As a union man and a labor man...

[Guest]

To get a little highbrow, I invoke William Pitt, the Elder - British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1778 - who said.

"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it"

[Guest]

To get a little highbrow, I invoke William Pitt, the Elder - British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1778 - who said.

"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it"

Thats not highbow.
You have just deployed what Louis Althusser mockingly called “quotes from famous people”. (an example of irony ironised)
It is a common move by those that can't think for them selves.

[chook 56]

To get a little highbrow, I invoke William Pitt, the Elder - British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1778 - who said.

"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it"

John-Howard-The-Daily-Telegraph-5923987.jpg

[Fairfax]

Laurie Oakes will interview Craig Thomson on Nine's Today Show tomorrow at 7.40am.

Expect a bombshell. Why else would he go and do this. He must be a nutter.

[Guest]

Chook its like a lot of things, an institution based on doing good and doing the right thing gets crapped all over by an idiot that gets power for power's sake.
The people at the coal face, the guys that actually do the work, do it for the right reasons and do it well. Its the arseholes that get involved for the wrong reasons and have little care for anything but themselves that don't do anything but what Thompson did.
Its not just unions, its many things


Lauries Oakes is an effing idiot that I would not dribble on if he was on fire.

[supermario]

I don't know how they lost it either but they did. About 1500 employees lost their entitlements.

Outsourcing just another excuse to increase short term profits so that senior management can get their bonuses. I remember when EDS won the contract, part of the agreement was that they had to demonstrate an increase in productivity by 7% each year. They easily achieved the productivity increases by doing nothing in the first year.

Ugh !! don't get me started on outsourcing. I know this is a small example, but Australian business just made 11 ppl redundant thanks to outsourcing only to suddenly realise they let go of too many people....... and are hiring temps to fill the gap !!!

So much for cost savings !

the lure of the Savings $$ is just too luring for some managements.

[Hawkeye]

Ugh !! don't get me started on outsourcing. I know this is a small example, but Australian business just made 11 ppl redundant thanks to outsourcing only to suddenly realise they let go of too many people....... and are hiring temps to fill the gap !!!

So much for cost savings !

the lure of the Savings $$ is just too luring for some managements.

Unfortunately the big wigs who make the decisions only look at the results to the bottom line so as they can make their KPI's and get their bonuses. They don't worry about the intangibles like the experience and knowledge that gets let go out the door, staff morale etc ...they dont directly impact the P & L bottom line so not part of the decision process ....but those intangibles will affect the companies long term performance.

[melon....]

I was a union member for several years whilst at CBA. When they decided to outsource their IT we were told we no longer had a career at CBA. Union took it too court and lost. No redundancy, lost all accumulated long service leave and other entitlements,

My biggest disappointment was not the fact I lost about $50k worth of entitlements. It was the fact I wasted several thousand dollars in union fees in the process.

Since then I have realised that I can make a lot more money by forgetting about unions and a false sense of job security.

Well said dice. Good for you. Its a shame a larger majority of Australians dont reslise the redundancy of Unins these days.

[stephenj]

chook, when the government has run its term, ill gladly agree witrh you, that lowlife ripped off very low paid genuine workers; yes im an ex union official, a current alp memberf and active in that too, but ive no time for rorting bludgers, id also liuke to see slipper goaled eventually too!

[Guest]

chook, when the government has run its term, ill gladly agree witrh you, that lowlife ripped off very low paid genuine workers; yes im an ex union official, a current alp memberf and active in that too, but ive no time for rorting bludgers, id also liuke to see slipper goaled eventually too!

Peter Slipper.

[Guest]

Rely on the safety net of the industrial instrument structure. Know exactly what your wage and entitlements are according to your modern award, enterprise agreement or National Employment Standards and be familiar with the Ombudsman structure and their powers, and you can look after yourself...in the perfect world!

Or for a small fee you can be left alone...necessary evils in some cases/industries.

[Pass the Ball]

$10 a week/ $520 per year is a small price to pay for that little bit of added job security imo.

My work has just had to tap 16 people on the shoulder for involuntary redundancies, and not 1 of them were union boys.

I get most of it back at tax time anyway.

You can think of as $520 a year or...

$520 is for one good hooker for one hour only...

[Guest]

$10 a week/ $520 per year is a small price to pay for that little bit of added job security imo.

My work has just had to tap 16 people on the shoulder for involuntary redundancies, and not 1 of them were union boys.

I get most of it back at tax time anyway.

You can think of as $520 a year or...

$520 is for one good hooker for one hour only...

Or 2 average one's for half hour.

[novice chook]

Unions are needed for some industries, and I cannot fault them on their attitude to safety issues.

I've never belonged to a union myself. When I started my first job at the Bank of NSW (as it was then) when I was a teen I was 'encouraged' to join but refused and it wasn't compulsory until you'd been at the Bank for 12 months, and I didn't even there that long!

In the area I work in, I've always been paid far and above any award I was originally employed under (some clerk's award from memory). Having said that I've been at my current job for over 22 years so it's been a while I've been job searching.

Mind you, it may coincidence, but the only time I've ever considered leaving is when the economy is at its worst, and I'd be losing money by shifting elsewhere. So I've stuck at it.

I also have the bonus in that I can transfer to different jobs within the same Firm, so if I get peed off with one job or a boss leaves, I just move on to the next role internally.

I realise that not all workers have that luxury.

NC

[SConcierge]

I genuinely hope they jail Craig Thomson, Michael Williamson, his family, Kathy Jackson, and every other low life c&nt involved in ripping off the HSU members. Imprison every single one of the corrupt farkers at that union! To rip off members of your own union is in my view the lowest form of corruption I can think of. I thought the days of Norm Gallagher were gone. I guess some of his disciples are still around and need weeding out.

I have been a union member since I left school (TWA, CMFEU, BLF, CPSU) and firmly believe in the need for unions to protect entitlements and to bring about genuine wage increases. The last thing the uinion movement in this country needs is to give this type of corrupt ammunition to the union haters.

And before anyone goes off on a "all unions rip off their members", let me tell you up front, they do not! I have been a delegate in multiple unions I have never seen this kind of blatant corruption of the union movement since Gallagher.

Chook.

Labour will do it best to protect him, I am counting the days till the next election so we can kick that scum to the curb before they send this country to the wall.