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On 1 July 2005, John Howard and the Liberal Party gets total control of the Senate.
Your workplace rights are to be attacked.
Telstra has already been targetted. Australia Post may be next. Conditions such as RDO, Shift Penalties, Salaries, Redundancy, Unfair Dismissal, you workplace rights and job security are at risk. |
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NATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST 
OTHER EVENTS THE LAST WEEKEND - 7 AUG 05 
SECOND SKYCHANNEL MEETING FIRST SKYCHANNEL MEETING BULLETINS EVENTS MORE INFORMATION
Get involved in a new national campaign... |
NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION 15 NOVEMBER
You can help send a strong message that you care about your basic rights, pay and entitlements by taking part in Australia's biggest ever workplace meeting on Tuesday 15 Nov at 8.30am sharp. As part of a national day to protect your rights at work, unions will hold a satellite hookup using the Sky Channel network to link up workers in major cities and regional centres across Australia. The hook-up will feature a briefing on the details of the Howard Government's proposed industrial relations changes and what they will mean for working Australians. Community rallies and marches will also take place on 15 Nov, in most cases following people's participation in the national hook-up. Sharan Burrow, ACTU President said: "We encourage anyone who wants to find out more about the changes to read the brief information below and attend the Australia-wide hook-up."
Australia Post is expecting a lot of our members to attend to Skychannel meetings and associated activities.
They have sent out bulletins telling you that should you be absent, then your pay will be deducted for the time.
The Australia Post MIB states: Howard has unveiled a plan to make Australians pay over $30,000 to challenge unlawful sackings. Lawyers say the PM's plan to offer $4000 towards legal fees in suitable cases will help only a handful of people due to the expense and difficulty of the type of actions that will be available. "$4000 would cover about 10% of the cost of an action in the Federal Court," says Steven Penning, of Turner Freeman. The plan to scrap unfair dismissal laws for 90% of working Australians will mean those who are fired because of family responsibilities, race, gender, religious beliefs or political associations will have to argue "unlawful dismissal" in the Federal Ct. $4000 would barely get you to the conciliation - the step before a hearing. They say the difficulty in being able to prove that a worker was sacked for such reasons is backed up by court statistics, which show only 5 "unlawful terminations" have been heard in the Federal Ct over the last 3 years, compared to 20,000 "unfair dismissals" in the AIRC. You will need your union more than ever to avoid this! The recent AIRC annual report shows there were 7044 unfair dismissal claims for the year. 75% were settled. 223 were arbitrated. Of the 223 cases, compensation was paid in 84, reinstatement ordered in 22, and 117 were dismissed. Note that there are only a small number of reinstatements. Several years ago we won 4 reinstatements out of the 20 for the year. Not bad for one solicitor - it pays to belong to CEPU. 160,000 AUSTRALIANS SIGN PETITION The ACTU has presented a petition with 160,000 signatures calling on Federal Parliament not to pass new workplace laws. The proposed changes allow workers to be pushed onto individual contracts that cut their take-home pay and remove important job conditions including overtime, meal breaks, penalty rates, redundancy pay, rostering protections and public holidays. Delivering the petition to Parliament, ACTU President Sharan Burrow said "The petition represents widespread public opposition to the Howard Government's extreme industrial relations agenda." Members are asked to consider downloading our invoice for Treasurer Costello. Please fill it in and send it to us by mail or fax. It says in part: Dear Treasurer: I'm writing to you because I'm angry that the Government is spending $20 million of taxpayers money on advertising their changes to IR.... I am asking that you refund me $2.50.... Download the invoice from Send Costello a Bill FREE TRANSPORT Free public transport will be laid on for thousands attending the Last Weekend at Homebush on Sunday, Aug 7. The day has been designated a 'Special Event' by the NSW Government and extra public transport will be put on all lines, from Scone in the north to Bomaderry (Nowra) in the south and west to Lithgow. Extra bus services will also be provided to ferry people from across Sydney to the landmark event. "All people have to do to access the free public transport is to say they are going to the Last Weekend event,' says Unions NSW secretary John Robertson. FAMILY DAY AT SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK Make sure you set aside Sunday 7 August to join our entire CEPU staff at the massive family day. More at Union Protest Picnic Kids' icons the Hooley Dooleys will be the unlikely strike weapon in the fight for working rights, headlining a major protest the Sunday before the Howard Government takes control of the Senate. The funsters will perform alongside big name entertainers and comedians at Sydney Olympic Park as working people and their families enjoy their "Last Weekend'. Event organiser and Unions NSW secretary John Robertson says the August 7 event should be a great family day with clowns, rides and stalls to entertain the kids. But he says it would also have a serious purpose, sending the message that time with the family would be one of the big casualties under the proposed changes to work laws.
Under plans expected to be unveiled this week, the Howard Government is targeting workers rights in four key ways:
"The bottom line is that work rights and the pillars that support secure families and that if you attack these rights you end up attacking families," Robertson says. "It's only apt that our energy is put into a major event that puts quality family time front and centre in this debate." The Last Weekend will be the culmination of a three month campaign to raise awareness about the attack on workers which formally kicks off this Friday with a state wide hook-up of delegates over Sky Channel.
A series of campaign events are planned over the coming months including:
Robertson says the aim of the campaign in NSW is to mainstream the message that reducing work rights weakens families, the community and the economy. "This is a low road agenda that will leave more and more families struggling to have a decent quality of life." |
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