Issue No 81 | 08 December 2000 | |
NewsTassie Brings Home the Bacon on Call Centres
Tasmanian Premier Jim Bacon has thrown down the gauntlet to fellow Labor Prem iers Bob Carr, Steve Bracks and Peter Beattie after agreeing that call centers should meet minimum standards before winning government contracts.
The Charter, developed by the ACTU, sets down basic standards for wages, conditions, health and safety as well as career development. The Tasmanian Government has offered its support to the Charter as a basis for all industrial agreements covering government and agency call centers. Bacon says "it is appropriate that Tasmanian agencies be required to give consideration to whether or not a call center meets the Minimum Standards criteria when contracting their services. The NSW Local Government Association has also endorsed the charter and says it will give preference to call centers that have signed off on it when awarding contracts. ACTU President Sharan Burrow welcomed the LGA's move. "This is an important industry for Australia, and we are trying to ensure that it grows in a way that rewards Australians with high skilled, quality job opportunities," Burrow says. The support the Association provides will reward those call centres that do the right thing by their employees and will encourage the industry to take the high road as it grows." . NSW Unions are now calling on the Carr Government to sign off on the charter and follow Tasmania's lead in ensuring call center workers get a fair go. The minimum standards and Charter were released by the ACTU last month as a basis for improving the quality of jobs in the call centre industry. Several call centers have already signed on.
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Interview: Back to Work After a stretch of unemployment following the 1996 election, former Keating Minister Robert Tickner is now helping others find work. Media: Reality Check Aiden White, head of the international journalists' union, argues that online journalism presents a new set of challenges for organising. Economics: In the Same Boat In an unprecedented move, a coalition of industry, community and trade union groups have joined forces to address long-trerm unemployment. International: Nepalese Hotel Workers Ask for Support Hotel workers in the small Himalayan nation of Nepal have finally decided to vent their anger and call a general strike for Monday - over a 21 year old dispute. Unions: Speaking in Tongues Labor Council's Mark Morey outlines the successful campaign by local government workers for a community language allowance. History: Fighting Words The anti-conscription campaign of 1914-18 tore the ALP apart; but this was not the first time the labour movement took a militantly anti-war stance. Politics: A New Socialism In an extract from his new book, political economist Frank Stilwell argues the need for a new radicalism to counter the Third Way Satire: Roy Slaven on the Rampage John Doyle's history of the ABC stretches back to a 1958 evening in Lithgow on which he was "scared shitless" by Blackboard on Mr Squiggle. Review: Mauled in the Bear Pit Vengeance may be sweet but it is always made better when you are able to write a book about yourself that also provides the opportunity to dump a bucket load on those who undertook your removal.
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