Australian unions have endorsed the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) support for co-operative operations, recognising the critical role they play in advancing the organisation’s Global Employment Agenda and promoting decent work.

ACTU President Ged Kearney said the 2012 ACTU Congress had endorsed the position in support of co-operatives as they had a proven record of creating and sustaining employment, now providing more than 100 million jobs globally.

“Co-operatives have also been more resilient to the deepening global economic and jobs crisis than other sectors,” Ms Kearney said.

“Trade unions and co-operatives have a long association in this country. Industry based credit unions gave workers access to financial services and loans, and co-operatives provided affordable services for key workers such as childcare, housing and health.”

The motion adopted at the Congress supports the ILO’ position on co-operatives, outlined in Recommendation 193.

The resolution acknowledges the importance of co-operatives in job creation, mobilising resources and generating investment, as well as their promotion of economic and social development to the benefit of their members.

Ms Kearney said a good example of how co-operatives fostered decent work was Earthworker Co-operative, a micro-financing venture aimed at resourcing manufacturing start-ups including Eureka’s Future Workers Cooperative destined for Morwell, Victoria.

Earthworker Co-operative project officer Dave Kerin said that as future jobs began to disappear out of the power industry, it made sense that co-operatives had higher productivity and better work environments as employees were co-owners.

The Eureka Future Workers Cooperative, which starts manufacturing of its solar hot water units in Knox, Victoria, in July, was the first of a series of union-based worker-owned renewables manufacturing businesses to be rolled out across the nation.

Factories are planned in the Hunter region in NSW, Geelong and WA. The model is unique because of a distribution system where units will be purchased through the wages component of the enterprise agreements negotiated between unions and companies with incentives paid out of rebates.

“Australia’s International Year of Co-operatives Secretariat now seeks to partner with the ACTU to progress the development of a strong social sector of the Australian economy,” said Melina Morrison, Director of the International Year of Co-operatives Secretariat.

“Trade unions and co-operatives share sustainable employment agendas.”

The ACTU Congress backing of the resolution follows the introduction last week of new national co-operatives legislation which aims to strengthen the sector by removing restrictions on co-operatives doing business in other states and territories.

TCFUA campaign for sucessful legislation for outworkers
See http://www.tcfua.org.au

United Voice for Earlychildhood Educators in Child care Centres Big Steps campaign
http://bigsteps.org.au

At the ACTU Congress there are a range of other supportive issues for unions.

Not exhaustive, but they include…

Strong support for Union Aid Abroad APHEDA and much money raised…see http://www.apheda.org.au

Launch by TWU Tony Sheldon of the Australian Aviation Unions Federation
http://www.australianaviationunions.com.au

ican International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons http://www.icanw.org

Conflict in Western Sahara, Africa’s last colony, one of the longest and most neglected colonial conflicts of our time.
http://www.awsa.org.au

Australian unions supporting Palestine
http://auspalestine.org

Australian unions have been central to the advancement of progressive economic and social policy in the past.

Unions have fought for, and secured, vital elements of the social wage, like pensions, superannuation, Medicare, and income for the unemployed.

Australian unions have always had a vision for a fair and prosperous Australia that starts with rights at work, and looks outward beyond the workplace. Congress recognises the challenges and opportunities that Australia faces over the coming decades and commits to the development a new union agenda for the future of the economy.

 While the Australian economy has outperformed most other advanced economies since the global financial crisis (with low public sector debt, a low unemployment rate and solid real growth in average wages) the benefits of prosperity have not been shared broadly enough.

 Key areas of the economy are under pressure – the multi-speed economy is real. Some sectors, particularly trade-exposed industries such as manufacturing, finance, and tourism, are struggling with the dramatic and sustained appreciation in the exchange rate.

Jobs have been lost and more are under threat. Australia needs a comprehensive plan for sustaining employment and economic development beyond the mining boom.

 Secure jobs are becoming rarer, with precarious work on the rise. Income, job and working time insecurity have profound negative implications for workers, their families, and their communities.

 Inequality has risen, putting at risk the long-standing norm that Australian should remain a relatively egalitarian place.

 A form of corporate inequality has developed. A greater share of corporate profits are being taken by a handful of the largest companies while many smaller enterprises struggle. An enormous share of national wealth is being captured by a handful of mega-rich individuals who also seek to dominate policy making and public debate.

 Public services are under threat, with the rise of a radical ‘small government’ ideology threatening the health, education, and other vital community services that Australians take for granted.

 There has been a decade long under-investment in infrastructure and skills, leaving Australia under-equipped to grow and compete in the Asian Century.

Unions seek a strong Australia that is fair and prosperous, with secure employment for all who want it, social assistance for all who need it, and truly equal opportunities for all.

Unions seek dialogue with political parties, civil society, and business leaders on this agenda.

Consistent with the policies adopted at the Congress the ACTU will urgently convene experts from across Australian unions to develop a plan to make sure workers and their families, no matter where they live or work, benefit from a prosperous economy. The union agenda for the Australian economy will be centred on the following issues.

 Jobs & Employment: Ensuring that Government policy does everything possible to create and sustain good jobs;

 Productivity: The human and physical capital necessary to secure sustainable productivity growth that lifts real wages and workers’ living standards;

 Public Services: Securing adequate and sustainable revenue to provide high-quality public services; and a response to the ideological attacks on public services.

 Macroeconomic Policy: The appropriate framework for managing macroeconomic policy, (including the inflation target, fiscal rules, and exchange rate policy) and the possible role for policies such as the creation of a sovereign wealth fund.

 The Mining Boom: The best ways to ensure that the benefits of the current mining boom are used to benefit all Australians, including future generations of Australians;

 Inequality: Rising inequality, especially inequality of earned income, and the need for intergenerational equity;

 Personal Tax & Transfers: An equitable personal tax that will help promote social inclusion and jobs and a welfare system that does not create or entrench poverty; and

 The Social Wage: Ensuring that the components of Australia’s social wage keep pace with the evolving needs of the needs of the community;

 Corporate Tax: A corporate tax system that promotes productive investment, infrastructure development and employment, and ensures that taxes fall most heavily on sectors and companies extracting economic rents.

This is critical for Australian unionists as Abbott and Liberal Premiers take their anti-unionism from the US Republicans.
Solidarity with US unions and workers are demonstrated here with rousing applause.

I assume their speeches will be up on YouTube soon.

This ACTU Congress declares its full support for the 4,000 mineworkers who have been attempting to negotiate a new Enterprise Agreement at BHP’s seven Central Queensland coal mines for over 18-months now.

We note that the while the CFMEU, AMWU and the ETU have been negotiating in good faith BHP has refused to do so, a point made clear by its chief of global coal operations Marcus Randolph who declared in an email to staff leaked to the media that the company’s demands were “not negotiable now, next month or next year”.

This is not in the spirit of good faith bargaining.

We fully support the mineworkers in their campaign to protect their rights at work and defend vital safety, workplace and other conditions such as rosters and accommodation that would damage families and hurt mining communities if BHP has its way.

We condemn BHP’s pursuit of safety deregulation that would transfer vital safety roles from qualified workers on the job to management. We note that this was the key factor that led to the recent Pike River Disaster in New Zealand in which 29 coal miners perished. We further note that the last three big coal mine disasters in Australia all occurred at BHP mines.

We condemn BHP’s insistence on clinging to
WorkChoices provisions imposed on BHP coal mineworkers in the last EA reached in the Howard era in 2007, particularly the provision that stripped contract and labour hire workers of equal pay and conditions and have allowed them to become a source of cheap labour to undermine permanent employees.

We note that this dispute has occurred in a period when BHP has made the greatest profit in the history of Australia – $23 Billion and find it repugnant that at a time when the company has never had more it has never done less.

We call on BHP to start listening to its workforce and respect their right to bargain.
We declare the full support of the ACTU for the BHP mineworkers.

In the event that the company continues to refuse to negotiate in good faith and inflicts further harm on its workers, their families, mining communities and investors in its coal operations, we will mobilise support throughout the trade union movement in Australia and internationally.

Dave Oliver said unions “cannot tolerate the sorts of things revealed in the Fair Work report into the HSU and that kind of behaviour is not acceptable in our movement”.

Unions had a responsibility to “make sure and make double sure” that funds were only used to advance the interests of members and there would be no tolerance for individuals that breached that obligation.

He said to rousing applause that there was no place in the union movement “for $360,000 salaries to be paid to any union official” – the reported remuneration of HSU East secretary Michael Williamson.

The report into the HSU had been a “wake up call” that meant unions had to be “on the front foot”.

Unions had to ensure they had the best governance structures.

While the ACTU didn’t run its affiliates,”this issue has made us see that there must be standards by which unions should operate”.

The scandal surrounding the HSU had affected all unions he said, “and all of our members”.

“And that’s why we have to set a clear set of principles around governance and financial management.”

AWU national secretary Paul Howes said unions had to say to corrupt officials: “no more, it’s not on, give it back and get out. if you’re here to rip off workers, get out and we’re coming after you!”

I agree. Elsewhere I urged a way in which the workers, the members of HSU could be able to come together in meetings and debate the issues and then democratically decide what to do, with one alternative to disband the union and go into other health unions; at least, the chance to vote out these officials, to debate a change of name, to decide on salary levels etc. We shall see.

The ACTU endorsed that former Federal Court judge Rodney Madgwick will chair a four-member panel to recommend reforms for union governance, financial controls, accountability and transparency, (including remuneration) and risk management (including management of conflicts of interest); financial controls and procedures (including income, membership systems, expenditure, procurement, investments & audits); procedures for contacting members, handling complaints dealing with grievances and disputes.

Here is Dave Oliver’s speech:

http://www.actucongress.org.au/site/congressmedia/speeches-and-opinion/1625-address-by-actu-secretary-elect-dave-oliver-on-union-governance

Who knows what was going on in the HSU? I have no idea.

Nevertheless one interesting read about Kathy Jackson and rats and rats…
http://wixxy.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/i-think-i-smell-a-rat/

and further

http://wixxy.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/comin-under-fire/

The ACTU recognises that multi-national companies like Chevron and its contractors are exploiting loopholes in Australia’s Migration Act – loopholes which mean that Australia’s offshore resources projects are often not classified as being in Australia’s territory.

Because of this, companies such as Chevron as bringing in foreign labour to do work that could and should be done by Australian workers.

In addition, they are contributing little or no training to Australians in these sectors.

This affects workers in the marine, construction, resource and transport industries.

The Chevron campaign is fighting to secure the protection of Australian jobs, the right of Australian workers to work in their own country on union wages and conditions and for the creation of jobs and opportunities for young and indigenous workers.

The ACTU supports this campaign, and encourages all affiliates associated with these industries to get involved and work together to secure outcomes for workers in these industries.

This promise is underpinned by the fundamental commitment of Australian Unions to improving the position of the lowest paid while continuing to provide career paths to all workers which recognise their skill, responsibility and the conditions under which their work is performed.

Under successive systems, the same process has been used to set minimum wages and to adjust the rates applying in skills based classification structures.

Congress notes with regret that this has not only failed to produce fair minimum wages, but also compressed relativities, resulting in a fall in the value of real wages for workers with trade and higher qualifications. At the same time, bargaining has failed to lift the real wages of significant numbers of Australian workers. In the absence of a changed approach, this situation will continue.

Accordingly, Congress resolves that the ACTU & affiliates undertake a process to review current arrangements and determine a future strategy in relation to the Annual Wage Review by Fair Work Australia, the setting of Award rates of pay more generally and wage increases available from bargaining. The strategy will have three objectives:
a) To increase the real wages of Australian workers;
b) To restore skills based relativities; and
c) To ensure that Australian workers capture a fair share of productivity gains.
This process will consider all relevant factors, including the needs of the lowest paid, traditional relativities, living standards, market rates of pay, appropriate productivity measures for various sectors, traditional undervaluation of some forms of work and the need to continue to promote effective union collective bargaining.
This proposal will be developed through a specialist committee (including appropriate external expert assistance) to be selected by the meeting of the Executive in July. A full report and recommendations will be provided to the November 2012 Executive meeting.
Moved: Louise Tarrant Seconded: Tim Ayres