% of workforce growth will come from the 45 and over age group. This section the population will increase with declining birthrates and thus be more unwilling to retire.
� Cultural diversity will increase. With 23% of the current population overseas born and migration accounting for 47% of population growth
� Working hours seem to be stabilising or increasing, in contrast to many European countries which have been reducing working hours
� Flexible work patterns are becoming the norm with a greater spread of hours. Work and family issues are coming to the fore, with increasing numbers of women in the workforce.
� The types of working arrangements will also vary, with the current trend to more part time and casual work set to continue.
� Teamwork, networking and office communication will be key factors in the work environment. Work from home will increase as the technology enabling this improves.
(New Workplace; vol. 5, no. 4, 1999)
Trends in Leave Arrangements
Innovative clauses covering sick leave, community services leave and a Global Diversity Day have been included in recent agreements.
In the food manufacturing industry, supplementary sick leave arrangements have been developed to cover:
� Absences of less than 2 weeks after ordinary sick leave has expired
� Deliberately self inflicted injuries
� Drug and alcohol related accidents or illnesses
Harvest leave in the community services sector of up to four weeks
The communications industry has seen the introduction of a Global Diversity Day for employees to take a paid day off "on any day that is meaningful ...within the calendar year".
(ADAM Report no. 22; Managing Leave and Holidays Update; newsletter no. 64, 18 November 1999)
Ideals about Industrial Relations in Australia, Finland and Poland byKrzysztof Zagorski
Attitudes to industrial relations in all these countries are examined with the populations showing an attraction to corporatist and marketised models. The results indicate a shift in attitudes which is ongoing in differing economies, ranging from the successful models of Sweden and other Scandinavian, to those countries of the former Eastern Bloc which are in a state of flux. Education levels are the major determinant of attitudes, rather than perceived social class.
(Australian Social Monitor; vol. 2, no. 4, October 1999)
Snapshots: Women's Employment by Age, Job Mobility, Employment in Services
The time that middle aged and older Australian women devote to paid employment peaks in the 40s. Women below 40, on average, devote 20 hours per week to paid employment, rising to 23 hours in the 40s, and declining rapidly after that.
Job mobility decreased slightly in recent years, but 14% of employed persons changed their employer in the past year.
Employment in services is growing in most industrialised countries, with Australia, US, UK, France, Canada, Netherlands and Sweden all having over 70% of employed persons in the service sector.
(Australian Social Monitor; vol. 2, no. 4, October 1999)
Women, Gender and Work
International Labour Review devotes a special issues to this topic.
Martha Nussbaum looks at how the question of capabilities is addressed. Measuring skills and attributes is a crucial question. She sets out to define a cross cultural norm that is relevant and appropriate for all persons. She lists the elements that are essential for "truly human functioning" but goes further and argues that having these elements is not enough. Rather that fulfilling these capabilities should be the goal.
Jane Hodges-Aeberhard looks at recent developments in affirmative action in courts in the USA, South Africa and Europe. Labour statistics play an important role in the allocation of resources and policy formulation.
Adriana Mata Greenwood looks at how they are used and the problems in determining what statistics are collected, what is defined as "work" and how these decisions impact on the role of women in the labour force.
This leads to the question of unpaid labour and care giving, crucial issues in the undervaluation of work and addressed here by Lourdes Bener�a and Lee Badgett.
(International Labour Review; vol. 138, no. 3, 1999)
Child Labour
This issue of International Union Rights focuses on endeavours aimed at eradicating this form of exploitation. Most prevalent in the Third World, exploitative abuse of children in the workforce is also an issue for so called developed nations, and is re-emerging in the economies of Central and Eastern Europe. According to the ILO, there are at least 120 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 at work, between 50 and 60 million of these children work in situations that are deemed hazardous.
(International Labour Rights; vol. 6, issue 3, 1999)
Trade and Workers Rights by Catherine Matheson
The collapse of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Seattle have been preceded and followed by condescending words from various experts attacking those who oppose the "liberalisation" of international trade. The words of a Brazilian women at a seminar on core labour standards and the WTO give the lie to those who claim that it is just developed country workers trying to protect their own position who oppose the "free trade' deals. She interjected "It's the governments of the South who don't want workers' rights, not the people".
(International Labour Rights, vol. 6, issue 3, 1999)
ZANGA SAYS
The Year 1999 may be remembered as Industrially active but somewhat Musically challenged. Looking at the ARIA charts at the end of December 1999 we can see a trend that has stayed the same throughout the year. The TOP 5 selling albums as at the week commencing 13 December 1999 included four American artists and only one Australian artist (whose album incidentally was recorded and produced in America). At the end of a century we are a nation that voted down the opportunity to become a Republic and the same time have Shania Twain and Celine Dion as the highest selling artists. To add insult to injury, the TOP 20 albums also include albums from Ricky Martin, Britney Spears and the The Greatest Hits package from Cher.
Album of the year: Fat Boy Slim - You've Come a Long Way Baby
I know many of you may not agree with me on this one (Ed included) but Fat Boy Slim aka Norman Cook knows how to put his 'musical shit' together. The album is full of sampled beats borrowed from many familiar tracks but in a style completely unparalleled.
Here's some other outstanding releases of 1999.
Best Rock Album: Live- The Distance to Here
Best Australian Album: Alex Lloyd - Black the Sun
Best Electronic/ Dance Album: Cafe Del Mar- Volume 6
Best Pop Album: Red Hot Chilli Peppers- Californication
Best Club Compilation: Gatecrasher- Disco Tech (Double Album)
Best Movie Soundtrack: Music from the movie- GO
Best live Act: Frenzal Rhomb
The year also saw the drinking patterns of the labour movement change forever. With the renovation of the Star Hotel into a sanitary fishbowl with too many poker machines, the trip over the road to the Trades Hall Inn inevitably became closer than originally thought. We are living in the age of defactionalisation at all levels, so why stop with the greatest love of all in this movement; beer. Trades Hall on a Thursday night after the weekly Labor Council meeting is the place to be, irrespective of what factional teat you suckled as a youngster.
Throughout the week, the Trades Hall Inn is an interesting environment, with a number of renovated back bars and rooms. Just in case you need to hold an extraordinary caucus of the Honorary Society of Part-time Basket Weavers, I'm pretty sure there's room for you! The increasing number of poker machines in local wateringholes is a concern for the average drinker and music lover and you'll find that large portions of pubs are now sealed off for those addicted to the bass of five pharoahs across a video screen.
Other Bars worthwhile drinking at this year included the newly refurbished Pumphouse Brewery which is adjacent to the Sydney Entertainment Centre; the Slipp Inn down the other end of Sussex Street; and Blackbird on Level 1 at Cockle Bay Wharf where you could sit back on those comfy lounges.
So where did we go for a good feed once we moved on from all that drinking. You couldn't go past BBQ King in Goulburn Street without having an urge for Roast Duck, nor could you walk past Ippon Sushi for their great Bento Box. Good seafood could always be found at Bluefish in Castlereagh Street while if you were after quality pizza Stanley Street, East Sydney is where you would find Alife.
In terms of variety and quality, Sydney has it all. Despite the prices some Bars and Restaurants charged in 1999, you'll probably see a huge influx of new eateries, food courts, and bars in the next 12 months.
Wishing everyone a great festive season, see you in 2000.
AND PAUL SAYS
Books
This year saw the release of many good labor oriented publications such as Labor without Class, Civilising Global Capital, The Man Time Forgot and the list goes on but one publication in particular stands out above the rest that being Lindsay Tanner's Open Australia.
Tanner argues that Australia (as the title suggests) must continue to open it's self to the world and accept globalisation but not on an unqualified basis. His ideas and arguments (whilst not always correct in this writers view) are confronting and forthright. Tanner has clearly made a break from Labor's traditional views and indeed his faction's views on a lot of the issues he deals with. For instance Telstra, Tanner advocates that if the second half of Telstra is not privatised that the company needs to be massively restructured to the extend of fully privatising Big Pond (Telstra's Internet service provider).
I recommend that readers look at Mark Lennon's review in Workers Online issue 2 for a more detailed analysis of Open Australia.
Unfortunately not too much decent fiction was released this year however this years most trashy yet entertaining book award goes to John Grisham for his new work The Testament.
Movies
1999 wasn't a bad year for movies. Some of the worth while ones included The Sixth Sense, The Blair Witch Project, The Matrix, Toy Story 2 and Ten things I hate about you. As for the best well you certainly can't miss Go. Go was a movie obviously influenced by Pulp Fiction but none the less was very cleaver and funny in its own right. However the film is very much one for the GenXers.
As for political films the Channel 4 tele-movie Dockers screened recently on the ABC traced the inspirational story of the Liverpool Dockers and their three year strike, it is also worth noting that the film was written by the Dockers themselves.
Television
All I can say is what future does Australian Television have after Breakers was cancelled!
by Peter Lewis
More than 40 journalists and spin doctors from the career cul-de-sac voted overwhelmingly to confer the honour on the Herald's oldest cub education reporter. The former Financial Review editor was overwhelmed by the award and said it was his biggest industrial moment "since the twenties".
Other awards presented were:
The Golden Thong: The Financial Review's Stephen 'the Sitar Player' Long carried off the thong for the second year running - literally. Sitar won after being spotted jogging outside Fairfax in lycra bike shorts and a fluro crop-top. Judges said Long had set a new standard for the round's near legendary poor fashion sense. The SMH's Mark Robinson was commended for bringing the dress sense of the NSW ALP Right to the round.
The Sour Lemon Award: The best/worst spin doctor award went to the ACTU's Clare Curran in a canter. Reasons were not provided. 1998 Lemon winner Ian Hanke from Peter Reith's office caused a furore by failing to return the trophy. In a live telephone cross Hanke undertook to ensure the Lemon got to Trades Hall, Melbourne.
The Egg-Beater: ABC radio's answer to Jimmy Olsen, Nino Tesoriero, snared the prestigious egg-beater for his unique style of reporting known as the "El Nino Effect". This is where a reporter creates a story by placing themself at the centre of a controversy and then reporting on it. For Nino, the vehicle was the NSW Industrial Relations Commission's decision not to give him access to papers linked to an unfair dismissal case against a former Carr Minister. Nino called in the ABC lawyers, jumped into the witness box and still managed to file for midday. Go get 'em scoop.
Special thanks to multiple Golliwog winner Brad Norington for underwriting the night and preparing the programs and Kelty board games that added that special hue to an already colourful evening. As the fluffy Kelty wigs were handed out, we looked at life from under a white mop and it all made sense.
Like Scout on Boo Radley's porch, we stumbled into the night (or collapsed in Michael "The Oyster Man" Bachelard's case), feeling we understood the great man that little bit better.
by Peter Moss and Noel Hester
The Bernadette Devlin Proletarian Stirrer Award
Winner: Essendon AFL coach Kevin Sheedy
Silvertail AFL club Carlton confounded the pundits by playing their way into the 1999 Preliminary Final. As the crucial game against Essendon approached, Carlton President and former Liberal Party National President John Elliot declared that his boys would enjoy 'sticking it right up Essendon'. Coach Sheedy, when pushed by journalists, simply mumbled: 'The reason John Elliot is like he is....is the reason we have the Labor Party'.
The Sex Pistols Great Swindle Award
Winner: The Olympics
And the winner is ... Beijing. Oh we wish. Maybe its not too late. Maybe a billion class conscious Chinese proletarians can build the stadiums, the tracks, the velodromes and the pools in 9 months. They got rid of the flies didn't they. We can't do that. Why can't the Olympics just go away. They're even more irritating than the Y2K bug. Whatever made us think that bankrupting NSW for the world's most boring sports event - true, even more boring than the rugby world cup - was a good idea. We should have been suspicious when someone as boring and straight as John Fahey starts dancing like on ecstasy when sleazy old Samaranch dropped us in it. If that's the calibre of the crowd at the party - Fahey, Samaranch, Phil Coles, Richo and the rest of the IOC - I'd rather stay home and watch the Sopranos, a gangster family that at least make you laugh.
The Ted Hopkins Plucked From Obscurity Award
Winner: The 50-something bloke who sat with Tony Lockett in the back of a red convertible during the SCG victory lap after the big fella booted his 1300th goal.
The fans presumed this bemused, portly figure was Plugger's Dad, up from Ballarat to share the special occasion. In fact, the notoriously shy Lockett was reluctant to do the stadium circuit alone and had asked this complete stranger to accompany him and share the glory before 35,000 Swans fanatics.
The Darth Vader Greed Is Good Award
Winner: Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch
You've got to admit that Rupert is consistent. Everything is dispensable to the man who ultimately pays Piers' salary. First it was Murdoch's nationality, then his wife - now it is an entire football code. With respect to the courageous Georgie Piggins, the red-and-green survival campaign has made a tactical error by relying on the law alone. Why not bring Fox Studios and the glamorous A-list social events attended by Lachlan into the frame? We'd like to see angry Souths fans outside telling the Murdochs: 'You can't buy and sell us!'
The Ollie North Late-Blooming Patriotism Award
Winner: Mark Phillipousous
The young Greek-Australian from Melbourne may suffer at times from bad attitude and bad advice - but, gee, can he play tennis. For years he was the torquey prima donna with a big lump of lumber on his shoulder, alienating his supposed Davis Cup team mates and just about everyone else in Australian tennis. Then the Scud steps up to the baseline in France and just about wins the Cup for Australia off his own racquet (with a little help from the unlikely Woodies).
The David Oldfield I'm The Real Captain Award
Winner: Shane Warne
Rob Sitch and The Panel might have exposed the Muller sledging incident, but everyone seems to have missed a telling moment on the Australian team balcony during the cricket World Cup. As the Australian batsmen hit the winning runs in the final, the cameras switched to the balcony to capture the reaction from the rest of the team. Captain Steve Waugh was, appropriately, right in the centre of the shot - but Warne gave him a very visible elbow in the ribs as the spinner jostled for a more prominent position.
The John Howard Knitted Eyebrows Award (a very small trophy)
Winner: Bart Cummings
Just how does he do it? OK, we can understand it working with champions like Galilee or Light Fingers. But how can he take an old horse that has been competing in bush cups in WA and in the space of several months turn him into a top thoroughbred capable of competing with and beating the world's best? It's a clich� but it's true - Bartholomew Cummings is a genius. Bart's Cup-winning formula is well known. 10,000 metres in the legs in the leadups. A good hit-out in the McKinnon on the Saturday. And - kapow - the first Tuesday's in the bag. It sounds so easy but how come no one else can do it? It's mystical, mysterious, spiritual ... that's it! ... Bart Cummings is GOD.
The Lady Godiva PR Coup award
Winner: The Matildas
You can imagine the scene. Soccer Australia asks PR gurus: how can we improve the profile of our young, fit, athletic women internationals. Arrrhhh ... Get them to take their clothes off!! they reply. They're so creative those PR guys and do they work hard for their money. This year's Women's World Cup in the United States consistently drew crowds of 90-100,000. And that was before the Americans started stripping in the final. FIFA bean counters are now toying with the idea of converting the Grand Canyon into a stadium for the next tournament in 2003. (The Matildas were also runners up in the Ted Hopkins Plucked From Obscurity Award.)
The John McEnroe Superbrat award
Winner: Martina Hingis
Martina has a long, long way to go to emulate McEnroe for controversy, colour and charisma. But in a sport dominated by robots she gets the superbrat award for at least trying. She started off the year with a tasteless tirade at the Australian Open accusing emerging French talent Amelia Maurismo of being 'half a man'. Later Hingis showed how she hard she had been working at her superbrat game with a memorable meltdown at the French Open. Tears, tantrums and a lovely screaming fallout with her manager mum sealed superbrat victory. She's not very likeable but anything is better than Pete Yawn Zzzzzzzzampras.
The Curtis Mayfield Darker Than Blue Award
Winner: Anthony Mundine
If angelic Cathy Freeman is one of the best (and most comforting) things to happen to white Australia, Anthony Mundine is the antichrist. In an era of Jordan wannabes - cardboard athletes who won't rock the Nike boat - Mundine is a brilliant, black loose cannon in Australian sport. Choc says what he feels, often before he thinks - that Aborigines still get a raw deal in Australia. Radical.
The Lord Denning White Boys Can't Chuck Award
Winners: Daryl Hair and Ross Emerson
Who needs slow-motion video replays or bio-mechanics experts when you have these cricketing gods? Infallible as the pope, Daryl and Ross are up there with Shane Warne in exposing the bent nature of the sub-continent and preserving the lily white purity of world cricket.
The Lazarus Award
Winner: Mark Occhulupo
Occhulupo's world surfing championship win is a real redemption song. After spending a year working for Hawaiian homeboys to pay for his charlie, a traumatised Occhulupo retired to his couch for several years and ballooned on hamburgers and beer. A surfing geriatric at 34, this is one of the all-time great comebacks.
The Sigmund Freud Etiquette Award
Winner: Julian O'Neill
A drunken shoving match at the Bourbon and Beefsteak, petulant accusations at a Sri Lankan casino, the exposure of a well-toned male member in the lobby of a Coogee Hotel - unpleasant perhaps, but hardly remarkable in the historical context of elite sporting behaviour. This year even Susie Maroney won a guernsey in the 'bad boys' club, with her agent Max Markson rightly surmising that (for Susie, at least) any publicity is good publicity. But rugby league nomad Julian O'Neill proved, in a preseason incident at a NSW country hotel, that he really knows how to party. Casually announcing 'Hey Shlossie, I just shat in your shoe', O'Neill immortalised himself in the pantheon of sporting perversity.
The Emperor's New Clothes Mogadon Award
Winner: The Rugby Union World Cup
Amidst the avalanche of jingoistic hype, few commentators were prepared to state the obvious: The Rugby World Cup had less thrills than a weekend away with the Sisters of Mercy. Totally ruined by rules which reward defensive play and encourage professional fouls, nearly all the big games were won by penalty and field goals. Of the major teams, only the French justified missing out on sleep. With nothing to lose they delivered some wonderful seat-of-the-pants rugby, not to mention the odd Gallic gouge. Yeah, yeah, yeah Australia won it. Another oversized trophy to put on the country's mantlepiece. Another bloody ticker tape parade (I used to work as a courier in the city once and hate ticker tape parades with a passion. Can't they have them somewhere where they don't stop life? Like Kalgoorlie maybe.) But let's be honest - this tournament was a cure for insomnia. Most of those teams were a joke. Uruguay, Romania, the United States. Give us a break. Who'll be there next time - Easter Island, Greenland, Uzbekistan? And what have the IRB warlords done to this game? It's meant to be about scoring tries fellas. Reduce drop goals to about 0.2 points. Outlaw the kicking flyhalf. Take the pea out of the whistle of the Northern Hemisphere refs. I could go on ...
by Chris Christodoulou
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in '99 the Labor Council came alive
Defactualisation setting in, everybody's out there for a win!
Organising workers, being Union strong,
With the Labor Council team we can't go wrong
A little bit of left, a little bit of right
Everybody's got one goal in site.
A little bit of Costa, he's the King
A little bit of Robbo backing him in
A little bit of Naomi's left wing charm
A little bit of Mary's friendly arm
A little bit of Lewis media star
A little bit of Zanga and his guitar
A little bit of Deidre in our clan
A little bit of Lennon Currawong Hit Man!
We had the Teachers Strike, and Trains at a stop
We had Carr & Scully on the hop
We had Currawong, meditation and equal pay
South Coast Union driving us mad each day
The Social Audit and Vizard's plan
The Cleaner's strike, no flash in the pan
We had Deborah and Kelly and the Admin crew,
When crunch time came the Unions came through
Sheldon's truckies on the move
A little bit of Olympic uniform blues
East Timor got its decree,
With a little bit of help from H. T. Lee
CFMEU's Oakdale crunch
Labor Council's stress free lunch
Activity everyday,
Chris' gaffer on equal pay
A little bit of Whelan he's our chief
A little bit of Gadiel on the brief
A little bit of Sarah in the fold
A little bit of Chris' Olympic Gold
A little bit of Paul's Union shop
We got everyone on the hop!
A little bit of Robbo the mighty backstop
Our boy Costa, he's got the lot!
Although maybe we do need a younger woman!
We've learnt some important things along the way - though not from the man described by Mikey Robbins this week as "Satan's beanbag". The lessons have had more to do with the nature of opinions, who gets to have their say and how one gets a contrary view into the debate.
In an era where opinion polls drive political decisions it seems amazing that the pool of competing views comes from such a small, and talently challenged pool of big media fish. The Baby Boomer blokes and token chicks combine to erect their own reference points, against which all deviation is dismissed.
Pierswatch was our challenge to this Gangland. By directly attacking the views of one of the high profile Wise Men, we sought to find new avenues for getting union views into print. For a movement conditioned to being pilloried by the opinion leaders, this was an important enterprise. Pierswatch also became a marketing tool for promoting Workers Online in the mainstream media by making so much noise that we couldn't be ignored.
Throughout the year the Sydney Morning Herald's Stay in Touch was a vital vehicle, providing us with oxygen in our early days by announcing our presence in a piece titled "Union Toady" and following it up with Piers' early threat to sue "Piers D'orf".
It was Stay in Touch that also broke our biggest story of the year - the Larry Flynnt-style $1000 bounty for charges leading to criminal charges against Piers. This was in response to a particularly grubby attack on justice Michael Kirby for admitting he had been homosexual before it was legalised in the sixties. Piers' used this information to argue Kirby wasn't fit to be a judge.
What we thought was a cheap stunt soon mushroomed into an all-out attack on freedom of speech, as first Conservative commentator Christopher Pearson in the Financial Review and then Piers' stalemate Michael Duffy dedicated full columns to our impertinence. When we responded with the line - "speech isn't free, it's not even cheap" - our critics went into apoplexy. Duffy described it as "one of the most offensive attacks on freedom of speech", conveniently ignoring that it was only Piers and his mates who were getting a chance to have their say in the opinion pages.
Piers' stance through this controversy was even more illuminating. First, he attacked the SMH for publicising the bounty - but refused to credit the source of the reward as Workers Online. He was trapped between wanting to promote his own role in a story, with a realisation that this would only give us added kudos. So the black-ban was placed on mentioning Workers Online in the Telegraph - in a sign of the power of columnist, we were being attacked without being mentioned.
But even Piers cracked when Workers Online published a photo of Michael Costa in reverse baseball cap and a familiar hand gesture. Piers lifted the photo and ran a full page chronicling his gripes against trade unions - everything from wanting to regulate labour hire to disrupting his serene backyard on Pittwater. We even scored our first mention - "the trade union movement's childish website."
The flurry of criticism ended when SMH instructed Stay in Touch to "lay off Piers". even the release of the Pierswatch T-shirt and the lifting of the 'fatwah' failed to crack the mainstream - highlighting how reliant a small publisher can be on the patronage of a mainstream voice.
Here fate stepped in, in the guise of the satirical newspaper 'The Chaser' which struck a syndication deal with Pierswatch. While the columns were printed a couple of weeks after they were first posted on the Net, Chaser again gave us a voice in the printed world.
By the end of the year, Pierswatch has become a recognised voice in the underground media. It's consistently been the most popular part of Workers Online, which itself has grown in stature - culminating in its nomination as a finalist for the Walkely Award in online journalism.
If there is a moral to the Pierswatch experience - it is to always shout loudly, use humour as a weapon and do all you can to provoke your enemy into engagement. In the Gangland that is the Australian media, it's the only way to survive.
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