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Unions eye terms of federal contracts
UNION chiefs are demanding the Rudd Government sever ties with companies that use individual contracts for their staff or violate health and safety laws.
The unions' campaign comes as a stand-off continues off northern Australia, where a British ship owner, Gardline - which has an Australian Customs Service contract to patrol the coastline - is trying to replace local crew members with cheaper foreign labour.
The Transport Workers Union will lead a charge at the ACTU leaders conference in Canberra today to ensure government tenders go to companies that use collective bargaining and allow officials access to workplaces.
"All future government purchases should take into account minimum standards of pay and full safety standards," the union's national secretary, Tony Sheldon, told the Herald. "In our industry, we've had removalists doing government work who have underpaid or enforced unsafe deadlines on drivers."
Mr Sheldon's push is expected to find wide support at the biggest gathering of union leaders since Labor's election in November.
Last financial year, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet handed out more than $255 million in tenders. Of the projected $236 billion spending in this year's budget, up to one-third could be spent on private tenders.
Mr Sheldon said the union had been in dispute with two companies, Messenger Post and a Lithgow removalist, which had contracts with federal departments or agencies: "Contracts have gone to companies based purely on the lowest bid, regardless of pay or standards."
The construction union chief, Dave Noonan, said a painting contractor, Express Deco, had won a government tender for work on the Canberra Airport, despite underpaying staff and encouraging them to claim the dole.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union's Paul Bastian will join the campaign, arguing government tenders should support local manufacturing jobs.
Meanwhile, new data has shown skill shortages tend to occur in unionised industries, such as construction. A survey of skilled job vacancies by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations showed that 730 construction positions were advertised in major metropolitan papers in the first week of January. Health workers were next in demand, with 677 positions, followed by metal trades, with 559, electrical and electronics, with 327, and building and engineering with 310.
A labour market expert, Professor David Peetz, of Griffith University, said the findings suggested unions were a major economic force. He said you could not argue that unions no longer matter "because they represent a lot of employees in some of the industries where labour is in short supply".
Sydney Morning Herald
31 January 2008
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