1. A Sparkie and his fridge

After receiving the following email from Bruce Thompson - Business Program Coordinator of the Moreland Energy Foundation - the ETU has swung its resources behind a very significant community project:

I am working with a community based organisation developing practical programs to reduce greenhouse emissions. We are presently developing a scheme to collect, retrofit and distribute old domestic fridges to low income households in partnership with the Brotherhood of St Laurence and St Vincent de Paul .

The aim is to increase the efficiency of existing fridges, which will ultimately reduce CO 2 emissions and be cheaper to operate for low-income households. The first stage of the project trialled a series of retrofitting measures. This included simple seal replacement and fitting of insulation to shield the cabinet from the heat exchanger/compressor, to compressor refit and re-gas with hydrocarbon refrigerant.

I'm presently planning the second stage, which is a pilot scheme to collect and retrofit 100 fridge units. We will utilise existing collection and distribution networks of BSL and Vinnies and conduct the work with a team of volunteers. I'm catching up with RMIT TAFE to see if they're able to assist with refrigeration mechanic apprentices. We're looking around for sparkies who can give safety certification (tagging) for the units before they go out. I'd be keen to discuss with you or someone you suggest at the ETU about the project.

Shop steward Omar Merhi , who lives in the Moreland Municipality , and your correspondent (who does likewise), attended a meeting at Brunswick Town Hall on 15 July to discuss the strategy, which is called The Phoenix Fridge Program. 'It's a great initiative. If we can help people less fortunate than us, that's great. A fridge might not seem that important you and I. But it means a lot to a struggling family. And it's good for the union to be involved in this type of project,' he says.

So impressed was the Energy Foundation, they asked whether the ETU might be able to assist in a research project, MEFL, designed to get householders to reduce their demand for energy. Part of this project involves getting interval meters and cent a meters wired up into people's houses.

Once the 100 fridges have been located in a wharehouse in Brunswick , Omar will oversea the electrical safety check and the fridges will rise from the ashes and be on their way. It is expected that the project will up and running by the middle of August. The Phoenix Fridge Program is one of a number of major social projects in which the ETU is involved. If you'd like to assist Omar just send us an email.

2. Hardie takes the cake, and runs

Over the next fifteen years as many as 18,000 Australians are likely to have died from the deadly cancer caused by asbestos - mesothelioma. Australia has the highest rate of mesothelioma in the world and more than 500 Australians each year are now contracting the terminal disease.

Three years ago James Hardie relocated its business to the Netherlands where, in the absence of a legal treaty with Australia asbestos victims aren't able to pursue their right to compensation.

The ACTU Executive has called on the Federal Government to:

Enter into a treaty with the Netherlands that would enable enforcement of Australian civil judgements;

• Reach a special arrangement with the Netherlands to ensure the assets of the Netherlands-based James Hardie Industries NV are available to asbestos victims;
• Amend Australian law, retrospectively in the case of James Hardie, to ensure holding companies are liable to the victims of their subsidiaries in the case of personal injury or death and that a corporate group can be treated as a single entity for the purpose of enforcing a judgement; and
• Reform Australia 's Corporations Law so that the 'corporate veil' can no longer be used by companies to avoid their legal liabilities to employees and the community for compensation or workers' entitlements.

If you're angry about the way James Hardie has treated workers and want to send an email to the Prime Minister go to http://www.pm.gov.au/email.cfm

3. Fair trade, not free trade

You won't find that hysterical bloke in the Herald Sun or the captains of industry complaining, but there's any number of people concerned about the Free Trade Agreement with the United States . When there is a war on, the 'national interest' becomes the catch cry for the stay-at-home patriots who want to send other parents kids to war. When there's money to be made in the free market 'national interest' means opening the floodgates.

A meeting of the Executive of the Australian Council of Trade Unions in Sydney last week resolved:

The US/FTA negotiated by the Howard Government is in fact a preferential trade deal in the immediate interest of US companies with only limited and gradual entry of Australian primary products onto the US markets. 

The ACTU has listed the following issues as among those of most concern:

•  The swift reduction of manufacturing tariff with no industry development plan and the resulting job losses, particularly in the car component sector and TCF industries;

•  The capacity for Government procurement contracts to be swamped by American companies with restrictions on preference for Australian firms;

•  The restrictions on investment and local content requirements in regard to Australian production in pay TV and new media;

•  The review mechanism for listing of pharmaceutical products and its implication for longer term increases in Government subsidy;

•  Limits to the power of the Foreign Investment Review Board with a new threshold of $800m; and

•  The capacity to "bind" or freeze state and local services unless they are listed as exceptions; in particular water, electricity and transport which are not listed.

AND WHAT DOES THE DOCTOR FROM NEIGBOURS THINK?

The US/Australian Free Trade Agreement is a disaster for Australian Cultural Services, particularly in Film and Television Production. For over 40 years successive Australian Governments have recognised that our local Film and TV Industry cannot compete against imported product that is sold to us for a fraction of its original production cost. As a result Government has steadfastly maintained regulations to ensure Australian Content makes it to our TV screens. All Governments have also always maintained that cultural services are too important to the Nation's identity to be included in Trade Agreements.

The Howard Government has thrown this processes out the window and traded away our sovereign right to legislate in any meaningful way on content, particularly in the area of Pay TV and new and emerging technologies. As these new technologies take over from Free to Air television as the

main providers of entertainment, we can expect to see fewer and fewer expressions of our identity and culture on our television screens, laptops and telephones.

Alan Fletcher - President - Vic Branch of Media and Entertainment Alliance

4. TXU spells trouble

As the ETU continues its battle with TXU for a just EBA that, among other things, includes employing apprentices, the latest apprenticeship figures confirm the legitimacy of the Union 's position. Recent research commissioned by the ACTU indicates that Australian industry is facing a severe skill shortage in the coming years - largely as a result of an ageing industry workforce and a decline in the rates of apprentices in training.

The following is an excerpt from the ACTU press release:

An ageing manufacturing industry workforce means that in the next five years 170,000 tradespeople will leave industry, yet only 40,000 will enter it.  This suggests a shortage of 130,000 skilled workers in the next five years. The Federal Government spent $2.3 million in the first 6 months of this year claiming success with its New Apprenticeships program.

But traditional trades apprenticeships account for just under one third of New Apprenticeships places and numbers are failing to keep pace with a looming skills shortage in the traditional trades. As at 31 March 2004 there were 416,800 apprentices and trainees in training but only 32% of these are traditional trades apprentices. The number of traditional trades apprentices was 133,376 - see table below.

Table 1: New Apprenticeships Program - March 2004

While raw numbers of traditional trades apprenticeships have slightly increased in recent years, they have not kept pace with the growth in the overall workforce. A recent study by Dr Phillip Toner of the University of Western Sydney shows that overall the training rate of traditional trades apprentices has declined by 15.2% in the period 1987 to 2001. Dr Toner argues that industrial relations changes that have reduced the scope of awards and promoted individual agreements have also contributed to a decline in the training of apprentices :

"There is prima facie evidence that industrial relations changes have contributed to reduced training rates." Research by Roan and Lafferty shows 72% of AWAs contained no reference to training. (2003).

ETU ahead of the game :

The ACTU figures shouldn't obscure the progress made by the ETU in the area of apprentices. The employment of a full-time apprenticeship officer, the establishment of the Apprenticeship Committee, a recent victory that saw ETU apprentices paid for downtime, and the up coming launch of the inaugural Apprenticeship Newsletter are indicators of the importance the ETU places on apprentices. Nevertheless there's good reason to remind power companies such as TXU that the employment of apprenticeships is a critical part of any EBA. Just go to the ETU website http://www.etu.asn.au/ and you'll be able to send a message to TXU.

As part of the campaign against TXU the ETU is running ads on regional radio. This particular radio ad can be heard on our website. We were also planning to run ads in the Straits Times newspaper in Singapore . Unfortunately the newspaper declined, citing the ads as being in breach of the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore. Dean Mighell says the ETU stands by the ads and that Victorians should not be subjected to such acts of censorship, especially given the role Singapore Power will play in their lives having purchased TXU. As mentioned in earlier correspondence the ETU has written to the ACCC opposing the takeover on the grounds that it is anti competitive.

5. Domingo comes to town

Domingo Tovar, Human Rights Director with CUT - the Colombian equivalent of the ACTU - painted a grim tale of oppression in his homeland during an address at the VTHC on 23 July 2004 . Human rights abuses - with 40 unionists assassinated over the past 12 months - were, he said, the number one issue in Colombia . A warm spirited and affable man, Domingo enlisted an interpreter, Jorge Navas, to plot a course through the work of para-military groups, whose torture and assassination of ordinary Colombians makes the trial of David Hicks the consummate act of hypocrisy. The USA of course, with massive investment in Colombia , not only turns a blind eye to the violence but actively supports it. ILO conventions and any human rights that might impede the pursuit of profit are treated with contempt. According to Domingo 4000 unionists have been murdered in the last ten years.

As Mark Latham prepares to accept John Howard's Free Trade Agreement with the USA it's instructive to know that Domingo sees the assassinations and the abuse of human rights as a 'direct result of free trade agreements and privatisation.' Unbowed by the danger Domingo is one inspiring trade unionist.

He doesn't want pity or tears. All he wants is our solidarity. 'Raise money. Be active in Solidarity and pass on knowledge of what's happening in Colombia ', he asked the gathering.

As one Contracting Industry shop steward said after viewing the video 'Stop Killer Coke', which dealt with violence used against Coca Cola unionists, 'that's fucking unbelievable.' A good reason to support Domingo!

6. Refugee or queue jumper?

Dear ETU Editor,

Recently I was able to pass good news on to a young mother. Her husband has been recognised as a refugee after being locked in Nauru for three years. You would think this would be the answer to her dream, but her nightmare still continues. He is not allowed to apply for her to come to Australia because he is on a Temporary Protection Visa (TPV). She has been discovered by the country where she is hiding and will be deported to Afghanistan in a number of days. She will be unprotected in a place of devastation and danger. Her husband was a shop keeper, hardly a skill which will allow him to apply for a permanent visa under Mr Howard's new ' pre-election compassion package' so teasingly dangled in front of TPV holders. Proven refugees need a safe home. What is the point of making them suffer more? Votes?

AAWL agrees

The Australia Asia Worker Links' refugee project aims to support labour movement activity in favour of refugee rights. In consultation with refugees and refugee rights activists, AAWL has developed and is promoting the following campaign demands:

a) Close the detention centres, abolish mandatory detention.

b) Abolish Bridging Visa E and replace it with Bridging Visa A to provide asylum seekers with the right to work, health services and education.

c) Provide Permanent Residence (PR) status to all holders of Temporary Protection Visas (TPV) as they have already been recognised as refugees.

d) Stop the deportation of refugees.

If possible, we would like to propose that a refugee with experience of Australia 's mandatory detention regime speak at a branch council, officials or delegates meeting of your union. Please don't hesitate to contact me directly on 0438 301 853 to discuss any questions you may have regarding the AAWL Refugee Project.

Yours in solidarity,

Steve Cilia

Refugee Project Coordinator, AAWL

7. The Southern Cross - A fascinating object to behold

On Friday 30 July Branch Secretary Dean Mighell handed over the flag of the Southern Cross to Lord Mayor John So in a ceremony at the Melbourne Council Chambers. Present at the handover were members of the ETU Eureka Committee, VTHC Eureka Committee, CEPU Plumbers Secretary Earl Setches, TLC Eureka Ballarat, Senator Gavin Marshall, AMWU State Organiser Brendan Whelan and a representative from the Department of Premier and Cabinet's Eureka 150, Steven Richardson.

The ETU commissioned and paid for Evan Evans to make the flag - the biggest such flag in the world - as close as possible in likeness to the original Eureka flag. A local tent maker had sewed the original flag. Dean Mighell told the e TU online that 'given the level of racism experienced by Chinese on the goldfields, and the symbol of unity of the Southern Cross, it was a privilege to hand the flag over to a Chinese Australian.'

The flag will be hoisted on to the Haymarket flagpole on the corner of Elizabeth Street and Flemington Road on Friday 29 November, the day, 150 years ago, that one of the biggest protest meetings ever was held in Australia . On that day 10,000 miners gathered at Bakery Hill in Ballarat to protest against the tyranny of the goldfields administration and a license fee described by miners as 'taxation without representation.' Miner Raffaello Carboni would later write in his seminal book Eureka Stockade, 'the Southern Cross was hoisted up the flagpole - a very splendid pole, eighty feet in length, and straight and narrow. The maiden appearance of our standard, in the midst of armed men, sturdy self-over-working diggers of all languages and colours, was fascinating object to behold.' The flag reached its position atop the pole in full view of the Police Camp and prominent miner Timothy Hayes was heard to say 'will you die for it?'

Four days later around thirty miners answered Hayes' question in the affirmative. Carboni, of course, was arrested, tried and found not guilty for his part in the rebellion. Hayes too was tried and acquitted. The man in charge of that trial was none other than Justice Redmond Barry, whose statue stands out front of the State Library, only two blocks from the ETU office.

More of this when the ETU host its A night under the Southern Cross event alongside the Eureka Centre on Thursday 3 December. The event is covered in the ETU News.

8. Wodonga does a Bakery Hill

Due to state boundary anomalies it had been the case that an ETU member working on the Albury end of the bridge over the Mur ray would be paid less than their comrades at the Wodonga end. After a concerted campaign, that injustice has come to an end, with anyone now working within a 120 km radius of Albury-Wodonga being paid under the 2003-2005 Victorian EBA pay rates.

On Wednesday 28 July the ETU called a joint mass meeting, held at the Wodonga Civic, Hall to discuss the possible impact of the re-election of a Howard government. On the agenda also was the problem of red and green cards not being interchangeable on either side of the border.

The unions had previously taken the issue to WorkSafe, who responded by saying that the cards did not confer the same rights and that there hands were tied on the issue of insurance and liability. A resolution was passed calling on the Carr and Bracks governments to resolve the problem.

More than 250 construction workers across the construction unions - CFMEU, ETU, CEPU and AMWU - attended the meeting, where speakers included ETU organiser Mick Montebello, Mark Tait (Fozzie), Tony Murphy, and Martin Kingham. Representatives from the unions in NSW also spoke and gave their unequivocal support on the border agreement issue and said the card issue had to be resolved. Matt McCann from the NSW branch of the ETU has taken the issue to the appropriate authorities.

The consensus of the meeting was that a Howard government would make an all-out assault on the VBIA, the protect scheme, co-invest (portability) monthly payments and site allowances, and PATTERN BARGAINING, which would have the potential to put an end to the uniform 9-day fortnight - RDOs - severance, income protection, industry rates of pay and apprentice ratios across industry.

Mick Montebello described the mass meeting is as very significant step forward and the first time 'we've ever had a mass meeting across the construction industry in the Albury-Wodonga area.' Mick went on to say that 'many members appeared unaware of how bad a Howard government would be for workers. At least now they know.'

9. Do we have a course for you!

In the current edition of the ETU News we've included a brief interview with power industry shop steward Di McDonald. Di is in the process of completing her Level One Shop Steward Course and speaks highly of the value of the course. This course provides shop stewards with the skills and knowledge required to be an effective shop steward. The Level One course runs from 21-24 September and 16 - 19 November. It runs over 4 Days, is free and includes content on:

The role of a Shop Steward - Local union administration issues - Workplace meetings - Workplace Relations Act - Awards - Enterprise Agreements - Workplace mapping - Entitlement compliance - Discrimination and Harassment - Grievance handling and problem solving and Negotiation and Workplace communication strategies:

The Level Two Shop Steward Course runs for 3 days and is recommended for shop stewards who have completed the Level One course. The Level Two course runs from 20 - 22 October. Content includes AIRC Hearings- Case study of industry campaigns -Current issues - Develop workplace structures -Meeting presentation - Report writing / public speaking and Workplace presentation

To check the course dates, please click on http://www.etu.asn.au/members/trainingcal.html

When you receive your ETU News you'll note that we're carrying an advertisement from lawyers, Maurice Blackburn Cashman. All ETU members are offered a free first consultation.

All you need to do is ring Freecall 1800 810 812 or visit www.mauriceblackburncashman.com.au to find out more. Victorian Offices can be found in: Melbourne , Ballarat, Bairnsdale, Bendigo , Dandenong, Epping, Frankston, Geelong , Ringwood, Sunshine.

11. More Member Benefits for you

We've also devoted a page to the Member Benefit Discount booklet and a new provider Where to Enjoy in the latest ETU News. The ETU Southern States Branch is currently developing this Member Benefits programme in association with numerous suppliers of products and services. This will enable members and supporters to take further advantage of the strength that comes with the ETU Membership Card in the form of discounts or improved services. Some suppliers will require you to quote a group number, others will simply ask for your OK card. Click on the item that interest you and a description will be given on the product or service. Products and services will continue to be added to this page and members should check regularly what is available.

As an ETU member you now have access to even more benefits as each ETU member now receives their very own ETU Where To Enjoy Member Handbook & Card. Your new ETU member card with the Where To Enjoy logo enables you to access valuable Benefits & Savings within the Where To Enjoy National Program. To find out more, click on http://www.wheretoenjoy.com/etu/

And don't forget the service provided by the Union Shopper. In the December edition of the ETU News we hope to outline a discount deal with Ray's Outdoors. Stay tuned.

12. Next edition eTU Online

Thanks for reading this issue of eTU online. You'll receive your next issue in September 5, 2004.