
Issue No 71		15 September 2000

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Homecarers Strike Another Blow Against Outsourcing

Outsourcing services looked even less of a viable option to reduce wages and conditions when Victorian homecarers - members of the ASU - won a class action against the Greater Dandenong Council this week.

Greater Dandenong Council had contracted out its Home and Community Care services to a private provider, Silver Circle.

The Federal Court decision complements and expands on the ASU's previous successful result in pursuing Silver Circle under the Transmission of Business provisions of the Workplace Relations Act. Silver Circle is now paying Local Government Carers under ASU Industrial Agreements.

'I understand that this is the first successful class actions for employees who have had their work illegally outsourced. The Federal Court has found it is illegal for employers to use outsourcing to remove employment conditions in an Award and/or an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement,' ASU Branch Secretary, Darrell Cochrane says.

'The Court decision confirms what the ASU has said all along; competitive tendering should only be about the quality and level of services provided, not about breaking down workers wages and conditions of employment. The drive for greater efficiencies cannot be at the expense of the law and workers entitlements,' Mr Cochrane said.

'Our Dandenong Homecare members, all of whom are women working part-time, are to be congratulated. By sticking together and retaining their union membership, the ASU was able to pursue separate successful class actions against Dandenong Council and Silver Circle.'

'The outcome has seen their entitlements return and may also result in their reinstatement as Council employees. It highlights the importance of workers being union members. Individual non-union members would not be able to achieve such outcomes.'

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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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