The Uniting Church has recently outlined a progressive industrial relations policy for dealing with it employees. Some of the guiding principles guiding the new industrial relations policy are:

• A belief that people are not simply human resources alongside other resources
• A workplace that will better enable people to be whole in all their lives
  
• A workplace which encourages, as far as possible, a sharing of insights and skills regarding management of the workplace
• A workplace that encourages the participation of unions and employer organisations.

The leader of the Uniting Church of Victoria and Tasmania gave a speech at the June 28 rally in Melbourne outline the the policy. In a move similar to the stand taken by Yarra Council the Uniting Church seeks to include traditional union rights that are now prohibited under the new workplace laws.

"Some of the following matters are prohibited content in Workplace Agreements, but can be included in legally enforceable side deeds/common-law contracts, policies and procedures and in letters of appointment. The Synod will develop workplace agreements, deeds, contracts, policies and procedures that, within the limits of the law"

more info: Uniting Church Industrial Relations Policy | Speech at IR rally

FIGHT FOR THE 107!

URGENT ACTION NEEDED
Send messages of solidarity

Send protest email to Kevin Andrews

Download and print infomation leaflet

Perth-29 August Rally leaflet (first day in court)

Melbourne-29 August rally leaflet

107 rank and file members of CFMEU working on the Perth to Mandurah rail project face individual fines of up $28,600 for taking strike action in February this year. Another 323 workers could face similar fines. Court proceedings are expected to begin on August 29.

The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) issued subpoenas on July 5 for strike action union members took on the 24 February. In an act of classic intimidation the ABCC has encouraged workers to dob themselves in to aviod "undue cost or hardship". Building contractor Leighton Kumagai provoked a 12-day strike involving 430 workers by sacking highly respected shop steward Peter Ballard. Although the ABCC said the workers could not be sent to prison they could have assets relinquished if they failed to pay fines.

CFMEU members were sent show cause letters, dated March 2, from the ABCC threatening $22,000 fines and asking workers to “explain your absence on the project on the 24 February and any subsequent days”. They were given the deadline of March 10 to provide an “acceptable response”. The ABCC ominously warned of initiating legal proceeding against the workers “without further notice” (82 CFMEU members face an additional $6,600 for allegedly ignoring an Industrial Relations Commission order banning strikes). This sums up Howard's draconian IR laws. That when workers simply fight to protect safety standards, working conditions and defend a fellow worker they are turned into criminals.

CFMEU members facing massive fines deserve our support. The Perth to Mandurah rail project was plagued with problems since day one. Rank and file workers on the job have produced an open letter justifying their actions and explaining why they were compelled to take action. Any decent trade union member would have done the same thing.

more info: Fight for the 107 | jmellor@cfmeuwa.com | www.cfmeuwa.com | ABCC letter sent to workers | Workers open letter | Sacked CFMEU steward donates unfair dismissal win to cancer kids | Construction workers vow to fight fines | Labor vows to scrap building watchdog | Militant rail union faces walkoff fines | Rail Unions sued for millions over strike | Lock me up: I won't pay fine for striking | Green Left Weekly article

ACTU Media Release 10 July 2006
The crew of an Australian tanker docked in Hobart could face fines under the Howard Govt's IR laws for protesting against the operator's decision to replace the Australian crew with foreign seafarers by
refusing to unload the ship's cargo of sulphuric acid.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow said today:

"The crew of the MV Stolt is feeling both sides of the Howard Government's attacks on working Australians.

On the one hand, the crew have been told they have lost their jobs and will be replaced by foreign seafarers employed on as little as $100 a week after the ship's owners, overnight, changed the flag of the shipfrom Australia to the tax haven, the Cayman Islands.

And, on the other hand the crew could now face punitive fines for protesting over the weekend to save their jobs and draw publicattention too the demise of Australian shipping.

The crew of the MV Stolt is taking a stand for Australian shipping and for the safety of the Australian coast. They should be supported by theGovernment, not threatened with fines," Ms Burrow said.

"Operators of vessels carrying oil and chemicals through our waters and along our precious coastline need to uphold the highest safety standards and ensure that crews are properly trained with decent payand employment conditions.

Instead, the Federal Government is failing to ensure that safety standards are being maintained and is allowing more and more foreign ships to ply the Australian coast under the much-abused Single VoyagePermit system.

The MV Stolt has operated for more than 20 years moving chemicals, oil, molasses and other cargo along the Australian coast and has been on time every time over the entire period. The vessel is one of only 52Australian-flagged ships left in operation.

"The shipping policies of the Howard Government have cost these workers their jobs.

And the extremism of the Howard Government's IR laws mean that they face large fines for taking a stand to protect their livelihoods," saidMs Burrow.

more info: Maritime Union of Australia

ACTU Media Release Issued Friday 7 July 2006

HOWARD GOVT IR AGENCY CONFIRMS COWRA SACKINGS AND PAY CUTS LEGAL UNDER NEW IR LAWS
Australian workers can be legally sacked and re-employed on lower wages and conditions under the Howard Govt's new IR laws the Government's own workplace watchdog has confirmed today. The Office of Workplace Services has today released a report that confirms that it was legal for the Cowra abattoir to, as it did in early April, propose sacking 29 meatworkers and re-employ them on wages that involved pay cuts of around 30% or up to $180 week lower. ACTU Secretary Greg Combet said today:

"The Office of Workplace Services report clearly confirms what the ACTU and unions have being saying about these laws all along - they leave Australian workers exposed to the threat of being legally sacked and offered their jobs back on lower wages. The Prime Minister is wrong to claim that the OWS report shows that the Cowra abattoir sackings could have occurred under the previous IR laws. This is another deliberate attempt by the Prime Minister John Howard and the Employment Minister Kevin Andrews to deceive the Australian public..more

more info: Your Rights At Work | OWS Report

ACTU Media Release 05 July 2006

There is more evidence today of employees copping substantial pay cuts and losing basic conditions like award sick leave entitlements under the Howard Government's new AWA individual contracts.

"Today we have another example of the impact of the Howard Government's new IR laws and the fact that the Government's AWA individual contracts are being used to cut worker's pay rates and undermine Award conditions," said Greg Combet, ACTU Secretary.

Around 80 staff at a Melbourne call centre operated by Global TeleSales - a subsidiary of the giant German airline Lufthansa - have been offered AWA individual contracts that cut their take home pay by up to $80 a week.

The AWA contracts cut evening and weekend penalty rates and penalise staff for taking sick leave or leave to care for a family member.

The Lufthansa AWA example follows the case revealed this week of a young woman miner who was bullied and sacked after she refused to sign an AWA individual contract that required her to pay a $200 'fine' if she called in sick with less than 12 hours notice.

These examples of unfair AWA individual contracts follow a recent admission by the Office of the Employment Advocate that every AWA individual contract registered under the new IR laws has removed at least one award condition and:

• 20% of AWAs don't even provide the minimum sick leave or 4 weeks annual leave
• 64% have removed leave loading
• 63% cut penalty rates and overtime
• 52% cut shift loadings
• 14% pay a casual loading of less than 20%
• 16% removed ALL protected award conditions
  

This is another clear example of how the Howard Government's new AWA individual contracts are all about cutting workers' pay and conditions," said Mr Combet.

more info: Your Rights At Work | Send a protest email to Lufthansa