Friday 1 March 2002 - Media Release

NEW LAWS TO PROTECT EMPLOYEES NEEDED AS BUILDING COMPANY ADMITS $275,000 PAYMENT FOR DISCRIMINATION AGAINST SHOP STEWARD

The admission by Mr James contradicts various earlier assertions by Baulderstone senior management that they had paid the "industrial consultants" to broker "union peace" on the site or to secure an agreement with the ETU.

The Commissioner, Mr Terence Cole, has criticized the ethics and culture of Baulderstone in secretly hiring the consultants, making the payment and excluding the company's Employee Relations Manager from the process to ensure she did not "interfere."

"I'm disgusted by the actions of Baulderstone senior management and the way they have conducted themselves and new laws to protect employees from this blatant discrimination are needed immediately," Electrical Trades Union State Secretary, Dean Mighell, said today.

"Clearly the current discrimination laws are inadequate and are not serving as a deterrent to prevent employers, such as Baulderstone, from engaging in such underhand tactics."

"The whole affair stinks. It draws into question the integrity of the entire company and is a slur against this State's building and construction industry."

"This union has uncovered serious illegal conduct involving one of the largest builders in the nation. We won't allow this to be swept under the carpet. We will pursue it by every means possible."

Yesterday, the Victorian Trades Hall Council Building Industry Group called for urgent discussions with all of Baulderstone's existing clients, including the Victorian Government, to discuss the matter.

"Baulderstone has to come clean on what it thought it was getting from its "industrial consultants" for $275,000. What is clear is that their intention was to illegally discriminate against one of our stewards by preventing his employment by an electrical sub-contractor," Mr Mighell said.

"Despite Baulderstone's secret interference the Union successfully pursued the employment of the steward. However Baulderstone failed to come clean on either the payment or its attempt to discriminate until forced to do so by the Union and the Commission."

"We can no longer trust Baulderstone Hornibrook because of the actions first uncovered by the Union."

Media enquiries:

Dean Mighell, State Secretary ETU 0418 354 362
Shane Cahill CPR (03) 9654 4799, 0413 620 457

2.
Victoria's New Manufacturing Future

The Victorian Trades Hall has launched a campaign to focus the minds of state and federal politicians on the Victorian manufacturing industry. Nearly 40% of Victorians are directly or indirectly employed by the industry and it is vital to all regions of the state.

The stewards endorsed a campaign to pressure politicians to:

• Develop a venture capital fund (modelled on an existing scheme at the national level) to invest in new manufacturing and to create jobs;
• Commence a well-resourced campaign to improve the image of manufacturing and manufacturing jobs;
• Invest in skills formation, increase funds for training and establish manufacturing centres of excellence in key industry sub-sectors;
• Increase support for the use of locally made products and give additional funding to the Industrial Supplies Office;
• Implement a program to double the number of exporters;
• link government assistance to company guarantees to keep jobs.

The campaign will be developed by the VTHC and a stewards committee.

Some campaign material including petitions and postcards has already been developed and is available at the Union office.

Stewards will be asked to attend further meetings regarding this vital issue.

3.
Site of the Month - OSIRIS

The Commonwealth Department of Employment and Workplace Relations maintains a site that consolidates Awards and Agreements that have been certified by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC).

The site is called OSIRIS, possibly after the Egyptian god of the dead, underworld and vegetation.

Not every agreement is available on the site and it may take a few weeks to upload agreements as they come from the AIRC, however it is a very useful resource to check agreements and awards.

The URL address is http://www.osiris.gov.au/

4.
National Foods - Members Win

After months of negotiations culminating in industrial action by ETU members at National Foods, members have finally broken the company and got what they wanted out of their first ever EBA.

The members, who were previously on individual common law contracts, had taken protected industrial action over remaining clauses which included common expiry date, annual leave arrangements and facilitative arrangements.

An inspection of the site revealed OH&S problems at the site.

When the breakthrough came and the company capitulated to Members' demands on the remaining issues.

The agreement includes a common expiry date to line up with Campaign 2003, Award protection, 15% pay increase backdated to October 2000, clauses covering use of contract labour and an Income Protection Scheme.

It now includes a right of entry clause for Union officials to see members at any anytime (no police escort required).

The commitment by the ETU members at National Foods and the assistance received from the AMWU - Metal division during this dispute were fantastic and everyone is now looking forward to the next EBA and pay rises in just over 12 months' time.

5.
Power Tool Specialists

Power Tool Specialists, a partner in the ETU member benefit programme, offers ETU Members 10% off store prices (with the exception of specials) on presentation of the ETU membership card.

Full service, repairs and hire department. Warranty agents for all major brands.

Power Tool Specialists Pty. Ltd
118 Cardigan St
Carlton
VIC 3053
Phone: (03) 9347 4888
Fax: (03) 9348 1035

Email: sales@powertoolspecialists.com.au

http://www.powertoolspecialists.com.au/

6.
ETU Annual Ticket Draw

The winner of the ETU Annual Ticket draw this year was Robert Clark of Maffra Victoria.

Robert, who has taken an annual ticket for many years, has won two economy air tickets to anywhere in Australia plus $500.00 spending money. Congratulations!

7.
Free ETU T-Shirt

In the next few days, financial members of the Southern States Branch will receive a letter from the union outlining an offer of a free ETU T-shirt.

Please complete the form and return by post to the Melbourne office by Monday March 25.

8.
Members Equity Banking - No Bullshit

Members Equity, whose corporate mission statement is "No Bullshit", are pleased to advise that Union members now have access to their new InterestME Savings Account, which features high interest rates, no account keeping fees and easy access facilities including ATMs, EFTPOS and giroPost (at Australia Post).

Other features and benefits of the InterestME Savings Account include:

• No minimum balance required
• Up to 15 free EFTPOS transactions per month
• High interest rates (3.75% p.a. on amounts in excess of $3,000,
• 0.25% p.a. on the first $3,000)
• Only $1 for any ATM, giroPost or cheque transaction
• Free phone and internet banking (available shortly)
• Free direct debit and direct credit services

For further information on our InterestME Savings Account, please call our National Call Centre on 1300 654 990 or speak with your local Super Members Home Loans (SMHL) / Members Equity representative Jim at

jgiannakopoulos@membersequity.com.au

http://membersequity.com.au/

9.
Palm Sunday rally for refugees

The VTHC has endorsed a rally and concert in support of refugees and aiming to bring to an end mandatory detention.

Thousands of Australians will be marching on Palm Sunday March 24. The rally will commence at the Melbourne Town Hall at 1:30 pm and proceed to the Treasury Gardens for a concert.

Contact Trades Hall on 03 9662 3511

www.justiceforrefugees.org

10.
STA Superannuation SuperSite

Members in the manufacturing industry who are members of STA superannuation can now use the new member services SuperSite to check their STA account balance, find out what payments have been made into their account, change their address or lodge their Tax File Number.

To find out how to register for this new service, please call 1300 368 118 during business hours. STA give you a PIN number while you're on the phone. That's all you'll need, besides your membership number, to access your account.

Account details are 100 per cent private and secure; you can only access your own account and personal details.

www.stasuper.com.au