
Issue No 92		20 April 2001

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

Letters to the Editor

Workers Comp: The People Speak

Congratulations on your simple and straightforward breakdown of the proposed changes to legislation and the impact it may have on workers.

I am a Legal Costs Consultant and prepare bills of costs in assessable form for submission to the SUpreme Court. This occurs only when costs between the workers solicitors and the insurer cannot be negotiated. Apart from these changes effectively doing away with my livelihood (already reduced somewhat due to the Motor Accident changes)my fear is that workers genuinely injured are going to be uncompensated.

Mr DellaBosca's claims regarding legal costs are erroneous in my opinion and legal costs directly relate to the insurers lack of admission of liability and further to that their unreasonable attitudes to settling the costs involved in prosecuting a claim which in many cases need not have been prosecuted except for their reluctance to make reasonable offers of settlement.

My hope is for everyone to stand up and say NO to these changes. The irony is that should the changes go through the labor politicians in many cases will probably lose their seats at the next election.

Please keep up the pressure.

Jane

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Workers Compensation Changes Feedback

We totally support CMFEU Secretary Andrew Ferguson's description of the State Government's Workers Compensation Legislation Bill - as 'an act of bastardry'. It is an act of betrayal to ordinary workers and their families to deprive injured workers of their rightful compensation. We would like to voice our disgust, anger and utter disbelief that they had considered such an outrageous act. In particular we are especially outraged that 'no permanent impairment compensation is payable for any psychiatric or psychological impairment'. How naive can those people sitting up their in positions of power be! Perhaps they have not come across any who have suffered mental injuries of the worse possible kind - far worse than any physical injuries. Perhaps it only hits home when it happens to one of their own kind - their own loved ones or themselves. You'll never know.

Fairfield residents

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I am a member of the A.W.U & I work at Electrolux(formerly EMAIL LTD) in Orange NSW. I have suffered a work related injury in the past & can attest to the fact that the whole workers comp system is far from perfect so I am bloody outraged by the proposed changes. Why the hell should the workers have to pay for incompetence by the bosses, burecrats & the insurance companies. We need a system which is fairer to injured workers, not worse.I'd like to say to Mr Della Bosca & the state "Labor" government ;"Remember us? The workers? Your constituency? Isn't labor supposed to equal workers & their concerns & interests foremost.Wake up!!! A state poll might be a while away but you are going to hurt your federal mates this year unless you open your eyes & ears to what is happening to us! We're hurting & the last thing we need is an attack on our rights & conditions from our own party.

Cheers,

John Rabey

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This proposed legislation will be a disaster for workers. The current system is already loaded in favour of the insurance companies, medical proffession etc. I suffer from two prolapsed discs and a prominent burr on my spine. I am rated at 20% for my back and 10% for my leg. I commuted my claim in 1999. This was after a lenghty period when I was denied any money by the company. They use this tactic to force people to settle their claim. The company does does care about any psychological impact this may have on the injured worker. Can you imagine what will happen if 'chopper' Della Bosca is successful. Many instances from personal experience come to mind but the major implications, besides decreasing already inadequate renumeration and treatment, would be:

� The denial of common law rights; this has to be in breach of a number of international labor conventions, although I haven't researched this.

� The introduction of a medical panel; I would challenge Della and his ideologically unsound cronies to ask any injured person who has suffered at the hands of insurance doctors how they would feel about any assesment by a whole bunch of them? This would soon descend to farce and I would draw analogies to the tragic situation at Federal Parliament house this week where a frustrated husband torched himself. This would seem far fetched to the dills in Della world but believe me these changes will have this impact.

� I would also question the acturial system that has given such a wonderful set of figures. I would call on the Labor Council to have our own actuaries examine these. I'm sure that 'dammed lies and statistics' could be argued in this case.

I now turn to rehabilitation and compliance. I live on panadeine forte and need euhypnos to sleep. Without this medication I would not be able to work or socialise. I know that my life expectancy will fall because of this but have no realistic option besides living on government handouts. I have re-trained and work in an office thanks to a sympathetic employer. For small mercies I am extremely grateful. It would seem that the charismatic Della should turn his mind to actually increasing compliance with the present system before turning his sights on the unfortunate people who already suffer enough.

In closing I will be on the streets at the first available oppurtunity to protest these changes and hope that the union leadership continues to fight. We do not need negotiation we need action.

View entire issue - print all of the articles!

Issue 92 contents

Interview: Beyond the Accord
Simon Crean cut his teeth in the trade union movement, now he's gearing up to run the economy.

Politics: In Defence of Della�s List
The proposition that trade unions should ask members of the ALP for a commitment that they uphold Party policy should hardly be controversial.

Corporate: The Real Rorters
The unspoken sore of the WorkCover Scheme is non-compliance by employers. None more so that in the construction industry, as this CFMEU paper details.

Legal: In the Real World
Lawyer Ross Goodridge exposes the defficincies in the new medical assessment guidelines for workers compensation by looking at real case studies.

International: The Docklands and Global Labour
Ma Wei Pin and Jasper Goss recount how the struggle of a group of Indonesian hotel workers effected a lucrative Melbourne contract.

History: Sweatshops in America
Since the dawning of the Industrial Revolution, many generations of Americans have toiled in sweatshops.

Unions: Losers Never Start
At the end of her six week vigil, Grenadier delegate Michelle Booth gave her heartfelt thanks to the trade union movement.

Review: Working Classes: Global Realities
The Socialist Register 2001 looks at class realities and the lives of workers in the new century.

Satire: Democrats Change Leader
The Democrats have a new leader after belatedly discovering that Meg Lees had become the second Democrats leader in a row to defect to another party.

» Costa To Join Della�s List

» Compo Campaign Gathers Steam

» Della�s List: Dissident MPs Targeted

» Day of Mourning to be Compo Focus

» Small Steps in Negotiations � But Hard Yards Still to Come

» Important First Step for E-Mail Privacy

» Outraged Cleaners Continue AXA Axings Protests

» Grenadier Picket Ends � But Legacy Lives On

» Entitlement Dramas in Health and Printing

» Nurses Still Waiting on Olympics Bonus

» IRC Delays Hit Eight Month Barrier

» Claims of Dirty Tricks Conspiracy at Mobil

» Sydney Water Workers On Strike

» MUA Rides Anti-pollution Wave

» Governments Urged On Child Slavery

» Time To Act on Pay Discrimination

» Construction Union Supports Folk Festival

» Activists Notebook