Issue No 75 | 27 October 2000 | |
NewsChurch Leader Confesses: We're Not Always Good EmployersBy Andrew Casey
Australia's Uniting Church, which employs more people than BHP, has acknowledged that the church has not always been a good employer.
Nor has it been good at encouraging church members to join, and be active, in their unions, the Uniting Church's NSW synod general secretary, Rev Chris Budden, told the media this week. Rev Budden is reported in the media as saying the Church recognised there was always room for improvement in their workplace practices. " We haven't probably always been good at encouraging our members to be actively involved in the union movement, and we want to do that, given there is a fair bit of pressure in the other direction," Rev Budden said. Rev Budden made the comment after a recent story on the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU) website, about a dispute involving Aged Care workers employed by a Catholic Church agency in Queensland, was followed up by the mainstream media. You can read the original LHMU story if you click here: http://www.lhmu.org.au/union/233.html The media reports, based on an Australian Associated Press (AAP) story, quotes Rev Budden as saying that the church was working on a memorandum of understanding for employment relations in its operations in New South Wales and Victoria. " We are trying to develop a set of principles which we believe should guide the way in which we employ people," he is quoted as saying. " We would certainly be encouraging collective bargaining and trade unions and unless it was in senior management positions we wouldn't be encouraging individual contracts. " We clearly believe it is difficult for individuals to have the power to negotiate contracts on their own without support." The Catholic Church is also expected to soon release a Bishop's statement on industrial relations, which is believed to support the rights of workers to collective agreements. The ACTU, along with key union affiliates representing workers employed by church agencies, has been promoting a dialogue with religious groups on these issues.
Rev Budden said the Uniting Church and the Catholic Church had long been supporters of unions. But Rev Budden said the Uniting Church recognised there was always room for improvement in its workplace practices. "We haven't probably always been good at encouraging our members to be actively involved in the union movement and we want to do that, given there is a fair bit of pressure in the other direction," he said. " We believe that work is not just about individuals, it's about the good of the community and people need protection and support in that." Rev Budden said the church also recognised its employees were no longer strictly church people. "I'm not saying that we were exploitative, but there was always the possibility that people weren't treated as well salary-wise, partly because they are being funded to do welfare work," he said. " We worked out recently that across Australia, we employ more people than BHP. " Many people are doing it because of a commitment to the church but we are now employing a lot of people who are not church people for whom it is a job." Rev Budden said the Uniting Church hoped the memorandum of understanding would be finalised early next year.
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Interview: Civilized Capital The FNV's Harrie Lindelauff explains to Peter Lewis how a friendly government and moderate employers make for a different sort of workplace in Holland. Politics: Where Too Much Politics Is Barely Enough With daily newspapers providing polling and analysis, television, cable, radio and Internet providing 24 hour coverage over a year long campaign -- there's more than enough politics for even the most voracious American political junkie reports Michael Gadiel. International: US Cleaners on Hunger Strike A number of US cleaners have this week gone on a hunger strike to back a union campaign for higher wages. Economics: The Pass The Risk Trick Derivatives, often seen as the currency of casino capitalism, are the fastest growing, largest and potentially most volatile aspect of capitalist economies. Economist Dick Brian sees behind this image an even deeper danger. Health: Depressing Workplaces New technologies and the impact of globalisation have sparked more stress and bouts of depression for workers, while causing a growing burden for social security systems, a new ILO report says. Unions: Costello's Con The low paid are bearing the brunt of the GST with inflation at a 10 year high argues the ACTU's Greg Combet. Satire: Bush campaign an in-joke, admit advisors TEXAS, Thursday: Following Bush's disastrous performance in the first Presidential debate it has been revealed that his bid for president is actually the result of a in-joke about how stupid the American people are.
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