Archive
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65 Days in the Red
2010 - Aug - 23Invitation to Morning Tea for Equal Pay Day at the Trades Hall Friday 9.30am 3rd September 2010...read more
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Nuclear Weapons - An Issue for Everyone
2010 - Aug - 1212 August 2010 by Brian Boyd, VTHC Secretary Trade unions have a long and proud history of involvement in Australia’s peace and anti-nuclear movement. This history has included active opposition to Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War and organising against the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. More recently the Electrical Trades Union decision to ban its members from working in uranium mines, nuclear power stations or any other part of the nuclear fuel cycle shows union opposition to the nuclear industry remains strong....read more
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Make Your VOTE COUNT....VTHC SAYS VOTE 'NO' ABBOTT
2010 - Aug - 12By Brian Boyd, VTHC Secretary 17 August 2010 We didn’t rally around the country leading up 2007 to see anti-union reactionary Tony Abbott become Prime Minister, three years later! When you cut through all the media hype and mis-information the issue is clear cut – it’s a No vote for Abbott....read more
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The Federal Election..........Saturday 21 August 2010...
2010 - Jul - 28What's at Stake? 27th July 2010 By Brian Boyd, VTHC Secretary The federal election is in full swing. 24 hour news services report everything, even the most banal of events and offer commentary.One thing we can agree on, it is not the same as the lead up to 2007. ‘Kevin 07’ is already becoming a distant memory. Tony Abbott now leads the conservative forces and cannot hide his ‘WorkChoices’ DNA....read more
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SUPPORT FOR ARK TRIBE GROWS - BIG RALLY IN MELBOURNE
2010 - Jul - 20By Brian Boyd VTHC Secretary Tuesday 20 July 2010 Rallies occurred across Australia today in support of SA building worker Ark Tribe. The ABCC court case against this rank and filer restarted this morning at the Adelaide Magistrates Court (see background below). Thousands of Victorian building workers rallied in Melbourne outside the ABCC Headquarters at 553 St Kilda Road. They heard reports and speeches of support from John Setka CFMEU Assistant Secretary, Troy Gray ETU Assistant Secretary, Steve Dargavel Secretary AMWU, Kevin Bracken Secretary MUA and VTHC President and Brian Boyd VTHC Secretary....read more
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March On ABCC.......
2010 - Jul - 09SUPPORT ARK TRIBE MELBOURNE RALLY- Tuesday 20 July 2010 , 10.00 am Assemble 417 St Kilda Road (cnr Toorak Rd) Rank and file S.A. building worker Ark Tribe faces 6 months jail, after being singled out by the ABCC. His trial restarts 20-22 July 2010 in Adelaide. Last month Adelaide Magistrate David Whittle ruled that the ABCC case against Ark Tribe would continue. This followed a 3-day legal battle that began on Tuesday 15/6 to have the charges dismissed, due to the validity of the proceedings. Brind Zichy – Woinarski QC for the federal DPP and the ABCC argued the Federal Crimes Act allowed the charges to be laid the way they were served on Ark Tribe....read more
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External Heritage Restoration Work on The Iconic Melbourne Trades Hall, Nearly Complete
2010 - Jun - 22Tuesday 22nd June 2010, by Brian Boyd VTHC Secretary Like the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the heritage listed Melbourne Trades Hall needs constant maintenance and care. The special coating for the outside of the building began to be applied almost nine years ago. There was also a lot of work done moulding the roof edge adornments and repairing the ramparts. The final phase of the columned front entrance began in late April this year....read more
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Ark Tribe Trial - 5 July 2010
2010 - Jun - 18Support Ark Tribe Trial Continues - 20 - 22 July 2010 Shortly rank and file S.A. building worker Ark Tribe faces 6 months jail, after being singled out by the ABCC. Last month Adelaide Magistrate David Whittle ruled that the ABCC case against Ark Tribe would continue....read more
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Equal Pay Rallies Around the Nation - Melbourne Sees 6,000 March to Parliament House
2010 - Jun - 1010 June 2010 Australian women are demanding real pay equity with men, and want 2010 to be the year when it happens. The VTHC, along with the rest of the union movement, is supporting a landmark test case led by the Australian Services Union, that is being run this year. It is crucial to extend the principle of fair pay rates for female-dominated industries once and for all....read more
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Ark Tribe on trial June 15 2010 at Adelaide Magistrates Court
2010 - Jun - 10Most people are horrified to find out there is no right to silence in the laws that underpin the ABCC. Building workers and their unions are being singled out under Rudd and Gillard’s laws. There is the possibility that an ordinary worker will go to jail. This is something that all working Australians need to be mindful of....read more
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ASU Day of Action
2010 - May - 0711am 10 June 2010 Federation Square Opposite Flinders St Station Melbourne Rally then March up to Parliament Pay Up No more lip service to equal pay www.payup.org.au...read more
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NAPLAN = NO PLAN
2010 - May - 055 May 2010 Suport AEU Campaign against 'League Tables' By Brian Boyd, VTHC Secretary The VTHC Executive Council has endorsed the current campaign by the AEU nationally and in Victoria to improve the usefulness of the federal government's “My School” website. In particular, the nation’s teachers professionally want to stop the mis-use of this website by sections of the media by creating “league–tables” that artificially depict what is happening at the school by school level. Of great interest is the federal minister’s rush to use the “big stick” against the AEU in an attempt to quash their professional concerns. The full weight of Fair Work Australia, the Fair Work Ombudsman and State Government Education Ministers is being used against the AEU. Fines against both individual teachers and the union have been threatened. It clearly illustrates the ongoing concerns of many in the union movement that Howard’s IR legacy is still embedded in the new Rudd/Gillard Fair Work Act. As the AEU Vic Branch President Mary Bluett has recently said: “WorkChoices–style industrial laws” are being used by the Federal government against AEU members....read more
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Events for May Day 2010
2010 - Apr - 29...read more
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Unions are crucial to workplace safety
2010 - Apr - 2810,000 march on Deputy Prime Ministers' Office on Workers Memorial Day By Brian Boyd, VTHC Secretary Wednesday 28 April 2010 Today is International Workers' Memorial Day, and unions are continuing their battle to maintain OHS standards around Australia. Despite state, territory and federal government commitments that OHS standards would not be reduced in the harmonisation process, this is not the case. While the so called Model Act has been signed off, the devil is in the detail. We are now into the next phase: the regulations, and already more losses are looming. Since the crackdown on unions in the construction industry began under the Howard Government, things have got worse....read more
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VTHC Labour Day Dinner Dance a big success
2010 - Apr - 2020 April 2010 The Victorian Trades Hall Labour Day Dinner Dance held at the San Remo Ball Room in Carlton on Friday 16th April 2010 was a great success with over 270 guests attending. This annual occasion celebrates the achievement by Victorian unions gaining the world’s first 8 hour working day in 1856. The 8 hour day public holiday was celebrated on the actual day of victory for the 8 hour movement, 21 April, until 1934. The Victorian Unions have reinstituted the holding of their Labour Day celebrations closest as possible to the 21 April of each year. This decision was made in 2006, the 150th anniversary of the 8 hour day. Russell Atwood, VTHC Senior Vice President and Brian Boyd, VTHC Secretary hosted the evening. The guest speaker was Daniel Andrews, State Minister for Health. ACTU President elect Ged Kearny was also in attendance. ...read more
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Australian Services Union slams Rudd over possible HACC takeover
2010 - Apr - 1414 April 2010 Australian Services Union Branch Secretary Brian Parkinson has urged the Federal government not to disrupt Victoria’s home and community care (HACC) system by reneging on a 2008 COAG commitment to consult with local government before considering future reforms to aged care....read more
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Important Upcoming Events
2010 - Apr - 12Workers Memorial Day, Wednesday April 28, 2010 MOURNING THE DEAD AND FIGHTING FOR THE LIVING On Wednesday April 28 workers around Australia will be holding commemoration ceremonies, rallies and marches to mourn the dead and fight for the living. The theme of International Workers Memorial Day for 2010 is Unions and Health and Safety Reps Make Workplaces Safer. Australia is currently in the process of nationally harmonising its OHS legislation: Act, Regulations May Day 2010 Melbourne, Assemble 1pm in Lygon Street, Sunday 2 May 2010 Outside Victorian Trades Hall, Carlton South...read more
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Joint VTHC /ACTU Rally re proposed national ‘harmonisation’ of Workers Compensation - Not again!
2010 - Mar - 3030 March 2010 By Brian Boyd, VTHC Secretary Today the federal government's SafeWork Australia (SWA) bureaucracy began a two day national forum on the future of workers' compensation. At the request of the ACTU’s Workers Compensation Committee last week, the VTHC’s WorkCover Committee hastily called a protest outside the forum venue, the Windsor Hotel in Melbourne. The ACTU Assistant Secretary Geoff Fary and VTHC Secretary Brian Boyd addressed the protest after the main presentations had been made at the forum. Unions Queensland Secretary Ron Monahan and Unions South Australian Secretary Janet Giles also attended the protest....read more
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Launch of the ASU Campaign to Abolish the Local Government Inspectorate
2010 - Mar - 033 March 2010 The Australian Services Union launched their "Recover Our Rights" campaign today to get rid of the secretive Local Government Investigations and Compliance Inspectorate - LGI. A funeral procession was organised starting from the Melbourne Town Hall and marching up Collins St to the LGI Offices. The funeral procession was symbolic of the State Government's attempt to bury basic human rights via the actions of the LGI. The LGI is staffed by about a dozen Inspectors who are granted sweeping powers under sections of the Local Government Act. It is led by former police detective David Wolfe. The LGI is not governed by specific legislation and answers only to the Minister. It is similar to secret Ministerial Police found in countries run by dictators....read more
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ASU Campaign to Abolish the Local Government Inspectorate
2010 - Mar - 01Launch of the Campaign, 10am Wednesday March 3, Melbourne Town Hall, Swanston Street....read more
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SLAM RALLY - Dont Kill Live Music
2010 - Feb - 2424 February 2010 The Victorian Trades Hall Council supported the “Save Live Australian Music’ (SLAM) Rally held on Tuesday, 23 February 2010. Thousands of musicians and fans gathered in Melbourne CBD to protest against the State Government’s liquor licensing laws. The Rally recreated AC/DC’s It’s a Long Way to the Top (if you Wanna Rock’n’Roll) film clip shot in Swanston Street 34 years ago today, travelled from the State Library to Parliament House, filling the streets with musicians and their supporters....read more
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Workplace Bullying - VWA's 'Respect at Work' campaign needs to make up lost ground
2010 - Feb - 17By Brian Boyd, VTHC Secretary 17 February 2010 The Victorian Trades Hall Council has welcomed the recent successful prosecution for bullying and said the establishment of WorkSafe’s “Respect at Work” campaign needs to hit the ground running. For many years in many WorkSafe forums unions have been raising concerns about the inadequacy of WorkSafe’s response to workplace bullying. The VTHC is pleased that this campaign is up and running but workers in Victoria deserve a stronger response from WorkSafe on this issue. For some workers bullying is a life and death issue for others bullying is an all too common occurrence. The move to prosecute bullies, and the employers who allow it to happen, is welcome. Sadly, there are many more workers who continue to suffer bullying in the workplace and their stories also need to be told. The VTHC also says that federal moves to uniform health and safety laws around Australia, if allowed to happen based on current drafts, will result in reduced Victorian OHS standards. ...read more
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Victorian Workers Compensation Changes - Many Workers Will be Worse Off
2010 - Feb - 01by Brian Boyd VTHC Secretary 1 February 2010 There was a comprehensive review of the Accident Compensation Act 1985 over the last two years. Peter Hanks QC oversaw the Review with union and employer representatives being involved. During the review process the unions expressed alarm early in proceedings that some of the proposed changes being put forward would not be acceptable....read more
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Tony Abbott, "The Mad Monk" and the union movement
2009 - Dec - 14By Brian Boyd, VTHC Secretary 18 January 2010 It is right for the union movement to warn workers about the return of the right - wing rump now in charge of the federal Liberal / NP opposition. The turmoil inside the Liberal Party at the end of 2009 over a proposed Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has only exposed to the wider Australian public the existence of the ultra conservative, born to rule group of politicians in Canberra, that the union movement has been well aware of for years. We should be wary of their antics, their prograndising, pro- employer, wage cutting, work place destabilisation rhetoric. There is no way ordinary working people want these politicians running the country again. Their arrogance knows no bounds. When their latest leader Tony Abbott said he’s going to resurrect the insulting concept of "Howard’s Battlers" and rename them "Abbott’s Army", it was pathetic. They can try to reinvent themselves as much as they like, but unions know that the contempt they hold for ordinary people will never go away. There is no way Mr Abbott is going to turn back time and play similar games. Yet he fancies himself....read more
