After months of talks the Government offered an Olympic Attendance Allowance of $1.50 an hour to compensate Public Sector employees for increased workloads and inconvenience caused by the games. The allowance covers workers who provide services to Olympic venues or Olympic live sites.
It covers police officers in the metropolitan area, including specialist agencies, officers in the Olympic Security Command Centre and admin staff in Access Control and Homebush parking patrol.
It also covers ambos in the metropolitan areas, linen services in the west and hospitals affected by Olympic related work.
Workers who complete more than 95% of allocated shifts receive the whole allowance.
Those who work more than 85% but less than95% receive 75% of the allowance.
If you work more than75% but less than 85% of shifts you get 50% and nothing if you work less than 50% of allocated shifts.
Labor Council Secretary Michael Costa says the Labor Council is pleased public sector workers will be recognised for their contribution to the games.
'The issue has been around for months. It's been difficult to negotiate but the Government has moved significantly. Workers who we were concerned would be excluded are now included,' he says.
Meanwhile ...
4000 Telstra workers have picked up a $400 bonus for the period of the Olympics. The CEPU and CPSU have been in protracted talks with a Telstra management taking their usual hardline stance against rewarding their staff.
Jim Melcher , CEPU Secretary says the ideology of senior management within Telstra to destroy unions has failed again.
'I am sure the pressures applied by the union are the only reason Telstra has agreed to pay employees anything,' he says.
Sodexho had been treating the ice cream sellers, some as young as 14, as contractors.
They were issued with ABN business numbers, forced to look after their own superannuation and GST and earned as little as $5 an hour according to the Labor Council's Chris Christodoulou.
Chris Christodoulou said it was unacceptable that Sodexho were underpaying these, vulnerable workers.
'One boy's parents complained to us that their kid worked for 6 hours on Sunday for $30. Under the Sodexho award he should have been getting $13.50 per hour for working at the weekend. They kids should have been getting $10 per hour minimum Monday to Friday,' he says.
'It was even worse. If they are earning more than $450 per month they have to pay the 8 per cent superannuation themselves so they'd have ended up with even less. And they were expected to look after their own GST.
'Sodexho were turning all the business administration back on to these inexperienced kids.'
Sodexho capitulated under the pressure this week and have agreed the vendors continue as employees and not contractors.
Sodexho has taken responsibility for taxation, superannuation, workers comp, wages and conditions associated with the work.
Nathan Cohen , one of the vendors who made things happen against Sodexho says he was misled about his rates of pay when he applied for a job.
'I applied for a job and was expecting to get $18 an hour. Then I found out I was only getting commission. I'd like to thank Unions 2000 and especially Chris (Christodoulou). I'll now be getting what I deserve,' he says.
Julie Smith, mother of another vendor Julie Smith says she was angry when she found out about the treatment of the kids.
'As a parent I was appalled by the conditions at Stadium Australia.'
Sodexho has now agreed to retain all vendors as employees and will work with the Labor Council to get some minimum standards for all event vendors in NSW.
Industrial Relations Commissioner Jim Redman has granted a Child Care Union wage application of $41 per week, following almost 12 months of hearings.
" For our members this means a fantastic pay increase. Starting next week their pay packets will grow, over two instalments, by between 8.1 per cent and 10.25 per cent," Sonia Minutillo, the Executive Vice President of the Child Care Union said today.
"These people deserve this pay increase, the first since 1997. A range of allowances have also been increased by this decision."
Child Care workers get a starting pay rate of $20,846 a year.
The Child Care Union - the LHMU - was handed Commissioner Redman's decision on Wednesday (August 23 2000).
"The union is very happy with this result, but we consider it to be a first step in a continuing campaign to improve the standing of Child Care workers," Sonia Minutillo said.
"That's why tomorrow ( Saturday August 26) we have an all day conference of Child Care workers - open to both union members and non-union members - to discuss a continuing strategy to improve our members' status."
The Child Care workers conference will be held in the Auditorium on the Terrace at the Child Care Union's office 187 Thomas St Haymarket.
Last minute registrations are still being accepted. Please contact either of the following Union people: Jim Llloyd 9281 9511 or Rondell Millane 9281 9511 or 0409 834 482
In State Parliament, under questioning from the state opposition, it was revealed that the Director-General, Dr Ken Boston, received a $20,000 performance bonus on top of his large Public Service salary last year, despite the long-running pay dispute with teachers.
Dr Boston is employed on the highest senior executive pay scale, with a salary of between $247,980 and $305,955 a year.
Teachers Fed General Secretary, John Hennessy, says Boston has lost the professional and industrial confidence of teachers. "If he was truly deserving of a bonus and he was truly the educational leader of this State then this would not be happening," he says.
'There is no question he caused the dispute by his publication on the Internet of the award application without consulting anyone.'
'The Government has managed to pay him this money without difficulty but they can't find the money to pay casuals that they agreed to two months ago. Most of those casuals would live on less than Boston's bonus.'
'Catholic employers paid their teachers in the next pay period within two weeks. This 'successful' Director-General can't pay it after two months. It's just another insult to teachers.'
The Education Minister, Mr Aquilina, defended the decision, saying the director-general of the Department of Education was heading the third-largest education system in the world,
by Zoe Reynolds
For three years Mr Corrigan, who represents the employers on the Stevedoring Employees' Retirement Fund, has stubbornly refused to negotiate with the union over the $88m surplus.
During one particularly volatile meeting recently, he said it could take up to 10 years to settle, MUA National Secretary and SERF chairperson John Coombs reports.
"It was at this point that the union sought legal advice from one of the nation's top superannuation lawyers," he said. "We then wrote announcing that, due to Mr Corrigan's refusal to negotiate in good faith, as of September 30 this year we were withdrawing from all previous agreements. The letter had the desired effect."
Such has been the success of SERF that for some years now the employers have only had to contribute 5 per cent of wage rates into the fund. The surplus made up the rest, effectively subsidising employer contributions. By pulling out of the agreement employer contributions would more than double (the full amount being 12.6 per cent.)
Mr Corrigan has since faxed all Patrick enterprises the following commitment for distribution to members via the company newsletter. It says, in part:
"Patrick's position is that we support the use of the identified surplus for the improvement of benefits to employees and reduced employer contributions, provided a fair arrangement for the use of the windfall benefits can be reached. We are optimistic, because this has been possible on several occasions over the past years. We'll keep you informed."
"Encouraging news," said Mr Coombs. "Now it is just a matter of wrangling over the formula for the distribution, with the union rejecting the employer argument to divide up the 'windfall' on the 2 to 1 formula that applies to contributions (two for them, one for members).
Patrick has been attempting to claw back the super surplus since 1997 and the prelude to the Dubai debacle and the waterfront dispute'. Had the government-backed plot to sack the whole stevedoring workforce and, ultimately, destroy the Maritime Union, been successful, Patrick and other employers would have walked away with the lot.
"It makes you wonder," said Mr Coombs.
Meanwhile letters of support for MUA members about to be made redundant at Patrick's bulk and general terminal in Newcastle, have been flooding national office. Patrick announced the imminent closure of the facility this week.
by Andrew Casey
Mary Dower takes care of twenty elderly and disabled people in the Hurstville area. She has decided to join a huge rally in Parramatta on Monday to protest about her poor pay.
Frank Eastwell and Kieran Lawless between them take care of fifty elderly and disabled people in the Blacktown region. They have decided to join a huge rally in Parramatta on Monday to protest about their poor pay.
Carol, Mary, Frank and Keiran are four of the four thousand people who work for Home Care Service of NSW - the largest provider in this State of quality services for the elderly and disabled in their homes.
But on Monday August 28 2000, Carol, Mary, Frank and Keiran will join state wide rallies of Home Care workers to demand that their employer show them respect and make a better pay offer. The main Sydney rally will be between 12-2pm outside Home Care's Central Office at 6 Parkes St, Parramatta.
Home Care workers can start work at 6am and finish at 7.30pm but for this back breaking job people working for Home Care get paid between $13 and $14 an hour.
A Home Care worker drives from home-to-home to the people he or she works for and takes care of the personal and housekeeping needs of her or his clients.
" The rapid ageing of the Australian population means that the demand for the services of Carol, Mary, Frank and Keiran are growing exponentially," Sonia Minutillo, the Executive Vice President of the Home Care Union - the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU) - said today.
Carol, Mary, Frank and Keiran are members of the Home Care Union which has been negotiating with the management of Home Care Services of NSW since March this year.
" The Home Care Service made a wage offer of 1.5% over a 12 month period in our negotiating but the union delegates rejected it explaining that this just did not keep up with inflation," Sonia Minutillo said.
" Home Care Service has a huge recruitment problem with about a quarter of the staff leaving every year. The Service can't expect to keep people if they don't show them any respect and offer to pay them properly."
A union delegation presented the General Manager of the Home Care Service of NSW, Mike Hetherington, with petitions and letters signed by staff from throughout NSW explaining that the offer was just not good enough.
" Our members have co-operated to help the organisation reduce workers compensation premiums and massive reductions in travel costs so as to save money to help more clients.
" The General Manager, Mr Hetherington, increased the offer to 2% but this too was rejected by LHMU members ," Ms Minutillo said.
" Members have endorsed a campaign of action involving a series of work and rostering bans in support of their claim. "
by Dermot Browne
If successful, the new award would cover the whole sector and bring award employment conditions to currently unregulated providers like OzEmail, Primus and One.Tel.
Stephen Jones, Assistant Secretary of the CPSU Communications Section, believes workers in this unregulated environment have very little protection from exploitation.
"You just have to look at the staff turn-over rate to see there is a major problem in the sector. We want to establish reasonable, enforceable standards for annual leave, sick leave, penalties, hours and classifications."
While CPSU expects many of these companies to strongly resist any attempts to unionise their workforce, it remains confident that workers will embrace the chance to secure better conditions.
"We are committed to getting a solid legal basis for these workers' rights. We believe that this about helping, not hindering, the industry."
by H.T. Lee
It is believed the American owner took $5million from the company in loans and fees over the past 12 months jeopardizing the viability of the company.
Deemah workers on a dozen sites would have lost out had it not been for the construction union, the CFMEU, taking action.
Following discussions with the CFMEU Boulderstone, Westfield, Grocon and Multiplex agreed to pay the Deemah workers on their sites all their unpaid wages and entitlements.
The CFMEU also pressured other builders to pay dozens of small subbies and the 25 workers at the Deemah factory all their entitlements.
Leightons Construction initially refused to pay but with the support of other CFMEU members the Deemah workers picketed the AMP Circular Quay offices to force Leightons to pay them. Leightons is building the AMP building at Angle Place.
As a result of the AMP picket and two 48-hour stoppages, Leighton has now agreed to underwrite the entitlements.
As more and more companies go bust the Deemah case gives a million reasons why workers should belong to a strong union like the CFMEU.
by Andrew Casey
The Security Union members, who travel Sydney's trains, began a campaign in July to receive an Olympic Bonus.
" Chubb - the security firm with the City Rail contract - have recognised that our members will play an important role during the Olympics," Sonia Minutillo, the Executive Vice-President of the Security Union said today.
" Our members service to City Rail and its passengers is absolutely crucial. They will be relied on to make sure that the trains and platforms are safe for all passengers and their families."
The Security Union - the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union - began talks with Chubb a little over a month ago because of the heightened expectations management has of their workforce during the Olympic period.
Chubb Protective Services has recently begun an advertising campaign to employ more security patrol officers on City Rail during the Olympics period.
The Olympics Attendance Bonus will be paid from September 12, 2000 to October 1, 2000.
The Security Union has called a meeting of members to discuss the implementation of the Olympic Attendance Bonus.
"This is a first win, members are now discussing ways of promoting their on-going campaign to improve City Rail Security Officers pay and conditions," Ms Minutillo said.
by Linda Gale (Australian Education Union)
Loads of Australian union activists recently joined Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Members at Large in the hope of supporting Eric Lee - the editor of the LabourStart website - as a trade union candidate in the forthcoming ICANN elections. ICANN is the international body which decides key Internet governance issues.
(For more information about Eric Lee and his campaign for a 'dot union' domain name visit the LabourStart website - www.labourstart.org)
Unfortunately many of us, including me, only discovered after enrolling as an ICANN Member at large that geographic location means you are not able to endorse Eric Lee as a candidate. Frustrating. We can only wait and rely on our North American colleagues to give Eric the numbers.
But I suggest that for those of us who have enrolled as ICANN Members at Large there is still something we can do in our region to get better progressive and community representation on the ICANN Board. That is to endorse a progressive candidate in the Asia/Australia/Pacific region.
I have read through the policy statements of the @Large candidates in our region, and I think one stands out clearly as the best candidate.
She is Yukika Matsumoto, an activist in a range of peace, women's and community organisations in Japan.
In order to get on the ballot paper, she will need to receive endorsements from at least 2% of the @Large voters in the region, and have one of the top three numbers of endorsements from the region, which means she will need at least around 500 endorsements. This morning she has 235.
I strongly urge union activists from the Asia/Australia/Pacific region to endorse Ms Matsumoto before September 8.
You can find her statement at: http://members.icann.org/nom/cp/155.htm
Ms Matsumoto does not identify as a trade unionist in her campaign statement, but she clearly would represent the interests of the non-commercial users of the internet, with strong involvement in progressive community organisations.
If we do not work to get Ms Matsumoto onto the ballot paper, in my view it will be much harder to find anyone worth voting for to represent an alternative, progressive perspective in our region.
If you have taken the first step of joining up to ICANN, then please take this extra step NOW.
by Andrew Casey
"Sydney Hotels are obviously feeling the pressure from the persistent campaign by Hotel Union members demanding an Olympic Bonus," Mark Boyd, the Hotel Union Assistant Secretary said today.
"When the Hotel Union campaign started the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) stridently opposed an Olympic Bonus.
"Now the AHA is advising the hospitality industry to pay - but an Olympic Bonus of no more than $2 an hour.
"Hotel Union members have already won Olympic Bonus victories of up to $550.
"The Hotel Union - the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU) - has set the benchmark for Olympic Bonus deals.
"Hotel managements show a lack of understanding of their staff if they think $2 an hour is an acceptable Olympics Bonus deal.
"Even the Le Meridien Hotel has accepted the benchmark our members have created. The Le Meridien - with a non-union enterprise agreement - has an active anti-union management strategy, but they have accepted the Hotel Union benchmark won recently in negotiations with the Starwood Hotel group."
by Dermot Browne
They are taking this action as part of a growing public campaign to force the Federal Government to reconsider its plans to outsource their information technology (IT).
According to the CSIRO Staff Association and the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), government proposals to outsource IT infrastructure and services are one of the most significant threats ever to face science agencies and should be stopped.
Affected organisations include CSIRO, Bureau of Meteorology, Australian Nuclear Science Technology Organisation, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Australian Geological Survey Organisation and the Australian Antarctic Division.
Dr Pauline Gallagher, CSIRO Staff Association Assistant Secretary said scientists fear for the future of their work and CSIRO as a whole. "The Government wants to put IT systems in CSIRO out to tender out by the end of the year, and appears to have no idea of the serious impact this will have on CSIRO research activity," said Dr Gallagher. "CSIRO's success relies on teamwork and the IT people are an important part of that team. Outsourcing make no sense."
Dr Chris Dyt, Scientific Officer with the CSIRO Division of Petroleum Resources in Adelaide is involved in building hydrodynamic fluid models for predicting sediment distributions in ocean basins. Understanding the quality of sediments allows for more reliable oil exploration. "We have contracts with US oil companies to do this work and everything I do involves using the computer. We are constantly adding to and changing the program. If I have a problem and I can't fix it myself, then I can get help within an hour or two, but if it is outsourced there may be a couple of days down time while I wait for someone who understands the system, to come."
This training is a project of Unifam Counselling and Mediation Service.
There will be a one hour "sampler / taster" introductory lecture on 5 Sept, at 10am, at the Labor Council. This one hour talk introduces a two day training module.
There are good reasons why this training is necessary: the number of work related deaths in NSW is somewhere between one and 11 a week (depending on who's statistics are used). Workplaces often struggle with trauma and don't have the training to respond.
This training will equip workers, employers, union delegates and members, and other affiliated workers to know what to do.
The training program is open to work-mates, managers, family members, union delegates and affiliates of people who have died in work-related incidents or from occupational diseases. It is also open to those who are employed or seek to support trauma victims from work-related death or serious injury.
Patty Lee who is a Psychologist, Counsellor & Workshop facilitator will lead the training program. Patty has also worked with families & individuals experiencing grief & trauma. Mary Yeager, OH& S Coordinator, Labor Council of NSW will be a guest speaker at the full program.
How can you publish an article (IVF Debate) that obnoxiously ridicules the role of males in family life with lines like: "children will miss out on having an absent father who forgets to call on birthdays" and "Who will teach these children how to play football, how to burn sausages and how to get beaten to within an inch of their life if there is no father around."????
And don't go accusing me of having no sense of humour.
Would you publish a satirical article on the demise of the unionised worker that included lines like: "Who will now help the economy by taking twenty minute toilet breaks, taking six weeks holiday a year and striking when there is no cover for the smoko-room pool table" ????? I think not. Some things shouldn't be joked about.
The article was totally offensive to traditional working class values that emphasise the importance of family life. In this age of economic restructing many male workers have been left feeling useless in a world that seems to no longer need their labour, moves to allow IVF for single women can only exacerbate these feelings. I would have thought your editorial staff would be more sensitive to such concerns.
Neglect of the social values of working people and support of the 'individualism is King' social values of the baby-boomer middle class is the main reason the ALP has lost its traditional constituency and it would be a disaster to see this approach spreading to the other branch of the labour movement.
Yours in disappointment,
Ben Thorp.
What an absolute dogs breakfast of an attempt to appear objective by Malcom Farr, "New fissures reveal splits of the past" Daily Telegraph , Monday, August 21, 2000.
The crude attempts at labelling Joe De Bruyn as a relic of the D.L.P., is outrageous.
I am neither a Shoppie nor a right wing tyke, but I agree completely with Joe De Bruyn and his attempts to influence the Labor Party into a semblance of people representation. Mr. De Bruyn is expressing opinion that is validated by the majority of the electorate. It is then a natural sequence of events, - that it is the policy and rhetoric of Labor party that is flawed and should be examined .Not the protestations of the electorate or those that are elected to represent them, and a conscience vote is the only fair way
It is autocratic behaviour such as this, from the only credible opposition that drives the electorate to elect right wing fundamentalist governments, such has been the case in Ontario Canada, with the Canadian Alliance Party controlling the legislature. This has resulted in a summer of riots , with rioters coming prepared with gas masks and using firing ball bearing with slingshots.
Not a situation we even wish to contemplate here?
Tom Collins
Congratulations on your editorial this time...it makes a change from the crypto-neo-liberalism wrapped up as dot-com generation pragmatism we usually get from your colleague's offerings.
And on your comments on Noel Pearson who one of our former union presidents is working with in Cape York, although you shouldn't have used the expression rattling the cage, however unwittingly, as it will invite the racist epithet you are so conscious of avoiding.
Rob Durbridge
by Peter Lewis
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There appears to have been an increase in trade union membership in Britain. What's the secret?
There's been a small increase, I'd like to say there's been a much bigger one but there's been a small one and government surveys confirm that. There's two things going on. One is a big increase in employment levels -3.5 million new jobs in ten years, mainly in the private service sector. We've made some inroads in retailing and in financial services but, really, we're only making a bridge at it. It's like Australia. The labour market has changed enormously and very, very quickly. All the trends are the same; declining employment in manufacturing and in primary industry; rapidly rising in private services. These are both base services ? restaurants, hotels, personal services but also the more professional services like IT. Turning unions around to reflect that change in labour market is our biggest task and biggest challenge but, still, the employment levels going up is good news for unions.
Second is the change in political atmosphere. The Blair government hasn't done everything that we want, hasn't done as much as we want, but having a Labour Government is a hell of a lot better than not having a Labour Government. Access, some new rights, some new opportunities�these have been important.
Unlike Australia during the Hawke & Keating years, you haven't entered a formal Accord with the government. What is the relationship? How is it mediated?
Yeah, it's not like the relationships we've had with previous labour governments. In a sense the previous labour governments have always looked to the unions to control wage inflation and that was the heart of the Accord in Australia as well. The fact is that wage inflation is not a major problem in Britain, not a major problem in Europe and the areas where there is wage inflation are the chief executives, the financial services city bonuses. The union sector has not done as well in terms of bargaining as some of these wizz kids and fat cats have achieved. Because we haven't had a real wage inflation problem: therefore there's no incentive for the government to give things to us in exchange for some wage moderation. So that's one aspect.
The second aspect is that the Blair government has to do everything different, new, modern and they didn't want to put themselves in a position where they were dependent to govern on the TUC. That's happened before and the experience was more Whitlam than perhaps the experience of the Accord. I mean I know there's doubts about the Accord aplenty around the ACTU at the moment. Having looked out from Britain � it looks a bloody good thing.
So you wouldn't mind an Accord?
I'd love an Accord or the Irish Pact which is rather similar and has been running for about as long across the Irish sea.
So what haven't you been able to achieve that you would have liked to see a union movement achieve under a labour government?
Let me just start with what we have achieved which is a range of new laws, minimum wages, new rights on trade union recognition where we can get majority membership we can get recognition from an employer or we win a ballot. There's a whole range of individual rights that shore up union activists and union organisers. There's a lot of access, union involvement in a wide range of public policy. So that's the plus side.
The minus side is that we're still the most lightly regulated labour market in the European Union. We have not achieved involvement in economic and social policy to anything like the extent we would like. There's no council that we sit down with the employers and talk through what's the best way of approaching employment, investment, productivity issues, no equivalent of your best management initiative. So we consider ourselves well short of the best international trade union standards. The relationships, frankly, mostly influence the top levels with the Prime Minister. We do business with him on a fairly regular basis. But he won't recreate tripartism because that was seen to have failed in the past in Britain.
What has he replaced it with?
Informal lobbying. So the employer secretary goes and sees him, we go and see him and he tries to do a bit of a balance in between and that in a way maximises the differences between us and the employers and maximises the pressure on him and on the government and minimises the scope for a bit more agreement on things. We're in a virtuous position of reasonable levels of falling unemployment and improving living standards, again not as good as Ireland but pretty good but one problem area is manufacturing which is falling against the Euro which is our main trading zone. But the virtuous circumstances are not taken full advantage of by Blair and I think we could have done better both in terms of our influence for working people and I think we could have laid down some firmer foundations for when the going gets sticky as it will. He's on his own more than he should be.
So where would the policy setting be if there was a closer relationship? Where would the policy settings be different?
Probably not on areas of major excitement for the trade union movement. I think the emphasis would be on skills, the British education and training system you have to say is one of the worst in the European union. I mean unions are absolutely crucial to improving that. Apart from young workers, if any older workers are asked to do training courses, if it's just be the employer they think it's a device for chucking them out if they fail the course. Where the unions are involved, they've got a lot more confidence.
On workplace partnerships, we need a more solid government push on employers to concede those; we've got quite a lot of them around but we haven't got enough. I think it's important that British workers have the same rights as workers in Germany and France to information and consultation rights in advance of decisions being taken that affect them. We saw the difference when Rover were being disposed of by BMW. The German workers reps new in advance -the British workers reps didn't because the law was different in the two countries. The British workers were the ones most affected.
And Blair's half?hearted about the European social agenda that I see as important -not just within Europe -but for all world workers. The whole influence in Australia as well as Britain is from America. And it may be the land of the free but it's also the land of the union buster and it's been very successful in the nineties -therefore it's become the exemplar country around the world economies. In the eighties it was Japan, in the seventies it was Germany, now it's the States. And that stands for privatisation, deregulation, less rights for unions, the whole right wing agenda of Howard and Bush in the States and Hague in Britain. It's all wrapped up in those thoughts. And it's dedicated to diminishing and marginalizing and eliminating, if possible, trade unionism. In contrast, the European model is this social partnership concept, workers rights, a strong welfare state, as balances to corporate power.
For Britain, it also seems to be a choice between embracing that European model or standing apart from it. What's the attitude of the union movement?
Schizophrenic, like the country as a whole. I know Australia's had an identity crisis about tis relationship with the Queen. We've had our identity crisis over our relationship with Europe. The degree of cultural links with the rest of the English speaking world are held in much greater affection than the European Union. Maybe that's to do with the fact that some of our newspaper proprietors are Australian -one in particular -his ethos is the English speaking world because that's who he sells his papers to. The majority of us are in favour of joining the Euro, getting stuck in, building up the European Union. Frankly, in a rather Gallist way to give the United States a run for its money. I don't mean militarily but on economic and social policy.
It's a battle of ideas to build up this social partnership. I mean, the European Union is a bit bigger and a bit richer than the United States and if we could make that work with a critical mass, then it could be a rather different beacon than the law according to the Harvard Business School and Wall Street. America has got many virtues, but it has many vices as well. The European Union has some vices, but the sense of equality, sense of civics and public responsibility and the dignified place for working people is something we must hang onto and export through ILO standards into the developing world.
So where do you see the really interesting new ideas coming from?
The European Union is one; for us the most exciting. The concept of a one market economic entity of 360 million people, which will grow with central and eastern Europe coming in; on all previous examples of Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Greece, means that they will rise quickly up to the EU average. The gaps are narrowing between the rich Germany and the poor Spain. It seems to be an equalizing thing.
For Britain in about the middle, the mood is still hostile. There's a reluctance to shrug off the imperialist past, which is a necessary condition for this country to face up to its reality. And it's proving a harder job than many of us thought. I think it's important for the country and important for the TUC to be at vanguard of this change. And if we can make trade unionism work in Europe, that helps people in Australia, in the AFL?CIO and in the developing world. Without having an exaggerated view of the TUC's role in the world, there is an opportunity to help big European companies do the right thing all around the world.
Finally, we've heard a lot about New Labour, but your name is synonomous with New Unionism. What is it?
It was a realistic appreciation of where we w ere after being beaten up by economic change and Thatcherism. There was a recognition that we were never going back to huge smokestack industries, we were never going back to the closed shop, we were never going back to easily obtaining the right to take secondary action off any government. And so playing to our strengths was the new unionism. The emphasis was on celebrating union success; when we have good relationships treasure them and build on them and don't be afraid to partner with employers who are trying to do things the right way. This country had been going down the drain � where other European countries had been going up.
So it was about facing up to the fact that Britain was not the world leader or a major power -which many people in Britain still thought we were. And for Britain, it is about accepting that we don't have all the answers. One of the big influences for me were that 1987 ACTU report where Bill Kelty was quoted as saying: I don't think Australia has anything to learn from Britain. It sounds obvious now, but in 1987 in the TUC it came as quite a shock!
There's also been an emphasis on showing how we can be relevant to workers in the new industries, in areas that don't have that homogenous sense of cultural solidarity that our mining communities breeds. We're looking for the new bridges between working people, who are just as insecure and as unequally treated as they've ever been.
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I am from principle a Dissenter , and by some in Tolpuddle it is considered as the sin of witchcraft. Nay there is no forgiveness for it in this world nor that which is to come ... Many a curious tale might be told of men that were persecuted, banished, and not allowed to have employ if they entered the Wesleyian Chapel at Tolpuddle.
How long will it be ere they cease to grind to dust, trample under foot, and tread down as the mire of the streets the hardworking and industrious labourer? ... never no, never will (with a few honourable exceptions) the rich and the great devise means to alleviate the distress, and remove the misery felt by the working men of England.
What then is to be done? Why the labouring classes must do it themselves or it will be left undone; the laws of reason and justice demands their doing it. Labour is the poor man's property, from which all protection is withheld. Has not the working man as much right to preserve and protect his labour as the rich man has his capital?
But I am told that the working man ought to remain still and let their cause work its way 'that God in his good time will bring it around for him'. However this is not my creed. I believe that God works by means and men, and that he expects every man who feels an interest in the subject to take an active part in bringing about and hastening on so important a period ...
Let no one expect that another will do it for him. Let every working man come forward, from east to west, from north to south; unite firmly but peaceably together as the heart of one man. Let them be determined to have a voice in, and form a part of, the British nation. Then no longer would the interest of the millions be sacrificed for the gain of the few, but the blessings resulting from such a change would be felt by us, our posterity, even to generations yet unborn ...
Let the working classes of Britain, seeing the necessity of acting upon such a principle, remembering that union is power, listen to nothing that might be presented before them to draw their attention from the subject, alike despising and conquering party disputes and personal bickerings, and they will accomplish their own salvation, and that of the world.
Arise, men of Britain and take your stand! Rally round the standards of Liberty, or forever lay prostrate under the iron hand of your land and money-mongering taskmasters!
Transportation has not had the intended effect on me, but after all, I am returned from my bondage with my views and principles strengthened. It is indelibly fixed in my mind that labour is ill-rewarded in consequence of a few tyrannising over the millions; and that through their oppression thousands are now working in chains on the roads, abused by overseers, sentenced by the comitants and punished by the flagellator ... is this the plan to reform men? I say no. if they were bad before, they are tenfold the children of Hell now ... the groans and cries of the labourers ere long will bring down vengeance on the heads of those who have been and are still the authors of so much misery.
I believe that nothing will ever be done to relieve the distress of the working classes unless they take it into their own hands. With these views I left England, and with these views I am returned.
Nothing but union will or can ever accomplish the great and important object, namely the salvation of the world. Let the producers of wealth firmly and peacably unite their energies and what can withstand them?
by Christopher Sheil
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Carl Scully has been repeatedly attacked for the serial disasters that have struck the State's railways. But is Scully the right one to blame? Not under the theory of 'corporatisation', according to Christopher Sheil in this excerpt from his new book, Water's Fall: Running the Risks with Economic Rationalism (Pluto Press).
Mrs Thatcher rejected 'corporatisation' for Britain, choosing instead to go directly to privatisation. She dismissed the idea of trying to make a government authority imitate a private firm as 'like trying to make a mule into a zebra by painting stripes on its back.'
As this suggests, and as many other observers have suggested, 'corporatisation' is a 'next best' concept. It is the final public station along the line to privatisation. Conceptually, the perfectly corporatised organisation is one that exhibits every theoretical virtue economic rationalism attributes to private commercial firms, with the exception of the legal fact of it remaining in public ownership.
In the terms of economic rationalism, corporatisation is generally considered to be an advance in its own right, but there can be no doubt that the real strength in its appeal to market liberals stems from its role as a necessary stage in a larger process. If an organisation can be completely restructured along private lines, the final legal fact of ownership can be destroyed when a political opportunity presents itself, or, if necessary, the deed can be done by a future government.
The important thing from the perspective of economic rationalists is to achieve the restructuring, and to then find ways to keep up the public pressure for privatisation. In a worst-case scenario, the privatisation may be achieved in stages.
Where did it come from? Corporatisation was born in New Zealand of Australian and American-or, more precisely, Chicago-parents, and it was returned to Australia via the Greiner government in New South Wales. This is not to suggest that Australia's governments did not seek to minimise waste and improve their effectiveness prior to Greiner's election in 1988.
On the contrary, Australia has a long history of practical and often innovative public service reform-an established 'talent for bureaucracy' which helped to create, amid much else, the nation's distinctive 'wage-earners' welfare state'. What distinguishes corporatisation, and this cannot be stressed too much, is not its commitment to efficiency or effectiveness, but its conceptual link with privatisation.
The corporatisation model was, apparently, built by New Zealand Treasury officials in the early 1980s, when the conservative government led by Robert Muldoon was in power. The officials visited Australia and worked with the Centre for Policy Studies in Melbourne, where they tooled up with the new managerial theories about the firm, property rights and principal-agent relationships.
By the time the New Zealand Labour Party was elected in 1984, the officials-who had metaphorically "locked themselves away in a sort of catacomb somewhere underneath the Treasury"-had their ideas well worked out and they captured the support of the new finance minister, Roger Douglas.
The New Zealand model was studied by the NSW Liberal Party in opposition and introduced after its victory in the March 1988 State election. It subsequently permeated the public service through the special premiers' conferences of 1990-91 and the Industry (now Productivity) Commission, and was entrenched with the adoption of the national competition policy by all of Australia's governments in 1995.
Corporatisation close-up
What is corporatisation? The theory of corporatisation has one objective around which all of its other rationales are clustered or from which its justifications are derived. It aims to increase the commercial value of public assets; that is, corporatisation seeks to increase the rate-of-return on public assets, as measured against, and in competition with, the returns available from other comparable market investment opportunities.
In technical terms, corporatisation aims to increase the 'net present discounted value' of water's future profit stream relative to its 'opportunity cost', which is defined as the value of the risk-weighted interest rate forgone because of the public's 'choice' to invest in water.
In plain words, the idea is to convert water and other public services into valuable corporate commercial activities, which means subordinating public content to commercial imperatives.
Subordination to commercialisation requires two conceptually (if not practically) straightforward things to happen. Firstly, all the objectives of the corporatised body must be unequivocally subordinated to the single, measurable, commercial objective of increasing the rate-of-return.
Secondly, to ensure an accurate measure of performance, direct operational costs or benefits which distort the accuracy of the financial bottom-line and are due specifically to the services being publicly owned must be stripped away to create a so-called 'level playing field' with private firms.
With their organisational purpose so radically simplified, the theory holds that full responsibility for realising it must be delegated entirely to managers within the bureaucracy, who must be made responsible to boards of directors for achieving target rates-of-return.
The boards must comprise experts in business, not representatives of the community, and they must be liable for the performance of the enterprises against commercial criteria. To ensure the theory is put into powerful motion, through the boards, the government (as the owner, or 'principal') must pay the managers (as 'agents') large salary incentives linked to commercial rate-of-return targets, and their security of tenure must be withdrawn.
The boards of directors are to be appointed by the government, but it is otherwise to be virtually excluded from any direct involvement with the corporatised enterprises. This reduced government status is characterised as being akin to that of a 'shareholder' (on behalf of 'taxpayers', or the 'shareholders of NSW Inc', as Greiner expressed it).
Prices are to be set in the marketplace or, in the case of monopolies, by an independent and separately established 'regulator' charged with commercial criteria. Governments cannot, of course, sell or transfer their ownership responsibilities in the same ready way that private shareholders can, and nor can public bodies be permitted to go bankrupt. To atone for this impurity, the theory requires the establishment of commercial performance monitoring regimes in Treasury departments to act as surrogates for the disciplines that debt and equity markets theoretically place on private firms.
The monitoring regimes must be based on corporate and business plans specifying the scope of the enterprise's activities, and its rate-of-return targets, dividends and borrowings, as negotiated between the Treasuries and the corporatised managements.
Corporatisation, in sum, means reducing the purpose of public authorities to earning money and reducing governments to appointing directors, setting financial parameters and targets, monitoring progress and collecting dividends. Any further government involvement is pejoratively held to be 'political interference' (by public choice theory) or 'incentive diluting' (by principal-agent theory).
Instead of being directly responsible for public services in the conventional Westminster way, ministerial authority must be limited to determining policies and administering laws for the economy in general, or, as a second best option, for the industry at large within which the corporatised body operates.
The restraint all of this places on governments is the cornerstone of economic rationalism. 'That we have been able to achieve a reasonably high degree of order in our economic lives despite modern complexities', Friedrich von Hayek wrote in 1976, "is only because our affairs have been guided, not by central direction, but by the operations of the market and competition in securing the mutual adjustment of separate efforts".
"We should adopt self-denying ordinances that limit the objectives we try to pursue through political channels", Milton Friedman wrote in 1990: 'We should not consider each case on its merits, but lay down broad rules limiting what government may do'.
'Corporatisation is important', the Productivity Commission wrote in its 1998 annual report on microeconomic reform, 'because it...ensures that the enterprise operates independently from government'.
Since economic rationalism defines direct government 'interference' as either effectively corrupt or a regrettable diversion from optimising, ministerial interventions must be explicit and documented.
If a government wishes to keep one of its corporatised bodies to a particular standard (for example, an environmental standard), this must also be applied to private firms, or at least to all of the operators in the same industry-and preferably it should be applied by a separate and also independently established regulator.
In the unfortunate event that a government still wishes a corporation to deliver any traditional public services in these rationalised circumstances, such as lower prices to encourage investment or to help their poor citizens, in order to avoid polluting the commercial objectives, these must be separately identified and funded as explicit 'subsidies' from general tax revenue and called 'community service obligations' (or CSOs).
Ideally, CSOs should be awarded through a competitive tendering process wherein the corporatised authority is nothing but one of many commercial bidders.
by Chris Owen
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The new contract package protects customer service employees and technicians from forced overtime-a key issue in the walkout. It also achieves the union's major job security goals, including sharp limits on the transfer of work as a result of the GTE-Bell Atlantic merger that created Verizon.
CWA President Morton Bahr said "This settlement secures the future for our members at this company and it also helps sharpen Verizon's competitive edge. The men and women we represent are the human face of Verizon, the people who deal directly with the customers every day. This agreement assures Verizon the advantage of a stable workforce of the most highly skilled and experienced people, and in many ways it gives our members the ability to do their jobs even better."
The agreement cuts the number of hours that customer service employees can be forced to work overtime from 15 hours per week at present to only 7- � hours effective immediately. And, addressing worker complaints of last-minute overtime assignments, a particular burden for parents, it provides at least 2- � hours' notice if overtime work is required.
For technicians, operators and others who currently can be forced to work up to 15 overtime hours a week, mandatory overtime will be capped at 10 hours a week immediately, dropping to 8 hours in January 2001.
Needlessly stressful conditions for customer service reps and operators were among other major CWA issues. The settlement calls for customer service employees to receive 30 minutes of off-line time per shift in which workers can be off the phones to process customer orders and requests. And it includes provisions to relieve the intensity of monitoring for both operators and service reps.
The compensation package provides general wage hikes of 12 percent over three years.
The movement of work is restricted to no more than 0.7 percent per year in defined bargaining units. In addition, Verizon agreed to guarantee no layoffs, no downgrades, and no forced transfer of workers.
Among other job security gains, the agreement reduces the amount of work that is being subcontracted and assures that union members will perform all installation and maintenance work involving high-speed digital access lines (DSL) to the Internet. The agreement also restores substantial amounts of DSL and other customer service work that had been contracted out.
Also, maintenance work that had been performed by a lower wage subsidiary company (BACCSI) was returned to the bargaining units.
At Verizon Wireless, the company agreed to allow employees to conduct union organizing drives in a neutral atmosphere, free of anti-union coercion by managers, and to recognize the union when at least 55 percent of employees in a work location have signed cards showing they want representation. The agreement covers non-management employees including those in the Wireless stores.
At a Glance what was won at Verizon
"One of the most wide-reaching contract settlements the industry has seen" (New York Times)
"A major, major accomplishment for the unions" (Boston Globe)
"Mandatory overtime is one of the most important issues in American workplaces today" (Boston Globe)
by Mark Hearn
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Without a network of child care centres across New South Wales and Australia, and the enthusiastic and committed staff who run them, it's likely that the Australian economy would grind to a dead stop. With most families just getting by on two incomes, the demand for child care has never been higher.
Canley Vale Child Educational Centre - what you and I would usually recognise as a child care centre - caters for 35 children between 0-5 years of age mainly of Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian and Spanish backgrounds, who keep the staff on their toes from 7.30 am until 6 pm five days a week.
The first person you're like to meet at the centre is Administrative Assistant Rose Cassarino. Rose works part-time. Into her 16 hour week she has to cram all the centre's administrative tasks - taking enrolments, collecting child care fees, fielding phone enquiries. The Howard Government's new funding system for child care also requires extensive and detailed paperwork, particularly in keeping an accurate track of the children attendances. Rose's duties don't leave much spare time. "If I'm sick or take a couple of days off I really pay for it."
These days, there's much more of an emphasis on the childrens' educational needs. Centre Director Rebecca Lardner takes a group of 3-5 year olds, the age group in need of school preparation, patiently through some basic lessons in talking, looking and listening. "Parent's are more aware now of the need for pre-school education", Rebecca says.
Many of the children also have special language needs. Child Care Assistant Quan Huynh can speak four languages - English, Chinese, Vietnamese and Mandarin, a skill much in demand as she manages the kid's day.
MEU Organiser Julie Griffiths notes that "there is a need to make both Councils and child care workers aware that the NSW Local Government Award contains a provision for a Community Language Allowance, payable in relation to the languages they are required to use in the workplace." The Award also makes provision for a First Aid Allowance for workers who have formal first aid qualifications. "The MEU believes that it has become vital for all child care workers to have a first aid qualification", Julie says.
Like many other child care workers, Shirley Tran not only puts in a long day on behalf of the children at the centre - she then goes home to after hours and weekend child care and family duties. "My work is pretty full time", Shirley smiles. Julie Griffiths emphasises that the MEU is working to improve pay rates for child care workers. Like many other professions traditionally dominated by women, child care workers are amongst the lowest paid in the workforce. As Julie says, "child care workers need greater recognition of the vital service they provide for the community."
Part of that vital service comes in support for child care workers and families. Tessy Panta runs the Special Needs and Multicultural Support team at the centre. "We help the staff keep up with new trends in child care, and we liaise with families, making sure that the staff are aware of any special needs the children might have."
The demand for child care remains high. Fairfield Council's centralised waiting list has 127 names on the books. A demand that has expanded opportunities for Home Carers like Maria Juarez, one of 16,000 Home Carers across New South Wales.
Being a Home Carer is no easy option. Maria receives $3.20 per hour per child. She must have appropriate certification from Fairfield Council. Her house has been rearranged to suit the needs of the children. Government regulations also dictate the kind of van she owns, which she uses to transport the children from time to time. Between 7.30 am and 6 pm she can cater for five children under five and two of school age, providing up to three meals, morning and afternoon tea and snacks. Like the larger centres, Maria offers a pre-school program. And most importantly, bright green playdough sausages, which the kids were busy rolling during our visit.
Maria says the care is "very family oriented. We get very close to the families - become like friends." She fields many calls for a place, often having to turn busy parents away. Only recently Maria was able to squeeze in a child for 5-6 hours during the day, to allow her mother, a shiftworker, to catch up on some much need sleep.
MEU General Secretary Brian Harris says the union is determined to improve the industrial rights of Home Carers. "The MEU is currently supporting a court appeal by a Home Carer in Dubbo, whose registration was cancelled without any right of appeal to Dubbo City Council. Put simply, it's a denial of natural justice. We are looking to the Carr Government to implement appropriate appeal procedures which all Council's must follow in cases such as this."
Over at the St. John's Park centre Director Therese Smith is busy organising lunch for 35 hungry mouths. Two groups of 3-5's tuck into a hot meal of chicken, steamed vegies and mash. Meanwhile Bill Jackson and Sheila Chaney are quietening the 0-2's for their midday rest. "Too often, child care is seen as a business", Julie Griffiths says. "We have to place greater value on child care as a fundamental community service, which Council's have a vital role in providing."
The basic tasks of feeding, rest and simple fun remain important. As Canley Vale Child Care Worker Julia Zaniol stresses, watching a group of laughing kids tumbling over play equipment. "It's always fun - games to play, things to do. It's a good learning environment." And a pretty good caring environment, too.
by The Chaser
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Naval authorities, and their technical advisor, teen idol and pop singer Britney Spears, blamed poor weather, and the presence of "just, like, the most water" as being the critical factors.
The Navy task force, has been led by Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, recognised as early as Thursday that the Kursk's situation as "very grim". Spears, who, in addition to thrilling millions with smash hits such as "Hit Me Baby One More Time" and having a "massive" crush on His Royal Highness, Prince William, was called in on the basis of her expertise in dealing with the foreign media.
Sources close to the Russian Navy suggested that the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, may also have influenced the selection process with his enthusiastic support.
According to Putin's senior press aide, there followed an eight-hour brain-storming session with Spears, the Russian President, Admiral Kuroyedov and experienced Naval engineers, during which many of the Russian contingent pitched plans and ideas to reach the trapped nuclear-powered vessel, and many of whom had to leave repeatedly for cold showers during the meeting.
Admiral Kuroyedov described the principal obstacle to further rescue attempts being the large volume of water discovered by Spears between the rescuers and the submarine. "We had hoped at first to simply haul them [the trapped submariners] out using a rope, or perhaps send a truck, seeing as there are so many. Britney thought, on the other hand, that her limo might be able to stop by and pick them up, especially if they wore their cute dress uniforms. But we have discovered conclusive evidence that the oceanic conditions involved include the need to get through a simply enormous volume of water to reach the sub. We simply had no idea that this would be the case."
Admiral Kuroyedov later provided Western journalists with a scale model of the water mass involved, and also a Navy artist's impression of the submarine being unable to be seen due to the poor visibility. "It turns out that, in this type of situation, the ocean itself becomes the obstacle. Our experts have calculated that the volume of water between us and the submarine could fill the space above the submarine, trapped 107 metres below us, to a depth of 107 metres" he added. Britney Spears completed the press briefing by performing her hit single, "Sometimes", from her upcoming EP.
Meanwhile, Mr Putin has denied claims that he was copying US President Bill Clinton, but admitted that he - like Bill - had let dead seamen stain his reputation.
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The Whitlams- (Black Yak/Phantom Records)
Track Listing
1. Blow up the Pokies
2. Thank You (for loving me at my worst)
3. Bring Me Back
4. Putting on a Show
5. The curse stops here
This week I was only supposed to provide Noel with a review of a new CD. When given the new single by the Whitlams I automatically assumed I 'd have to write a few lines about how well a strings section works with the band and how Tim Freedman is able to write absolute gems.
How close was I?
What I found was a single that was not only well written and performed but also a subject matter that in all our bravery we like to sweep under the carpet. That subject is the issue of Gambling in today's society and its level of tolerability.
I have no doubt that this single will be used sometime in the future in a campaign against problem gambling but it's the line "So they can say that the trains run on time" that is right on the ball in NSW. It has become acceptable to rip the money right out of working Australian pockets to hand back to other Australian pockets so that Politicians can say they are doing their job.
Whether it is the office sweep on the First Tuesday in November, the footy tipping competition that runs for the duration of the Footy season or whether it is the Lotto draw on Monday nights, we are a nation that loves a punt. However, since the 1990's we have seen an explosion in problem gambling in Australia. No matter how many times people have said this, there is a growing gambling culture that exists in our backyard, and there is nothing any State or Federal Government would like to do about curtailing it. The situation is too convenient for the supposed representatives of the people. With the number of problem gamblers estimated at over 200,000 there are obvious windfalls for government. This state now has the prestigious title of boasting "10% of the world's poker machines". Line that up next to our AAA credit rating and you've got a gambler that at least pays his debts on time.
If you are an addicted poker machine player, you can travel from Bondi to the Blue Mountains and there is a sure bet that there would be one pokie parlour for every kilometer traveled. Though In a literal sense you wouldn't get far. You'd have to go past an Elephant King, White Tiger and even a Golden Pharoah. While it might sound like an African safari to some, these are just a few of the names given to the machines that tend to lure people in and take them on a proverbial ride for their money. Hats go off to the technicians who designed those dastardly boxes, you really must be proud of yourself.
Yesterday the company TAB Ltd launched its scheme called Maxi Millions- a Hyperlinked pokie system that would have a daily jackpot of $60,000 (which is six times the present maximum cash jackpot offered by individual clubs). Up to 2000 machines are to be linked in clubs across NSW to create the huge daily jackpot. You can just see the hordes spending their last dollar on that chance to grab the big one. Well just like fishing, it seems that to many addicted gamblers it was the one that got away. "I was four cards off a royal flush" said the desperate man, "If only I was playing 400 lines I would have got 5 Golden Pharoahs."
The increase in poker machines has spelt the death knell on many venues that used to showcase upcoming Australian music. Instead, the hotels that used to house the gigs are thriving with the programmed tunes of up to 30 machines in each. Less than a decade ago and as a keen teenage guitarist, I could recall fronting up to a Frenzal Rhomb gig at the Vic on the Park, a You Am I show at the Annandale Hotel or a Toe to Toe mosh at the Landsdowne. All three venues no longer showcase new bands, and it is a real shame. The three bands have achieved various feats in their own right, but it was the venues that enabled their start which have closed to give way to the pokies.
Many hoteliers have argued that the music industry is in its own crisis and that the introduction of pokies has nothing to do with it. What the hoteliers fail to disclose is that the revenue from the machines is directly pocketed and very little is returned to the community. Social relationships tend to disintegrate with problem gambling as the addict avoids discussing their problem with family and friends. In many reported cases, problem gamblers borrow money to gamble even going to the extent of stealing it from others with the intent to return it after their 'win'. It's a downward spiral that leads to the loss of possessions including cars and houses.
While gaming may be a form of entertainment for some, for others it is the cause of many problems. Nowadays it is the level of accessibility that exacerbates the issue. Previously, poker machines were only housed in registered clubs, which to many people were not as accessible as the corner pub. There may be a level of acceptability in the community about throwing in a few 'bob' however the day we ever allowed poker machines into our pubs and hotels will always be remembered as a day that public policy went round the bend.
I haven't even touched on the issue of Internet gambling but I suppose that will have to wait. In summing up though, the Whitlams have hit the nail on the head with this single.
by Peter Lewis
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The six men transported to the colonies for seven years for having the temerity to form a trade union would think the world has gone even madder if they could witness the scramble to get to Sydney. It's in the British papers both high-brow and tabloid, on TV game shows, even on the back of breakfast cereal packets: the chance to "share the spirit in one of the most beautiful cities on earth". News reports are dominated by athletes attempting to 'make it to Sydney' or to beat the drug charges that would prevent them getting there. For perhaps the first time in history, the Harbour City is being placed at the centre of the world for two short weeks in September.
It was the end of the earth in 1834, when the Loveless Brothers, Thomas Stanfield and his son John, James Hammett and James Brine received their sentences, convicted by the sort of judicial process that Peter Reith would consider a 'more efficient industrial relations system'. They were tried and sentenced for forming a Friendly Society of Agricultural Workers to oppose ongoing cuts to farm workers' wages, which were now well below the cost of living. While trade unionism was perfectly legal, under an 1824 law, the local squire who also happened to be the magistrate had other ideas. He drew up charges under the Mutiny Act 1797 on the grounds the men had taken 'unlawful oaths'. Ironically, for a group to be remembered as political prisoners, the offending oath explicitly forbade the discussion of political or religious subjects during Lodge hours.
The case was backed by Lord Melbourne, later to become Prime Minister who was on the record as saying organised labour was "a conspiracy to control their masters and contrary to the laws of nature". He personified the ruling class's growing terror at the rise of trade unionism across the country under the charismatic leadership of Robert Owen, which had gained a foothold in the northern industrial cities and was threatening to spread through rural communities. But the seven year sentence of transportation that the court imposed on the Tolpuddle martyrs was regarded, even by Whig and Tory newspapers, as excessive. But seven years it was, on the grounds that "the use of all punishment is not with a view to the particular offenders or for the sake of revenge ... it is for the sake of example". And so the seven farm workers were torn from their young families and community, placed in dank cells before being herded into the rotting hulls of the transportation ships and sent, like thousands of working class people before them, on the treacherous voyage to a harsh and unknown land.
Which would have been the end of a typical story of unjust banishment if not for the efforts of the increasingly politicised working class. Within weeks of the sentence, public meetings were being held, supportive MPs were raising questions in Parliament and agitation for the release of the Tolpuddle Martyrs was gathering pace, culminating in a peaceful demonstration of more than 30,000 supporters in London's Copenhagen Fields in April 1834. The Martyrs had come to symbolise the very essence of the right to organise. As The Pioneer newspaper reported: "Last Monday was a day in Britain's history which long will be remembered: for labour put its hat upon its head and walked towards the throne."
The pressure was maintained in Parliament by the new breed of MPs with working class credentials like William Cobbet, Joseph Hume and Thomas Wakely. In 1836 the six were granted free pardons and a return to England at no expense, although the last of the men did not arrive home for more than two more years. During that time they were, in words of their original leader George Loveless: "treated like dogs, worked from the dawn of the morning till the close of day, often naked and all but starved". Welcomed home as heroes, the returned to Tolpuddle, where fundraisers had purchased land for them; most were active in the Chartist movement of basic and universal political rights, while Loveless penned his doctrine 'Victims of Whiggery'. Later five of the six emigrated to Canada where they made a pact not to discuss their past and died with their grandchildren unaware of their place in history.
But Tolpuddle, in the greenbelt southern county of Dorset, remains a cause celebre of British unionism; where a museum funded by trade unions keeps the story alive today. It stands adjacent to a series of homes built to provide free housing to retired rural workers who actively served their union during their working lives. Funds from the museum go into maintaining the residences, a practical way in which the Martyrs are still serving rural workers.
The story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs got me thinking about what seems like one of the great omissions in the Australian psyche; the history of exile. In all the celebrations of the Bicentenary and Federation no word has ever been made of the gross injustices foisted on the forebears of many Australians: the poor workers sentenced for taking the only food they could get, the women who had to eke out a living on the street, the dispossessed Irish, the persecuted trade unionists; driven from home and family by a legal system run by the wealthy for the wealthy. In an era when official apologies appear in vogue, maybe it's time for us to receive one from the British Government. In the context of our own reconciliation debate, the concept that white Australia's forebears committed collective atrocities may be easier to accept if we recognised we too were sinned against.
I put this theory to my London host, Russell, a 70-year-old former trade union official who now publishes Pluto Press books in the UK. "No way; I'm not apologising for anything," he laughs, "I've seen what life is like out there!" Like the millions of Britons who will tune into the Games, he'll see the beautiful shots of the Harbour and think he's looking at paradise. Let's hope he'll also get a bit of coverage about Australia's current debates about our three 'r's' the Republic, reconciliation and racism to make him wonder why we seem such a mixed up nation. But what I'm betting he'll miss is the recognition of his own society's part in the Sydney story.
by The Alliance
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At a hearing in Sydney, the NRL appeals committee heard evidence from the MEAA, represented by Sydney staffer Jake Peacock, that Lomax had been accused of breaching the deed of release he had negotiated with the club and was not entitled to further payments from the Cowboys as a result.
The Cowboys argued that Lomax had breached a clause in his contract that prevented him from making detrimental comments to the press about the club. Citing newspaper reports published in the Sydney Daily Telegraph and the Townsville Bulletin, representatives from the North Queensland club claimed that Lomax had contravened the terms of the agreement in an interview, which mentioned club coach, Tim Sheens.
Committee chairman, Sir Laurence Street, a former NSW Chief Justice, ruled that the comments Lomax had made in the reports could not be deemed detrimental to the Cowboys and found in his favour.
"There was no legal basis for the Cowboys' argument", according to Jake Peacock, "Any fair minded person could not deem John's comments as detrimental to the club. It was a great result."
Cowboys chief Rabieh Krayem said the club would not appeal the decision. Lomax since finished his career with the Melbourne Storm.
In other NRLPA related news, the Association acted on behalf of another former Cowboy, Paul Green, in a contractual dispute with the Cowboys claiming he or his manager had breached the NRL anti-tampering provisions. Despite mediation, the parties could not reach an agreement and it has been referred to the Queensland Supreme Court.
Green has signed a new three-year deal with the Sydney Roosters after being released mid-season by the Cowboys.
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Inferior AWAs approved by AIRC: Transfer of Business reasoning
Youth Wages and AWAs
Carers' Responsibilities Recognised
Pregnancy Discrimination in Employment
ILO Maternity Convention
Parental Leave in Sweden
Globalisation and Unions -Car Industry Changes
It's the Left, Jim - But Not as We Know It."
Inferior AWAs approved by AIRC: Transfer of Business reasoning
Senior Deputy President Harrison has approved AWAs in the security industry that failed the no disadvantage test. Her reasons were that the employees were already on sub standard AWAs approved by the Employment Advocate and to disallow the AWAs would have failed the public interest test. This was because the security company had been taken over by a new employer on the basis of existing contractual arrangements so to disallow the AWAs would have changed the basis on which the employees were transferred to the new business. She approved the deals for a limited period, stating that it was not appropriate to extend them for the three years sought by the employer, but a limited period was reasonable so that the business could adjust the terms of employment so that the no disadvantage test was met.
Australian Workplace Agreements. (REF: 2000/62-92, 141-144). Print S9090 (11 August 2000)
http://www.workplaceexpress.com.au/workplace/wpredirect?in_id=16324
Youth Wages and AWAs
The ALP and the Democrats have combined to get rid of regulations allowing the payment of youth wages in AWAs in breach of the anti-discrimination legislation. The ALP had allowed the passing of the amendments to the Workplace Relations Act last year on the condition that the AIRC would consider the merits of incorporating age based youth and training wages in awards and agreements on a case-by-case basis. So AWAs are now not exempt from age based discrimination laws, but awards and agreements are.
Carers' Responsibilities Recognised
The NSW Anti-Discrimination Act was amended earlier this year making it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an employee or an applicant for employment on the grounds of the employee's or applicant's responsibilities as a carer.
Who is a carer? Anyone with responsibility for a child in a comparable role to a parent and includes a step-parent or a person with parental responsibilities for a child which have been granted pursuant to various State and Commonwealth laws.
Immediate family members are also defined in the amendments to include a spouse or former spouse of the employee, grandchildren, parents and step-parents of the employee or their spouse or former spouse, and brothers and sisters of the employee or of their spouse or former spouse. Spouse includes same-sex partners.
Direct discrimination under the amendment would occur when a person with carer's responsibilities is treated less favourably than someone who does not have carer responsibilities. Indirect discrimination would occur when a requirement or condition which is not reasonable in all the circumstances of the case is imposed which is harder for a person with carer responsibilities to comply with than a person without carer responsibilities. A complainant would have to show that substantially higher proportion of people who do not have responsibilities could comply than those who do and that the requirement is not reasonable.
Examples highlighting some of the grounds which may give rise to such forms of discrimination include a woman who is not hired because she has children, someone not hired or not sent on a training course because they have to drop off their brother who has a disability each morning.
Reasonableness is not defined in the legislation, but is determined by considering the extent of the discrimination weighed against all of the circumstances, including reasons for requirements, commercial considerations, and the ability of the employer to accommodate the employee's needs.
For employers this means, in relation to recruitment and termination, a defence must be based on the inability of the employee or prospective employee to carry out the inherent requirements of the job, without the employer having to make provision for the employee that would cause undue financial hardship.
(Equal Time; no. 45, August 2000)
Pregnancy Discrimination in Employment
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission found that an employee was dismissed solely on the basis of pregnancy. Ms Haas had worked for Cachet Communications part-time since January 1997. After she became pregnant in March 1998, she informed her employers and sought firm arrangements about maternity leave. Mr Mackey, one of the directors, would not commit to any definite arrangement.
On her last, day, Ms Haas was thanked by Mr Mackey for her hard work, and told that they were going to employ someone with more accounting experience to do her job. He did not offer her another position in the company.
The Commission awarded $10,000.00 damages for economic loss and emotional distress.
(Equal Time; no. 45, August 2000)
ILO Maternity Convention
The ILO has substantially revised its convention on maternity protection. The new convention covers those in "atypical forms of dependent work. It also contains a provision for protection of the health of the mother and child.
On maternity benefits, the new convention says that "cash benefits shall be provided, in accordance with national laws and regulations or in any other manner consistent with national practice, to women who are absent from work on leave." The cash benefit should be provided "at a level which ensures that the woman can maintain herself and her child in proper conditions of health with a suitable standard of living."
On breastfeeding the convention states "a woman shall be provided with the right to one or more daily breaks or a daily reduction of hours of work to breastfeed her child." "These breaks or the reduction of daily hours of work shall be counted as working time and remunerated as such."
(World of Work; no. 35, July 2000)
Parental Leave in Sweden
Nearly 50% of fathers in Sweden have taken more than one month off work since 1995 to care for children. The Social Democratic government is to introduce draft legislation to help men spend more time at home. One company already allows a salary subsidy of 80% of full time salaries for stay at home fathers.
(World of Work; no. 35, July 2000)
Globalisation and Unions -Car Industry Changes
IG-Metall, representing workers in the German metals industry, has taken steps to set up a global enterprise committee of workers employed by Volkswagen. The committee comprises thirty delegates representing over 300,000 salaried employees from 40 production sites worldwide. Company-wide labour co-ordination and negotiation is now possible, no matter where plants are located.
This is one union response to the globalisation of the automotive industry, with car makers as essentially parts makers. The makers are turning into marketing firms, using logos to market themselves with finance, insurance and credit. Customers may be able to configure the cars they need on line, and to base the manufacturing numbers on actual orders. The numbers of employees with parts makers already outnumber workers in final assembly plants.
Meanwhile at an International Metalworkers Federation meeting, Ken Jackson, the general secretary of the AEEU, Britain's largest engineering union, said that the formation of global partnerships through mergers and amalgamations across national frontiers could see unions transform themselves from "insecure bystanders into innovators of change."
(World of Work; no. 35, July 2000)
It's the Left, Jim - But Not as We Know It."
Tom Morton talks to various people, who he sees are from "the left" about the future of movements who try to present an alternative to global capitalism. Peter Lewis gets a guernsey, as does Lindsay Tanner. Naomi Klein author of a great book called No Logo, and a participant in the Seattle protests sees the early stages of a new international political movement in the forms of protest that have developed against corporate power, including the Biotic Baking Brigade, Guerilla Gardening, International Lobster Party and others. The campaign against the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) was a catalyst for many groups, as explained by Jane Kelsey, the author of Reclaiming the Future - New Zealand and the Global Economy.
Critics from the establishment left of the groups who stopped the Seattle WTO talks seem to base their arguments on the unstructured disparate interests of the various protest groups, forgetting that no oppositional forces spring fully formed to life but develop ideas, strategies and focus as they go. With capitalism now hyper-flexible, protestors can't be tied to rigid formulae. "All That is Solid Melts Into Air".
The Third Wayers from the ALP increasing resemble the Liberals, as they all claim to be from "the radical centre".
One way of uniting many groups may be Pierre Bourdieu's attempt to develop a European charter of social movements opposed to neo-liberalism.
The recent Pluto Press/Fabian Society Unchain your Mind Forum was an opportunity to address some of the new currents in Australia.
Background Briefing; August 13 2000
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/s164552.htm
For Billy Bunter it's a useful piece of political Teflon. He can float around the world in self-important self-delusion and we're all happy he's not here making us all cringe. We can laugh at his toolness and of course this is a good thing.
Until it dawns on you that this lightweight, fairy floss, upper class spoon along with his ruthless, racist Tory master are actually our public faces to the wider world.
Just stop and think about that for a moment. Stops you laughing doesn't it? In fact it's as sobering as an ice cold shower.
You have to hand it to SBS. They do everyday TV ideas and add a large dollop of class. As a piece of real TV following Alexander Downer around an ASEAN ministers' chinwag this week was a bigger cringefest than Survivor meets Shipwrecked.
(I digress for one moment. My favourite moment on Survivor: one of those wacko Americans is spit roasting a rat over a fire. A token black on the show, watching with a look of absolute horror says: 'No matter how poor we get in the ghetto we never eat the rats!!')
Downer was embarrassing from his smug pronouncements on Fiji to his speech to the Thai-Australian Business Association. There was no one there!! And can you blame them. There have to be more interesting ways of getting anaesthetised in Bangkok than listening to the Pompous Windbag.
Is my memory playing tricks? Didn't Downer used to be leader of the Liberal Party - part of a 'Dream Team'(!) with Peter Costello. (Now there's a great concept for a TV comedy.)
Downer's career says everything about the deplorable historical legacy this Government will leave. Among the wreckage of their reign will be the memory of when Billy Bunter fucked up so badly as leader, the Liberal's idea of harm minimisation was to put him in charge of our image on the world stage. The man you see in a suit you always picture in drag. A genetically engineered tool.
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