Union News - for broadcast 24/10/2013
In the news this week:
1. Firefighters protest budget cuts in new south wales
2. The construction union in WA recovers a hundred and
fify thousand dollars of unpaid wages
3. And unions mark the six month anniversary of the rana
plaza disaster
Item 1
The Abbott Government has begun its attack on ordinary
workers by drafting laws that cut taxes for big mining
companies but scrap a range of measures that support
workers and their families.
The draft bill is designed to repeal the Minerals Resource
Rent Tax, but will also abolish the Low Income
Superannuation Contribution.
The scheme reduces tax on superannuation contributions
from workers on less than thirty seven thousand dollars per
year
The removal of the government contribution will hit the
retirement savings of three point six6 million workers,
including over two million women.
The bill also scraps the Schoolkids Bonus and the Income
Support Bonus, which will hurt people on a range of income
support programs, including Newstart and Parenting
Payments. But Mining companies will get tax breaks.
ACTU President Ged Kearney described the move as class
war of the worst kind.
She said the scrapping of these programs proves the new
government will always side with big business at the
expense of workers and their families.
Item 2
Firefighters from Sydney's Sutherland Shire have protested
budget cuts by the New South Wales government which
have led to station closures.
Firefighters targeted the state seat of Miranda, where a byelection was sparked by the mid-term resignation of Sports
Minister Graham Annesley.
Fire Brigade Employees Union secretary Jim Casey said
Budget cuts over the last ten months have meant
professionally crewed fire stations in the Sutherland Shire
have been closed sixty four times.
The Miranda Fire Station has been shut on 10 occasions,
Sutherland Fire Station taken off-line 26 times and Menai
Fire Station closed on 28 occasions.
Mr Casey said permanently staffed stations had never been
closed before the O'Farrell government's election.
Under laws introduced by the O'Farrell government, fire
stations will be forced to close if they can only be staffed by
firefighters working overtime.
Item 3
Tasmanian nurses voted to start industrial action today over
concerns about patient safety and lack of experienced
nurses in wards.
It’s been revealed NINETY per cent of nurses working in the
Royal Hobart Hospital's intensive care unit are base-grade,
which Tasmanian Nurses union state secretary Neroli (NEROLL-LEE) says severely compromises quality care.
Ms NEROLI says having base grade nurses in-charge of
wards after hours and on weekends in addition to their
patient loads is unacceptable.
Ms Neroli says budget cuts which have slashed experienced
nurse numbers are compromising patient care and putting
stress on the nurses.
A meeting of 170 southern nurses at the RHH yesterday
voted unanimously to join colleagues in the North and NorthWest who have started industrial action.
The union has voted to accept a wage offer of two percent
for a one-year but will use the industrial action to push for a
safe skill mix and safe staffing to protect patient care.
Item 3
The Construction Union has uncovered over one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars in unpaid wages, involving nearly
fifty workers on the new Perth International Terminal.
The new terminal is a Federal government project funded by
superannuation investment funds, and is being developed by
Leighton’s Holdings subsidiary Broad Constructions.
The union found workers on the site had also not been paid
their statutory requirements including superannuation and
long service leave involving many more thousands of dollars.
A group of Chinese workers on the project had not been paid
since they started on the job six weeks ago and are owed
over sixty thousand.
The union was told by a Broad representative that Fair Work
Australia carried out a recent investigation on the project and
found nothing untoward.
Broad construction has been restricting access to the union
to talk to the workers for a week about underpayment of
wages.
Workers have taken action to demand the situation is fixed.
WA Secretary of the construction union, Mick Buchan
(BUCKAN) met with Perth Airports Corporation on Tuesday
and they have now guaranteed payment of all outstanding
monies.
Item 4
The ACTU says the Abbott Government's Commission of
Audit is nothing but a process to outsource public policy to
big business and pave the way for cuts to public services.
ACTU President Ged Kearney says this had already
happened in Queensland where the Newman Government
used the same process to savagely cut public services such
as health care and social welfare services.
Ms Kearney said the ACTU was concerned about the
prospect of the sale of government assets after Finance
Minister Mathias Cormann confirmed today the Government
plans to sell Medibank Private …. and would not rule out
further asset sales.
Ms Kearney said Australian workers want the Federal
Government to provide good quality services and will not
support widespread cuts, privatisation and contracting out of
essential functions of government.
Item 7
In international news,
More than 100 global brands have now signed the
Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety in the
aftermath of the Rana Plaza building collapse six months
ago.
Woolworths Australia, and the GEBRA, Wünsche
(VOONSHER) Group of Germany, became the latest brands
to sign the Accord, which aims to make the garment industry
safe and sustainable for years to come.
The signatory brands have committed to making the
changes garment workers need to improve factory safety.
The Accord, a broad coalition of industry-leading brands with
IndustriALL Global Union and UNI, covers more than 1,600
factories and over 2 million workers in Bangladesh.
UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings said
that they can now make a difference on the ground, by
sending a strong message to all the companies have failed
to sign.
High-level talks involving unions, brands, government and
employers will coincide with a week of action on safety and
working conditions to mark the six month anniversary of the
Rana Plaza collapse on 24th October.
To see the full list of brands whove signed the accord head
to labourstart dot org
And that’s the news for this week.