
Issue No 55		26 May 2000

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News

No Joy For 'Back Door' Pete

By Rowan Cahill

Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith opted for a back door entrance when he addressed a business conference in Bowral (NSW) last week.

Outside the Grand Mercure Hotel venue about 200 angry unionists and supporters gathered, including Joy Mining workers locked out of their nearby workplace for three months thanks to Mr. Reith's vision of Industrial Relations.

Twenty police, including the local Area Commander, were on hand to shepherd the Minister through the back door.

As one observer wryly commented, the last eight weeks of the Joy dispute have brought more police to the Highlands than at any time since the infamous Belanglo Forest serial killings.

The focus of the rally was Reith's Workplace Relations Bill 2000, recently introduced into Parliament, which aims at reducing the bargaining power of unions by outlawing common wage claims across an industry.

For many of those present the locked out Joy workers symbolised the experience awaiting all Australian workers in the Brave New IR World of Reith.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow was one of a number of high profile labour movement people who addressed the rally.

Burrow accused Reith of encouraging employers to be increasingly militant.

"This is not a Minister for Industrial Relations. This is a Minister who so passionately hates unions and working men and women that he'll do anything to deny you fundamental union rights", she told the rally.

"Under Reith's laws employers can lock workers out indefinitely with no obligation to bargain in good faith".

"Workers have their hands tied behind their backs and the only thing they're supposed to do is capitulate".

"This Minister stands against everything Australia is about".

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Issue 55 contents

Interview: The University of Rupert
National Tertiary Education Union president Dr Carolyn Allport on News Corp's move into tertiary education and the Universitas 21 experiment.

International: The Unionist Who Sparked a Coup
Workers Online's Fiji expert Andrew Casey profiles one of the men at the centre of the crisis, detained PM Mahendra Chaudry

Unions: The Call to Action
The Australian Services Union is leading the push into the call centre industry. But winning these new workplaces is a major challenge.

Politics: Workplace Gladiators
Peter Reith as Russell Crowe? That's the image Labor IR spokesman Arch Bevis conjured up in a frecent address to the Industrial Relations Society.

History: How to be a Good Unionist
It's 1917, WWI rages and federal public servants are given these rules on how to dischare their responsibility as members.

Legal: The Price of Solidarity
Intimidation, threats and even murder still await many workers who attempt to organize in a number of countries around the world, says a new ILO report.

Review: Inconvenient History
In may be cold comfort to Republicans, but the vote for Federation was every bit as tempestuous as this collection of articles shows.

Satire: World Bank Caves In
In a victory for Seattle protestors, international monetarists have decreed that global utopia to begin immediately.

» Fiji Faces International Union Blockade

» Workers Return to Dump Reith's Third Wave

» Budget Raises More Questions than Answers

» Teachers Finally Achieve Satisfaction

» FairWear Campaign Targets Uniforms

» Rio Tinto Appeals for Industrial Peace

» Beer Hike Sparks Worker Concerns

» Libs Fail to Block Family Friendly Laws

» No Joy For 'Back Door' Pete

» Angry Truckies Converge on Border

» Unions Dues Test Case Looms

» Why Solidarity Messages Mean Something

» Radio Free East Timor Rocks