Autumn issue 2103 - cfmeu

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EASTERN SUBURBS REPORT with Vinnie Molina & Tawa Harris What do bosses fear? It has come to our attention that bosses fear the right to organise and collective bargaining. Some of the builders in the Southern corridor and more recently at Perth Airport try all the tricks in the book to prevent union organisers meeting with workers. The common line is direct from the CCI recipes “workers don’t want to be disturbed”, “they don’t want to talk to you”, “freedom of choice”, “what is the issue?”, “who wants to see you?”, etc. Builders of the Leighton’s family share the same IR policies and do whatever they can to prevent contact with workers. As recently as February another organiser and myself had to be very creative in order to deliver the message about the rally for jobs and local content to the workers on site. Happy to report we did it! The guys were very receptive but the Perkins Supervisor almost died of fright in his last week with this builder. Unfortunately for him the industry is actually quite small and we will catch up with him again in the near future with his next employer. It was not the only incident. As reported in the last issue of the CW, Broads called in the Federal Police to help them deal with the union over inclement weather and unreasonable conditions on the right of entry. Terminal 2 is now finished and the builder placed several ads in the newspaper telling readers how good they are, of course ignoring the number of safety incidents and breaches to the basic rights to belong to the collective. Inclement Weather is a hard won entitlement undermined by bosses who chose to pay all up rates instead. Many workers actually believe the bosses lies that they are not entitled to paid inclement weather. Two incidents of heat exhaustion, a dangerous condition, at the Broad airport site is a serious warning that inclement weather should not be ignored. WHY THE FEAR? We try hard to understand the bosses behaviour in obstructing access to workers but there is only one answer, they fear workers organisation. We are obviously winning the class war. We will continue with our struggle for workers’ rights and we will ensure we will be there one day longer than them. The most committed wins! WELCOME TAWA I, along with all our union comrades, would like to welcome Tawa Harris on board as an organiser of our great union. Get in touch: If working in the Southern corridor don’t hesitate to contact us by SMS or call Vinnie Molina on 0419 812 872 or Tawa Harris on 0419 812 864. Construction Worker – Autumn 2013 Page 51 CFMEU
U N I O N N E W S with Joe McDonald Will this be a glimpse of things to come under a Tony Abbott regime? You would think it was an exercise by US Navy Seals, but in reality a helicopter was used to fly in foreign workers to bust a picket line in Werribie Victoria at the Western Treatment Plant. The community picket, made up of a lot of unemployed tradies, was disgusted that while they were on the picket with no job and no pay – Filipino workers were being flown in over the picket by their employer. A protest spokesperson said Filipino workers on 457 work visas were being flown in while local unemployed tradespeople desperately searched for work. The visas enable companies to sponsor foreign workers if skills cannot be found locally. Life under Abbott? Those on the picket line had a clear and fair message; employ local unemployed people before visa workers. O F F S I T E R O U N D U P with Aaron Mackrell & Pat Heathcote Wages Recovered for casual workers It’s always good when our union swings into action for the members. We are proud in our union to perform at the service end. When a problem comes to our attention we act on it and when it comes to members missing out on hard earned money in their pocket for themselves and their families – watch out! A combined total of over $16,000 was back paid to nine casual employees working in the GCS Rapid yard in Redcliffe. It may not seem like a lot when you break it down per person but it’s money that belongs in the pockets of our members and that’s where it ended up! For those that don’t know, GCS supply scaffold to numerous sites and projects throughout Western Australia. Under the EBA for their Back in the workers pocket: $16,000! Redcliffe yard any casuals employed in the yard are required to be paid at the same rate as the permanent employees plus any applicable loading. For a number of months this wasn’t happening. When it was brought to our attention it was acted on immediately. Thank you to our shop steward ‘Jimbo’ for getting all the affected employees together and for keeping them up to date during the whole process. The GCS boys have proven that it pays to be a CFMEU member. If you think you are missing out or need advice call Aaron Mackrell on 0403 432 221 or Pat Heathcote on 0459 135 033. Construction Worker – Autumn 2013 Page 53 CFMEU
Page 1 and 2: ISSUES ON HOLLAND’S HOSPITAL SITE
Page 3 and 4: S E C R E TA R Y ’ S A D D R E S
Page 5 and 6: TEMPORARY WORKERS DEBATE with Graha
Page 7 and 8: U N I O N N E W S with Mick Buchan
Page 9 and 10: U N I O N N E W S with Steve McCann
Page 11 and 12: U N I O N N E W S with Graham Pallo
Page 13 and 14: U N I O N N E W S with Joe McDonald
Page 15 and 16: U N I O N N E W S with Mick Buchan
Page 17 and 18: “Fit In or F-Off goes the mantra.
Page 19 and 20: M E E T O U R M E M B E R S with Jo
Page 21 and 22: U N I O N R A L LY with Mick Buchan
Page 23 and 24: F E AT U R E with Peter Joshua THE
Page 25 and 26: N O R T H W E S T R E P O R T with
Page 27 and 28: continued from previous page This m
Page 29 and 30: NORTHERN SUBURBS REPORT with Seamus
Page 31 and 32: N O R T H W E S T R E P O R T with
Page 33: N O R T H W E S T N E W S with Brad
Page 37 and 38: I N T E R N AT I O N A L N E W S wi

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