Amwu news winter 14

OUR FUTURE IN OUR HANDS INSIDE

WINTER 2014

Union keeps it real for apprentices Pictures: Active across the country Book giveaway: Dirty Secrets - our ASIO files

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EDITORIAL

‘Learn or Earn’ – Abbott Government blind to the problems in Earning

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he Government’s slogan “learn or earn” sounds great in theory.

with areas that are losing their manufacturing and industrial base – western Sydney, outer Brisbane, Geelong, Kwinana in Perth.

And Custom Coaches in western Sydney recently announced voluntary administration, with the possible loss of a further 130 jobs.

Of course we want workers of all ages to get the skills needed for a rewarding career. Of course we want everyone who can work in employment and not reliant on the welfare system.

These people are not unskilled – they’ve done their learning. But there’s no local jobs for them to earn in.

It keeps adding up.

But to date the Government’s focus has been entirely on the dichotomy of either learning or on welfare.

Recently on ABC radio, Minister for Social Services Kevin Andrews defended cuts to youth welfare by arguing that young people should be learning in either the trades or higher education.

But the Government needs more focus on the “earning” side of the equation – a side that is increasingly becoming a black hole.

Where are the jobs that we are meant to “earn” from? Where are the masses of job opportunities for both young people entering the workforce and older people wanting or needing to change jobs.

I don’t see many employers complaining about too few applicants in western Sydney, the Hunter or Elizabeth in Adelaide.

Over the last year there has been a systematic and devastating loss of the manufacturing jobs that were once the hallmark of the Australian middle class.

These were solid, dependable jobs; decent jobs earning the average wage; jobs that supported communities and families. Jobs that built things our country needed.

It is not a coincidence that areas of rising welfare dependence correlate

All these numbers represent skilled workers. They have already learnt.

But nothing is being done to save their jobs, and save an entire sector of the Australian economy.

In just the last year, we have seen an additional 35,000 people join the welfare queue. They want to earn.

But where do they go?

“

Under the Government’s policies, the jobs that young trades people would have gone into no longer exist.

It would be easy to assume that Government – Federal or State – has no role to play in this sector of the economy. That nothing can be done. But both domestic and international experience shows this is not the case.

We have seen an additional 35,000 people join the welfare queue.

They want to earn. But where do they go?

”

In the United States, proactive domestic procurement policies helped to save a huge sector of their industrial and manufacturing base.

“Rescuing the middle class” was how it was termed – and was partially credited with winning Obama his second term. Both major Australian parties would do well to take note.

As a direct result of Federal Government policy decisions, we have seen the ongoing shutdown of manufacturing jobs – 45,000 jobs to go in auto-manufacturing, 500 lost at Electrolux in Orange, shipbuilders in the Hunter starting to lay-off skilled tradespeople, DSI in Albury moving from 1000 jobs down to 160 and now about to close.

There are 480 workers about to lose their jobs at Aurizon railyards in southwest Brisbane and Townsville.

The BP refinery at Bulwer Island out of Brisbane is shutting, with the loss of 355 jobs.

AMWUNews WINTER 2014 AMWU News is the official publication of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, (registered AFMEPKIU) National Office, 133 Parramatta Road, Granville, NSW, 2142.

Editor: Paul Bastian AMWU Communications Team: Tamsin Lloyd, Neil Wilson and Andrea Firehock.

Design: dcmc Design, Melbourne.

All information included in this publication was correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change at any time.

Please contact your union organiser for updates. © AMWU National Office Made in Australia by AMWU members

would service our national needs.

He could ensure that when young people finish learning there is somewhere for them to go and earn a good wage, to support a family and contribute to their community.

He could support innovation, support companies that buy local and enforce domestic defence procurement. All of these actions would support industry and jobs.

But unless he acts soon, we will have lost much of our manufacturing base and the unemployment figures will continue to rise.

Paul Bastian AMWU National Secretary

The same is true across Europe and much of Asia.

By introducing a ‘local first’ procurement policy, our Government could save many of these jobs and industries. Tony Abbott could live up to his promise to be a ‘Jobs Prime Minister’.

He could be the Prime Minister of a Country that Makes Things.

He could see Australia keep building ships, trains and engines that

Paul Bastian’s editorial......................................................................................... 3 From overalls to graduation gowns...................................................................... 4 Fred’s fight inspires win for sick children............................................................. 5 Sweet taste of success at Cadbury....................................................................... 5 Union keeps it real for apprentices................................................................... 6-7 Pictures: Active across the country................................................................... 8-9 My life, my super................................................................................................ 10 Book review: Dirty Secrets – Our ASIO files.........................................................11 Delegate profile: Vahan Papazian...................................................................... 12 AMWUNEWS

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NEWS

From overalls to graduation gowns A

MWU members at two car component firms in southern Melbourne have taken a big step to securing their futures by taking on formal training.

renovation and leading manufacturing change which transformed brake production at Chassis.

“I’ve played a part in helping this workplace run more efficiently, reducing costs, ensuring continual improvement through training and I think that knowledge can work across many industries,” he said.

About 40 workers at Chassis Brakes in Bentleigh are starting on a Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) program through Kangan TAFE, while the possibilities can be seen from the workers at nearby Metalsa who graduated recently with TAFE trade certificates.

For Thi Hoang, a formal qualification proving her experience in modern, lean assembly at Chassis Brakes is crucial, as her partner Quang Bui also works there on night shift.

Mr Vourdoumpas sees a qualification, possibly a TAFE diploma, as a career stepping stone.

And if any member at Chassis still had doubts, they should have been at car parts maker Metalsa one Friday last month.

Training well: Thi Hoang, Gavin Johnston, Ang Vourdoumpas at Chassis Brakes.

There were broad smiles on the faces of more than 70 AMWU members who proudly swapped their overalls for scholar’s gowns when they graduated with their new qualifications.

Both need a fallback to relying purely on the company’s fortunes, as Chassis Brakes is among component makers under severe pressure from the closure of Ford, Toyota and Holden by 2017.

Many earned a Certificate 4 (Engineering), some a Diploma in Engineering.

At Chassis, Manufacturing Skills Australia Workforce Development Officer and AMWU veteran Lewis Farrugia approached management, which agreed it had a responsibility to help its skilled workforce.

AMWU member Daryl Maslen thanked the AMWU, Manufacturing Skills Australia and Metalsa’s management.

“It’s given a lot of people a different mindset and a good feeling about their value as a worker because it led them to assess their own skills and experience,” Mr Maslen said.

As at Metalsa, Kangan TAFE was called in to assess those workers interested and provide the tuition.

Thi Hoang has worked at Chassis for 12 years and it’s close to her home in suburban Bentleigh but, if her mortgage is to be paid off and the children’s schooling financed, she has to be adaptable.

“I’m a little worried, my kids are still young and we need to be able to support them for the next 10 years,” said Thi. “I have my experience here, but it will be better if I ever lose my job to have a certificate so a new

Skills recognised: Proud AMWU graduates at Metalsa

employer can see what I have done.”

“My partner is doing extra training too and to have time for more learning would be great.”

Member Ang Vourdoumpas went from the shop floor to playing a key part in implementing the factory

“A certificate is a sign they have self-respect, pride in their work and are dedicated to achievement so that’s something any employer would have to regard as a great asset.”

He said it was disgraceful that investment in the auto industry and training through TAFEs and Manufacturing Skills Australia has been undermined by the Abbott Government.

Shipbuilding journey crosses generations.

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lood may be thicker than seawater but both mix pretty well across generations for the Van der Tuuks of Adelaide.

Rob Van der Tuuk and his son Corey are among those who have stepped forward to support the AMWU’s shipbuilding campaign, arguing we cannot plan a secure future submarine project without work guaranteed now for yards in all states.

Rob, 58, was one of the first boilermakers at ASC South in Adelaide five years ago and in recent times has been joined by Corey as the yard nears completing the first Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD).

Corey worked as an operator at ASC South for several years, on grinding and general duties, joining dad in the AMWU before being taken on as a mature-age apprentice electrician in 2013.

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“I encouraged him to come here for the job security, he was a manager at Woolworths and hated it, but working at ASC South has changed his life,” Rob says.

“I’m as proud as punch he has the apprenticeship, I just want to make sure this industry can give him a longer term future.”

Father and son live in close suburbs, so travel to work together each day.

Corey’s boy Rylan is two and grandpa hopes fervently he may continue the tradition, so is fully backing the union’s campaign to design, build and maintain all our vessels.

Corey said he loved the comradeship across trades at ASC South and satisfaction from doing your best for Australia’s defence.

“It’s work that I hope will last for many years, we’ll need the security - Rylan will have a little brother or a sister pretty soon now, we’ve got another due.

“It would be great if they come here to work one day.”

The AMWU has condemned the Abbott Government’s decision to build two navy supply vessels overseas as another lost chance to secure thousands of skilled shipbuilding jobs.

Defence Minister David Johnston said in June that replacements for HMAS Success and HMAS Sirius would be built by Navantia of Spain or Daewoo of South Korea.

AMWU National Assistant Secretary Glenn Thompson said local shipbuilders were capable of building the supply ships and only a steady flow of work would help productivity to keep improving.

The decision showed this Government’s lack of vision for shipbuilding.

Members most affected are at BAE in Williamstown and Forgacs in Newcastle, whose work on Air Warfare Destroyer blocks is due to run out by 2015.

Mr Thompson said the best hope to secure the industry was the future frigates program, with $78.2 million committed to bring forward preliminary work.

A decision on the eight frigates is due in the 2015 Defence White Paper.

The Government will tender locally to replace 20 Pacific Patrol Boats, but that will not generate sufficient work to secure the industry’s jobs.

NEWS

Fred’s fight inspires win-win for sick children

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ids fighting cancer and AMWU members are both the winners from a novel agreement reached at BP’s refinery near Perth.

The health battle of refinery delegate Fred MacIvor helped inspire his 125 comrades to reach a new pay deal - which was conditional upon the boss also contributing $10,000 to the Kids With Cancer Foundation.

and we brought in one of our younger members,” said fellow delegate Gary Allan.

Talks had reached a critical point where the maintenance members were considering industrial action, but they also knew they were close to reaching a deal with the company.

“We weren’t getting much progress at all - but then came the suggestion for the company to make a charity contribution on behalf of AMWU members,” said Mr Allan.

The popular Mr MacIvor, a pipefitter-welder, headed the team which started negotiations with UGL last year for a new agreement but had to step aside when he was diagnosed with a cancer recurrence.

“Many of us have had a run-in with cancer. Our delegates especially thought of Fred MacIvor and another one of the people here who’ve suffered, plus there’s been our own family members.

“Fred was our original delegate but I had to take over

“The idea was to help other people in the community

and that went over pretty well with the members, they voted for the Kids With Cancer Foundation as the way to go.”

WA State Secretary Steve McCartney was at the refinery for the hand-over of a symbolic $10,000 cheque, which comes on the back of a two-year agreement featuring an 8 per cent pay rise.

Mr MacIvor, who now has the all-clear from his specialist, was chuffed.

“It’s very touching, these workers have set aside their own interests,” he said.

“I’m older, I’ve had the treatment and it is not nice at all. The thought of little kids in hospital having to go through that is terrible, so it is fantastic the guys decided to do something for them.”

AMWU delegate Fred MacIvor was cheered by the deal.

Cheque mate: members and delegates at UGL with WA State Secretary Steve McCartney (second from right)

Sweet taste A

MWU members at Cadbury have a glass and a half full of job security and training opportunities in a new union agreement for the famed Tasmanian chocolate plant.

An overwhelming 95 per cent of its 400 workers voted in favour of the deal, which also gives casuals employed through labour hire companies the chance of becoming Cadbury employees.

Tasmanian State Secretary John Short said the workforce at Cadbury in Hobart had put job security and training as their top priorities to help set up the factory to win export contracts to take the dairy milk chocolate products into the Asian market.

“The membership have been enthusiastic to ensure that we have more permanent employees and that skills are formally recognised because

of success at Cadbury that’s a way for them to progress.

It’s a feature the company can use to prove it’s globally competitive,” he said.

“No one loses money or goes backward, it’s fair to say that continuing job security was a high priority.

This agreement shows broad vision and a selfless spirit from our members.”

Incentives include a new classification structure, reflecting formal skills recognition for employees’ work on a modern robotic production line, with strict hygiene and quality standards.

Delegate Nigel Warren said no employee would lose money under the five-tier structure, but all would be rewarded for extra skills and qualifications they gained through training.

“It will be done so you can move up with new skills, there’s an incentive which people liked,” he said.

Management at Mondelez, Cadbury Australia’s new parent company, are aiming to increase

production from 45,000 tonnes of chocolate per year to 70,000 tonnes so they can export.

The union agreement provides for a moderate 8.5 per cent pay increase over three years, but also includes the new bonus of income protection for employees in case of illness or accident.

Labour hire casuals employed for more than three months will also be given the opportunity to become a fixed-term Cadbury employee, with a review every six months giving the union the opportunity to seek permanency for them.

Mr Warren said labour hire employees were used to fill roster gaps but some who have been at Cadbury for years now finally had the chance of employment stability.

In 2013 the Federal Coalition controversially promised to put $16 million into Cadbury, but Mr Short said that had not been relevant to the negotiations because that funding was confined to Cadbury’s visitor centre, which was a separate facility to the factory operations.

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FEATURE

UNION KEEPS IT REAL FOR

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he AMWU is putting extra effort into helping our apprentices successfully see through their time and become the skilled tradespeople Australia will need into the future.

So far this year we’ve had a good win for apprentices, ensuring those who show the required competency in their trade course can get accelerated progression.

This follows our Fair Work Commission victory in 2013, which delivered major improvements to wages plus re-imbursement for TAFE textbooks and travel costs when attending training.

The AMWU has also started some great initiatives to reach out and make sure our apprentices get the full picture on their rights, pay and conditions.

There’s the “Our Jobs. Our Future” initiative being piloted in NSW by our research unit including research

officer Casey Thomson (more about that on this page). She’s been visiting TAFEs with our organisers to speak with apprentices.

And in Western Australia, our “New Metals” team has been out talking to apprentices about getting the most from their trade, combined with some great outings around Perth.

It’s been two steps forward by the AMWU but one step back due to the Abbott Government’s appalling Budget, which will rip away 11 training programs, including the $8000 Tools For Your Trade allowance for apprentices.

The new loan scheme, slugging apprentices with an interest-burdened $20,000 loan, just moves the cost burden on to younger people when they’re trying to establish themselves.

This is a further barrier to young workers completing their trades at a time when Australian

manufacturing faces a significant skills shortage.

That’s why we’ll be fighting this issue all the way, in the streets and in Canberra, persuading the opposition political parties to stop it.

The biggest AMWU victory this year for apprentices has been to confirm the right of TAFE panels to decide when an apprentice is competent to move to a higher pay level based on their skills, rather than making them wait until the end of the training year.

The Fair Work Commission rejected the claim of the Australian Industry Group which wanted employers to have the right to veto assessments

by Registered Training Organisations that apprentices were competent.

Liam Dutaillis, who completed his apprenticeship in Newcastle two years ago, wished the decision had been made “Let’s hope earlier. It would have helped him this decision to be judged according to a training competency criteria will change rather than the whim of the boss. things.”

Liam was ambitious to complete his training as a fitter-machinist early at One Steel (now Arrium) and met all TAFE requirements six months early.

- Liam.

But he was forced to wait by his manager on the basis of “leadership” and “assertiveness” within a work team where he was younger than most workmates by decades.

“It would have been fair enough if there were issues with my ability within the training plan, but I had these requirements from my manager that were verbal and really fictional to try to comply with,” he said.

Motorplex racing night: apprentices Nick Budd (Applus), Khamis Lowoja (Ingham’s), Drew Horton (BAE), Daniel Daly (BAE) with wife Kerry Daly, Steve Ford (Foundry), Andrew Pearse (BP Refinery).

‘OUR JOBS. OUR FUTURE’

By Casey Thompson, Assistant National Research Officer

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n the past few months we’ve been active with the AMWU’s “Our Jobs. Our Future” campaign, which is being coordinated by our National Research Centre to get out and assist apprentices.

We’ve been speaking with manufacturing apprentices in TAFEs across NSW and in coming months we will be conducting similar visits at TAFEs across the country. We’ll be coming your way!

We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response so far.

Apprentices have come out of our presentations more informed about their rights and keen to get involved with the union after seeing the benefits first-hand.

Things are looking up after the huge gains 6

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delivered by the AMWU and the ACTU in the Fair Work Commission’s 2012 Modern Award Review.

The AMWU won significant pay rises of 4-12% per week for apprentices starting work on, or after, 1 January 2014.

We also won employer reimbursements for “in-transit” travel costs required to attend bloc release TAFE training, employer reimbursements for TAFE textbooks and – this year - the introduction of a fairer, competencybased, wage progression system.

On our TAFE visits, we’ve found that the work of the union comes as much-needed relief to some apprentices who have to pay nearly half of their weekly income on travel costs.

We have also outlined the minimum award rates of pay for apprentices as many have been unsure of their legal entitlements.

There are few other ways for trainees to obtain this detailed information, so the campaign is

“It had nothing to do with my training plan criteria, it delayed my work plans by six months, so let’s hope this decision will change things.”

helping to empower younger workers entering the manufacturing industry. We’re providing the skills and resources they need to fight for their rights.

Every apprentice, and every worker, deserves to know their rights at work.

After finding out about the work that trade unions do for their members and workers more broadly, many have decided to join.

Apprentices are sometimes exploited in the workplace as some employers assume they are unaware of their rights, and sadly this is too often confirmed on our visits.

Many students have reported being underpaid by several dollars an hour, not paid for public holidays when on permanent full-time contracts, or being refused competency-based progression.

The AMWU’s campaign ensures that all apprentices are aware of the recent award changes that have significantly improved their wages and conditions.

We’re dedicated to building the skills and support they need to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect at work.

FEATURE

APPRENTICES ‘NEW METALS’ IN THE WEST

By Jade Cochrane, AMWU “New Metals” Co-ordinator

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e’ve been active for younger members this year in WA with the effort we’ve dubbed “New Metals”.

New Metals is our effort to recognise that younger members, especially apprentices, can be particularly vulnerable in their workplace.

It’s about providing protection, education on workplace rights and connecting members so they can develop solidarity across industries.

We kicked off with a Drag Racing Night at the Kwinana Motorplex, where quite a few of our keen young members were treated to an evening of fast and furious Nitro Funny Car

action. It was a great chance for them to get together away from work and, of course, to check out some pretty impressive machinery.

While it was primarily social, we were also keen to chat about what younger people wanted from their union and how we can ensure the AMWU is relevant across generations. It was great to see members from a wide range of industries and shops, including BAE, Komatsu, Applus, Civmec and Inghams.

After feedback, we decided to make our next event the finals of the WA Jet Sprints at Baldivis Water Park (pictures below).

With new faces and new shops sending reps along, we are building momentum and we’re confident the group is shaping up as real voice for younger members within our union and beyond.

We share industries and priorities with all workers, but apprentices and younger members have their own issues too. From here, the challenge is to grow our social events into workplace and community activism.

As New Metals member and BP Refinery worker Andrew Pearse put it: “New Metals is a great initiative because it gives younger people a place to have a say within the union and connect people who are experiencing similar issues at work.”

We followed up the drag racing and jet sprints with something a little slower, a movies night later in June featuring the provocative Street Politics 101 and The Truth About Temporary Labour. To keep up with New Metals, check the AMWU WA Branch facebook page.

NICKY BEATS ABBOTT’S APPRENTICE AXE N icky Green is relieved that her working future is assured after the AMWUsupported National Apprenticeships Program beat the Budget axe and is standing on its own two feet.

Ms Green, a mature age apprentice in mechanical fitting, became the first woman to be signed on by the National Apprenticeships Program (NAP) earlier this year just as the scheme moved from a taxpayer-funded pilot to self-sufficiency.

formerly worked as a vehicle body builder at Aurizon’s Redbank rail depot.

“I’m learning so much, things I never thought possible or thought I’d have a chance to do.

Everything’s just Jurassic Park-size up here.”

The NAP is a silver lining on a dark cloud for apprenticeships and training, which suffered a $524 million cut in the Budget.

The Coalition Budget scrapped 11 programs that support apprentices, including the successful Tools For Your Trade grants.

The NAP program was launched in 2011 to upskill talented workers for the resources, energy and construction sectors by offering advancedentry, adult apprenticeships on adult wages.

Working at Bechtel’s APLNG project on Curtis Island in Queensland, Nicky Green is on track It is supported by some large employers in the to complete her qualification within 18 months. resources sector.

So far 250 people have completed “I love the job, I like the security of a trade there’s a lot of demand for,” said Ms Green, who apprenticeships, some within 12 months.

“If this program had still been dependent on federal funding it would have been axed too.

It’s all slash and burn from this Government,” said AMWU Skills Co-ordinator Ian Curry.

“NAP shows the value of investing in innovative programs, there’s a large pool of suitable people registered with it, now it’s a matter of matching as many as we can with employers.

“There is no excuse for the use of big numbers of 457 Visa workers when so many of these people are ready to go. There is no excuse for the Government cutting back skills programs.”

Ms Green, 29, thinks the scheme is ideal for the growing number of women wanting to start a career in the resources, energy or construction sectors.

She said if women were aware of incentives through the NAP program, many more would apply.

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Y R T N U O C E H T S S O R C A ACTIVE

By Paul Bastian AMWU National Secretary

Union members all across Australia have stood up against Coalition Governments’ vicious attacks on working families by taking to the streets in solidarity with the community.

There has been activity in all capital cities as well as many regional centres.

The protest against the Hockey-Abbott Budget came after months of activity by the AMWU, which has been fighting the threat to local jobs and content, particularly in the NSW Hunter region and Geelong in Victoria.

Queenslanders used their May Day march for a show of resistance to the Newman and Abbott Governments and provided their determination to stand up for a better future.

The AMWU Retired Members’ Division led pensioners, single parents and students victimised by the Budget in a protest in mid-May, a spirited prelude to the mass rally of unionists to Bust The Budget in Melbourne in June.

MAY DAY RALLY Queensland

Geelong JOBS RALLY

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RETIRED MEMBERS RALLY Melbourne

BUST THE BUDGET

RALLY Victoria

SHIPBUILDING RALLY Perth Newcastle JOBS RALLY AMWUNEWS

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Tell the big banks, to rack off…

IT’S MY LIFE AND IT’S MY SUPER the Fair Work Commission (FWC) and its review process by former NSW Liberal leader John Brogden, who heads up the Financial Services Council (FSC), the advocate for the retail funds.

He and the big banks are pressuring the Abbott Government to scrap the FWC’s role as the superannuation umpire for those eight in ten workers who aren’t selecting an account themselves. Brogden and the FSC argue that super isn’t an industrial issue.

The big risk is an open-market free-for-all.

A recent Grattan Institute study found 11 per cent of employers would be happy to nominate one of the big banks’ funds as the default MySuper fund for their workers.

Heavy load: Gary Callaghan (right) with Orora workmates Tevita Nalesoni (centre)and Robert Jovanov.

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VER decades of hard work in fibre packaging, Gary Callaghan has seen enough older workmates struggle with bad backs or chronic ailments to know the cruelty of Joe Hockey’s plan to raise the pension age to 70.

He understands how crucial superannuation is to controlling your own retirement destiny.

Gary’s goal is age 55 and he’s been in the industry fund Media Super for years.

So the AMWU delegate didn’t muck around when Orora took over Amcor’s cardboard plant in western Sydney. Orora wanted to transfer everyone else from the old Amcor fund into a retail superannuation fund owned by the company’s banker, National Australia Bank.

“I know super really matters. I’m 49 but my body is telling me it’s not going to make 60 in this job.

Handling cardboard as a corrugator operator is really heavy work and we did big overtime for years,” he said.

“My knee is stuffed, I’ll need a replacement I reckon, but the docs say I’m too young – your body just isn’t designed to work forever.”

AMWU members called in two industry super funds, plus gave the NAB-owned retail fund a fair go in explaining its fees, conditions and returns so they could make a fair comparison.

When they had the figures analysed, there was no comparison.

“The industry fund - Media Super - came out in front in fees, returns and most other areas, so all but one of us went with that or Australian Super,” Gary said.

“It’s proved that industry funds are obligated to put the interests’ of their members as first priority where the retail funds exist primarily to make a profit for their owners, often bank shareholders.”

He thinks a reason why a staggering 80 per cent of workers fail to nominate a super fund when they start a new job is subtle pressure from the boss to automatically join the company-endorsed fund.

That’s why Gary and many other AMWU members are alarmed at the danger signals from the Abbott Government.

They’re raising the pension age, they’re talking about raising the age you can access your super and now they’re threatening to scrap reforms being carried out by the Fair Work Commission, that put all MySuper products through an independent test to ensure their quality.

MySuper refers to accounts set up by both industry and retail funds to hold the contributions of each worker who hasn’t made a choice of fund.

The super system is on the verge of an overhaul planned by the former government. The independent Fair Work Commission has the task of selecting which funds should be accredited in modern awards as MySuper default funds.

That’s because super is already a $1.8 trillion business, a financial honeypot for banks and insurance companies.

That opportunity has sparked an intense attack on

“All AMWU members have the right to insist that they join one of the AMWU endorsed industry funds.”

“I want the time with my wife to be able to enjoy our lives while we’re healthy enough.”

More employers would jump on board if they are given the inducement to cut a better deal on, say, their loan payments or banking charges by using their bank’s super fund option.

That would leave unwary workers who don’t make a choice herded into a private retail fund – rather than one of the not-for-profit industry funds like Australian Super, CBUS, MTA, Media Super – and paying higher administration fees.

The Grattan Institute report found industry fund fees tend to peak at just less than one per cent, but some retail funds charge well over 2 per cent per year of what you put away.

That’s among the world’s highest fees.

Over time, about a fifth of your hard-earned savings can seep into the pockets of big bank shareholders.

Unions have another option to help members: make sure that every enterprise agreement we make with an employer specifies one of our industry funds as the MySuper default.

“Super wasn’t a high priority in the past when doing union agreements, but that has changed fast, it has to be front and centre,” says AMWU National President Andrew Dettmer.

“Even if the Abbott Government decides on a free-for-all by taking super powers from FWC, we still have the power to insist that our industry funds be specified in the enterprise agreement.”

“And all members have the right to insist that they join one of the AMWU-endorsed industry funds.”

Gary Callaghan made sure Media Super was the default fund in the Orora-AMWU agreement.

“I want the time with my wife to be able to enjoy our lives while we’re healthy enough,” he said.

“At 55, I want to be able to start to use my super.

It’s my money; I’ve earned it and saved it so politicians should get the hell out and stop wanting to live my life.”

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NEWS

DIRTY SECRETS – OUR ASIO FILES - (book review)

edited by Meredith Burgmann

In this digital age of social media, Wikileaks and Edward Snowden, the stories in this book hark back to another world of intrigue - the Cold War decades.

The authorities’ obsession then was Communism more than terrorism.

Accountability of security agencies is a perennial issue and ASIOs new premises in Canberra prove that the age of terrorism has made our surveillance agencies bigger and more powerful than ever.

You might hope it will be more accountable than the incompetent ASIO many well-known Australians recount in this book including Phillip

Adams, Michael Kirby, David Strattan, Peter Cundall, Anne Summers, Gary Foley, Elizabeth Evatt, Jack Waterford and Tim Anderson.

Dirty Secrets follows the SBS television documentary series Persons of Interest, shown Therein lies the dark nature of security agencies, earlier this year, with the subjects of ASIO snooping all rely on the informants who more often than the reviewing their own files under the 30-year rule. patriot, are scoundrels motivated by greed, hatred Some, like radio host Adams, always regarded ASIO or jealousy - the darker side of human nature. surveillance contemptuously, as a bit of a joke.

Next time Immigration Minister Scott Morrison The book’s editor, social activist Meredith refuses to detail why someone proven to be a Tamil Bergmann, still feels guilt over the lives of friends or Afghan refugee stays locked up for “security whose careers and families were possibly harmed reasons” from ASIO, this book may help you bring by innocent associations with her. the sceptical eye that’s needed.

ASIO had congenital blindness in the right eye so it cosied up to South African security services, The AMWU has 30 copies of Dirty Secrets to give ignored Balkan Nazi war criminals and real potential terrorists in its obsessive focus on the left. away. Please email news@amwu.asn.au with your name, home address and membership number or Strattan, Kirby and others reflect on ASIO’s mail an entry to AMWU News, 2nd floor, 251 massive waste of time, money, manpower and bureaucracy in investigating imagined subversives. Queensberry St., Carlton South, Victoria 3053.

Day Award for the state’s most effective workplace committee to the Curtis Island delegates and our Gladstone District Committee.

Ted Couch was also highly commended by the Queensland Council of Unions as the AMWU nominee for Most Outstanding Delegate.

QLD PUTS RECRUITING SCORE ON BOARD Our Queensland delegates and organisers have blitzed the field by attracting nearly a quarter of all new members to have joined the AMWU nationally this year.

Gardener Peter Cundall, briefly in the Communist Party in Tasmania, shows how its paranoia indulged informants with an axe to grind based on small-minded, small-town personal dislikes.

FINAL EDITION SPECIAL FOR KIDS Printers at Sydney’s Fairfax chapel said goodbye to 183 years of news printing on June 6 when the Chullora plant closed but their spirit of generosity lives on for the Starlight Foundation charity.

The Queensland Regional Team hit a milestone of 1000 new AMWU members for the year in in early June – a great result!

PRACTICAL SOLIDARITY IN VIETNAM The AMWU is set to run its long-standing training assistance program to delegates of the Vietnam manufacturing union again this year.

AMWU Queensland official Brian Devlin was due to go to Vietnam to train delegates of the Vietnamese Union of Workers in Industry and Trade, as big changes are happening for the role of trade unions in that nation’s increasingly mixed economy.

VUIT general president Mr Ly Quoc Hung appreciated the AMWU’s continued assistance with our “train the trainer” sessions on occupational health and safety and workplace bargaining under local law.

The secret has been the hard work and smart organising by 40 AMWU delegates across the three big LNG projects being built by Bechtel on Curtis Island off Gladstone, where our membership density is around 98 per cent.

The final 71 members at the Fairfax Herald-Sun Chapel decided that rather than dividing their Chapel fund between them, they would donate all $24,750 to the charity which brings joyful activities to children who are seriously ill.

The donation also honoured the memory of industry legend Bob Fohmsbee, who died of cancer this year after working for News Ltd and Fairfax.

Membership on Curtis Island went from next to nothing when construction began to 2878 at the last official count, part of nearly 5000 members in the Gladstone region.

Leading the recruiting has been organiser Phil Golby and senior delegates, Ted Couch (pictured), Dylan Loats and Jeff Lowry.

All delegates’ efforts were recognised when the Queensland Council of Unions gave the 2014 Labour

There were laughs and speeches at a final barbecue at Chullora organised by the AMWU for finishing and former Fairfax printers.

Former Fairfax Father of the Chapel Paul Mitchell was the most experienced Fairfax publisher with 38 years service. He said it was deeply emotional to put out the last Sydney Morning Herald produced by the Chapel which was founded in 1846 after the paper itself started in 1831.

AMWU National President Andrew Dettmer (pictured) said it was exciting to be part of the emergence of an increasingly autonomous trade union movement in Vietnam, focusing more on wages and conditions as much as productivity.

“Unions in Vietnam are in transition to becoming full bargaining representatives and real agents of change in the workplace and society,” Mr Dettmer said.

AMWUNEWS

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Delegate Profile Vahan Papazian, ANSTO, NSW Prior to arriving in Australia 40 years ago from the Soviet Union, I knew the value of loyalty and camaraderie – these were traits and beliefs which were instilled in me by my parents from the time I took my first breath.

I was able to fit in immediately with my comrades at the Lucas Heights facility of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). The values that were held by my colleagues allowed me to work as part of many cohesive teams which did

groundbreaking research in nuclear medicine. We have 1200 people working here at ANSTO, many under the branches of four different unions. We have about 220 of those in the AMWU. We push the scientific envelope in the fight against cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Our greatest hope is to improve the lives of our fellow humans.

It’s the same objective that our delegates have. It is important to consistently recruit and train

personal. Working alone, we have no hope of achieving outcomes that are fair and equitable. We only need to cast our eyes back upon Work Choices to see how far bargaining can be unbalanced Our Enterprise Agreement is at hand against the worker. In unity, we and the Federal Government is trying can achieve much and ensure our to undermine all of our hard-earned rights are maintained. We must benefits and conditions. We have no stand together. We will not stand intention of seeing those depleted, for mistreatment nor for poorer least of which are our shift allowances conditions. Together we can thrive and penalty rates. These appear to be and train future delegates to primary targets. ensure that the rights of workers Issues that we deal with can be are maintained. new delegates with their own insights into various situations, so their ideas can be used to help protect the membership from the ever-adapting threats to work conditions.

ESSENTIAL www.amwu.org.au CONTACTS email: amwu@amwu.asn.au AMWU National Office Location: Level 4,133 Parramatta Road, Granville Postal: PO Box 160, Granville, NSW 2142.............................................. (02) 8868 1500 2nd Floor, 251 Queensberry St, Carlton South, VIC 3053 ............................................... (03) 9230 5700

Bendigo ................................................. (03) 5442 5101 Dandenong ............................................ (03) 9701 3044 Geelong ................................................. (03) 5229 9358 Latrobe ................................................. (03) 5134 3306 Portland ................................................ (03) 5523 2525 Shepparton ........................................... (03) 5822 2510

NSW Branch Location: Level 1, 133 Parramatta Road, Granville Postal: PO Box 167, Granville, NSW 2142 ............................................ (02) 9897 4200 Albury/Wodonga ................................... (02) 6024 1099 Newcastle ............................................. (02) 4954 3215 Western Region .................................... (02) 6337 7162 Wollongong ............................................(02) 4229 7611

QLD Branch Location: 366 Upper Roma Street, Brisbane Postal: PO Box 13006 George Street, QLD 4003.............................................. (07) 3236 2550 Gladstone .............................................. (07) 4972 5319 Mackay .................................................(07) 4953 0550 Rockhampton ....................................... (07) 4927 1487 Townsville ............................................. (07) 4771 5960

VIC Branch 1st Floor, 251 Queensberry St, Carlton South, VIC 3053 ............................................... (03) 9230 5700 Albury/Wodonga.................................... (02) 6024 1099 Ballarat .................................................. (03) 5332 2910 AMWUNEWS 12

SA Branch 1st Floor 229 Greenhill Road, Dulwich, Postal: GPO BOX 1051, Adelaide SA 5001 .................................(08) 8366 5800 Whyalla ..................................................(08) 8645 7115

WA Branch 121 Royal Street, East Perth, WA 6004................................................ (08) 9223 0800 Bunbury ................................................ (08) 9721 7933 Henderson............................................. (08) 6498 9382 Karratha................................................. (08) 9185 4078 TAS Branch 28 Station Street, Moonah, TAS 7009 .............................................. (03) 6228 7099 Burnie ................................................... (03) 6431 1344 ACT Office Canberra ................................................(02) 6273 2412 NT Office 1st Floor, 38 Woods Street, Darwin NT 0800..................................................(08) 8941 1511