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News :: Civil Liberties & Human Rights : Corporations : Politics & Elections : Union Issues |
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IR Campaign cranking up |
Current rating: 0 |
by Aussie Worker
(No verified email address) |
07 Aug 2006
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August 7, 2006 - ACTU steps up IR campaign |
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The ACTU is launching the next phase of its 'Your Rights at Work' campaign today. Radio ads will air across the country, highlighting who the unions say are the winners and losers under the Federal Government's new industrial relations system. The ads will run across the country, along with the current television commercials.
ACTU president Sharan Burrow says the campaign is aimed at starting conversations about the effect the new laws are having on people. "You've got rural Australians who tell us that they are worried about getting another job, if they lose the one they've got, you've got overtime rates virtually becoming a thing of the past and families who are already facing the pressure of interest rate rises, of increases in petrol, in child care, in food," she said.
She says the new system is of extreme concern to families in rural areas, where young people have reported jobs with no penalty rates: "We know young people in rural areas working for $8.90 all up on a Sunday," she said. "These things are undermining the very capacity that working Australians need to make ends meet, and it's all about the greed of big business."
Ms Burrow says the unions will continue to pressure the Howard Government until it abolishes the laws.
http://www.rightsatwork.com.au/
http://www.actu.asn.au/work_rights/ |
This work is in the public domain |
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running ads is not cranking up the campaign |
by internationalist
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Aug 2006
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less ads more action
what is our friend Ms Burrows doing about the delegates at Amcor that are on the picket as we speak ???
the ACTU are full of shit they make me sick |
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Indeed - but there is some merit in using mass media as a tool for change |
by Worker
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Aug 2006
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At the very least, I guess the importance of advertising Howard's deliberately offensive WorkChoice regime is to create awareness.
What would you like to see the ACTU do? |
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Dont wait for Labor- Strike now! |
by jjj
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Aug 2006
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Every on already KNOWs these laws are bad for workers. The ACTU should be calling for the use of our strongest weapon, mass strikes. Instead they carry on with rubbish about starting conversations and the like. |
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Sleazley won't get elected in a 100 years, so don't hang out! |
by Trust Me
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Aug 2006
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He's part of the undemocratic conspiracy that has undermined our constitution and our democracy: Read on....
Lib/Lab will run the country for the next 100 years or so or until everyone wakes up out of their dream to see the real nightmare. And it's going to get allot worse before it gets any better!
We are owned by suckhole howhard and his cronies (which include Labor) and the US, lock, stock, and barrel!
If you have to vote for your rights then vote informal and oppose the official truth, which is an official lie. We need a scarcity of believers in the lies of the Lib/Lab govt.
We don't have two preferred parties with the only option of winning we have one dictator called john hoWARd the coward who sold Australia out. Always remember that 'well paid losers like Sleazley who helped stab Mark Latham in the back, don't need to hold the reigns. They just get fat and lazy out on the ranch!
Be Warned:
Lib/Lab is your mortal enemy!
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Dole (still) below poverty lineFor some, even poverty line is way out of reach
Could you live on $252 a week? This is the reality for unemployed singles on welfare benefits, and the amount is well below what is considered enough to survive on.
http://sydney.indymedia.org/node/38067
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Student loses bid for High Court hearing
A Sydney man accused of training with a terrorist organisation has failed in his bid to have his case heard in the High Court.
Izhar Ul-Haque the man that wanted to become a doctor is charged with intentionally receiving training from the banned terrorist organisation LeT in Pakistan in 2003.
http://sydney.indymedia.org/node/38066
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Is America Watching a Different War? American, Lebanese and Israeli Panel on How the US Media is Covering the Invasion of Lebanon
Some have suggested that Americans are watching a different war in Lebanon than much of the world. We’re joined by three panelists -- Peter Hart of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) in New York, Middle East Broadcasters editor Habib Battah in Beirut and Ha'aretz reporter Gideon Levy in Tel Aviv. [includes rush transcript]
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/03/1359222
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And so are we.....
http://sydney.indymedia.org/node/38088 |
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Towards a General Strike |
by Anon
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Aug 2006
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ONE DULLARD OR YOUR MONEY BACK!
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WA dispute shapes as IR test case |
by Parrot Press
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Aug 2006
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Western Australian company Total Corrosion Control says it does not want to sue its workers for going on strike, but it has to be done.
The company's action against 40 of its workers and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union is being described as a test case under the Federal Government's workplace relations laws.
The company says it has lost more than $1 million over 18 months due to wildcat strikes.
The company has filed applications in the Federal Court seeking penalties against the workers, the union, and its delegates.
The co-founder and managing director of Total Corrosion Control, Terry Ianello, says he does not understand why the stoppages are occurring.
"We have a dispute settling procedure in place and it has never been used on any occasion," he said.
He says the legal action is not about having financial penalties placed on the workers.
"It's not a matter of what we are seeking - that's not the intent of the whole thing," Mr Ianello said.
"The intent is to try and resolve whatever the issue may be."
The strike action arose out of a dispute over wage rates.
The Industrial Relations Commission had ordered a return to work.
The union says the workers are being punished for attending two information meetings after the order.
It says both meetings were held before work started with one running 15 minutes over time and the other five minutes over.
Total Corrosion Control says it was more like half-an-hour in both cases.
The workers were docked four hours' pay for each meeting.
Test case?
Mr Ianello says the Federal Court action is not a test case but the new industrial laws have made it easier to seek penalties.
"It's given us the ability for the first time to be able to defend ourselves in many ways in a more constructive manner," Mr Ianello said.
"It's not the best situation, we don't like it - our best asset is our workers."
The WA secretary of the Manufacturing Workers Union, Jock Ferguson, says the case is a test for the WorkChoices laws.
Mr Ferguson says the company is overreacting.
"These penalties are under the two new pieces of legislation introduced by the Howard Government," he said.
"These fines run to tens of thousands of dollars against workers and against the union."
Mr Ferguson believes the union has no case to answer.
He says the Federal Court action is causing the workers to suffer great stress.
"Under the old system we would have resolved these issues very easily, very amicably," he said.
"But under this new system it now becomes a civil matter, it becomes complicated.
"Workers are now not just facing the impost of increased petrol prices and increased interest rates, they're now faced with substantial damages by their employer." |
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Towards a General Strike |
by Don is Good (State Secretary)
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Aug 2006
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"they're now faced with substantial damages by their employer.'
Which can never be the case! Time put down your tools folks! |
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Amcor Battle heats up |
by Union Solidarity
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Aug 2006
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As the bosses at Amcor go to court to force striking workers at Amcor Flexible (Preston) back to work nine other Amcor factories walk out in support. IT'S ON!!!
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/118890.php |
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The ACTU has lost its chance |
by Disillusioned
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
09 Aug 2006
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I agree that the ACTU are spineless and have no idea of how to run a serious campaign and they ought to hang their heads in shame as they jump the stepping stones into the ALP machine.
One look at the tactics employed by the French who got into the streets on mass and were able to repeal the legislation that had been voted on and passed should indicate to any serious campaigner for working rights that there is NO OTHER WAY - it's mass mobilisations on the streets for just two weeks that rattles the establishment and gets them shaking in their boots - because the power rests with the people - withdraw your labour and take it to the streets and force the bosses to back down.
It's so simple and so practical that it makes me laugh everythime I hear or see an ACTU add which costs millions and has achieved very little. What is their strategy when the ALP does not get elected in 2007 then? This whole campaign is nothing but a marginal seats campaign with the end objective of getting some ALP candidates into government. The same ALP that began the privatisation of our public assets such as airlines, the education system and banks - yep - they've really got the Australian workers' best interests at heart - track record proves it!!!!! |
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CFMEU settles 'blue flu' court case |
by Parrot Press
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
09 Aug 2006
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The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has paid tens of thousands of dollars to a building firm to avoid being sued for urging its members to take unlawful industrial action.
Howhard say's, it's working???????????????????????? That's got to be a joke son!
Don't go on strike now or your 'Union' with get sued? |
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Protesters rally in support of charged rail workers |
by Parrort Press
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
29 Aug 2006
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Hundreds of protesters at a rally in Perth have been urged to unite against the Federal Government's industrial relations laws.
The protest is being held to support rail workers facing charges in the Federal Court today.
Earlier this year, 107 workers walked off the Perth to Mandurah rail line to protest against the sacking of their union representative.
Today, 60 of those workers face fines of up to $28,000 each in the Federal Court for breaching a lifetime strike ban imposed by the Industrial Relation Commission. |
