Workers Online
Workers Online
Workers Online
  Issue No 91 Official Organ of LaborNet 06 April 2001  

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.  LaborNET

.  Ask Neale

.  Tool of the Week


Tool Shed

Della: Faster, Simpler Slicker?


John Della Bosca this week goes where no Labor politician has ever gone before. Attempting to ram through new workers compo laws without talking to the labour movement has not only given him a week of grief, it's landed him in the Tool Shed.

We here at Workers Online are big fans of the Della: we love his slept-in appearance, his stream of consciousness oratory, his philosophy that life is one big Caravan Park. We, alone amongst all media, chose to blame Maxine rather than Della for the infamous lunch. We took our own degree of pain for that decision, what with Tories attacking us in State Parliament, but we stood up for Della with pride.

We also love Della's office. From the bemused diligence of long-time union officer Glen Bacic , to the polite efficiency of media flak and former Voice of Gosford, 'The Plum', to chief-of-staff Matthew Strassberg, a true romantic who awaits expectantly for the North Sydney Bears to be readmitted to the NRL, the staff in Della's office are a top bunch of people. We even hear Francis Maguire is great fun out of working hours.

So none of this is personal.

But, guys, what on earth were you thinking in trying to sneak through the most significant changes to workers compensation in a decade and a half through parliament before Easter? What made you think you could pull it off? Did you think the workers and their representatives would just shrug their shoulders and say 'too good, you win'?

The reason the Della compo reforms are now in so much trouble is that you didn't think. Workers comp is a core activity for trade unions, one of the most traumatic processes a member can go through and one of the real benefits of being in a trade union. To attack this system is to attack the union movement. The consultation processes were in place. An Advisory Council had been set up of employer and trader union reps which had spent three years educating themselves about the system, taking ownership of the scheme and turning it around. Indeed, over the last 12 months, the WorkCiover asset base had increased!

In the end Della thought it would be easier to snow his friends in the union movement. He would have thought that the good editorial in the daily telegraph would have been enough to carry the day. He alienated the press gallery by releasing the major reform ten minutes before a big announcement by the Premier (known in the trade as "snowing"). His package contained figures that did not stand up to scrutiny, overstating the amount that both doctors and lawyers take out of the scheme. And by packaging the Bill 'faster, quicker, ...." He raised hackles with a movement who had just been through reith's "More Jobs, Better Pay" legislation.

Della's problem is that about the only people in the state who think these reforms are a good idea are the editorial writers. At the grass roots, people see it as just another 'solution' being imposed on them, a US-style system, calculated to reduce their quantum of benefits in order to reduce business costs. If this is not the sort of logic that has created the backlash against economic rationalism and gliobalistion, then I don't know what is.

The other crazy thing about this so-called 'simpler' system that is meant to knock the lawyers out of the system is that its enabling legislation is totally impenetrable. We spent one day this week trading press releases with The Plum over whether or not victims of armed hold-ups would have reduced access to common law. Our lawyer's gave us the advice - but it was based on an analysis of four, partially contradictory sections of the legislation. If Della were serious about getting the lawyers out of the system he could start with an Act in plain English!

The reality is that Della has handled the reform progress all wrong. He needs to do what his predecessor did so successfully: (i) engage the key stakeholders (ii) get them to commit to incremental change (iii) work on the 50 year deficit as a 50 year plan, rather than trying to impose some quick fix master plan. None of these steps can be taken until the legislation is withdrawn. Until it is withdrawn, the current campaign continues.

So despite you might think, this is not a personal campaign. Targeting Della is merely the most effective way to get, what is a perennially dry topic, into the public consciousness. And if you're really worried about us going hard, a final word of advice, get Della to lose the "faster, simpler, slicker' mantra. It's just setting him up for a pisstake.


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*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 91 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: Costa on Compo
Labor Council�s secretary gives his take on the Big Stink over Della�s workers compensation package.
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*  Politics: Della's List
All Labor members of Parliament were this week asked to indicate whether they would support injured workers. More than half said 'yes'. Here they are.
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*  Unions: Picketing Joy
Rowan Cahill chronicled the definitive dispute of 2000 for Workers Online. He looks back on the battle and the lessons to be drawn from the workers at Joy.
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*  History: Vale Tony Mulvihill
The environment, migrant workers and the hairy nosed wombat have reason to be thankful for the active citizenship of Tony Mulvihill.
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*  Economics: Stopping the Rot
A national campaign is underway to persuade politicians from both the major parties that they need to be addressing the issue of poverty within Australia.
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*  International: East Timor � Beyond the Headlines
It�s now more than 18 months since the violence and bloodshed following the popular consultation on the future of East Timor was front page news in Australia.
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*  Technology: Online Breathing Space
The global collapse of faith in new technology has given journalists a chance to prepare themselves for the real revolution, writes David Higgins
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*  Satire: Howard Cuts Beer Price to Get Voters Drunk
Prime Minister John Howard has agreed to cut the excise on beer, in the hope cheaper drinks will help get the country drunk enough to vote for him.
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*  Review: The Battle for 96.9Fm is Over
What would you get if you crossed 2DAY FM, 2MMM, JJJ and MIX 106.5 FM? A fairly commercial radio station that wouldn�t know the difference between throwing up, stuffing up, growing up or breaking up.
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News
»  Compo Wars: Week Two to the Workers!
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»  Doctors Don�t Want to be Judges
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»  Cops Eye Ball Compo Changes
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»  Armoured Car Drivers To Consider Stop Work
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»  IT Workers � We Need You!
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»  Banks Workers Show They�re No Bunnies
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»  English Teachers Ripped Off
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»  Beazley Gives Boost To Bakery Workers
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»  Employment, Environment Vital to US-Australia Trade Deal
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»  Extra $1.37 Billion Needed for Unis
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»  Campaigning Workshop Establishes Local Campaign Initiative
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»  Activist Notebook
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Columns
»  The Soapbox
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»  The Locker Room
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»  Trades Hall
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»  Tool Shed
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Letters to the editor
»  Organising - Dools Causes a Storm
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»  Dools Replies
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»  Singalong with Della!
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»  Compo Forum - A Lib Responds
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»  Like a Lamb to the Slaughter
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