
Issue No 71		15 September 2000

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

Tool Shed

Corporate Carnival Never Over

A few years ago the World Bank described Australia Post as the world's best postal service. It's logical to assume we also have the world's best postal workers. But Graham Johns, managing director of Australia Post and this week's tool doesn't think his world class workforce is worth an extra dollar or two an hour during the Olympics.

Not so the deficit daleks. Johns has bussed in 80 Australia Post executives to enjoy the opulence of the Westin Hotel in Sydney's CBD with choice seats at the Olympics thrown in. All paid for by the Olympic Allowance of the organisation's 7000 metropolitan workers.

During the Atlanta games there was a ten per cent increase in postal volume - surprise, surprise!- and a ten per cent increase in customers for the whole Metropolitan area. A significant increase in workload that is expected to be repeated in Sydney

You could argue that Johns is getting into the Olympic spirit here. We all know the Olympics is about snouts in the trough. But even cold hearted corporates like Telstra and mega incompetents like State Rail management have done the right thing by their staff during the games. They and the whole NSW public service affected for the next two weeks will get some compo for what will obviously very taxing working moments.

The Head Scrooge's mean spiritedness looks even worse as Australia Post is expected to post a record profit in the vicinity of $400 million this year.

The only reason Australia Post is where we are today is because cooperation of workers. It leads corporate productivity statistics in Australia. Stamp prices have been frozen since 1992 at 45c, but Australia Post has still been able to maintain the high level of profits due to the productivity increases of the workforce.

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Issue 71 contents

Interview: Surviving The Firestorm
After several years as the focus of some brutal politics Carmen Lawrence is back on the ALP front bench. She talks to Workers Online about her new portfolio, unions and the ALP and mud slinging in politics.

History: Unions, Sport and Community
Remember when sport was a fun way to relax after arduous labour? The fight for the eight-hour work day was based around a slogan that said, in part, eight hours work, eight hours play. The play was unpaid and unsung, but enjoyable.

Politics: Global Failures
Sharan Burrow told the World Economic Forum this week that the union movement acknowledges the benefits of globalisation but it's time to address the failures.

International: Mobile Workers
A global IT labour shortage is throwing up challenges for both the developed and developing world. Gerd Rohde, from the Geneva-based Union Network International, is working to strike a balance.

Unions: Stuffed or Stoned?
In a recent dispute at the South Blackwater Coal Mine in Central Queensland CFMEU members resisted the introduction of random drug testing in the absence of a better strategy to test impairment and not just lifestyle.

Review: A Perfect Circle- Mer de Noms
Peter Zangari believes the music world has moved on from the simplistic chords of Nirvana and Soundgarden and the grunge scene has been obliterated. But like most other things, especially music, it re-invents itself.

Satire: Silly 2000
Editors demand something happen: �We�ve got 300 Olympic pages to fill and everyone is training�.

» Protesting Posties Blast Bosses in Swank Hotel

» Mario Carries Torch For Workers

» Union Flag Flies High At Olympic Park

» International Passport for IT Workers

» Homecarers Strike Another Blow Against Outsourcing

» Alliances The Legacy of S11 Say Protestors

» Violence Rife Against Union Activists

» Call Centre Workers Compo Call Answered

» Better Pay, Big Screens and Ice Cream for Bus 2000 Drivers

» 'Appalling' Detention Centres Behind Riots

» Election of Burmese Official A Slap In The Face

» Away For The Games

» Sport

» Labour Review

» Tool Shed

» Listen To The Young

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