Brunswick Labor.net

Yesterday the LHMU Cleaners Union launched its collective bargaining campaign at Federation Square. The LHMU is campaigning for cleaners to earn a minimum princly sum of $400 per week.

Speaking at the launch were Victorian Deputy Premier, Rob Hulls, Bishop Hilton Deakin and others including Carlo Carli. Youtube video's of teh day as well as stories from cleaners about their industry are available from www.youtube.com/cleanstart.

You can also join the Cleanstart facebook group.

Mr CARLI (Brunswick) -- Tomorrow, 9 August, the International Transport Workers Federation and the International Trade Union Confederation have called an international day of action over the arrest and detention of two Iranian trade union leaders.
I too want to voice my concern and protest at the imprisonment of two trade union leaders in Iran.

Mansour Osanloo, president of the Tehran bus workers union, has been arrested three times over the past year and a half, and he continues to be in detention. He was arrested while travelling on a bus on 10 July. He has been charged with conspiracy against national security.
Also Mahmoud Salehi, a founding member of the Saqez Bakery Workers Association and the Coordinating Committee to Form Workers Organisations, has been arrested and is being detained. He has major health issues, and it seems his health is dramatically deteriorating as a result of inadequate health care.

There is an international movement to seek the release of these two trade union workers and to ensure that the rights of trade unionists and the right to organise in Iran are protected. This involves numerous activities around the world, particularly putting pressure on Iranian authorities

A new study compiled by Griffith and Curtin University Professors David Peetz and Alison Preston, has examined workers’ wages on AWAs with wages from certified agreements.

The Howard government has argued that WorkChoices would encourage increased wages, particularly through AWAs. In the absence of any analysis by the federal government, this report provides the first study of the effects of these reforms.

The study is proof that AWAs are a fast-track in the race to the bottom in terms of wages and conditions.
AWAs are achieving exactly what the Howard Government intended - to make life harder for ordinary Victorian men and women trying to make ends meet.

Findings of the study include:

• Typical Victorian workers on AWAs earn 23 per cent less than their counterparts on collective agreements.
  
• Median wage rates for AWAs in Victoria were significantly lower because there were fewer high-paid mining jobs and a bigger take up of AWAs in the hospitality industry.
  
• Australia-wide, the study showed a typical worker employed under the Federal Government’s AWAs earned 16% less than a typical worker on a registered collective agreement.
  
• It found Australians employed on collective agreements were paid a median $24.50 an hour, some $4 an hour more than those on median AWA earnings.
  
•  Over half of AWAs abolished entitlements such as overtime pay, penalty rates, public holiday payments, shift loadings and other allowances.
  

Victorian workers are worse off due to Workchoices, which is why Labor’s pledge to abolish it is good politics and good policy.

Coburg ALP Branch will meet on Tuesday 17 July, at 7.30pm in the Coburg Library Meeting Room.

This month our guest speaker is Veronica Ilias, LHMU Assistant Secretary for Childcare, who will update the branch on the Every Child Counts campaign to change Kennett era regulations governing childcare.

New Members are always welcome.

For more information contact Chris on 0403 056 494 or Nosrat on 0401 682 092.

The LHMU, supported by Community Childcare Victoria is holding a forum on Monday April 2 to brief Parents, the community and childcare workers on their campaign to have Kennett Era Childcare regulations changed.

The forum is on Monday April 2, from 7pm at the Australian Greek Welfare Society, 7 Union St, Brunswick.

The LHMU Childcare Union has just launched a campaign urging the Victorian Government to change Kennett era regulations governing conditions at childcare centres.

For more information visit the campaign website or watch this video

Here is a video of the anti-poverty day rally in Sydney. Well done to our friends from the LHMU

For nearly six months now cleaners across Australia and New Zealand have been campaigning for wage justice.

Many cleaners struggle to stay above the poverty line so this October across Australia and New Zealand cleaners will be taking part in Anti-Poverty Week - with most focus on the UN-declared International Anti-Poverty Day (October 17) when we expect to have hundreds of people out in the streets of major CBDs.

In Melbourne on October 17 the International Anti-Poverty Day Clean Start: Fair Deal for Cleaners - community rally and march.will begin at 4pm outside the State Library (cnr Swanston St and Latrobe St).

I'm going to make an effort to join in the rally - why don't you?

Real wages are being forced down according to a new analysis of ABS figures by the ACTU.

How long must we wait for these laws to be repealed or for Howard to be thrown out?

Today I announced a $35,000 Bracks Government project would skill up local clothing outworkers to become qualified pattern makers.

The project will help at least 10 outworkers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to upgrade their skills, which would in turn help meet a shortage of pattern makers in Victoria.

Last night I called upon Minister for Employment and Youth Affairs, Jacinta Allan to improve training opportunities for textile workers - and more particularly outworkers - in Parliament's adjournment debate.

In 2003 the Bracks Government passed the Outworkers (Improved Protection Act) which increases the entitlements of outworkers and provides a simple low-cost process to recover money owing. The Act also gives outworkers more rights such as:
- Long Service Leave
- Paid Public Holidays
- Occupational Health and Safety

The speech is over the fold.

Get ready for June 28 National Day of Protest
Unions and Community stand together against Howard's IR laws
Mass Rally and Protest
June 28 2006
10AM
More Information and locations

International Justice for Cleaners Day is set aside each year to bring attention to the conditions cleaners face across the globe.

The annual rallies around International Justice for Cleaners Day grew out of an ugly incident on June 15, 1990, in Los Angeles when police beat immigrant cleaners protesting the way a multi-national cleaning company was treating them in a CBD office block.

This incident provoked public outrage in the USA and abroad. Pressure from cleaners who belonged to unions in other countries helped force the contract cleaner to finally sit down, negotiate and show some respect and decency when talking with their workers.

Since then - for nearly two decades now - June 15 has become a focal point for organising cleaners in campaigns and celebrations across several continents.

The Melbourne Rally will be on June 15, starting at St Francis Church Hall, Corner of Lonsdale & Elizabeth St, Melbourne CBD at 1 pm. For more information contact: Lisa Chesters - 03 9235 7777

To accompany FIFA’s prestigious Golden Boot award for most goals scored during the World Cup, the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers’ Union (LHMU) is awarding soon its own prestigious award.