Trades Hall

Neale Towart's Labour Review

Read the latest issue of our regular update on industrial trends and issues.

Workers' Entitlements: the Government's Options

by Christopher Symes

You arrive for work, as you have at this workplace for over 20 years, and are met by a "suit" who tells you that your services (and everybody else's) are no longer required. What do you expect to receive from the liquidators?

What you will receive will almost certainly be less than your expectations because even though, as an employee, you have some priority, under corporations law you will only be paid if there is enough to pay secured creditors, such as banks, and the administrators fees.

Ways of ensuring fairness for employees are part of the federal government's discussion paper. This article reviews the options, and also points to the lack of data on the numbers of workers involved and the amounts, which should be addressed in any action on the issue.

(Alternative Law Journal; vol. 25, no. 1February, 2000)

National Textiles - More Dodging Than Weaving!

Tony Woolgar of the TCFUA talks to Jennifer Heardon about the National Textiles case and the protection of workers' entitlements.

(Australian Industrial Law; newsletter 2, February 2000)

Civil Conscription or Reciprocal Obligation: the ethics of 'work-for-the-dole'.

by Judith Bessant

Queries the official justifications for the work-for-the-dole scheme and asks what the rationales given say about the government's assessment of the causes of unemployment. The value of the scheme in terms of human rights criteria are also assessed, and the author argues that it contravenes the Australian constitution which prohibit civil conscription.

(Australian Journal of Social Issues; vol. 35, no.1 February 2000)

Human Resources Manuals - when do work rules become contractual entitlements?

by Charles Power

Employees sometimes sign letters of offer which make reference to company HR manuals as terms of employment. English precedent has tended to see these manuals as not being part of the contract of employment, even though they do contain certain work rules. The recent decision of the Federal Court in the Riverwood case may impact on that precedent.

In the Riverwood case, a redundancy agreement was attached to the HR manual that was referred to in the letter of offer. The employer sold the business some years after the employee commenced work and the employee was made redundant. The employee then made several claims against the former employer, including redundancy payments calculated in accordance with the formula in the agreement that was attached to the HR manual.

The Court found that the employee was entitled to those payments. Thus the Court was willing to find that the HR manual was the subject of an implied term of a contract of employment.

McCormick v Riverwood International Australia Pty Ltd, unreported, 26-11-99.

(Australian Industrial Law; newsletter 2, February 2000)

BHP Workplace Blues

by Kathryn Lumley

The Federal Court decision to grant an injunction restraining BHP from offering individual agreements will make employers wary of s298 of the Workplace relations Act. The broad interpretation of s298M, that an inducement may not require an intention but simply cause an employee to resign their union membership means that introducing AWAs could easily lead to a breach of freedom of association provisions.

Also employers need to negotiate with unions because refusal to do so whilst offering new contracts to individuals results in injury or prejudice to award employers.

(Australian Industrial Law; newsletter 2, February 2000)

Temps Demand a Better Deal

by Christopher D Cook

Amid Silicon Valley's torrid dot-com boom, stories abound of peach-fuzzed college graduates pulling down six-figure salaries and, in short order, securing their American dream. For them there is no shortage of opportunity--for new business ventures, luxury cars and seven-fi gure homes. Yet beneath this gilded veneer a class war is brewing. The Valley's legions of temps dream of getting full-time jobs and keeping homelessness at bay in a place where the median home price has soared to $365,000 and a standard two-bedroom apartment rents for $1,500 a month.

For veteran Silicon Valley temp workers like Julian Cornejo, the stark disparities drive home the point that temps--long underpaid, underemployed and "disposable"--must band together to improve conditions and restrict the ability of employers to exploit their labour.

(The Nation; 27 March 2000; http://www.thenation.com

Inappropriate Behaviour: Is it happening at your workplace?

Your organisation needs to have up to date policies clearly outlining the acceptable standards of workplace behaviour and explaining the consequences of unlawful discrimination and harassment - not just sexual harassment. Also needed are grievance procedures that all staff understand and are aware of. The Anti-Discrimination Board has a sample set of EEO and harassment prevention policies and grievance procedure guidelines.

(Equal Time; no. 43, February 2000)

An Injury to One...

by Rory O'Neill

Each year 250 million accidents occur at work, eight every second. One million work-related deaths occur. Working children suffer 12 million work accidents, 12,000 of which are fatal.

The ILO estimates 600,000 lives would be saved every year if available safety practices were used. (Other articles in this issue cover this topic)

(International Union Rights; vol. 6, no. 4, 1999)

The Equal Pay Case - Thirty Years On

A forum of differing views on the impact of the equal pay case and equal pay generally since the 1969 Arbitration Commission decision. Contributors include:

Jeff Borland looks at developments in the gender pay ratio and provides an overview of other contributions:

Bob Gregory reviews the effect on the gender pay ratio of labour market institutions through a comparison between Australia, the USA and the UK;

Barbara Pocock reviews the range of policy approaches that have been applied to narrow the gender pay gap in Australia. She suggests that more effective action in relation to the undervaluation of women's jobs would now be timely;

Mark Wooden discusses the likely ramifications for employment of attempting to impose pay equality across so-called comparable jobs;

Lou Will discusses the consequences for the labour market of comparable worth policies for setting wage rates across job types.

(Australian Economic Review; vol. 32, no. 3, September 1999)

  View entire issue - print all of the articles!

  Issue 46 contents

»	Carr Vows to Move on Casuals
»	NSW Government in Hot Seat Over Individual Contracts
»	Telstra Troubleshooter Bombs Stellar
»	Illegal immigrants Working Next Door to PM
»	Education Department Hit By Massive Fine
»	Victims Comp Changes Exclude Traumatised Worker
»	SOCOG Agrees: Ceremonies Not an Eisteddfod
»	Senate Guts 'Ships from Hell' Bill
»	Campaigners Seek Dissident Web Domains

»	The Soapbox
»	The Locker Room
»	Trades Hall
»	Tool Shed

»	The Real Big Fella
»	That's It For Labor
»	Join Australia's Gas Out
»	Tribute to Jennie

Notice Board
- Check out the latest events

Latest Issue

View entire latest issue
- print all of the articles!

Previous Issues

Subject index

Search all issues

© 1999-2000 Labor Council of NSW

LaborNET is a resource for the labour movement provided by the Labor Council of NSW

[ Privacy Statement | Disclaimer | Credits ]

LaborNET is proudly created, designed and programmed by Social Change Online for the Labor Council of NSW