
Issue No 88		16 March 2001

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

News

Directors Face Criminal Charges Over Super Scam

The owners and directors of a company whose closure has left 41 workers $650,000 out of pocket face criminal charges after it emerged they had failed to deduct private superannuation and child maintenance payments.

NSW Premier Bob Carr, who visited the workers' picket outside Grenadier Coating in Matraville this week, has referred the allegations to his Attorney General Bob Debus.

At least six workers have lost up to six months of private superannuation payments that were supposed to be paid directly from their pay-packets into the fund by their employer.

And another worker who's wages were being garnisheed to meet family support commitments has discovered this money has not been paid.

The workers have been maintaining a picket outside the Matraville factory since last week when they were told their jobs were no more and that they would not get their entitlements because big business creditors like the St George Bank-owned Scottish Pacific took precedence.

Worker and TCFUA delegate Michelle Booth told Labor Council that the Administrator has refused to guarantee the payment of entitlements and is encouraging workers to break the picket - on the grounds that this is the only way they'll receive anything.

Mad Monk Catches Up With Old Mate

As Labor Coucnil affiliates and the NSW Premier visited the picket this week to offer their support, an unwelcome visitor also appeared in the form of federal Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott.

Booth says, instead of offering his support, Abbott was there to visit the Administrator - "an old drinking buddy".She says Abbott was encouraging workers to cross the picket and said the issue of the unpaid superannuation contributions was "not his concern".

Abbott was also encouraging workers to accept the government's tax-payer funded entitlement safety net payment, which would deliver workers just a fraction of the money they are owed.

Labor Council acting secretary John Robertson pointed out that the Howard Government's scheme hit older workers the hardest, by capping accrued entitlements such as redundancy and long service leave.

"This puts older workers in a double jeopardy - not only do they lose more iof their entitlements, they are typically the workers in the demographic which finds it hardest to find a new job," he says.

Labor's Vow: Entitlements 100 Per Cent Protected

Federal shadow Attorney General Robert McClelland told Labor Council that a Beazley Labor Government would protect workers entitlements "one hundred per cent".

McClelland says Labor has calculated workers could receive comprehensive coverage if a small levy were added to their insurance payments. That figure would be less than point one of one per cent of the current exposure.

The Cricket Line

The workers are keen to take on any comers on the make-shift picket cricket pitch.

Labor Council, who have donated a brand-now Kookaburra bat, is rustling up a team for a Wednesday challenge. Any one keen to play hit the button below.

  Yes! I'll take on the Matraville Maulers!

  View entire issue - print all of the articles!

  Issue 88 contents

Interview: Labor Law
Shadow Attorney General Robert McClelland outlines his plans for workers entitlements, legal aid and a Bill of Rights

Unions: Poetic Justice
The ACTU kicked off its 2001 Living Wage campaign this week with a new shock tactic: poetry.

Technology: Big Brother�s Legacy
Organisations with restrictive staff email polices risk locking themselves in the Industrial Age by treating their staff as units to be monitored.

Corporate: Scumbags Exposed
On the eve of the inaugural Corporate Scumbags Tour, we look at the worst of the worst from the Top End of Town.

International: Playing Away
Pat Ranald looks at a proposal to hold Australian companies to basic standards when they invest in developing countries.

Environment: Nuclear Titanics
The Maritime Union has joined Greenpeace in a campaign to stop our seas becoming a nuclear highway.

History: Out of the Bog
Neale Towart looks at the life of big Jim Larkin, one of the heroes of an Irish trade union movement that continues to thrive.

Politics: Westie�s Macquarie Street Alert
The Workers MLC, Ian West, provides the first in a series of regular rundowns on the upcoming Parliamentary session

Review: The Next American Century?
How will the United States maintain its global power in an era when the very notion of the nation-state is under challenge?

Satire: Dollar Crashes Through Psychological 0.00c Barrier
The bedevilled Australian dollar dropped below the crucial 0.00c barrier losing its battle to avoid the humiliation of being worth less than the commemorative Bradman coins distributed by the Sunday Telegraph last weekend.

» Directors Face Criminal Charges Over Super Scam

» Call Centre Code Picks Up Speed

» Staff Demand Action as Jobless Number Grows

» Lifeguards to Down Togs Over Sweaty Speedo Scam

» Hotel Workers Refuse to Raise Sweat

» Blood on the Beds at Sleep City

» Paint Lock-Out Claims First Victim

» Casino Workers Seek Full Metal Jacket

» Leichhardt Council Endangers the Public

» Casual Teachers Break Through

» Tide Turns on Award-Stripping

» Workers Demand Seat on Racing Board

» Shangri-La Faces D-Day

» Fiji PM Appointment Illegal

» Activists Notebook