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October 2003 | |
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Interview: No Ifs, No Butts Unions: National Focus Industrial: Fools Gold Bad Boss: Bones of Contention History: The Gong Show Politics: The Hawke Legacy International: Sick Nation Economics: Closed Minds Review: Mixing Pop and Politics Poetry: One Size Fits All
Postcard The Soapbox Media The Locker Room Culture Politics Postcard
The Monk Off Our Back
 A Hard Act To FollowWhich Boss?
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Industrial Fools Gold
************ Goulburn Gaol stands as a half-finished monument to the NSW Government's willingness to hand contracts to the lowest bidder - few, if any, questions asked. The State's Department of Resources super-ministry gave gaol redevelopment work to Wallers after it undercut reputable operator, Camarda and Cantrill, on the extension work. Unlike Wallers, Camarda and Cantrill, had carried out the first part of the gaol redevelopment and built a working relationship with the CFMEU, including signing-off on an EBA that ensured workers would receive industry-standard wages and conditions. A matter of months later, just days after convincing the Resources Department it should pocket another $519,000 progress payment, Wallers hit the wall, leaving collateral damage scattered across NSW building sites. Dozens of workers lost their jobs but, if anything, sub-contractors who didn't see a cent from the $519,000 did it even tougher. The principal of a Canberra-based plastering company, owed $141,000, had to sell his family home to stave off the banks. A Ballina brick layer was forced to write off $43,000, and one of the men behind a Gold Coast roofing company, owed just under $80,000, is understood to have suffered severe mental health problems. Extensions at the correctional institution have gone nowhere for the best part of six months as the Department tries to unravel its mess, not the least of which is work undertaken by its preferred contractor that will have to be ripped down and started again. The CFMEU's Mick Lane says Wallers put the roof up, without any services behind it. "The way I understand it, the whole thing has to come down," he explained. "It's unsalvageable, they put the bloody roof up without installing any electricity, plumbing or air conditioning. "It begs the question about what the geniuses actually checked before they handed over the $519,000 progress payment." Industry scuttlebutt suggests there is only one company in serious contention for the re-let contract, plus the rectification work. You guessed it, Wollongong-based Camardra and Cantrill, the outfit given the flick because it came in above Wallers' non-union quote. The Goulburn shambles, according to NSW trade unions, highlights a dilemma for modern governments - the attraction of right wing economics over any sort of Labor principle. In a blow for the community, they will ask state conference delegates to insist their parliamentary representatives pay more than lip service to principle via a detailed procurement policy. NSW Labor Council spokesman, Chris Christodoulou, holds up the actions of Roads Minister, Carl Scully, over the vexed Western Orbital motorway as an example to his colleagues. In the middle of a strike of AWU and CFMEU members against head contractor AbiLeighton, Scully banged employer heads together, told them to recognise the unions, negotiate an agreement, and get on with the job. At essence, AbiLeighton had used the Western Orbital to try to bring Tony Abbott's IR agenda to life in NSW, pushing workers into a two-week strike to try and defend basic conditions and fight off AWAs . Christodoulou called Scully's action a "Labor response" to the Federal Workplace Relations Minister's constant championing of individual contracts and refusal to deal with building companies who have signed agreements with unions. "In theory, we have a range of civilised agreements in place with the NSW Government but, too often, they don't work in practice," Christodoulou says. "We have a Memorandum of Understanding on goods and services but the reality is that some Ministers and beauraucrats are less than committed to it and it gets side-stepped. "All we are asking is that they put their money where their mouths are and take the social impact into account when they spend our money." Specifically, the state conference resolution, would instruct Ministers to order their departments to take the following criteria into account, as well as cost, when buying goods or services... - Australian Jobs and Local Content - Australian Suppliers and Industrial Relations Standards - Regional Development The resolution "Procurement of Good and Services - the Labor Way" -calls for contractors and suppliers to meet ILO standards and for companies prepared to work within the NSW IR framework, based on collective bargaining, to be given preference for NSW work. It's not just in construction and roading where unions say their members have been dudded on Government contracts. They point to the loss of 60 textile jobs, in Victoria as it happens, and the removal of rehab opportunities for NSW prisoners when the Department of Health sourced linen from a Chinese supplier able to undercut Australian prison labour costs. Clothing and manchester is a key area of concern. Only a year ago, Luigi and Anthony employed more than 100 garment workers in the heart of Labor's Marrickeville stronghold. Since Qantas abandoned its buy Australian policy and the Health Department placed an off-shore order for its uniforms, 80 of those jobs have disappeared. Luigi and Anthony survived by shifting its manufacturing base to Fiji. The losers were the Marrickeville Mums it used to employ, their families and local businesses. TCFUA secretary, Barry Tubner, says nobody should point the finger of blame at the company - "it was a miracle it held on for as long as it did". The Health Dept contract, alone, he says, is worth over $2 million. All the uniforms across the NSW Public Service probably add up to more than $10 million a year. The question for the Carr Government, he says, is simple. Do they want that money to go back into NSW or are they happy to send it off shore? "Price is one element, for sure," Tubner concedes, "but it is only part of the equation. We have to take into account the social cost of these spending decisions. "That was Michael Costa's catch phrase before he swapped jobs. It was a good argument then and it's still a good argument now."
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