SPECIAL EDITION: ACTU Congress 2015
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New campaign launched to build a better future Rosie Batty backs union domestic violence leave push Robert Reich’s warning to Australia on inequality
Reports pages 2-7 www.workinglife.org.au
Issue 22, June 2015
Not happy: cleaners Gamal Babiker and Qantessa Stevens outside the Fair Work Commission in Melbourne. Photo: ACTU/Mark Phillips
Lowest paid workers continue do to it tough “WE’RE going down instead of going up.” That was the reaction of shopping centre cleaner Gamal Babiker to the decision by the Fair Work Commission on 2 June to grant a $16 increase to the minimum wage. The commission announced a 2.5% increase in award minimum wages, to commence on 1 July. The full-time minimum wage will then be $17.29 per
hour or $ 656.90 per week. Mr Babiker, a 61-year-old cleaner and member of United Voice, said an extra $16 a week would barely cover a cup of coffee a day. He said that after working for 16 years on the minimum wage since arriving in Australia as a refugee from Sudan, he is facing rising living costs, and has only $60,000 in his superannuation account.
“It doesn’t make any difference,” he said. “I came here dreaming about 5%, I got 2.5%. Last year we got 3%. We’re going down instead of going up.” The ACTU had sought an extra $27 a week for workers on the minimum wage. About 1.86 million award-dependent workers are impacted by the decision. - MARK PHILLIPS
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ACTU Congress 2015
New campaign aims to buil by NEIL WILSON
UNIONS will step up their fightback for fairness by building the ACTU into a campaigning machine to defeat the anti-worker agenda of conservative governments Australia-wide. The ACTU’s new Build A Better Future campaign will first target the Abbott Government in about 30 marginal seats, as it builds momentum greater than the 2007 Your Rights At Work effort. The action plan to fight inequality was launched on the opening day of the ACTU Congress in Melbourne on 26 May and it will draw on resources of 1.8 million union members in elections at all levels over the next three years. It will be backed by $13 million in funding approved as part of a three-year strategic plan. ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver said the Abbott Government had deepened inequality in Australia so it was now the 11th worst of 34 developed nations. “As I travel the country and talk to workers they tell me they’re worried about the future of their job security, attacks on living standards, attacks on wages and conditions,” he said. “In this country we have a government fostering inequality, taking a wrecking ball to the social wage.” Mr Oliver said the Abbott Government’s agenda was to first destroy unions through its Royal Commission witch hunt. A Productivity Commission inquiry was the “Trojan horse’’ to dismantle penalty rates, the minimum wage and unions role in the industrial system under a re-elected Abbott Government. “They want to ensure we can’t do what we did in 2007,” he said. “I’ve got bad news for you Tony (Abbott), because we’ll do it again.” Over 52,000 unionists in a massive nationwide survey last year revealed their
WE DEMAND OUR GOVERNMENTS SUPPORT Workers’ Rights: defended and extended with secure jobs Medicare: universal healthcare for all Australians Education: The highest quality for all Australians Public Services: owned by everyone for everyone A Secure Retirement: decent pensions and superannuation A Fair Go For All: everyone supported and everyone contributes their fair share of tax fears that future generations would not be able to get a good job, afford a home, access tertiary education or get proper health care. ACTU President Ged Kearney said it was a warning against emergence of an American-style underclass of working poor in Australia.
ACTU Congress joined 300 workplaces across the nation in endorsing a new union charter, the six-point basis of Build A Better Future, comprising workers’ rights, defending Medicare, the highest quality education, public ownership of public services, a secure retirement, and a fair go for all.
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Want to know more or get involved? Contact our newsdesk by email at editor@workinglife.org.au or phone (03) 9664 7266. Or get in touch by Facebook (facebook.com/ThisWorkingLife) or Twitter (twitter/thisworkinglife). Editor: Mark Phillips. Responsibility for election comment is taken by Dave Oliver, Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, 365 Queen Street, Melbourne 3000.
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ACTU Congress 2015
ld a better future for all
Shorten details key parts of Labor’s agenda
Delegates at the ACTU Congress show their support for the new campaign. Photo: ACTU/Jorge de Araujo Ged Kearney said these pillars of our living standards were demands the union movement put on all governments. “It seems to us there is a huge disconnect between what we are told by politicians in Canberra and by the nation’s business elite, and what is the real life working experience of working people,” she said. Five unionists – from retail, nursing, universities, construction plus one retired person – spoke to the 1000 Congress delegates passionately about the need for the movement to defeat the Abbott Government’s cuts. Ms Kearney said: “We’re going to turn the direction of this country around and we’re going to put it in the right direction going forward.” Mr Oliver said work would start immediately embedding 21 new full-time organisers in marginal federal seats. He said achieving a “mobile and nimble” campaign capacity meant developing a movement-wide database, enhancing the already-potent penetration on social media and face-to-face contact through street stalls and doorknocking. The changed media landscape since
OPPOSITION Leader Bill Shorten (pictured) has backed the thrust of fairness covered by the ACTU’s Build A Better Future campaign during his address to the peak union Congress. Mr Shorten listed ALP priorities including universal health care, making multinationals pay fair tax, a secure retirement system, accessible education for all and workers’ rights also reflected by a new ACTU charter. The Labor Leader attacked the Abbott Government for a lack of vision on maintaining Australia’s living standards, which would require investing heavily in high-skill training, science and innovation over the next decade. Mr Shorten said the ALP stood with the ACTU against attacks on the minimum wage, which would put millions of workers into a poverty trap with no advantage for Australia over competitors. He said only the labour movement saw the high road of manufacturing, of a high-skilled, high wage nation through education affordable for all. Low wage jurisdictions, a threat under a continued Abbott Government, would see workers replaced by machines. “We need to be the nation that
designs, that builds the machines . . . that is our future,” he said. Mr Shorten also committed Labor to combatting family violence, and implicitly backed the ACTU push for two weeks domestic violence leave presently before the Fair Work Commission. “Every woman has the right to be safe in her home . . . and every woman has the right to be supported at work, with the right to claim leave if she is the victim of family violence,” he said. – NEIL WILSON
the Your Rights At Work campaign in the mid-2000s means unions won’t rely on TV or radio advertising except in specific regional areas. “The union movement is at its strongest when we are united and campaigning together,” he said. “This is not just an election strategy, it will be a permanent change to make the ACTU a campaigning organisation.” Staff would be an adaptable resource available to affiliate unions to help in specific “blitz” industrial or community campaigns, on issues such as penalty
rates, temporary visas or protecting the minimum wage. The new campaign team under Sally McManus would build on the strong collaboration with state trades and labour councils, which had delivered election victory through grassroots activist networks in Victoria and Queensland. Mr Oliver said the effort would be funded separately to existing ACTU operations, by boosting the existing affiliation fee by $2 a member to raise $10.8 million. Existing funding would top up the amount to $13 million.
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ACTU Congress 2015
Unions pledge to lift profile of women in leadership roles by STEPHANIE FRANCIS THE last three ACTU Presidents have been women, but that does not mean unions can’t still do better. Unions at the ACTU Congress have voted to pursue an equal representation of women and men within all elected positions at the ACTU and affiliates. The vote followed a presentation on the latest Women in Unions survey by Julia Fox of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association and Chair of the ACTU’s Women’s Committee. The survey showed that although the percentage of women and men union members is roughly equal, women are still under-represented in leadership positions. The resolution was moved by the Australian Services Union’s Linda White who noted the “grey beards” at the ACTU’s leadership table, and seconded by Andrew Dettmer from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, who said it was time for unions to make a positive move towards greater representation of women in decision-making roles. “I think blokes have got away with it for too long,” Mr Dettmer said. The Women in Unions survey is conducted every three years. Twentyone unions took part in the atest survey, conducted in September 2014. The survey found that the percentage of women in national union leadership roles had increased from 28% in 1999 to 40% in 2015. With the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showing that 49% of union members are women, the female leadership percentage represents a 9% gender gap. Women were also under-represented on national councils, at national conferences and at ACTU Congress. At this year’s Congress, 38% of delegates were women, a drop of 10% from 2009. The unions surveyed reported a range of strategies to improve representation of women, with half saying they had specific recruitment measures to encourage women’s participation. More unions are
Photo: ACTU/Jorge de Arajuo
Australia’s first woman Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, was honoured as the special guest of the 2015 ACTU Congress dinner. She was greeted with rapturous applause from more than 800 delegates, who acknowledged the many achievements of her government in partnership with the union movement. In return, Ms Gillard paid tribute to the role of unions in Australian society. “It is impossible to see fairness and equality without a vibrant and active trade union movement,” she said. Ms Gillard has an active life after politics, and spoke in detail about her work as chair of the Global Partnership for Education, an international organisation focussed on quality school education in the world’s poorest countries. pursuing family-friendly provisions, with an increasing number of clauses relating to part-time work, job-sharing arrangements and extended unpaid parental leave. Ms Fox said while unions should be commended for these achievements there was still room for improvement. “One of the most pressing needs identified by unions is access to training, mentoring and professional development opportunities for women wanting to pursue a career in the union movement,” she said. Dr Rae Cooper, Associate Professor in Work and Organisation Studies at the University of Sydney Business School, also conducted interviews with the national secretaries of 10 unions, asking them about factors that inhibited women’s involvement in their union,
and innovations they have in place to encourage women’s participation. Dr Cooper said union secretaries had identified one of the key challenges for women’s involvement in unions was employer pressure to either not join a union or to not be an active member. “I’ve got to say that union culture was also identified as an issue and this is something you all might want to have a think about,” Dr Cooper added. “Some of the secretaries I spoke to identified that within their own unions there was a cultural problem, ranging from ‘We do have a deep-seated culture of sexism within our union’ through to it not being made easy for women to be activists within the union because of a range of practices, including the scheduling of meetings.”
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ACTU Congress 2015
by NEALE TOWART Taking a stand: male delegates at the ACTU Congress take the White Ribbon oath against family violence. Photos: ACTU/Jorge de Araujo
Domestic violence leave push gains powerful backer by COURTNEY SLOANE THE ACTU has welcomed the support of domestic violence campaigner and Australian of the Year, Rosie Batty, in its claim to give millions of Australian workers access to 10 days domestic violence leave. Ms Batty joined Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Tanya Plibersek in speaking at the Women’s Lunch during the 2015 ACTU Congress on 26 May. The ACTU’s claim for domestic violence leave across all agreements was lodged with the Fair Work Commission on 28 October last year. It would give more than 4 million workers covered by an award access to 10 days paid domestic violence leave for permanent staff and 10 days unpaid leave for casuals. Over 1.6 million workers already have access to paid domestic violence leave in their union-negotiated workplace agreements. This leave recognises that those experiencing domestic violence can least afford to take unpaid leave at a time when financial security is critical. The ACTU’s claim will ensure victims do not have to choose between leaving a violent relationship, and losing their job. “Domestic violence is a whole of society issue and that includes the workplace and employers,” said ACTU President Ged Kearney said. “What we hope employers will see is that this is an investment in their employees. It means that they
‘Terrorism at home’: Rosie Batty and Ged Kearney speak to the media. will maintain and keep their employees and make relocation arrangements.” working through a very difficult situation.” Rosie Batty labelled domestic violence But business groups oppose the push ‘‘terrorism in a family environment’’ and with many arguing that existing leave called on the government to actually meet entitlements, such as sick leave and the victims their cuts to frontline services personal leave, should be used by victims impact upon. in escaping violent relationships. Beyond the human cost of almost two “Currently, workers use up annual leave, deaths a week, domestic violence costs the sick leave and when all that has run out for Australian economy $16.8 billion a year. them to deal with the everyday traumas of ABS figures have shown that around what they go through with their families, two thirds of the some 400,000 people that they unfortunately have to leave their experience domestic violence every year work,” Ms Kearney explained. are in paid employment. “Having a job and financial stability “If the government is serious about is critical for women to escape a violent tackling domestic violence, it should and abusive relationship. It means victims support the claim to give more than have time to attend court appearances and four million workers access to domestic related appointments, seek legal advice violence leave,” Ms Kearney said.
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ACTU Congress 2015
Sobering lecture on how to avoid America’s plight
Professor Robert Reich, one of the world’s leading progressive economists delivered a stark warning to the ACTU Congress. Mark Phillips was there to hear what he had to say.
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Stay strong: delegates at the ACTU Congress in Melbourne listen intently to Robert Reich’s address via Skype. Photo: ACTU/Jorge de Araujo is a critic of the Wall Street model of American capitalism, and is pro-union. These were all themes of Reich’s entertaining 25 minute address to the ACTU Congress. His speech often sounded like a description of the contemporary
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Please, whenever you hear the term ‘labour market flexibility’, watch your wallets.
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T’S often said that where America leads, others follow, but if that’s the case, then Australia needs to get off the path as quickly as possible. So says one of the world’s leading commentators on economic inequality, former United States Secretary of Labor, Professor Robert Reich. In an address to the ACTU Congress in Melbourne, Prof Reich laid out in depressing detail how a concerted attack on unionism had taken place at the same time as the widening of inequality over half a century in the United States. He warned an audience of close to 1000 delegates not to allow the same thing to happen in Australia. “There is a high correlation between union density and inequality,” Prof Reich said via Skype from his office at the University of California’s Berkeley campus, where he is the Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy. “The more people who are organised into unions, the more bargaining power the middle class and working class have to get a fair proportion of economic growth. When unionism declines, bargaining power also declines.” He added: “In terms of the age old contest between capital and labour, capital is winning dramatically.” Much of what Prof Reich had to say would have been familiar to anyone who has seen his 2013 documentary, Inequality For All, or his many punchy videos on YouTube. After serving as Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Labor between 1993 and 1997, Prof Reich has moved into academia and become one of the leading progressive thinkers of our times, advocating for a boost to minimum wages, higher taxes on the wealthy, and investment in public services. He
political and economic landscape in Australia, where inequality is also widening, minimum wages are falling further behind, insecure work is increasingly common, and the influence of big business over public policy is all pervasive. Prof Reich pointed out that the postwar spread of prosperity in the United States until the early-1970s was due to a relatively high level of union density, which peaked at 35% in 1955. Even 30 years ago, the typical
American worker was earning more than they are today. In their prime in the US, unions also delivered minimum wage legislation, social security, a 40-hour work week, and workplace health and safety legislation. But since then, as the economy has doubled in size, the prosperity has not been shared. There has not been such a concentration of wealth in the hands of the top 1% or 10% of the US population since the 1920s, or perhaps even the 1890s, Prof Reich says; while the minimum wage, adjusted for inflation, has declined by 25% since 1968. And this inequality has stymied the recovery of the US economy from the Global Financial Crisis, because there is not enough stimulation of economic demand to kick it back into motion. Today, unionism in the US stands at just 7% of the private sector workforce. “When you get down to that small a number of workers in unions, you simply don’t have the bargaining power and leverage to get a fair share of the gains of economic growth. “Instead, those gains go straight to Continued Page 10
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Congress as seen through the eyes of a cartoonist Cartoonist Sam Wallman spent a couple of days sketching his impressions of the 2015 ACTU Congress and this is what he came up with.
See more of Sam Wallman’s work at: penerasespaper.com
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World News
‘Blood on their hands’: World Cup sponsors under pressure by MARTIN WATTERS IT’S supposed to be the pinnacle of the beautiful game, not a worker’s nightmare of construction site deaths, human rights abuses and industrial violations. Yet that’s the ongoing saga of Qatar’s preparation for the 2022 World Cup. Thankfully, opposition is growing, with global unions launched a new campaign urging big-name FIFA sponsors to pressure Qatar into improving conditions for the thousands of migrant workers building the Gulf nation’s tournament infrastructure. At the London launch of the International Trade Union Confederation campaign, sponsors received warnings they’d have “blood on their hands” if the workers’ plight continued in the lead-up to the 2022 cup. Australian unions backed this up with a powerful resolution condemning soccer’s governing body at the ACTU Congress in Melbourne. From London, ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow slammed Qatar’s notorious “kafala” system that ties workers to their employers. “Qatar is a slave state,” the former ACTU President said. “The discrimination, the racism, the denial of rights for 1.4 million migrant workers adds up to apartheid and a model of employment that is simply slavery. “There is a conspiracy of silence by governments and major sporting and cultural institutions that allow it to continue. The world must not be duped by Qatar’s empty promises of reform.” Joining the campaign pressuring sponsors was sportswear company Skins and UK Trade Union Congress-backed group PlayFair Qatar. Skins Chairman Jaimie Fuller said he’d personally written to eight cup sponsors accusing them of unscrupulously contributing cash to FIFA and providing “implicit support” for Qatar’s deplorable working conditions. Mr Fuller, whose company has declared itself the first “Official Non-Sponsor”, was recently smuggled into several Qatari
Cup of shame: a protest outside FIFA headquarters in Zurich (top); and delegates give the soccer body a red card at the ACTU Congress in Melbourne. workers’ labour camps to see evidence first hand. “FIFA refuses to accept any responsibility for the Qatari issue and remains riddled with allegations of corruption, mismanagement and poor decision-making – all of which it refuses to confront to the satisfaction of the international community,” Mr Fuller said. Days after the campaign was launched, FIFA President Sepp Blatter was forced to resign as the corruption allegations over
Qatar’s successful bid finally became too overwhelming to ignore any longer. At the ACTU Congress, the National Secretary of the CFMEU’s construction division, Dave Noonan, spoke emotionally about how he had visited worker camps in Doha and seen the sub-standard conditions they lived in. Delegates joined him in raising “red cards” and calling on Qatar to immediately act on these issues, or lose the right to host the 2022 World Cup finals.
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At Work
Future-proofing workers’ rights in the brave new digital world by JACK HERBERT ONE of the biggest challenges facing unions across Australia is adapting and transitioning to the new economy, particularly regarding the movement’s approach to organising and campaigning. During his opening address at the 2015 ACTU Congress in Melbourne, ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver acknowledged many of these challenges, and reassured observers and delegates that unions will be prepared to tackle them head on. “We have a growing liquid workforce, where workers bid for parcels of work where the lowest bid wins,” Mr Oliver said. “We are facing the rise of mega companies like Instagram, Apple and Google – digital businesses with a trickle-up effect, further increasing unequal wealth distribution. “These are the effects of the new economy, and these present real challenges in how we fight to regulate wages and conditions, protect superannuation and ensure worker safety to all Australians.” The rise of digital technologies has allowed companies which do not fit traditional structures to rise rapidly, and traditional organising models have struggled to keep up. Uber, for example, is a global private car/rideshare company which in Australia is currently unregulated, and in many regions such as Victoria is operating illegally. Importantly however, Uber drivers are not technically employees and despite now representing a 22% market share in the Australian taxi market, there are no regulatory mechanisms to protect wages and conditions. As a movement, it is important for unions to acknowledge that the nature of organisations in a digital world has changed, and how they reach and protect workers employed in these modern organisations is a major challenge. It was suggested at the ACTU Congress that collective bargaining, the foundation of the union movement’s strength, may have inadvertently contributed to a shift in organisational behaviour. Organisations are now more and
Digital disruption: few occupations have been as severely affected by the digital revolution as journalism. Photo: ACTU/Arsineh Houspian more frequently using contractors over employees as a means of avoiding the conditions and rights fought for through collective bargaining. One example which demonstrates this, and the reverse-ebay model referred to by Dave Oliver, is the work of interpreters. Instead of courts and hospitals and other traditional employers of these workers using full-time staff, they have transitioned to a contracting model. An agency now bids for work and the interpreter than contracts to an agency. In a bidding war, with no award applying, just as water always finds the lowest point, so will wages and conditions. The result: an interpreter is required at a hospital in a regional centre like Geelong to do a 90 minute job, and the fee quoted was $68. Yet that $68 does not include the approximately two hours travel time, the workers fuel charges, parking, mobile phone or their insurances – not insignificant amounts. Over 3.5 hours work and travel time for $68 less costs, that interpreter, performing an essential service, will earn way less than the minimum wage. Like Uber, the challenge is how to organise individuals and contractors to
deliver protection for their rights. Addressing these challenges and identifying the opportunities presented through this revolution, the ACTU has committed to establishing a “working group of interested affiliates to explore, plan and work to implement a movement wide strategy to ensure our success”. According to a resolution supported by delegates, the committee will identify new disrupters that pose threats or opportunities; new models for unionism and engagement; and develop strategically targeted campaigns for the growth and success of the union movement in the digital world. During a workshop session, ‘Unions in the New Economy’ in which the resolution was drafted, it was acknowledged that much of the work of the future working group will be about assessing the history of union organising and campaigning, and learning from the lessons of past victories. This was in reference to an earlier session, ‘The Future of Organising’. Speaking to this fringe event at the Congress was one of the architects of the Your Rights at Work campaign, and father Continued Page 10
Future-proofing workers’
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How to avoid becoming America Continued from Page 7
the top, and the middle class starts shrinking.” Prof Reich says that in the US, as in Australia, the dominance of big business has distorted public debate about the sources of national prosperity and how to share it around more fairly. He argues it is long overdue for Wall Street to no longer be seen as the saviours of the economy. “Some on Wall Street say the job creators are corporate executives,” he says. “But the real job creators are the middle class and the poor. They’re the ones who spend money and because they’re spending, businesses have an incentive to hire and expand.” Prof Reich’s prescription to avoid the fate of the United States is simple, and reflects many of the attacks on their living standards that Australian workers are currently enduring. He says Australians should be wary of legislation that seeks to privatise the public sector, particularly healthcare and education, along with welfare safety nets. “Please, whenever you hear the term ‘labour market flexibility’, watch your wallets,” Reich also warned. “A lot of economists, many of whom are paid by big business and Wall St and the financial sector, think labour market flexibility is wonderful. “But what it means is the ability to hire and fire at will, to have no unions to
rights in the digital world Continued from Page 9
of the modern organising centre, Chris Walton, who these days is the CEO of Professionals Australia. “Knowing the issues is crucial, but there is no point knowing the issues, unless we know how to win, and what a win looks like,” said Mr Walton. “During Your Rights at Work we realised that the way to win was to acknowledge that the institutional power of the past was no longer working in our favour − instead, we needed to reconnect with our workers. “Using this principal, we hit the phones, and hit the workplaces, generating more than 190,000 signatures – which before social media, was a massive feat.
Fight for 15: Fast food workers on strike in New York City. Photo: flickr/Annette Bernhardt contend with, to have no job restrictions, nothing to protect workers, that’s what labour market flexibility means.” And finally, Prof Reich also warned to be on the lookout for any attempts to reduce the minimum wage or fight increases to it. He said Australia’s workplace system was not perfect, but it had delivered higher living standards and better job security than the US. “If you read the business press particularly in the United States, you would think the purpose of the economy is to drive up the stock market or the purpose of the economy is to have a higher gross domestic product. “That is not the purpose of an economy . . . The way you measure the success of an economy is how working people are
living, the living standards of average working people. If they are going up, it is successful economy. If they or stagnating or declining, you have unsuccessful economy.” Prof Reich finished his address to the ACTU Congress on a slightly more positive note about the role of unions in fighting for a fair society. “Ultimately it’s a test of the strength of trade union movement of labour unions and the ability of labour unions not only to represent the needs and goals of average working people but also the ability of labour unions to get through collective bargaining a fair proportion of the gains of the economy,” he said. “You are on the frontlines of the fight and I wish you very well in that fight.”
“While most of the data collected was lost when the campaign was dismantled, the lessons learned were not lost, and the fundamentals of that campaign will shape the future of organising.” Luke Hilakari, Secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, said the three key pillars to a successful campaign are data collection, authenticity and innovation. “The movement Australia-wide has 1.8 million members – these aren’t just the people who have signed a petition, these are real members, paying fees,” said Mr Hilakari. “The more members we have, the stronger we are and the way we grow our membership is by collecting data, using that data to be as relevant and as authentic as possible and using innovative ways of reaching new
audiences. “The future of campaigning is not set, but will be fluid, and will require more sophisticated ways of collecting and utilising data, without forgetting the fundamental principle of authenticity and personal connection. “It takes real people to move people.” It is evident that the changing nature of our economy, civil society and democracy as a result of the digital revolution will impact the future of union organising and campaigning. It is also clear that through the future working group, the breadth of experience from past successes and the rising force of our movement’s new and innovative leaders, the ACTU will be well-placed to help defeat the Coalition Government at the next election.
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Advice
How to use social media safely at work and not get yourself fired by MARTIN WATTERS
EVER vented your spleen about work on Facebook thinking it was just between friends? The meteoric rise of social media and the intrusion of gadgets into our free time has led to workers across Australia falling foul with their employers online – with suspensions, sackings and Fair Work disputes often the result. Employers have scrambled to implement adequate social media policies while workers and their unions try to keep up with the stream of new precedents each case sets. Recently, eight refugee detention centre guards were stood down after posting photos of themselves with Pauline Hanson at anti-Muslim Reclaim Australia rallies while another was suspended for posting anti-Islam slurs online. This follows detention centre operator Transfield Services warning staff they could be sacked for their Facebook friends and Twitter followers. SBS journalist Scott McIntyre was sacked after posting comments on Twitter on ANZAC Day that were critical of the ANZAC myth and legend. These stories reveal a growing trend of employers disciplining employees for personal social media activity. Slater & Gordon industrial and employment lawyer Carita Kazakoff says the issue has come about because of the increasing use of social media. The key to many disputes over social media use is perception: more employers are basing disciplinary action on the perceived reputational damage by association with the employee’s online activity, private or not. “Social media is not just about developing easier personal communications but is also heavily used by business and the line between home and work life becomes increasingly blurred,” Ms Kazakoff said. When your boss is the government, that line is especially blurry. Last year
Five ways to stay safe online (and stay employed) Working Life spoke to industrial and employment lawyer Carita Kazakoff from Slater & Gordon for her tips on how to stay safe online (and stay employed). 1. Learn how to apply the privacy settings on your social media accounts and to delete (and if necessary report) offensive comments others might post on your page. 2. Get involved with your union in discussions around the adoption of social media policies at the workplace and negotiation of clauses about social media use in your enterprise agreements. 3. Avoid making comments on social media that are derogatory or critical about your workplace, colleagues or clients/customers. 4. Avoid excessive personal use of social media at the workplace. 5. Don’t post photos of yourself or others doing silly things at work.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott urged public servants to dob in mates who’ve posted online criticisms of their departments – even those who did so anonymously. Meanwhile, unions are warning employees to beware of information employers can glean from social media that could jeopardise their job. The CFMEU has urged mineworkers to beware of apps offered by employers that give access to company information, but could give the employer access to personal records including contacts and pictures, or even track location. Ms Kazakoff says there is no easy
fix to avoid social media strife but communication between employees, their employers and their unions is the best approach. “There’s no bright line here to delineate when monitoring of social media use is acceptable and when it is unnecessarily intrusive,” she says. “Whether it’s acceptable will depend on many factors.”
GET HELP AT WORK Phone 1300 4 UNION (1300 486 466).