
Issue No 52		05 May 2000

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Conference Showdown Looms Over Stellar

The Carr Government is heading for a State Conference showdown over plans to provide funds to a new call center offering Reith-style individual contracts to all workers on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.

Labor Council secretary Michael Costa has warned that the decision by the Department of State and Regional Development to fund the Stellar call center in Wollongong could spark a brawl at the June party conference.

The South Coast Labor Council has endorsed a peaceful protest at the site, amidst fears that any jobs created will come at the expense of existing workers employed on award rates.

Costa says he'll take the matter directly up with treasurer Michael Egan, who has responsibility for the funding decision.

"This is a firm that has no place in NSW if they continue with these practices," he told the weekly Labor Council meeting.

"This is an outrageous decision ... I'm happy to take it to State Conference to ensure that not one cent of taxpayer money goes to this company."

Costa says the funding issue is broader and that he'll be promoting a resolution calling on the Carr Government not to provide any form of government assistance to firms not prepared to work in accordance NSW Government policy on industrial relations.

Second Strike for NSW

The Carr Government has already raised eyebrows by awarding a contract to Stellar to provide timetable information for the State Transit Authority via a center at Hornsby.

As whistleblower and former human resources manager Andrew Hilliard has told Workers Online (see issue #47) that the AWAs were part of an explicit strategy to drive labour costs down.

Stellar is an offshoot of Telstra, established specifically to undercut the existing Telstra workforce's wages and conditions by placing staff on Australian Workplace Agreements.

The Community and Public Sector Union's Stephen Jones says Stellar's modus operandi is to target depressed regions and then offer jobs at the bottom rate.

Jones has called on all state Labor Government take on Stellar and declare their states "no go area for bottom-feeders" like the Telstra offshoot

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  Issue 52 contents

Interview: War Stories from the Shakey Isles
After being flat-earthed, New Zealand unions are making a comeback under a new progressive government. Darien Fenton is at the forefront of the resurgence.

Unions: Laying It On the Line
A complex international legal web underpins a long-running South Coast picket.

International: Alive and Kicking
Those representing right wing political forces and strategists for multi-national corporations would be disappointed by the success of the recently concluded Congress of the WFTU in Delhi.

Economics: Fair Trade not Free Trade
The successful MAI and Seattle campaigns have sparked a new debate about the role of the World Trade Organization.

History: The Manchester Movement
Manchester, in Asa Briggs memorable phrase, was the shock city of the early nineteenth century, a small and obscure market town that in a matter of a few years had become a huge city.

Satire: Passing the Buck
Government report tells bosses how to lie and pass the buck: Reith blames Kemp

Review: A Book to Set the Left Right
The Australian Finacial Review's Stephen Long gives his verdict on 'Tales from the new Shop Floor'.

» Conference Showdown Looms Over Stellar

» Olympics Pay Fight Hots Up

» Victims Compo Win for Workers

» Living Wage to Flow Through Fast

» Women Part-Timers Fight ANZ

» Clemo Fights for Wage Justice

» Community Workers Vote to Strike

» New Report: TV Casting Discriminatory

» Call for ACCC Prosecutions Over Japan Coal

» Sydney Support for Korean Workers and Arrested Officials

» Maternity Protection Goes Global

» Ten Years Hard Labor for Shaw

» Sydney CD's Head For Dili

» May One - Ground Zero

» The Soapbox

» The Locker Room

» Trades Hall

» Tool Shed

» Negotiation - Reith Style

» Propaganda or News?

» A Recipe for Modern Unionism

» Disappointed by May Day Coverage

» Politics in the Pub

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