Western Power industrial action

Posted Sat Jul 25, 2009 11:24am AEST

Western Power workers are implementing working to rule over an ongoing pay issue.

Western Power workers have stepped up their industrial campaign after another round of wage negotiations broke down.

Staff recently rejected the utility’s offer of a 5 per cent a year pay rise over 5 years as part of a new collective agreement.

Paul Burlinson from the Australian Workers Union says Western Power has failed to reach a compromise with the union after 2 weeks of negotiations.

Mr Burlinson says employees are implementing a work to rule campaign and are refusing to do overtime.

“The stoppages are being taken over the next few days will be limited stoppages of 4 hours duration,” he said.

“We’ll be targetting those actions to ensure they impact upon Western Power but do not impact upon the community or third party.”

TAFE teachers take on Govt over wages

Posted Tue Aug 11, 2009 11:46am AEST
Updated Tue Aug 11, 2009 2:41pm AEST

TAFE teachers have voted overwhelmingly to take more industrial action over pay and conditions if a stalemate with the New South Wales Government is not broken.

The teachers say the Government is going too far by demanding that they work increased hours and reduce professional development time in exchange for a 12 per cent pay rise.

They had accepted the pay rise in February, to be funded by Treasury as well as trade-offs to be negotiated with the State Government.

But Teachers’ Federation president Bob Lipscomb says the Government is asking for trade-offs worth millions of dollars more than the cost of the pay rise.

“We agreed to look at the gap between the 7.5 per cent they told us was funded by Treasury for salaries and the 12 per cent salary increase awarded overall,” he said.

“However, what they’re asking for now from TAFE teachers would fund that gap many times over.

“In fact, it would probably fund it three times over, so it’s nothing more than a grab for cash from the TAFE system by the State Government.”

Education Department director-general Michael Coutts-Trotter says the union is reneging on its agreement to accept trade-offs.

“The productivity offsets that we’ve identified and some other changes go no further than meeting the unfunded component of the 12.5 per cent cumulative wage rise over three years,” he said.

“It doesn’t produce any additional money. It is simply what is necessary to pay for the pay rises that we all agreed to in February.”

At a stop-work meeting today, teachers voted to take further industrial action if an agreement on hours and conditions is not reached.

COMPANY SAYS WHAT DOES STRIKING ACHIEVE ?

WELL LETS LIST A FEW THINGS ITS ACHIEVED

4 weeks annual leave

Equal pay for women

Leave loading

38 Hour Week

Superannuation for workers

Picnic day

Shift Loadings

Meal Breaks

Workers Comp Payments

And the list go’s on. The boss never woke up in the

morning and said I think I will pay my workers all this

Workers like you went on stike to achieve these things

For future generations like us to enjoy. Workers go on

strike to improve their wages and conditions for

themselves and for their children in the future.

 

A strike occurs when a group of employees decide to stop work to put pressure on an employer about an issue in the workplace.

Disputes about wages and conditions cause most strikes; other common reasons include disagreements about occupational health and safety, unfair dismissals and environmental issues.

‘Protected industrial action’ is the term used for a legal strike in Australia. It occurs when workers and employers who are in the process of enterprise bargaining cannot agree.

Protested industrial action is legal under Federal law so long as:

• You don’t already have an enterprise agreement in place (IT doesn’t matter if they withdraw an offer)
• You don’t injure another person, or damage or destroy property

It is illegal for employers to pay striking workers, however workers who take industrial action do have other rights. If you take protected industrial action you cannot:

• Be dismissed from your job
• Have your job position altered
• Loose benefits such as annual leave
• Or be threatened with any of the above

Picketing occurs when striking workers gather outside their place of work. Striking like this often receives a lot of media attention, which is why it is a well known form of industrial action.

Action can take many other forms, and often depends on the particular needs of the workers’ industry. For example, nurses may close down beds in elective surgery when they take industrial action. They never close all beds, or interrupt emergency services. Likewise, public transport workers often walk-out of their job between 10am and 2pm, but work during peak hours to ensure no one is stranded.

Australian workers have been striking for their rights for over a century. In 1856, striking building workers in Melbourne won the right to work an eight hour day – an achievement we celebrate every year on Labour Day.

Average weekly earnings near $1200

Roadshow Prestons Employee,s  About $620.00 almost half

YOU ARE WORTH MORE THAN THIS

 August 13, 2009 – 11:59AM

Average weekly ordinary time earnings for adult full-time employees rose by 1.2 per cent in the three months to May for an annual rate of 6.1 per cent, seasonally adjusted, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today.

The quarterly survey also showed AWOTE for the private and public sectors combined was $1196.50.

Private sector AWOTE was up 1 per cent in the quarter at $1174.50, seasonally adjusted, for an annual rise of 6.1 per cent.

Public sector AWOTE rose by 0.9 per cent to $1269.30, seasonally adjusted, in the same period for an annual rise of 5.7 per cent.

There was no market forecast for this series.

http://www.memberconnect.com.au/Default.aspx

Non union members joining protected action does not make it an illegal strike and Roadshow should withdraw their letter immediately and apologise for making such false and misleading  statements!!!!

The rules for protected action remain largely the same under the Act asunder the WR Act. Protection from penalties for industrial action remain available if industrial action is undertaken during negotiations for an enterprise agreement and on the condition that the parties have been genuinely trying to reach agreement and comply with any good faith bargaining orders made by FWA. However, there are some key differences between the WR Act and the Act including the following:

• The concept of a bargaining period is removed.
• It will be easier to comply with the secret ballot requirements. Further,FWA will not have the power to stay protect action ballot orders and employer consent will no longer be required in order to apply to FWA to extend the 30 day period in which industrial action will be protected.
• Protected industrial action will not be lost to protected participants because unprotected persons join the action (although those unprotected persons will be exposed to orders and penalties).
• The prohibition against strike pay for protected industrial action will only apply to the actual period of industrial action. In the case of protected overtime bans, employees will not be paid for overtime hours not worked, but they would not lose their rights to payment for ordinary hours. In the case of partial work bans, employers can elect to accept the work and pay full wages, lock out the employees, refuse to accept the work and (if permitted) stand employees down until the employees agree to work full duties or issue a partial work notice and apportion pay accordingly.

A pay freeze for workers reliant on minimum award wages is unfair and discriminatory, say unions.

The decision yesterday to freeze award minimum wages will leave more than 1.3 million Australians worse off in real terms.

The average award worker will lose about $16 a week until the next wage decision is due in July 2010.

ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence said:

“It is unfair for low paid workers to be discriminated against in this way.

“They should not have to bear the burden of the economic downturn when people on higher incomes such as executives are the ones who can afford to tighten their belts.

(MMMMMMMMMMMM)

“Executives and other people on high incomes will not be affected by the pay commission’s decision, only workers that are reliant on award minimum wages and have little bargaining power.

“The pay freeze will counter the effect of the Federal Government’s $900 a week stimulus payment for more than 13% of the workforce and will undermine consumer demand.

“Any green shoots of economic recovery will be nipped in the bud by this unfair and unwise decision.

“Less money in workers’ pockets will mean shops and businesses will suffer a decline in sales and this could harm the economy.

“It’s a free kick for those employers who won’t have to give their staff a pay rise this year but it comes at the expense of the living standards of working families,” said Mr Lawrence.

 

READ ARTICLE FROM THE AGE BELOW.

THREE senior executive directors at Village Roadshow are putting their hands out for a 17% pay increase that includes cash bonuses of almost $1 million each.

Despite a falling share price and mixed financial results.

Executive chairman John Kirby, his brother, executive deputy chairman Robert Kirby, and managing director Graham Burke will between them pocket $9.2 million for the 2008 financial year, up from the $7.9 million they received a year earlier.

But during the year, shares in Village Roadshow, whose business includes theme parks, film distribution and radio stations, fell 32%, while the fall since September last year has blown out to 59%.

Shares in the company closed steady at $1.38 yesterday.

The company’s annual result shows that after-tax profit from continuing operations last year fell 8%. The company’s total profit, however, was boosted by a $185 million gain through the splitting off of its film production operation.

Of the more than $3 million paid to each of the three senior executives, $916,000 was paid as a short-term incentive cash bonus. These bonuses were triggered by a measure of cash-flow return on investment and may be further boosted depending on how earnings per share compare with the top 300 listed companies.

In its annual report, sent to shareholders last week, the company justifies the pay packets by saying that “to prosper, the company must attract, motivate and retain highly skilled executives and directors”.

The vote on the remuneration report will follow the rejection of executive pay by shareholders in Biota, Boral and Valad Property Group and a significant minority of opposition among the owners of Toll Holdings and Suncorp-Metway. While shareholders will get to vote on the package at the annual general meeting this month, the decision of the meeting will not be binding on the board.

The Village Roadshow annual meeting will be on November 27 at the company’s Warner Bros Movie World theme park on the Gold Coast.

Corporate governance advisers Institutional Shareholder Services next week will offer its recommendations on the resolutions to be moved at the meeting.

A spokesperson for Village Roadshow would not comment.

To view the entire article, click on: http://business.theage.com.au/business/for-some-the-good-times-never-stop-20081103-5h1a.html

Workers at Prestons Distribution Centre deserve  their share .

Members at RoadShow Prestons  Don’t let them take your conditions

2009  NOT 1809       Working  Families Say No To 60 hr Week

Read below about the struggle that workers had but won for us all

History of the working week

48 Hour Week

1856 Building tradesmen win the Eight Hour Day in Melbourne.

1873 Victorian government gives female factory workers the Eight Hour Day.

1874 Victorian Government contracts make the legal working day eight hours.

44 Hour Week

1920 The 44 hour week awarded to timber workers and engineers.

1939 The 44 hour week is applied to all industries.

40 Hour Week

1948 Introduction of the five day 40 hour working week for all workers.

38 Hour Week

1981 Metal Industry gains the 38 hour week, which then becomes the current

national standard.

36 Hour Week

2003 Building industry gains the 36 hour week with Rostered Days Off (RDOs).

History of the working week

History of Annual Leave entitlements

One Week

1936 A week of annual leave on full pay is awarded to printing workers.

It had already been included in some State awards.

1941 Metal Trades award results in one week of annual leave becoming standard.

Two Weeks

1945 Metal Trades award results in two weeks annual leave becoming standard.

Three Weeks

1958 New South Wales Labor government grants three weeks annual leave.

1963 Following campaigns by Trades and Labour Councils, three weeks annual

leave becomes standard.

Four Weeks

1973 Four weeks annual leave for public servant union members granted by the

Federal Labor government.

1974 By 1974, today’s standard annual leave of four weeks had been achieved.

For the full history and struggle of workers for workers visit the website below

http://www.8hourday.org.au/