Aussie Post CEPU delegate sacked and victimized for doing his job!

Hands off union delegates and shop stewards,
Rally to defend basic union rights!

9.30am Fri 3 February
Federal Court of Australian
305 William Street, Melbourne

The CEPU are going back to the Federal Court to get justice for their delegate. Join them and send a message to the government and bosses that our union delegates will not be pushed around.

Bring your union banners!

Please download, print and distribute rally leaflets widely.

Leaflets removed after receiving threat from Australia Post

"Australia Post asks that you remove the leaflet from your website and that you do not publish these errors again. Australia Post reserves its right to take further action if you do not comply with this request."

Yours faithfully, Jennifer Porter Corporate Lawyer.

New rally leaflets will be posted soon.

Send endorsement and messages of support to contact@unionsolidarity.org

Background Fear and Intimidation | Australia Post at it again | Community Assembly to protect delegates job | Action continues

Labels: Australia Post, Community Protest, Peter Vining

Picketing action to support CEPU (Communications, Electrical and Postal Union) shop steward Peter Vining continued today at the Fitzroy Delivery Centre.

During today’s action the Chairperson and President of the Atherton Gardens Residents Association visited the picket. The Residents Association together with Councilor Steve Jolly and Union Solidarity proposed a B.B.Q with the Australian Post workers at the delivery centre for Wednesday 1st of February at 1pm.

Peter Vining was sacked before Christmas for allegedly upsetting a customer. A Board of Reference was convened on 5 January 2006 to review the decision to terminate Mr Vining's employment. The following day the Chairman of the Board of Reference decided that the dismissal was harsh. However Peter was a transfered to a lower level, in Australia Post, a Mail Officer at the Melbourne Parcel Facility (MPF).

According to Jennifer Porter, Corporate Lawyer for Australia Post

"The CEPU objected to the transfer to MPF and asked the Chairman of the Board to reconvene the Board to reconsider Australia Post’s decision. The Chairman invited the parties to address him on the issue and Australia Post submitted that custom and practice is that a transfer means a transfer to another facility. The Chairman declined the CEPU’s request to reconvene the Board in the knowledge that Mr Vining was to be transferred to another facility."

So a delegate gets sacked on verbal evidence that the union has always contested. The union is prevented from taking industrial action due to legal threats and falls back internal mechanisms. Even chairman of the Board of Reference decided that the dismissal was harsh. However based on evidence presented Peter Vining is busted down to lower job in a different workplace. The union is now expected to cop it sweet and not complain.

The sacking of militants in Australia Post and the open harassment and legal threats against the CEPU is in violation of international human rights. It's important that all unions oppose and are seen to be opposing this fundamental attack on workers democratic rights.

If you are in a position please attend and advertise this event.

Solidarity B.B.Q. with Australia Post Workers
Australia Post Delivery Centre
Cnr. Gore & Argyle Sts, Fitzroy.
1pm Wednesday, Feburary 1.

Please keep visiting the website as further solidarity action to reinstate Peter Vining to his former position are in the pipeline.

Labels: Australia Post, Community Assemblies, Peter Vining

A community assembly was held today (Wed 25 Jan) to stop the forcible transfer of union delegate, Peter Vining from the Fitzroy Mail Delivery Centre. Australia Post sacked Peter late last year on trumped up charges. After a campaign by his union Peter got his job back but Australia Post are insisting on transferring him against his will to another centre.

The assembly/picket started at 5.30am and ran till 1.30pm. We were successful in disrupting the operation of the Mail Delivery Centre and several staff refused to cross the picket line. At this stage it is unclear whether today’s solidarity action will be enough to protect Peter’s job. Union Solidarity supporters are urged to regularly visit the website for updates and future actions.

Background | Australia Post at it again.

Labels: Australia Post, Community Assemblies, Peter Vining

Victorian Trades Hall Council have called a Shop Stewarts and Delegates Meeting to report back on Federal IR Laws and a plan of action for Wednesday March 29th 2006 at 10.00am to 12.00pm.

Meeting is to be held at Dallas Brooks Hall, Victoria Parade, East Melbourne.

Workers at car parts manufacturer Delphi in Somerton, supplies for Ford, Holden and Toyota, are currently in dispute and need your support. The dispute centers on workers being sacked for refusing to sign AWA’s, the company is attempting to replace the maintenance workers with labour hire firm Skilled Engineering. At the moment Delphi are seeking a 166a order, a first step for making the picket line illegal.

We urge all supporters to visit the picket line and place yourself on a picket roster.

More details: Dave 0412 484 094

Delphi picket line:
33 Freight Drive Somerton

Keep in touch with the website for new updates about this dispute.

United States car parts manufacturer Delphi has a history recently of seeking to undermine union working conditions in their plants, according to the Home News Tribune (2, Jan 2006). Delphi is a former section of General Motors and is the largest US car parts supplier. Last October the company filed for bankruptcy in the US. A long time Delphi worker aptly summarized Delphi intentions. "They're just taking us to bankruptcy court to bankrupt the American worker…They're going to break up the unions." Delphi are seeking to void union contracts a move that the United Auto Workers union (UAW) have promised will result in a strike that will close down General Motors.
more...

According to the Washington Post (December 20, 2005) Delphi intended cutting some workers wages from $27 an hour to just $9.50 but backed off after the unions representing Delphi workers formed a coalition called “Mobilizing at Delphi”.
more...

Mobilizing at Delphi | United Auto Workers | Delphi Timeline | Picket at Delphi

Dr Robert Austin, Course Coordinator of Spanish and Lecturer in the School of International and Community Studies, at RMIT Melbourne was given notice of dismissal after a campaign by right-wing columnist Andrew Bolt. It seems Dr Austin only "crime" was re-scheduling a class so his students could attend a protest against the government's attacks on student unions.

The Defend our Universities committee has released a pro-forma protest letter to send to the Vice Chanellor of RMIT. Union Solidarity encourages all its supporters to fill out our online form and send it to the Vice Chanellor. Dr Austin's job is in the balance if enough people protest the dismissal he could get his job back.

Brief Chronology
2005
Sept:
New HOS (Head of School) abruptly terminates probation meeting after Dr Austin and union delegate object to illegal tape recording of the meeting.

At re-scheduled meeting, management tables Andrew Bolt article. HOS alleges anonymous complaints against Dr Austin, but fails to provide evidence.

October
4: Management emails all casual staff under Dr Austin’s supervision to attend meetings; Dr Austin is excluded from these meetings.

12: Final probation meeting, HOS again alleges anonymous complaints. Dr Austin and NTEU rep request evidence but again, the request is denied. HOS recommends dismissal.

21: Vice Chancellor (VC) confirms Dr Austin’s dismissal, effective 24 April 2006. One week later, management breaches Enterprise Bargaining Agreement by illegally removing Dr Austin from all program responsibilities.

November
Defend Our Universities (DOU) committee formed to campaign for Dr Austin’s reinstatement

30: Forty-plus people attend a public meeting at RMIT, unanimously condemn management tactics and demand Dr Austin’s re-instatement. Following week, fifty students picket RMIT Chancellery.

December
9: NTEU branch president advises VC that the dispute “is based on the University’s failure to properly apply the principles of natural justice”, NTEU lodges dispute with Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) ten days later.

2006
March
20: Austin re-lodges dispute, hands over to CMFEU-recommended barrister. DOU committee sets up fighting fund. New hearing dates are pending.

31: At AIRC conference RMIT management, despite its consistent response to international and local protests against dismissal that it would await AIRC arbitration, sought suppression of matter by opposing jurisdiction on the S170LW (EBA) application. It had not opposed jurisdiction in January, but disingenuously chose to in late March. Commissioner Richards—former chief-of-staff to Howard’s employment minister Peter Reith (Workplace Express, 3/5/06)—indicates that he considers it unfair on management that the matter be heard before 24 April 2006, date upon which any protective action under the EBA expires.

April
15: Successful solidarity fundraiser-fiesta backed by Union Solidarity and Defend Our Universities Committee attracts around fifty activists and supporters. SKA-TV later televises excerpts and interviews.

18: Commissioner Richards rules in Dr Austin’s favour on jurisdiction, but then rejects his application to grant an injunction restraining RMIT from giving effect to the dismissal until the matter is heard. Dr Austin’s barrister then proposes to management that it place him on leave-without-pay until the matter can be adjudicated under the EBA, no later than end June. Management refuses. Barrister then re-submits application for an injunction, accounting for RMIT's objections to it. Again Commissioner Richards refuses the injunction.

24: Dismissal effected. Management prematurely closes Dr Austin’s computer access, barring him from on-line records of work and the dispute, including hundreds of support messages. Email records remain unavailable for four months.

July
13: Unfair Dismissal case opens in the AIRC, Melbourne, with compulsory conciliation conference before Commissioner Cribb. Consistent with its practice throughout of publicly supporting a resolution through formal industrial relations and then opposing any hearing of the dispute in court, management notifies its intention to oppose jurisdiction and have the matter struck out. However, the conciliation conference takes precedence; and the parties reach an in-principle confidential settlement.

October
The parties sign the settlement. In the process, RMIT’s attempt to insert a clause suppressing any public mention of the proceedings is rejected. Legally, the matter is at an end.

Summary.
The dispute over the Murdoch press-driven political dismissal of Dr Austin from RMIT this year (2006) has now been settled under Unfair Dismissal legislation in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. The limited gains in this dispute graphically demonstrate that decent-minded and committed supporters of public higher education, working together, can influence the political struggle to reclaim our universities as open democratic spaces, where full student participation and intellectual diversity overcome the ignorance, fear and conformism promoted by the mainstream press, multinational capital and neocon managements.

Full Chronology up March 2006 | Stop the sacking of Robert Austin leaflet

online protest letter | Defend Robert Austin Website | fundraiser 15 April
Background: Fifty at protest | Bolt Strikes Lecturer | Bolting to the Right | GreenLeft Article | Defend our Universities...

Labels: Robert Austin

Dr. Robert Austin, coordinador de Castellano y catedrático de la Escuela de Estudios Internacionales y Comunitarios en la Universidad RMIT (Melbourne) fue despedido a raíz de una campaña por el columnista derechista Andrew Bolt. Al parecer el único “crimen” del académico fue posponer un par de clases para que sus estudiantes pudieran asistir a una protesta nacional en contra de los ataques del gobierno neoliberal nacional sobre los sindicatos estudiantiles universitarios.

El Comité en Defensa de Nuestras Universidades ha publicado una carta de protesta pro-forma para enviar a la rectora de la Universidad RMIT. La versión en castellano se encontrará en: www.unionsolidarity.org/phpmail/RobertA_Spanish_form.htm o si prefiere la versión en inglés, vea al sitio www.unionsolidarity.org/RobertA_form.htm El sitio de web del comité se encuentra en http://defendrobert.blogspot.com

Union Solidarity/Solidaridad Sindical alienta a todos y todas sus colaboradores a enviar una de las versiones de la carta a la rectora a la brevedad posible. Queda pendiente una decisión final en marzo y si hay suficiente protesta en contra de éste despido político, podríamos conservar su trabajo.