
Issue No 79		24 November 2000

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

News

Training Crisis - Carr Called to Action

Building workers this week backed calls for the State Government to create an apprentice training fund with strike action at St Vincent's Hospital.

The members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union want the government to establish the fund, which would levy all developers to provide training for apprentices and ensure a stable skills base in the industry.

Based on the same concept as the successful Long Service Leave fund, which provides mobile long service leave entitlements to building workers, the CFMEU says the fund would ensure that employers already investing in training would not be disadvantaged.

"Currently employers who provide training face considerable costs, while contractors who train no one and have cheaper cost structures are undercutting them," CFMEU state secretary Andrew Ferguson says.

"A levy would ensure all developers contributed and good contractors were not disadvantaged."

Ferguson says after three years discussion with the government nothing has been done. He says the 24-hour strike by workers on the St Vincent could be a sign of things to come.

Health the Worst

Meanwhile, NSW Health has been identified as one of the worst offenders amongst state government departments failing to meet apprenticeship ratios.

Building Trades Group of Unions chief Graham Childs says many of the departments are not pursuing agreed rrations of trandesmen across the classifications.

They;ve called on Labor Council to organise a meeting with the Minister for Health over the issue.

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Issue 79 contents

Interview: Back on Track
After blowing the whistle on rail privatization, NSW Transport Minister Carl Scully is rebuilding bridges with the trade union movement.

Unions: The Problem with Organising
It may be the new mantra, but Brisbane Institute director Peter Botsman argues that organising may be the wrong to go for a movement attempting to attract a new breed of workers.

International: Burma: Workers Act on ILO Ruling
Energy workers' trade unions across the Asia-Pacific have urged Western oil and gas companies to "cease investment in Burma while the use of forced labour continues".

Economics: Rethinking Incomes Policy
While many have thrown incomes policy out with the Acoord bathwater, Graham White argues it still has a role to play.

History: What Goes Around Comes Around
Labor Council's Mark Lennon argues that while trade unions - and labour history - might be unfashionable, there's life left in both of them.

Education: Peas in a Pod
Both sides of politics must take blame for funding levels in our public schools, argues NSW Teachers Federation president Sue Simpson.

Satire: Hurley Rebukes Actors' Guild: I'm No Actor!
Liz Hurley has responded angrily to claims by actors that she crossed a picket line by filming an Estee Lauder ad.

Review: It's Only a Job
In a stunning new book, author Phil Thornton and photographer Paul Jones have combined to portray working life in all its diversity through the eyes of ordinary people like process worker Sharonak Shannon

» Olympics Pay Bonus Warning

» Korean Unions Lift The Roof

» Raw Asbestos to be Blocked at Ports

» We Don't Want Your Blood Money!

» Casual Maternity Leave Put to the Test

» Reith's Industrial Spy Loses Secret Tape Case

» Alarm Bells Start Ringing on WorkCover

» Workers Ask NAB To Have A Heart

» Wattyl Happen on Monday?

» Wage Stats Back ACTU Living Wage Claim

» Deadline Approaches for Organiser of the Year

» Training Crisis - Carr Called to Action

» Cleaners Down Garbage Bags

» Shaw's Man Aims for Canberra

» Life After Seattle: A Citizen's Guide to the WTO

» Sinn Fein Deputy in Sydney