Workers protest building industry practices

About 2,000 building workers have rallied in Brisbane's CBD demanding changes to the way the industry is run.

They also want better safety.

Workers carrying a coffin lead the march to the Prime Minister's Brisbane office.

There was another death at a Brisbane construction site yesterday when a concrete beam fell on scaffolding in Brisbane's south.

It is the 18th death in Queensland this year.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) state secretary Michael Ravbar says workers are frustrated.

"Safety's become a major problem in our industry and a couple of weeks ago we lost two in a row in one week and they've just had enough," he said.

"The union says the Australian Building and Construction Commission is treating workers unfairly and needs to be abolished.

Similar rallies are being held in Sydney and Melbourne.

SA teachers to strike today

Half-day strike in SA schools over pay.

Some South Australian public schools will be closed this morning as teachers rally for a pay increase from the State Government.

Teachers unanimously knocked back the Government's pay offer of a 12.5 per cent rise over three years, and are still demanding 21 per cent.

More than 400 schools and preschools will close until a 12.15pm, while nearly 360 will operate as normal.

Anne Crawford from the Education Union says teachers are insulted by the Government's offer.

"The wage rise they have offered is fundamentally less than the cost of living, less than the CPI and the Government has completely forgotten about school leaders, preschool directors, TAFE employees and non-teaching staff," she said.

The Union's state president, Correna Haythorpe, says teachers voted unanimously to strike for a bigger rise.

"We know that over 80 per cent of our members have voted in favour for the stop-work action and parents are advised to make contact with their local schools," she said.

Jan Andrews from the Education Department says parents should already know if their children will be affected by today's strike.

She says year 12 students will not be disadvantaged.

"Schools are prioritising the needs of those students and I'm told that the AEU has had some regard to that as well," she said.

"But the programs in schools that have been affected have been tailored around the year 12s so that their work won't be interrupted even if those children are working at home."

Prison union blocks inmate transfers

The Public Service Association (PSA) says it will not allow any more prisoner transfers until the Correctional Services Department acknowledges overcrowding in South Australia's prisons system.

Representatives from each of the state's jails have had talks in Adelaide, just days after unrest at Port Augusta prison.

Jan McMahon from the PSA says overcrowding is at crisis levels and prisoner transfers will not be supported until the issue has been addressed by authorities.

But SA Correctional Services Minister Carmel Zollo says the PSA must be willing to co-operate with the Government and prisoners need to be transferred.

For its part, the SA Opposition wants an independent inquiry into last week's Port Augusta prison unrest.

Liberal correctional services spokesman Stephen Wade says the Government has been denying prisons are overcrowded even though a Productivity Commission report put them at 22 per cent above capacity.

Mr Wade says the Government insists the trouble was not due to any overcrowding.

"We says that if a space was designed for one person then to put more than one person in there is overcrowding," he said.

"That to us is commonsense. The Productivity Commission, the independent arbiter, says that we are the most overcrowded prison system in the nation at 22 per cent."

Related:

SA prison stand-off inmates relocated
They have access to the oval only once a fortnight and that's the particular exercise that was cancelled for operational reasons.


Rioting reported at Pt Augusta prison
The latest banner sprawled in big black letters on a large white sheet says "Assault prisoners hey? No more".

SA prison stand-off inmates relocated

They have access to the oval only once a fortnight and that's the particular exercise that was cancelled for operational reasons.

Inmates involved in the stand-off that ended yesterday at Port Augusta prison have been transported to Adelaide.

Most of them are now at Yatala prison, while about five who are believed to have instigated the uprising, are in police custody at the Adelaide Remand Centre.

Police are treating the Bluebush unit of Port Augusta prison as a crime scene.

Correctional Services minister Carmel Zollo says it is too early to estimate what damage was done to the unit.

"We'll have to go and assess that. I don't have a monetary value on that at all, but clearly all that will have to be fixed up before any prisoners can be returned to that unit," she said.

Ms Zollo says a cancelled exercise session seems to have been the catalyst for inmates to revolt on Thursday.

She says the session was cancelled because not enough guards were available for supervision, but strongly denied claims the prisoners are only able to exercise once a fortnight.

"It's not true that they get one exercise period a fortnight. The Bluebush prisoners have access to the secure yard outside every day and sometimes, I understand, even twice a day," she said.

"But they have access to the oval only once a fortnight and that's the particular exercise that was cancelled for operational reasons."

Meanwhile, the Public Service Association says a work ban imposed by members on the jail could extend to other facilities unless the Government improves conditions.

PSA members yesterday voted not to return to work at the facility unless the prisoners involved in the standoff were removed and the damage repaired.

Repairs cannot begin on the unit prisoners seized until police have finished their investigation of the scene.

PSA general secretary Jan McMahon says problems in the prison system are not confined to Port Augusta and members are concerned about their safety.

"There were three overflow prisoners. That means the prison at Port Augusta, according to our members, was full yesterday," he said.

"As we speak at Mobilong Prison there are currently 15 mattresses on the floor because the prison at Mobilong is full. So there is a severe overcrowding in South Australian prisons."

But yesterday acting Premier Kevin Foley was adamant the prison is not at capacity.

"Prisons are not designed for absolute comfort and the doubling up of prisoners - that is two per cell - is both a common practice and an appropriate practice," he said.

Quote: Doubling up of prisoners may be common practice due to overcrowding, and creature comfort and or human needs, by request, yes. However, if they didn’t volunteer to smell someone else's shit then it's not appropriate to the prisoner. But I guess that Kevin Foley's shit doesn't stink? And how about letting them prisoners out for a run on the oval more than once a fortnight? Or in this case more than zip, no oval at all? Most of the above prisoners will be placed in 'solitary confinement' for a few weeks after this and that should fix the problem? For now!

Related:

Rioting reported at Pt Augusta prison
"After all it's not just Port Augusta that's overcrowded, every prison in our system has been racked, stacked and packed by this Government."

Indigenous incarceration under scrutiny
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders make up almost 25 per cent of Australia's prison population, on the most recent figures. This is nearly double the rate identified as a concern by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody more than two decades ago.

We owe prisoners more than jail
Prisons are too important to be left to jailers, for the simple reason that the standard prison magnifies social problems. It is a congregation of people with an accumu–lation of risk factors for crime.

Hospital workers to walk off the job

Thousands of hospital workers across Queensland will walk off the job for at least two hours today as part of an ongoing wages dispute with the State Government.

Admin and clinical staff from at least ten major facilities including the Royal Brisbane and Womens' Hospitals and Princess Alexandra and Prince Charles will take part in the stoppage.

Queensland Public Sector Union spokesman Alex Scott says they have been forced into taking the drastic step.

"We are a minute from midnight in terms of a significant crisis because the Government is refusing to listen," he said.

Mr Scott says emergency cases will still be seen and some staff will remain at work.

The Premier Anna Bligh has warned public servants will be taken to the Industrial Commission if the strike is too disruptive.

"I don't expect we'll see any significant disruptions to services," Ms Bligh said.

The stoppage is due to begin at 11:30am AEST with workers to attend rallies around the state.

NSW teachers continue transfer fight

Teachers from about 30 schools across New South Wales will stop work for two hours today as part of ongoing industrial action against the new transfer system.

A rally is also being planned outside Chifley College in Sydney's west in support of a teacher who was blocked by the Education Department from making a service transfer to fill a vacancy at a school of her choice.

Six schools in western Sydney will be closed between 9:00am and 11:00am (AEST) so teachers can attend the stop-work meeting.

The deputy president of the NSW Teachers Federation, Bob Lipscombe, says his members are angry about new staffing rules that will not allow the transfer of a Mt Druitt High School teacher.

"High schools in the Mt Druitt area will for all intents and purposes close during the stop-work," he said.

"The teachers there are very angry about what's happened. They're very upset about the staffing changes the State Government and Department of Education have put in place, and they're making their feelings known today."

The director-general of the Education Department, Michael Coutts-Trotter, says the action may affect the operation of up to 50 schools but will temporarily close only six.

"Parents have been notified that in the case of six schools in western Sydney," he said.

"The schools will be shut for two hours this morning in a completely unnecessary stop-work meeting. Those six schools will be effectively opening two hours later than normal."

Builders to walk off in Qld protest

More than 2,000 construction workers are expected to walk off Queensland job sites this morning to protest against workplace laws.

Workers will attend combined union rallies in Brisbane, Townsville and the Gold Coast to call for the former federal government's industrial legislation to be quashed.

CFMEU State Secretary Michael Ravbar says many builders feel Kevin Rudd has broken his pre-election promise to get rid of the laws.

"A lot of people voted for Rudd in the election. I mean we've got an industry which is the forth biggest employer over 900,000 construction workers around the country and they're just sick and tired of having different rights," he said.

"They just want a bit of fairness and a bit of equity back and they want to have the same rights as any other worker in this country.

"And unfortunately Rudd has failed to deliver on that."

Mr Ravbar says the laws are draconian and undemocratic.

"You don't have the right to take strike action and if you do you've got potential fines of $28,000 for individuals, $110,000 for unions. We have special laws that if you do things you don't have the right to silence," he said.

"Basically construction workers' civil rights are taken away from them."

Govt to change work-visa loophole

The federal government is moving to close a loophole that allows companies to employ short-term foreign guest workers for as little at $4.20 an hour.

Regulations will be introduced to change work-visa rules ensuring the workers are paid fair wages, Immigration Minister Chris Evans says.

The move follows an investigation by the Workplace Ombudsman which found 16 guest workers on an offshore gas project were performing 12-hour shifts on a two-months-on-one-month-off roster, and earning between $4 and $10 an hour.

"We have subsequently got the decision from the Workplace Ombudsman so we are going to change our regulations to try and make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again," Senator Evans said.

The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) had alleged Filipino construction workers laying a gas pipeline on the Angel gas project, off the WA coast, were being paid as little as $4.20 an hour.

"My members, Australian workers on that job, were earning upwards of a round $140,000 per annum," AWU secretary Paul Howes said.

"These Filipino workers were earning less than a 16-year-old who works for McDonald's and that's a disgrace.

"These workers should get every single dollar that they would have earned if they had been Australian workers working on the same project."

The workers were working under section 456 short-stay visas for a US-based labour hire company.

Once the pipeline touched the sea bottom, the workers should have gone onto section 457 visas which require them to be paid award wages.

Senator Evans says new regulations will require employers to pay proper wages under the section 456 visas.

"It is to pick up what seems to have been a loophole that has been exploited in this case and maybe in others."

Thousands of teachers walk off the job

Teachers will stop work for two hours from 9am (AEST), in a dispute over staff transfers and the Government's 2.5 per cent pay rise ceiling.

The NSW Teachers Federation has urged 2240 principals to close their schools and has refused to authorise minimal supervision for 750,000 students.

However, Education Department director-general Michael Coutts-Trotter said 88 per cent of schools would remain open during the strike period.

About 250 schools will have no supervision for students, he said.

"Parents have been advised of alternative arrangements by school newsletter or a note home and some schools have placed advice on their websites," he said.

The Government is planning to end the current transfer system, which gives priority for sought-after positions to teachers who have spent time at hard-to-staff schools.

Teachers Federation president Maree O'Halloran said the backlash from today's industrial action was worthwhile if it secured higher pay, retention of the transfer system and proper funding of public schools.

"When you take industrial action you could get the community offside," she said.

"But when you're dealing with the type of government we've got, it seems that nothing other than a crisis makes them listen.

"For these two hours they (the students) won't have lessons.

"But if the State Government doesn't start funding schools and TAFE colleges properly, doesn't start paying teachers properly and doesn't put the transfer system back in place there will be lots of schools who don't have enough teachers."

Ms O'Halloran would not comment on the possibility of future industrial action, saying the federation had successfully negotiated with the department in the past.

Main Roads workers stage 24-hour strike

The Queensland Public Sector Union (QPSU) says Main Roads Department staff across the state have launched their most significant industrial action in 20 years.

QPSU spokesman Alex Scott says about 1,000 Main Roads Department workers walked off the job at midnight AEST for 24 hours.

"This Government is going to see significant and extended industrial action for the coming months unless they wake up to themselves and actually make an offer that means that the real wages are maintained over the next couple of years in a high inflation environment," he said.

"The Reserve Bank understands this, the Federal Government understands it - inflation is high - 3.25 [per cent] won't fix it.

"The State Government is trying to force public sector workers in Main Roads in QBuild, in hospitals and in schools across the board to try and cut their wages by only offering 3.25 per cent, when inflation is running at 5 per cent."

More than 100 workers in Cairns in the state's far north have joined the strike.

QPSU far northern spokesman Kevin O'Sullivan says the action is a "reality check" for the Government.

"This is unfortunate that the Government wants to basically to cut wages and no one can afford to do that in the present economic climate," he said.

"So the Government and the Minister involved - Warren Pitt [Main Roads Minister] are going to have to have a reality check.

"This is the strongest strident our members have taken, so they're sending out the message they're very very serious about getting a decent pay."

The QPSU says there will be significant industrial action in the coming months if the Queensland Government does not increase its wage offer.

The State Government says the strike is regrettable and it will continue to negotiate with the QPSU.

The Government says contingency plans are in place to ensure any disruption to the public is kept to a minimum.

TAFE teachers protest for more pay

Classes at TAFE campuses in central Victoria are expected to be disrupted by a teachers' protest in Melbourne today.

TAFE teachers are holding a stop-work meeting in Melbourne this morning as they step up their campaign for better pay and more permanent positions.

The union's Greg Barclay says poor pay is driving people away from the profession.

He says about 60 per cent of the work force is employed casually.

Mr Barclay says regional teachers are growing angrier about the way they are being treated.

"We are the most underpaid TAFE teachers in all of Australia, we're about $21,000 behind TAFE teachers in New South Wales and around about $13,000 behind secondary school teachers here in Victoria," he said.

Rolling strikes hit SA schools

Nearly 150 northern suburbs schools in Adelaide are closing for half a day as teachers start another round of a prolonged campaign for higher pay and a different school funding model.

State schools will be hit by rolling strikes throughout the week and there are threats to maintain the rage until the state election.

Teachers last held a strike in June, but the South Australian Government refused to budge on demands for a 21 per cent pay rise, offering less than half that, over three years.

It also refuses to withdraw a school funding model the union rejects.

SA Industrial Relations Minister Paul Caica is in the protesters' sights.

"They'll be at my office this week and I look forward to having my staff greet them with a cup of tea," he said.

There are 148 schools and pre-schools closed in the northern suburbs until the afternoon.

Opposition education spokesman David Pisoni says it will be a wasted learning day.

"My guess is many of the students won't be there for the afternoon and what impact will that have on their attendance records?" he said.

Adelaide western suburbs schools will have stoppages on Tuesday, the eastern suburbs and Mitcham area on Wednesday and the southern suburbs on Thursday.

More action possible

Australian Education Union official Correna Haythorpe says it could be an issue until the next state poll.

"We would hope to see a resolution to the dispute sooner rather than later but if we need to take this matter right up to the next state election then that's what will happen," she said.

Mr Caica doubts that will happen.

"I don't believe that there will be industrial action right up until the next election and we will resolve these issues and the best way of doing that is ensuring that we continue to negotiate and we continue to talk and we do so in good faith," he said.

The union warns there could be further strikes this school term, including full-day or two-day strikes.

Parents are advised to contact their children's schools for more information about closures.

Harbour Bridge displays public sector anger

Hundreds of public sector workers have rallied outside the New South Wales Government's Sydney offices as part of a state-wide day of action against its 2.5 per cent capped pay rise offer.

Police are refusing to issue fines for minor offences as part of the day of action, which also involves firefighters and teachers.

Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) workers have unfurled a banner from the Sydney Harbour Bridge to draw attention to the anger.

All state departments are banning communication with ministers or ministerial officers.

Unions NSW secretary John Robertson told the rally the Government needed to pay frontline workers more because the offer was far below the inflation level.

"I remember Morris Iemma's election campaign: 'Better services for the people of NSW'," he said.

"Well, you don't deliver better services if you are not paying people a decent wage."

Firefighters have also taken part a separate rally at east Darling Harbour.

Protests have also been held in Wollongong and outside Treasurer Michael Costa's Newcastle office.

The workers, including police officers, firefighters and teachers, say the offer is far below the inflation level.

Remote teachers to strike over housing

Teachers in far north Queensland will hold 24-hour strikes in the next two weeks over the state of their housing.

Around 500 teachers from 28 schools in the Torres Strait, Cape York and Gulf of Carpentaria will stop work on July 31 and August 6.

Queensland Teachers Union president Steve Ryan said the action followed stop-work meetings in April.

"Teachers ... are living in insecure, leaking, rundown, sub-standard accommodation," Mr Ryan said.

"Yet the state budget announced in June utterly failed to deliver the funding levels required to provide safe, secure, adequate and sufficient housing in these areas."

Details of strike times and schools affected are available on the website www.qtu.asn.au

Teachers walk out

Teachers will stage a 24-hour strike today following the NSW government's refusal to negotiate over new staffing arrangements.

The strike, which the union has flagged as the beginning of a wider industrial campaign, is expected to disrupt classes at all public schools in NSW.

Education Minister John Della Bosca said while some schools would be forced to close, the majority would provide supervision for students.

Teachers from 2,200 public schools and 400 TAFE colleges will rally in Sydney as part of the strike over the changes, in particular a phase-out of the service transfer scheme.

The scheme gives priority in appointments to teachers who accumulate points for years of service in remote areas or other regions where it is difficult to attract staff.

The government wants school principals to have the power to directly employ staff, and not necessarily take them from the transfer list.

NSW Teachers Federation vice-president Gary Zadkovich said yesterday schools would struggle to retain teachers without the scheme.

"This industrial campaign will continue. There will be further disruption to student's education. Parents will be inconvenienced," Mr Zadkovich said.

"No one wants this. We appeal to the minister, to the director-general, (to) return to the negotiation table. We can work this out."

But Mr Della Bosca said the government would not back down, saying the changes give teachers better employment options.

"We can't budge on this position because it's good for public education ... to make sure that schools have a say in the teachers that come to their schools," he said.

Mr Della Bosca said the federation's threat of more strikes was regrettable.

"It's something that shouldn't happen," he said.

Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell lambasted the government's failure to reach a deal.

"It's never acceptable to use the public as a bargaining chip in a dispute between the government and any union," Mr O'Farrell said.

Parents also have urged teachers and the government to reach a compromise, saying students were the ones who would ultimately suffer.

"Parents care greatly about the future of the teaching profession, but its discussions and actions should not impact the teaching and learning that occurs in the classroom," NSW P&C president Dianne Giblin said.

Updated: 2:00pm (AEST)

Teachers to continue strikes

NSW teachers will continue rolling industrial action next month until the government changes its plans.

Thousands of teachers have turned out for a rally in Sydney today outside the state government and education department offices at Farrer Place.

Waving colourful banners and signs lampooning Education Minister John Della Bosca, the rallying teachers chanted "quality teachers here we are, Della Bosca's gone too far".

NSW Teachers Federation president Maree O'Halloran said industrial action was set to continue next month.

On June 14, teachers would vote on another statewide strike to be held early in term three, which begins on July 28, she said.

"For 15 years, teachers have been able to negotiate with both Labor and coalition governments a mixed staffing system which contains local choice and transfers," Ms O'Halloran said in a statement.

"With 16,000 teachers eligible to retire by 2012, it is clearly possible to allow transfers to occur and accommodate more local choice.

"However, finding a solution does require both parties to be willing to negotiate.

"Teachers stand ready to do so in the interests of public education."

Iemma fast-tracks power sale law

NSW Premier Morris Iemma is understood to have pushed the legislation governing the sale of the state's electricity industry through cabinet this morning and plans to rush the bills through caucus at a meeting at 1:30pm today.

The move appears designed to catch the Premier's caucus enemies who oppose the sale by surprise and get the package through prior to the Premier leaving on a trip for China tonight.

The Premier's spokesman Glenn Byres refused to deny the cabinet and caucus meeting involved the electricity legislation and refused to comment further.

Related:

Power play: Greens push for sell-off vote
The New South Wales Greens are planning to reintroduce a private member's bill, designed to make sure all MPs get a vote on electricity privatisation.

Power play: Greens push for sell-off vote

The New South Wales Greens are planning to reintroduce a private member's bill, designed to make sure all MPs get a vote on electricity privatisation.

Upper House MP John Kaye originally sought in February to ensure any sale, lease or disposal of electricity assets would be determined by Parliament.

He let his bill lapse after Treasurer Michael Costa gave an assurance in Question Time that a vote would occur.

But Dr Kaye says recently Mr Costa has been refusing to give the same guarantee.

"We can no longer trust Michael Costa or Morris Iemma not to try and get around Parliament," he said.

"Parliament's going to become embarrassing for them in the long run. They want to do this behind closed doors in a secret deal with business.

"We're determined to get it into Parliament so that we can at least expose some of the aspects of this which aren't in the public interest."

He says he wants to make sure Parliament gets the final say.

"We wanna give all members of Parliament the opportunity to make a clear statement on how they stand," he said.

Union urges PM to act on Stolen Generations promise

The Australian Education Union (AEU) wants the Federal Government to follow Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations with a significant funding boost for Indigenous education in the Northern Territory.

AEU president Angelo Gavrielatos says despite the intentions of the Federal and Territory governments to improve the standards, funding is still inadequate.

"Kevin Rudd's sentiment in terms of what he decides for Indigenous students and all students is correct," he said.

"The sentiment expressed by the Northern Territory Government in terms of Indigenous educational outcomes is also correct but it falls in the absence of adequate resourcing and adequate funding."

In his apology to Indigenous Stolen Generations, Mr Rudd resolved over the next five years to have every Indigenous 4-year-old child attending an early childhood facility.

The AEU argues this will not happen under current funding.

"It's now time to give substance to the education revolution and it's also time to give substance to what needs to happen beyond the national apology - it's time for the Rudd Government to invest dramatically in education and invest dramatically in Indigenous education," Mr Gavrielatos said.

The AEU will meet in Darwin today to reiterate its call for $1.7 billion to be invested in the Territory over the next five years to improve the poor education standards of Aboriginal children.

Mr Gavrielatos says the Commonwealth must significantly increase funding for an extra 14,000 teachers.

"It requires a dramatic investment in teachers and it requires a dramatic investment in infrastructure,'' he said.

NT Eduction Minister Marion Scrymgour says there has been an increase in funding from the Territory Government.

"None of it's easy - if we found an easy solution for this many years ago it would have been implemented,'' she said.

The AEU estimates 7,500 Indigenous children in the Territory are not getting an education.

Related:

Union calls for $2.9b to fund education shortfall
The Education Union is calling on the Federal Government to provide an extra $2.9 billion in funding for public schools

Govt, union defend remote community schooling
The Centre for Independent Studies says Aboriginal students in the Northern Territory are finishing school with the numeracy and literacy skills of five-year-olds.

US dockers strike over Iraq war

Union officials say about 10,000 longshore workers who handle cargo along the west coast of the United States have stayed away from work in a one-day protest against the war in Iraq.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union reported that traffic had virtually come to a halt across the region's ports including the largest at Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Oakland, Seattle and other ports along the coast between the Canadian and Mexican borders were also affected.

Union officials say many of the big shipping companies are profiting from the war.

"It's supposed to be quiet," said union spokesman Craig Merrilees. "When people don't go to work the docks are quiet."

Related;

Thousands take part in anti-war protests
Thousands of anti-war protesters have marched in Britain and the United States to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq

CFMEU calls for household formaldehyde probe

Australia's biggest building union is calling for the Federal Government to start an urgent large-scale investigation into the use of formaldehyde in household products.

The Government has already confirmed up to 50 Northern Territory intervention staff and police officers were exposed to concerning levels of the substance in the converted shipping containers they were living in for six months.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) says high levels of the dangerous carcinogen could be found in thousands of Australian homes as it is used in particle board and furniture.

The CFMEU's health and safety coordinator, Martin Kingham, says union members are exposed to the potentially carcinogenic substance in their daily work.

He says the health concerns extend to householders as well.

"There's also a long-term health effect for ordinary householders - particularly when you think of a kitchen, kitchen cupboards, that's where you store food, and tests have indicated that the formaldehyde cures out of the product into the air for up to 20 years after it's been installed," he said.