Although the Rioght to Strike is a human right that Australian govenrment agreed to years ago, the liberal democractic institution of the UN and the volunteerism that underpins it, means there are little consequences when Workchoices and Fair Work effectively outlaw the right to strike.
http://chriswhiteonline.org/2009/03/wild-cat-strikes-should-not-be-unlawful/
In today’s press are reports of a so-called ‘wild-cat strike’ at Australian airports after hundreds of baggage handlers and other staff walked off the job yesterday morning in response to concerns about outsourcing and security issues. The term ‘wildcat’ is used derogatively against the workforce. Yet from the workers view they are not ‘wild-cats’ . They “did not take the decision to stop work lightly” and such a response is proper and legitimate when threatened with being made unemployed by a powerful corporation Qantas. OK, there is disruption to passengers.
I have argued strongly on this blog (see right to strike) that the workers and their union, here the TWU should not be subject to penal powers and fined with Qantas lawyers going to Court…rather the issues in dispute have to be resolved around the negotiating table.
WorkChoices IS NOT REPEALED. The DPM’s FAIR WORK ACT KEEPS THE MOST REPRESSIVE REGIME TO CRUSH STRIKES!
AND IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU WALK OFF FOR ONE HOUR FOR A PROTEST MEETING YOU ARE DOCKED FOUR HOURS! AND THIS IS KEPT BY THE DPM.
The TWU members concerns are reasonable and cannot be solved by arbitration as the Industrial Commission (unlike earlier years) is compelled to order the stoppage to cease. Arbitration of the issues is severely restricted under the ALP!
The concers are about the outsourcing of Qantas and Jetstar jobs and about the airline’s security practices after the recent bikie brawl at Sydney airport.
TWU federal secretary Tony Sheldon said up to 25 per cent of private contract employees were not undergoing proper security checks, reported in the Age today.
“Quite clearly, if a plane is at 20,000 feet in the air and it blows up, it will be Qantas’ fault that that’s occurred,” Mr Sheldon said.
“If it is an explosion, or a device that explodes at one of our airports, it will be Qantas that the finger will be clearly pointed at — but unfortunately it will be the workforce and innocent bystanders that will be killed.”
Qantas spokesman David Epstein said: “The law is quite simple: if people walk off in unauthorised industrial action, they don’t get paid for four hours.”
The easy public game for corporations is to say the stoppage is un-lawful and to be penalised. Qantas has already enormous power…yet the ALP ensures that workers rights to protest are not protected!
31st March 2009
Published by Lis Sowerbutts at 3:43 pm under Australia News Edit This
http://australia.today.com/2009/03/31/wild-cat-strikes-affect-qantas-passengers/
The flying kangaroo as Qantas is sometimes known as, is more than a little embarassed by the chaos in airports around the country yesterday. In Perth passengers were locked out the Qantas terminal for hours after baggage handlers and other ground staff walked off the job with no notice.
The union seems unclear on what their problem was- in the end its become clear that the issue is that JetStar, Qantas’s low-cost arm, had given their ground-handling contract to another group and thus put the Qantas staff out of a job and the union out of joint.
Already rated as the least reliable airline by Australian travellers you have to say that the union is doing themselves no favours - having just persuaded several thousand more passengers that hell will freeze over before they fly Qantas again. Virgin Blue and other operaters were unaffected. Although the union may like to say that they are all about safety - the reality is that they appear to be all about protecting their members in the short-term and to hell with the big picture- like does Qantas even have a chance of surviving the current economic crises which has seen travel cut back significantly.
Qantas likes to pitch itself to the business traveller - but those are the ones’ who want a good chance of getting to their destination on time -regardless of how nice the inflight service is concerned. They may well be booking with Virgin Blue next time!
Qantas strike causes major delays
Monday 30 March 2009 11:18
James Thomson
http://www.smartcompany.com.au/business-travel/20090330-qantas-strike-causes-major-delays.html
An unexpected strike by Qantas baggage handlers has caused major delays to passengers travelling to Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
Qantas baggage handlers, cleaners and caterers went on strike at 9.20 AESDT, apparently over the company’s plans to outsource jobs to a cheaper company.
According to reports, up to 300 Qantas workers walked off the job, refusing to unload arriving planes but servicing aircraft due to depart.
The striking workers said they would continue the protest until 1:00 (AESDT) because Qantas was docking their pay until then.
Qantas strike slugs airports with delays
BEN SCHNEIDERS
March 31, 2009
WILDCAT strikes have led to extensive delays for passengers at Australian airports after hundreds of baggage handlers and other staff walked off the job yesterday morning in response to concerns about outsourcing and security issues.
A Qantas spokesman said most of the airline’s domestic flights were delayed yesterday after the unexpected industrial action at Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane airports.
The spokesman said Melbourne Airport also suffered disruptions — though less serious than elsewhere — because of the unlawful strike.
In one case a Melbourne flight was delayed by 90 minutes, but the more typical delays at Melbourne were less than half an hour.
In other parts of the country, thousands of passengers were affected by the industrial action, for which staff will be docked four hours’ pay.
The snap strike comes amid concerns from the Transport Workers Union about the outsourcing of jobs at Qantas and its subsidiary Jetstar, and about the airline’s security practices after the recent bikie brawl at Sydney airport.
Union federal secretary Tony Sheldon said up to 25 per cent of private contract employees were not undergoing proper security checks.
“Quite clearly, if a plane is at 20,000 feet in the air and it blows up, it will be Qantas’ fault that that’s occurred,” Mr Sheldon said.
“If it is an explosion, or a device that explodes at one of our airports, it will be Qantas that the finger will be clearly pointed at — but unfortunately it will be the workforce and innocent bystanders that will be killed.”
Qantas spokesman David Epstein strongly rejected the union’s claims.
“If Mr Sheldon chooses to make that claim, all he is doing is cynically exploiting a tragedy that occurred in the T3 terminal last weekend,” he told reporters.
He defended the docking of pay. “The law is quite simple: if people walk off in unauthorised industrial action, they don’t get paid for four hours.”
The union, in a statement yesterday afternoon, said its members “did not take the decision to stop work this morning lightly” and would remain “vigilant” about the safety of employees and passengers.
A Qantas spokesman later also denied union claims that hundreds of jobs were under threat after Jetstar moved to outsource work to a new contractor in Sydney, Hobart and Launceston. That contract begins in the next few months.
Air NZ may sue Qantas over strike
MATT O’SULLIVAN
June 29, 2009
AIR NEW ZEALAND is threatening to sue Qantas to recover millions of dollars of costs incurred last year when the Australian carrier’s engineers went on wild-cat strikes.
The 10-week-long stand-off between Qantas and its licensed aircraft engineers ended last July but its impact was felt for months afterwards because of the backlog of work it created. The industrial dispute was hugely damaging for Qantas’s reputation, causing a many flight cancellations and other scheduling problems over several months.
Air New Zealand, one of Qantas’s biggest customers, had to relocate some of its own engineers to Australia for more than eight months to work on its aircraft because of the dispute. The last remaining engineers returned home only two months ago.
Air New Zealand’s Australian general manager, John Harrison, said the airline would make a final decision on whether to take legal action against Qantas within the next week. “We are considering what to do with Qantas [in the recovery of costs] and that includes the option of legal action.”
Although Air New Zealand was exempt from paying some of the charges under its engineering contract with Qantas, the savings did not cover the total cost of relocating engineers, which included paying allowances and accommodating them here.
Mr Harrison declined to reveal the cost of the dispute but said it was “fairly substantial”. The Herald understands the costs reached into millions of dollars.
Air New Zealand and other airlines also bore the brunt of a wild-cat strike by Qantas baggage handlers at Australian airports in March to protest at the loss of at least 120 jobs through outsourcing. Air New Zealand had to accommodate hundreds of passengers who missed connecting flights and had to deal with mishandled bags.
TWU congratulates Qantas on $117m profit
August 19, 2009
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/twu-congratulates-qantas-on-117m-profit-20090819-eq9v.html
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) has congratulated Qantas on posting a $117 million profit, after agreeing to mediation with the airline on legal action over a snap strike in March.
The union praised the Qantas hierarchy and workers for turning a profit in a difficult year, but wants the company to talk to workers about $1.5 billion in proposed cuts.
“While we can take some comfort in Qantas saying they will not make further job cuts across the airline, we are still concerned over the way the company could be looking to save money,” TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon said in a statement.
Lower costs “will put further pressure on safety and security, so we will be engaging with Qantas and the workforce over their plans for the future,” he said.
Mr Sheldon praised Qantas chief Alan Joyce, who took over from Geoff Dixon last year.
“Alan Joyce should also be congratulated on his performance,” Mr Sheldon said.
“To his credit he has managed to keep the ship afloat.”
He said the fact Qantas was able to post a profit in a year when the entire airline industry internationally was suffering was a credit to the airline’s staff.
Qantas announced a net profit for 2008/09 of $117 million, down from $969 million the previous year.
The airline and TWU have agreed to mediation after the case was listed for directions in the Federal Court in Sydney on Wednesday.
Qantas is suing the union and some officials over the March 30 strike which caused major delays across Australia and grounded all international flights out of Sydney for up to four hours.
At the time, the TWU accused Qantas of compromising safety and potentially risking a terrorist attack by failing to properly screen contractors before they began work.
Justice Michael Moore noted the Workplace Ombudsman was said to be investigating the case and that other legal proceedings were possibly being contemplated.
Welcome to Infoshop News
Wednesday, September 16 2009 @ 06:04 PM CDT
Australia: Sydney bus drivers defy union and take wildcat action
Sunday, August 30 2009 @ 10:54 PM CDT
Contributed by: WorkerFreedom
Views: 143
A six-hour strike by 130 bus drivers in western Sydney on Monday morning, carried out in defiance of their union, has produced furious denunciations in the media and from an industrial court judge. The drivers walked out at the Busways Blacktown depot at 3.30 a.m. against the imposition of new timetables that would impose shorter times for routes. Drivers said that the timetables, due to commence in October, would be impossible to meet, forcing them to run late, which would not only inconvenience and anger passengers but cut short the drivers’ break periods. The workers said they would be under enormous pressure to drive over the speed limit.
Australia buses strikes Sydney unions wildcat strikes
A six-hour strike by 130 bus drivers in western Sydney on Monday morning, carried out in defiance of their union, has produced furious denunciations in the media and from an industrial court judge. The drivers walked out at the Busways Blacktown depot at 3.30 a.m. against the imposition of new timetables that would impose shorter times for routes.
Drivers said that the timetables, due to commence in October, would be impossible to meet, forcing them to run late, which would not only inconvenience and anger passengers but cut short the drivers’ break periods. The workers said they would be under enormous pressure to drive over the speed limit.
Months of trade union talks with the company have failed to halt the onerous new conditions. Angered by the lack of support from the Transport Workers Union (TWU), the drivers conducted their own stoppage, giving no warning to the union or management. The TWU opposed the strike and intervened to end it as quickly as possible.
Drivers said the timetables would add to Sydney’s public transport shambles, which has seen the state Labor government in New South Wales cut the frequency of rail services and scrap plans to extend the rail network to new outlying suburbs. In many outer western and southern suburbs, the so-called public transport system depends almost entirely on heavily government-subsidised private bus companies.
The Busways Group is a large private operator, holding lucrative state government contracts to run more than 600 buses, and employ more than 700 drivers, on approximately 100 routes in the Sydney and New South Wales Central Coast regions, and around 30 more in the state’s mid-North Coast area.
Like employers across the board, Busways is utilising the economic crisis, with the backing of the state government, to demand a productivity speed-up. With unemployment continuing to rise throughout Sydney’s western, working class suburbs, the company is actively recruiting drivers willing to accept the new conditions.
The mass media launched a scathing attack on the drivers for halting services from the depot during the morning peak period, claiming that their actions had seriously disrupted and traumatised commuters, as well as school children and parents. As drivers pointed out, this was sheer hypocrisy as passengers were frequently left stranded by delays caused by the existing, already over-stretched timetables.
What really provoked the media’s wrath was that the drivers had defied the TWU and taken matters into their own hands. The tabloid Daily Telegraph labeled them “rogue drivers” who had acted “without consulting any official of the Transport Workers Union”. An editorial declared that a “bolshie minority” had staged a “wildcat strike” because their “tempers led them to ignore even the instructions from their own union”.
In the state Industrial Relations Commission, Justice Frank Marks accused the drivers of “industrial thuggery of the worst kind … in the face of opposition from their elected delegate and without consulting any paid TWU official”. The judge ordered the TWU and its members not to take any further industrial action over the timetable.
The response betrays considerable nervousness on the part of the official establishment that the drivers could set an example that would encourage other sections of workers to defy the trade unions and take independent action to defend their jobs and conditions. Over the past three decades, the unions have been the essential instrument in sabotaging any resistance by the working class to the pro-market agenda imposed by successive Coalition and Labor governments on behalf of big business.
During the past year, as the global recession has deepened, the TWU and its counterparts throughout the union movement have worked hand in hand with the Rudd Labor government to help companies large and small impose far-reaching cuts to jobs, working hours and conditions.
The reaction to a relatively small wildcat strike by Busways drivers reveals just how reliant governments and big business are on the unions. The reference to “bolshie” workers—that is, drawing a parallel between the Busways drivers and the Bolsheviks who took power in Russia in 1917—reveals the growing concerns within ruling circles over the consequences of sharpening social tensions produced by worsening unemployment and deteriorating living standards.
Like other sections of the working class, private bus drivers have been forced to sacrifice pay and conditions. After years of TWU complicity in the introduction of “flexible” conditions, drivers now receive virtually no penalty rates, regardless of how early, late or broken their shifts. Despite the intense pressure of constantly driving in heavy traffic, and being responsible for the safety of thousands of passengers daily, they are paid base rates of just $50,000 or so a year.
By contrast, the Rowe family, which owns the Busways Group, is thought to be one of the wealthiest in Australia. The extent of its profits, and the government subsidies it receives, is shrouded in secrecy.
Although the Busways management has now agreed to further talks on the proposed timetables, and despite judge Marks’s no-strike order, drivers said they would strike again unless the company dropped its demands. The TWU, on the other hand, has worked to isolate the Blacktown depot drivers, even from the workers at the company’s 15 other depots, let alone other bus drivers and transport workers, all of whom face similar attacks.
One driver, who has worked for Busways for 10 years, said: “We acted out of frustration after 10 years of fighting oppressive and deficient timetables. The new timetables will be a nightmare. The TWU did not condone the strike, and said we could be fined $50,000. It’s like a dictatorship.
“The union is useless, and there’s nowhere for drivers to go. The government pays the private bus companies by contracts and it wants us to be slaves—it doesn’t want us to be paid better.
“I am very dubious toward the union and I am disillusioned by all governments—like most people. Every time, we vote governments out, rather than vote anyone in. The Liberals screw us one way, and Labor does it another way.
“There are drivers who have been here for 20 years and it’s the same problem. The company gives us routes that take 40 minutes, and allows us only 35 minutes. I have one long run now from Blacktown to Riverstone where I am often 20 minutes late. The best I have ever done is 10 minutes late.”
The driver condemned the remarks of Judge Marks, calling them “biased and fascist”. He also answered the judge’s claim that the new timetables were required to match planned reduced train services.
“We are trying to do something about it—to stop the public transport chaos. The new timetables have nothing to do with the new train timetables; the government is also introducing new bus routes. The length of time we are given to drive the routes is not related to the train times.
“We are fed up. We have been through the system to try to get changes and nothing ever happens. We can’t get the union to do anything about anything. The purpose of unions was supposed to be to increase conditions, not decrease them.”
Another driver, who has worked for the company for five years, was bitter about the TWU’s role. “The union blamed the workers for going on strike. We decided that we couldn’t wait for the union. The union is only worried about the $60 a month we pay in dues.
“The new timetable means less time to complete our routes. We will run late and be blamed by the public. Because we’ll run late, there’ll also be less break time.”
A Busways mechanic voiced support for the drivers’ action. “Everyone has the right to express their grievances, or it’s not a free country. When I get called out for bus repairs, I see the pressure the drivers are under. It’s bad enough to be under pressure from the public, without being under pressure from the company as well.”
http://libcom.org/news/sydney-bus-dri…n-27082009
Australia: Bus drivers strike in defiance of union
By Mike Head
26 August 2009
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/aug2009/wild-a26.shtml
A six-hour strike by 130 bus drivers in western Sydney on Monday morning, carried out in defiance of their union, has produced furious denunciations in the media and from an industrial court judge. The drivers walked out at the Busways Blacktown depot at 3.30 a.m. against the imposition of new timetables that would impose shorter times for routes.
Drivers told the WSWS that the timetables, due to commence in October, would be impossible to meet, forcing them to run late, which would not only inconvenience and anger passengers but cut short the drivers’ break periods. The workers said they would be under enormous pressure to drive over the speed limit.
Months of trade union talks with the company have failed to halt the onerous new conditions. Angered by the lack of support from the Transport Workers Union (TWU), the drivers conducted their own stoppage, giving no warning to the union or management. The TWU opposed the strike and intervened to end it as quickly as possible.
Drivers said the timetables would add to Sydney’s public transport shambles, which has seen the state Labor government in New South Wales cut the frequency of rail services and scrap plans to extend the rail network to new outlying suburbs. In many outer western and southern suburbs, the so-called public transport system depends almost entirely on heavily government-subsidised private bus companies.
The Busways Group is a large private operator, holding lucrative state government contracts to run more than 600 buses, and employ more than 700 drivers, on approximately 100 routes in the Sydney and New South Wales Central Coast regions, and around 30 more in the state’s mid-North Coast area.
Like employers across the board, Busways is utilising the economic crisis, with the backing of the state government, to demand a productivity speed-up. With unemployment continuing to rise throughout Sydney’s western, working class suburbs, the company is actively recruiting drivers willing to accept the new conditions.
The mass media launched a scathing attack on the drivers for halting services from the depot during the morning peak period, claiming that their actions had seriously disrupted and traumatised commuters, as well as school children and parents. As drivers pointed out, this was sheer hypocrisy as passengers were frequently left stranded by delays caused by the existing, already over-stretched timetables.
What really provoked the media’s wrath was that the drivers had defied the TWU and taken matters into their own hands. The tabloid Daily Telegraph labeled them “rogue drivers” who had acted “without consulting any official of the Transport Workers Union”. An editorial declared that a “bolshie minority” had staged a “wildcat strike” because their “tempers led them to ignore even the instructions from their own union”.
In the state Industrial Relations Commission, Justice Frank Marks accused the drivers of “industrial thuggery of the worst kind … in the face of opposition from their elected delegate and without consulting any paid TWU official”. The judge ordered the TWU and its members not to take any further industrial action over the timetable.
The response betrays considerable nervousness on the part of the official establishment that the drivers could set an example that would encourage other sections of workers to defy the trade unions and take independent action to defend their jobs and conditions. Over the past three decades, the unions have been the essential instrument in sabotaging any resistance by the working class to the pro-market agenda imposed by successive Coalition and Labor governments on behalf of big business.
During the past year, as the global recession has deepened, the TWU and its counterparts throughout the union movement have worked hand in hand with the Rudd Labor government to help companies large and small impose far-reaching cuts to jobs, working hours and conditions.
The reaction to a relatively small wildcat strike by Busways drivers reveals just how reliant governments and big business are on the unions. The reference to “bolshie” workers—that is, drawing a parallel between the Busways drivers and the Bolsheviks who took power in Russia in 1917—reveals the growing concerns within ruling circles over the consequences of sharpening social tensions produced by worsening unemployment and deteriorating living standards.
Like other sections of the working class, private bus drivers have been forced to sacrifice pay and conditions. After years of TWU complicity in the introduction of “flexible” conditions, drivers now receive virtually no penalty rates, regardless of how early, late or broken their shifts. Despite the intense pressure of constantly driving in heavy traffic, and being responsible for the safety of thousands of passengers daily, they are paid base rates of just $50,000 or so a year.
By contrast, the Rowe family, which owns the Busways Group, is thought to be one of the wealthiest in Australia. The extent of its profits, and the government subsidies it receives, is shrouded in secrecy.
Although the Busways management has now agreed to further talks on the proposed timetables, and despite judge Marks’s no-strike order, drivers told the WSWS they would strike again unless the company dropped its demands. The TWU, on the other hand, has worked to isolate the Blacktown depot drivers, even from the workers at the company’s 15 other depots, let alone other bus drivers and transport workers, all of whom face similar attacks.
One driver, who has worked for Busways for 10 years, told the WSWS: “We acted out of frustration after 10 years of fighting oppressive and deficient timetables. The new timetables will be a nightmare. The TWU did not condone the strike, and said we could be fined $50,000. It’s like a dictatorship.
“The union is useless, and there’s nowhere for drivers to go. The government pays the private bus companies by contracts and it wants us to be slaves—it doesn’t want us to be paid better.
“I am very dubious toward the union and I am disillusioned by all governments—like most people. Every time, we vote governments out, rather than vote anyone in. The Liberals screw us one way, and Labor does it another way.
“There are drivers who have been here for 20 years and it’s the same problem. The company gives us routes that take 40 minutes, and allows us only 35 minutes. I have one long run now from Blacktown to Riverstone where I am often 20 minutes late. The best I have ever done is 10 minutes late.”
The driver condemned the remarks of Judge Marks, calling them “biased and fascist”. He also answered the judge’s claim that the new timetables were required to match planned reduced train services.
“We are trying to do something about it—to stop the public transport chaos. The new timetables have nothing to do with the new train timetables; the government is also introducing new bus routes. The length of time we are given to drive the routes is not related to the train times.
“We are fed up. We have been through the system to try to get changes and nothing ever happens. We can’t get the union to do anything about anything. The purpose of unions was supposed to be to increase conditions, not decrease them.”
Another driver, who has worked for the company for five years, was bitter about the TWU’s role. “The union blamed the workers for going on strike. We decided that we couldn’t wait for the union. The union is only worried about the $60 a month we pay in dues.
“The new timetable means less time to complete our routes. We will run late and be blamed by the public. Because we’ll run late, there’ll also be less break time.”
A Busways mechanic voiced support for the drivers’ action. “Everyone has the right to express their grievances, or it’s not a free country. When I get called out for bus repairs, I see the pressure the drivers are under. It’s bad enough to be under pressure from the public, without being under pressure from the company as well.”
Mudgee Guardian – The Weekly
Industry whiplash over jockey strike
BY DON MAHONEY
13/09/2009 9:09:00 PM
Locally based participants in the racing industry sympathise with jockeys’ concerns over the new whip rules, but also feel there could have been a better way of making their point.
Wild cat strike action last Thursday created havoc within the industry and caused the cancellation of many races.
Mudgee’s only locally based jockey Andrew Woods said country based jockeys could be forced out of the industry if strike action extends to country meetings.
“We do not get the big money that jockeys in the major centres get and we need to ride every week just to make ends meet,” Mr Woods said.
“However I totally understand where the jockeys are going on whip use. The padded whips that are now to be used do not damage the horse, they make noise more than anything.
“The new rules mean that jockeys have to change their riding styles when in a tight finish and that was always going to be hard for a jockey who has been riding for more than 20 years. However, we have to change with the times.”
Woods has ridden three winners since the new rules came into play and said he was able to win with just two hits with the whip and hands and heels riding.
On jockeys’ side
Andrew Baddock, thoroughbred manager for prominent owners Gooree Pastoral Company said he agrees that the jockeys have cause to take action.
“They (the jockeys) asked for a compromise and it wasn’t an unreasonable request,” Mr Baddock said.
“My opinion on the whole thing is they say the whips are padded now and don’t hurt the horses so I can’t see why there is any restriction on using the whip anyway because of this. I am totally behind the jockeys, it’s very tough on them.”
Mr Baddock said he felt racing authorities had over-reacted to the cries from the RSPCA.
“Racing has been going for over 100 years quite successfully,” he said.
“I’ve never known any of our horses to be harmed or hurt by whip use. I do think they (Australian Racing Bureau) has rolled over a bit and now I just wonder what will be next.
“Will there be calls to restrict the frequency of breeding mares or will they now try to ban two-year-old racing?
“The thoroughbred industry looks after their animals better than anyone, they are well cared for.
“I can’t see why the jockeys can’t use these padded whips to their discretion.”
New rules are too onerous
Gulgong Turf Club president Percy Thompson, who is also a trainer, said he believes that the new whip rules are too onerous.
“Jockeys only have a split second to make decisions and at the same time have to consider as well as safety concerns,” Mr Thompson said.
“They have a lot on their mind without having to count how many strides and how many times they have hit the horse with the whip.
“However, the jockeys should have set a date in advance of any strike so that owners and trainers weren’t disadvantaged in taking their horses to the track only to have strike action see their horse not start.”
However, Mr Thompson said the jockey’s actions came after the racing authorities refused to budge on a widely called for review of the new whip rules.
Jockeys right, strike wrong
Legendary trainer and horse breaker Max Crockett said he believed the jockeys are right in their call for an early review of the new whip rules.
“However, I was disappointed to see on Thursday that some trainers were abused after the strike was called,” Mr Crockett said.
“The way it was done was wrong and by acting this way they will get the battling jockeys who can’t afford to lose the income off side.
“The rules need change - jockeys should be allowed to use the whip at their discretion over the last 100 metres of a race.
“Some horses don’t need the whip while others think the race is over if the whip isn’t used and I estimate that is the case with 75 per cent of horses. Racing authorities are between a rock and a hard place with the RSPCA who would be better served to look at what happens to horses who aren’t breeding propositions in retirement.
Strike could destroy races
Mudgee Race Club chairman Max Walker said a strike like Thursday’s action at Hawkesbury, Ballarat and Ipswich at Mudgee’s race meeting last Sunday would have done untold damage.
“It would have turned our second best day on record to our worst ever,” Mr Walker said.
“It would have left the many new patrons who were on course that day with a bad taste in their mouth and maybe lose them to racing.
“I believe the issue should be able to be sorted out without taking industrial action.
“The whip dispute has the potential to damage the grass roots of race clubs and bring the whole racing industry down.”
Racing will not go forward
Speaking from Hong Kong, former leading country and now Mudgee trainer Tracey Bartley said he was glad to see jockeys sticking together on the issue of whip use.
“The new rules are ridiculous,” he said.
“I don’t want to see horses hurt, but under these new rules racing won’t go forward.”
May 2007
The AIRC has ordered Fairfax journalists and photographers in Sydney to end an unprotected wildcat strike that began yesterday, and return to work at 1pm. If they return, he has ordered the company to meet with union representatives at 4pm this afternoon..
Fairfax workers to return to work
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,,24270806-5005962,00.html
Article from: AAP
By Michelle Draper
August 31, 2008 06:33pm
STRIKING Fairfax Media journalists in Victoria and NSW will return to work tomorrow morning after threats to lock staff out were withdrawn.
Staff at Fairfax mastheads including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age walked off the job on Thursday over job cuts and pay negotiations.
The employees met with union representatives today in Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, Wollongong and Canberra to discuss changes to pay and conditions offered by Fairfax.
The meetings followed intense negotiations at the weekend between the journalists’ union - the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) - and Fairfax management.
MEAA spokesman Mike Dobbie said the company had threatened legal action and to lock out employees on Monday morning unless union members agreed to accept the company’s revised enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) offer at today’s meetings.
“They have all resolved, as they did back on Thursday, to return to work tomorrow, commencing at first shift Monday morning,” Mr Dobbie told AAP.
“We await to see the formal offer for an EBA.”
Mr Dobbie said the company withdrew its threats to lock out members and to sue the union and individuals for damages arising from the strike action.
Fairfax Media chief executive David Kirk did not deny the threats had been made.
“It is true to say we reserved all our rights legally and, while no final decisions have been taken, we would clearly have acted in what we thought were in the best interests of the mastheads and of the business as the situation evolved,” he told AAP.
Locking out staff was part of a range of plans the company considered, he said, because the illegal “wildcat” strike placed Fairfax in a difficult position.
Mr Kirk said members at today’s meetings had voted to accept the proposed EBA, which would need to be formalised by a full vote of members during the week, but Mr Dobbie denied any agreement had been reached.
“There were no votes taken for anything because there is no formal offer from the company,” Mr Dobbie said.
“We are awaiting a formal offer from the company in writing that we can put to the members for their consideration.”
He said it was unlawful for the union to put anything to members today.
The three-day strike action followed the announcement last week that Fairfax would slash 550 jobs, in Australia and New Zealand, saving the company $50 million.
The cuts will include 165 editorial jobs across the two countries.
Staff walked off the job at The Sydney Morning Herald, the Illawarra Mercury, the Newcastle Herald, The Age and Fairfax’s Sunday publications, the Sun-Herald and Sunday Age.
The dispute drew the concern today of Federal Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard.
“I am someone who is concerned about the quality and diversity of our media market,” Ms Gillard told Network Ten.
The first high-profile victim of the 550 job cuts came on Wednesday when Age editor Andrew Jaspan was sacked after four years at the paper’s helm.
Fairfax also sacked columnist Mike Carlton from the Sydney Morning Herald on Friday, after he refused to cross the picket line to write his weekly column for the Herald’s Saturday edition.
Fairfax, which merged with Rural Press in 2007, recorded a net profit of $386.9 million for 2007-08, up from $263.51 million the previous year.
AWU and delegate fined over illegal strike action
http://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/blogs/top_stories/archive/2009/03/30/awu-and-delegate-fined-over-illegal-strike-action.aspx
Posted Mar 30 2009, 09:50 PM by Lawyers Weekly
Illegal industrial action at the Lake Cowal gold mine has proven costly for the Australian Workers Union, resulting in fines totalling $55,000.
In a judgement handed down by the Federal Court on Friday 27 March, the Australian Workers Union (AWU) was fined $28,000, the AWU New South Wales branch $18,000, and its delegate, Joseph O’Connor, $9000 for two unlawful strikes in October and November 2005.
Holding Redlich partner and workplace relations specialist Charles Power said the decision was a product of its time, and not necessarily relevant to current industry practice.
“This case involved something that took place in NSW about the time the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) was established. I think you will find that industry parties in the construction sector have significantly changed their practices since then,” he said.
“Indeed the most recent report of published by the ABCC shows that its compliance activities in NSW have been negligible of late.”
Acting ABCC Commissioner Ross Dalgleish said the penalties reflected the seriousness of the unlawful industrial action that had occurred.
Justice Jagot found that industrial action in October and November 2005 contravened s.38 of the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005 (BCII Act), s.170MN of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (WR Act) and the relevant Certified Agreement.
- Laura MacIntyre
