www.workinglife.org.au
Issue 4, 14-27 October 2013
Billy gives unions something they can Bragg about BRITISH singer-songwriter Billy Bragg has always worn his union activisim on his sleeve, so when he was asked to show his support for Australian Unions during a recent promotional tour to Australia, Bragg had no hesitation. Bragg’s political awareness came of age during the British Miners’ Strike in 1984 and he strongly believes that unions are as relevant as ever in fighting injustice and inequality around the world. In October last year, for Anti-Poverty Week, Bragg held stage for a brief free gig for a union rally at Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station, where he performed one of his best known songs, ‘There is Power in a Union’. “No political party is willing to hold employers to account any more,” Bragg told Working Life last year. “Only unions do that.” Bragg will be touring Australia again early next year on the back of his latest album, Tooth & Nail. Picture and story by Mark Phillips
Court decision upholds OHS rights by NEIL WILSON
THE rights of elected union delegates to do their duty as health and safety representatives have been reinforced by an important court decision. Packaging and recycling giant Visy has been fined $52,470 in the Federal Court for victimising a union delegate who sidelined two defective forklifts. Visy threatened Australian Manufacturing Workers Union delegate Jon Zwart with dismissal after he put OHS “tag” notices on two unsafe forklifts at its Coburg can factory in 2011 because their beepers were not loud enough, consistent with the company’s own “zero tolerance” safety campaign.
The court agreed with the AMWU position that the company’s attitude to Mr Zwart was totally unjustified. Justice Bernard Murphy found the result of an “independent” inquiry the company instigated into the worker’s conduct was neither impartial nor truly independent of Visy management. Justice Murphy criticised evidence by Visy’s plant operations manager Robin Street as “unreliable,” finding he should have never suspended Jon Zwart from work, investigated his actions or later issued him with a final warning notice. Continued page 4
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14-27 October 2013
Letter from America
Please, Australia, resist going down this path
T
he Great Idea that is America is now facing its biggest threat since the socalled Gilded Age of the robber barons and, if what I am reading is to be believed, Australia is now under attack from those same forces. It seems the Australian establishment is once again hell-bent on importing the worst of US ideology. I have spent almost five years here, living on a small income in a small community in one of the poorer states where the reality that is the New America is painfully evident. In this New America, just 1% of the population owns 40% of the wealth, while 80% own only 7%. That 80% includes what were once called the middle class but are now,
literally, the working poor. A CEO in the US today earns in an hour what his employees earn in a month. Not too long ago, Congress voted to permanently freeze the legal minimum wage for fast-food employees at $2.13 an hour - the average salary of an executive in this industry is $11.9 million - while the President’s push for a $10 minimum wage is being blocked. Sadly, even this amount would not raise a family above poverty level. The Supreme Court decision that corporations are also citizens has meant vested
interests are now in a position to dominate elections. Ads denouncing politicians or organisations opposing these interests are seen year-round on television, months and even years away from elections. Their sponsors are faceless billionaires and companies hiding behind patriotic-sounding names while further undermining the “middle-class” they claim to champion. While there is a strong case for US tax reform, some of the loudest voices raised in resistance to any changes at all come from individuals and companies who already benefit hugely from a skewed system. Some companies – household names – have paid no tax for years while one billionaire, sympathetic to the need for change, has pointed out that his personal tax rate is less than his secretary’s. America is in crisis on many fronts and a billionaire-backed minority holds the country to ransom as Congress blocks all attempts to make amends. Government has become dysfunctional, mired down by an ideologydriven fringe backed by billionaires and the companies they control. Australia should not descend to this level. The USA, the Noble Experiment, is fast becoming a country where entitlement and wellbeing are determined by wealth. The democracy whose ordinary citizens are protected by a Constitution and Bill of Rights rightfully held up as models for the world is becoming a nightmare for most. Australia, please take heed and resist the calls for change from the Business Council, corporations and politicians who would see our country follow the same path.
Frank Povah is an Australian living in the United States. He was shocked to discover the poverty that exists in the world’s largest economy an the appalling conditions under which people work. He was moved to write this article after reading about the renewed push by the business lobby to cut the minimum wage here
GET IN TOUCH
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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At Work
World-class casino workers say they deserve world-class pay It’s Australia’s biggest casino and boasts of being among the best in the world. So isn’t just a matter of fairness that employees of Crown Casino receive world-class pay and conditions?
by IAN MUNRO
WE ARE CROWN Find out more and support the campaign. Take action at:
wearecrown.com.au
CROWN College: 3AM. The city might be dozing but the casino never sleeps. Three storeys above Whiteman Street on Melbourne’s Southbank, 103 casino workers crowd into a training room. It is 11 months since they and their union, United Voice, began carving out an enterprise agreement proposal. Pressured by a constantly evolving campaign, Crown Casino has improved its offer five times, but it has not yet done enough. Crown boasts it is a world-class casino operator, and staff are demanding in return world-class conditions. This is the first of 10 meetings to roll through Crown’s working day: the last is set to finish at 11.30pm. By then, in the biggest union site meeting ever at Crown, about 700 workers will have unanimously set an ultimatum on Crown: provide key improvements to conditions such as pay and annual leave, or else union members are committed to fight and begin the process for a protected action ballot. Maintaining the campaign has meant channelling a dynamic groundswell of activism of a type not seen before at Crown. A member of the negotiating team, Jac Trimboli, says the 2010 enterprise bargaining campaign might have passed unnoticed for some staff, but not this one. “There is so much going on,” she says. “If you work at Crown everyone is on their phone, they
are either getting email or text messages from us, or they are on Facebook.” Emails, text messages, Twitter and the campaign’s Facebook page break the news of Crown’s moves at the end of each bargaining meeting. And they give members a platform to send a message to management that they will not take a backward step. “They have just been trying to draw us out as long as they can,” says Jordan MacLeod, a 22-year-old food and beverage worker who is witnessing her first enterprise bargaining campaign. “People [Crown workers] are extremely disappointed and angry with Crown. They tell us we are world-class standard but when they came back and said ‘no’ to us, it was just kind of pathetic.” Key to the Crown workers’ claim is for worldclass pay and conditions, including an extra week’s paid annual leave – Crown has responded with the offer of an extra week of unpaid leave. Its pay offer of a 3% increase has shifted to 3.5%: still not enough for a workforce that turns over $1.9 billion and generates more than $470 million in profit and that has heard James Packer declare “Our workers are our most valuable asset”. Staff are also demanding better career structures and greater job security with less resort to contract labour. Continued page 6
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Continued from page 1 Mr Street had suspended Mr Zwart and ordered the “independent” investigation because he claimed the AMWU member was “uncooperative” by insisting safety regulations be followed. When Mr Zwart rejected a company proposal that forklift drivers honk their horn and turn their head when reversing as unsafe, Mr Street accused him of trying to disrupt production. Mr Zwart’s stance was later endorsed by two outside safety experts. Disruption to work turned out to be minimal with the forklifts adjusted with louder beepers later on the day of the incident, 8 August, 2011. The court found that Visy had engaged in adverse action against Mr Zwart, leaving it open to a maximum $33,000 fine on each of three breaches of the Fair Work Act. The company was ordered to pay $23,100 for wrongly investigating and suspending Mr Zwart. Justice Murphy also set a $24,750 penalty
14-27October 2013 Mr Zwart, who has been at Visy for 25 years, said he was glad the stressful matter was over but believed the union’s perseverance had been “absolutely worthwhile.” He said the case had proven the rights of workplace health and safety representatives to disagree with employers without suffering discrimination. “I think it’s a big lesson for standing your ground when you believe you’re right and standing up to bullying,” he said. “What’s happened to me has changed attitudes on the shop floor; the guys are stoked because we’ve established the principle of our workplace rights and responsibilities under the OHS Act. “It’s also our right as employees to have a safe workplace, to be provided with a safe environment.” The AMWU’s lawyer in the case, Slater & Gordon’s Brad Annson, said Justice Murphy’s decision confirmed OHS care as a workplace right. It means employers should not regard an OHS rep as un-cooperative just because his or
“I think it’s a big lesson for standing your ground when you believe you’re right and standing up to bullying.” - John Zwart
for Visy wrongly issuing a final warning to Mr Zwart, which is 75% of the maximum penalty. The judge said he realised such amounts were not large for an enterprise with $330 million in profit but served as a deterrent for any company from taking adverse action against an employee properly exercising their responsibilities under the OHS Act. “The contraventions are serious and Visy must be deterred from again infringing the workplace right enjoyed by health and safety representatives and employees to raise their legitimate OHS concerns,” he said. Justice Murphy said Visy should have understood and been guided by the fact that a forklift operating around pedestrian traffic in an industrial setting was inherently dangerous. THIS is the second time in three years Visy has suffered major penalties over forklift safety, including a $112,000 fine in 2010 for an earlier incident at its Wodonga plant when a woman was injured by a forklift moving at speed.
her opinion does not agree with theirs. Bosses should accept that an independent OHS rep has a duty of care to fellow workers under OHS law. The case also means employers cannot evade their possible liability for wrongly imposing disciplinary actions by engaging an external consultant to investigate an employee, and that OHS reps have protections under the Fair Work Act, provided they act with a genuine concern for safety. AMWU State Secretary Steve Dargavel said Visy had a culture of blame where management first sought to punish its workers for safety failures, rather than look at its own practices. Studies showed workers in unionised workplaces were up to 50% less likely to be injured in a workplace accident, largely due to union vigilance and union-sanctioned education of workers in OHS, Mr Dargavel said. He also said the reluctance of WorkSafe to take enforcement action against employers responsible for clear breaches of workplace safety regulations was a continual problem.
SPEAK UP FOR HEALTH AND SAFETY When confronted by a health or safety issue at work, you don’t have to deal with it alone. Take action at: safeatwork.org.au
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Anti-Poverty Week 2013
Photo: flickr/cadillacdeville2000
The fightback for jobs we can count on starts now
Taking it to the streets: last year’s Fluro Fightback, featuring Billy Bragg, was a huge success. Picture: Mark Phillips
R
ECENTLY, the National Union of Workers recorded an interview with Lisa Heap from the Australian Institute of Employment Rights about the chapter she by TIM KENNEDY has written on insecure work for the new book NUW Victorian Secretary Pushing Our Luck. One of the most shocking findings of Lisa’s work was that 40% of homeless people in Australia are working. Many of our working homeless are at the pointy end of Australia’s insecure work crisis. They are working without guaranteed hours or income, without any paid leave or security of ongoing employment. A shocking 40% of For those of us who believe our society should be based on fairness, equality and the homeless people in health of our communities, this is a damning Australia are in paid statistic that should act as a call to action. employment In a wealthy country, such as Australia, it can’t be considered fair that a person can have a job and still not be able to secure proper housing. Insecure work affects 40% of workers today in Australia, a trend that is growing. This increase in insecure work at the expense of permanent jobs is threatening workplace safety, mental health, the ability for workers
to collectively bargain, or earn enough to participate fully in society. Faced with this disturbing reality we are now to be subject to a Liberal-National Party government policy to instigate a Productivity Commission review of workplace laws. This organisation has form in marginalising people in the interests of vested interests and capital. Indeed, with a new Government barely sworn in, big business is shouting for Prime Minister Tony Abbott to undermine the current Fair Work laws. We must confront this challenge by redoubling efforts to organise. If we don’t, we can expect wages for working people to be cut, penalty rates to be axed, third party employment models to become even more prevalent, and all while company tax rates are lowered, the mining tax scrapped and further employment deregulation is introduced in an attempt to drive worker against worker. For more than two years now, the NUW has focused on one union campaign across our sites and in our communities. Jobs You Can Count On is a campaign based Continued next page
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Continued from page 3 However, for much of this campaign Crown did not even say ‘no’, Jac Trimboli recalls. “Five bargaining meetings in we still did not have a response to our claim,” she says. “That’s five meetings of answering questions, of explaining things. We gave them a week to prepare for the last and they still don’t seem able to come back with a genuine offer.” Initially 1403 staff proposed their ideas for better jobs at Crown by responding to a ‘census’. The census asked what three things workers would change about their job. They responded with fairer pay, a transparent process to move to part-time to full-time work, improved career progression and a better work-life balance. This is, after all, a business where a table dealer might for two months work from 8pm until 4am and then switch to working noon until 8pm for two months. They routinely sacrifice their nights, weekends and public holidays for Crown, which can take an enormous toll on people’s family and social lives. “I have lost touch with most of my close friends because it’s too hard to keep in touch,” says Crown table game dealer James Hamor. “I am working most weekends, and those weekends I am not working I am busy doing something because I have been working all week.” Within the campaign momentum built inexorably. When Crown stalled through those early meetings workers responded with a photo petition on the We Are Crown Facebook page. Five hundred workers were pictured telling Crown it was time to talk and to show respect. Continued from previous page on uniting all workers: permanent, labour hire, contract or casual. No longer did we want to be the National Union of Full-time Workers. Our aim is to truly become the National Union of Workers. This has affected the way we hold meetings on site, the approach we take collectively when fellow casual members are targeted, the way we bargain for new agreements and what we bargain for. This year, 15 community activists across Australia helped NUW members hold community meetings to discuss insecure work, community street stalls were setup, almost 2000 people completed our community survey, and 17 federal candidates in the 2013 election signed onto the Jobs You Can Count On Pollies Pledge. But we have much more to do. There are so many individual stories of hardship in this campaign. One comes from a
14-27 October 2013 And when Crown’s delaying tactics continued 300 workers joined in a “Letter to James Packer” campaign-within-the-campaign. Sixty of these letters were read aloud during a bargaining meeting. “There should be more compensation for our late hours and no penalties. “More annual leave and higher pay would go a long way,” declared one. Another took up Crown’s own theme: “You want world-class staff? We need world-class pay!” All told workers have made more than 8000 individual actions of commitment to the campaign. The latest move has been to urge
“Every tactic has been to put something in their face showing management we are fighting a real fight.” - Jac Trimboli
members to register support for protected industrial action and to issue an ultimatum to management, put a world class offer on the table or staff will file for a protected action ballot. “We have achieved a lot in 12 meetings,” said Jac Trimboli. “With their stalling tactic we countered it with pressure on the floor, the photo petition, the letters to Packer. “Every tactic has been to put something in their face showing Crown’s management we are fighting a real fight.” casual NUW member who was working in regional Victoria. He was liked at work and considered a hard worker. But then he injured his back on the job and was sacked after lodging a WorkCover application. When the union followed up with his employer, they said due to an argument with an agency manager over the phone, he had to be let go. He was left with very few legal avenues to fight for his job and injury support because he was hired casually through a labour hire agency. Unable to work or afford his rent he moved in with a friend, frightened of ending up homeless. When people are treated like this, thrown on the scrapheap without any support, we have to ask ourselves what kind of society are we living in? And, if we agree that we want better than this, how do we fight back? The NUW believes we start in our workplaces by workers organising together. And then we take the campaign into our homes, communities and the public at large.
EVERY WORKER COUNTS Take the pledge to stand together for jobs you can count on. Take action at:
www.nuw.org.au/ campaigns/jobs-youcan-count-on
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Ask Us
Am I entitled to paid parental leave on a 457 visa? by RIGHTS WATCH
Despite passing the work test, a 457 visa does not guarantee access to the paid parental leave scheme
GOT A PROBLEM AT WORK? You’ve come to the right place. Share your workplace issues with our other readers and get free advice from the Australian Unions helpline if you have a problem with your pay, entitlements, health and safety or anything else at work. Phone 1300 4 UNION (1300 486 466).
LORRAINE asks: I have a question regarding the paid/unpaid maternity leave for 457 visa holders. I have been working in Australia for two years, with two employers, one-and-a-half years of this time has been on a 457 visa. Am I entitled to paid maternity leave as I am the holder of this visa? I am not due until May 2014 meaning I would be sponsored on a 457 for two years prior to the baby being born. My partner is Australian and we have been dating for the past year and a half, however we have not lived together therefore not eligible for de facto. Is that correct? We are weighing up our options. Hi Lorraine. Along with passing the work test, that is having: • worked for at least 10 of the 13 months before the birth or adoption of your child, and • worked for at least 330 hours in that 10 month period (just over one day a week), with no more than an eight week gap between two
consecutive working days; one of the other criteria for qualifying for the government paid parental leave scheme is that you must meet residency requirements from the date the child enters your care until the end of your paid parental leave period. As you’re on a 457 visa, it is unfortunately unlikely you would do so as your visa is specifically related to you working. Questions around visas are best referred to the Department of Immigration. I’m not ducking the issue, it’s just that the specifics of visas are quite complex and I’d hate to give you misinformation. Their number is 131 881. Don’t forget though that although you may not be eligible for the PPL scheme, you have just as much right as any other worker to: a safe workplace and the same wages and conditions under awards and agreements as Australian workers doing the same work in the same workplace. If you have any questions or are having any problems at work, give the Australian Unions team a call on 1300 486 466.
The perils of casual work TAIJA asks: I am a casual worker in hospitality, and recently I sent my manager an email stating the days and times I will be unavailable for work, as my life situation has changed and I can only do day shifts Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I gave him three weeks’ notice. Today when I saw my roster he has put me on those evenings and when I questioned him he said he can’t always give me those times off as Fridays are busy and that he tries to make up for it in the weekends. However I need the stability of knowing I have those certain times off, every week, as they are the only times I will see my partner, who is working away. Hi Taija. I completely understand that this must be really disappointing for you, especially as up until now things have been going along quite smoothly. Unfortunately though, as a casual there is no certainty around shifts and if he doesn’t need you
on your preferred days but does need you on the weekend nights, then he’s under no obligation to provide you with your preferred shifts. This is especially the case in an industry like hospitality when weekend evenings are probably the busiest time. This is one of the real problems with casual work – yes, people do get paid a casual loading to make up for the lack of paid sick leave, annual leave and security. But the flip side of that is it’s really difficult to organise your life. Would he be happy for you to swap shifts with someone if they wanted your night and the extra penalty rates? Or perhaps you could come to some arrangement where you only work nights every second weekend? It might be worthwhile approaching him – remember try to keep calm and open to compromise and it could work out. Remember to keep notes of all discussions. I really wish you all the best with this.