Issue No 59 | 23 June 2000 | |
NewsGST Fears for Union Delegates
Union delegates and shop stewards who collect union fees from fellow workers and receive small payments for their work will have to register as a business or face a 48 per cent with-holding tax.
News of the GST hit has sparked calls from the Labor Council for trade unions to be given the same exemptions as the major political parties and be declared GST-exempt. Commissions are common in many unions as a way of rewarding activists for keeping fees up to date. But under the new GST guidelines all commissions in excess of $50 will be regarded as business transactions. The Australian Services Union's Michael Want says it's an issue that could hit many non-profit organizations. "The administrative work involved is far more time consuming, thus costly, than the measley amount of tax the Government will collect," Want says "No wonder small business is up in arms about the GST that big business wanted."
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Interview: Holding the Line Diwan Shankar, Assistant National Secretary of the Fiji TUC, is in Australia to consolidate support for his members and plead for ongoing bans. Technology: D-Day for VC? NSW Labor Council secretary Michael Costa explains the motivations behind the new Get on Board computer-internet venture. Legal: Knock, Knock - Who's There? When the nine year old son of CFMEU construction division state secretary Andrew Ferguson recently responded to a Saturday door knock, it was neither a friend nor a Jehovah's Witness. Unions: Are You a Good Listener ? Mark Hearn goes inside the Energy Australia call centre to find a workplace where there is a code for evrything - even trips to the toilet. International: Union Observers Barred from Zimbabwe Poll Five observers from the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) and 19 other South Africans aligned to Zimbabwe's Catholic Commission for Peace and Justice are among 233 observers barred by the Zimbabwean government from monitoring the parliamentary elections. History: Community, Class, and Comparison Despite its occasional romantic tendencies, new labour scholarship is mapping collective action within working class communities. Satire: Rural Poor Return to Labor Thrilled by the great new branding, the new Country Labor party has caused scenes of great rejoicing in the country. Review: The Wicked Webs We Weave LaborNet web-meastro Paul Howes trawls the web for some hot sites for all you political junkies.
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