In construction, there have been four Royal Commissions into unions in the last 40 years, all called by Liberal leaders.
on 13-03-2014 04:39 PM
The rest of the article can be found
http://www.cpa.org.au/guardian/2014/1630/07-abbott-wants.html
Last month two workers were injured when scaffolding at a construction site in Mascot, Sydney collapsed. They rode the falling materials ten metres to the ground and were taken to hospital, lucky to be alive. The falling scaffolding brought down power lines and fell across the footpath and one lane of the road. It was only luck that no pedestrians or motorists were hit in this busy street.
According to the Construction division of the CFMEU, there was a stoppage by workers at that site just before Christmas over safety concerns with the scaffolding. It was one of two serious accidents on construction sites in Sydney last month. The other involved a concrete pour, with the pump truck tipping over the next day. Luck alone saw no one killed or injured.
In January, a construction worker died in a fall at the controversial Lend Lease site at Barangaroo in Sydney. Reports indicate that he fell 30 metres from scaffolding. Last August a 19-year-old was driving an excavator on a site in Linfield, Sydney, when a metal rod flew up and became lodged in his head. In the same month a slab of concrete fell from a crane onto a worker causing back injuries at an inner-Sydney site. A 22-year-old worker lost his life when he was crushed by metal beams at a demolition site.
The list continues of “accidents”, not just in Sydney but on construction sites across Australia.
One of the most notorious sites is the Royal Adelaide Hospital which has been riddled with safety issues. Fifty sheets of wood fell more than two metres onto decking in one incident as a crane lost its load in November last year. It is sheer luck that no one was on the deck underneath. It was the second crane malfunction in one month.
It is not hard to find safety breaches. It is not uncommon to see unsafe scaffolding, sites not locked after hours, workers wearing runners or no hard hat, dust not hosed down, rubbish scattered along walkways, ladders not secured, and so on. For examples, visit hcfmeunsw.asn.au and click on photo galleries, Safety Shockers!.
In a number of the cases cited above, the CFMEU had previously warned employers of dangers, had called stop work meetings or made demands for inspections and engineers’ reports. But building contractors and companies act with impunity. State inspection authorities are grossly under-staffed and not carrying out the necessary inspections or enforcing health and safety regulations.
on 13-03-2014 07:55 PM
@lakeland27 wrote:wait for the anti union no concept of history crowd to arrive. the arguments will be lame and baseless as usual. they don't get it, some think because they were never in a union it had no impact on their working lives.. no idea at all.. history expunged from their collectively ignorant world view.
They've arrived already 😄
on 13-03-2014 07:59 PM
i only read selectively these days. you dont need a weathermap to tell which way the wind blows. (nitzinger)
on 13-03-2014 08:06 PM
the other day i stopped and looked at the 8 hour day monument for a minute .. so much blood deprivation and hunger for fair conditions citizens willingly participating in the destruction of one of the true instruments of fair play is insanity, or a desire to punish those who are starting out now. i'm alright jack..
on 13-03-2014 10:17 PM
"I think you'll find those two construction workers were 'stunt victims' hired by the CFMEU.Larry told me"
I hope it's not this Larryy:
on 13-03-2014 10:44 PM
kangaroo court at least the site name is honest.
on 13-03-2014 10:46 PM
the case against pickering was spelt out somewhere more credible. they hate him because they compete for the same audience.
on 13-03-2014 11:52 PM
"It is not hard to find safety breaches. It is not uncommon to see unsafe scaffolding, sites not locked after hours, workers wearing runners or no hard hat, dust not hosed down, rubbish scattered along walkways, ladders not secured, and so on"
The above alleged incidents would I think be the fault/laziness of the individuals concerned and most likely CMEFU officials or perhaps the officials were making sure all was correct when:
ABC
Construction union heavyweight John Setka received free work for his house from a Melbourne builder in return for "peace" on industrial sites, the builder has claimed.
At the CFMEU national conference Noonan told his members that if representing them meant breaking a few "technical laws" then he would not hesitate to do so. I think most of the representation where the CMEFU is concerned is for the union officials and would probably include breaking a few "technical" and "non technical" laws when it was to their personal advantage.
nɥºɾ
on 14-05-2014 01:55 PM
@boris1gary wrote:The rest of the article can be found
http://www.cpa.org.au/guardian/2014/1630/07-abbott-wants.html
Last month two workers were injured when scaffolding at a construction site in Mascot, Sydney collapsed. They rode the falling materials ten metres to the ground and were taken to hospital, lucky to be alive. The falling scaffolding brought down power lines and fell across the footpath and one lane of the road. It was only luck that no pedestrians or motorists were hit in this busy street.
According to the Construction division of the CFMEU, there was a stoppage by workers at that site just before Christmas over safety concerns with the scaffolding. It was one of two serious accidents on construction sites in Sydney last month. The other involved a concrete pour, with the pump truck tipping over the next day. Luck alone saw no one killed or injured.
In January, a construction worker died in a fall at the controversial Lend Lease site at Barangaroo in Sydney. Reports indicate that he fell 30 metres from scaffolding. Last August a 19-year-old was driving an excavator on a site in Linfield, Sydney, when a metal rod flew up and became lodged in his head. In the same month a slab of concrete fell from a crane onto a worker causing back injuries at an inner-Sydney site. A 22-year-old worker lost his life when he was crushed by metal beams at a demolition site.
The list continues of “accidents”, not just in Sydney but on construction sites across Australia.
One of the most notorious sites is the Royal Adelaide Hospital which has been riddled with safety issues. Fifty sheets of wood fell more than two metres onto decking in one incident as a crane lost its load in November last year. It is sheer luck that no one was on the deck underneath. It was the second crane malfunction in one month.
It is not hard to find safety breaches. It is not uncommon to see unsafe scaffolding, sites not locked after hours, workers wearing runners or no hard hat, dust not hosed down, rubbish scattered along walkways, ladders not secured, and so on. For examples, visit hcfmeunsw.asn.au and click on photo galleries, Safety Shockers!.
In a number of the cases cited above, the CFMEU had previously warned employers of dangers, had called stop work meetings or made demands for inspections and engineers’ reports. But building contractors and companies act with impunity. State inspection authorities are grossly under-staffed and not carrying out the necessary inspections or enforcing health and safety regulations.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Lend Lease is on Alexander Downer's lobbyist group list (Alexander Downer apparently stopped lobbying in March this year). Lend Lease were amongst the group of 'top business people' Tony Abbott flew over to Indonesia (end of Sept) to establish a business connections...the visit where it was expected (and in fact reported about that same day) that he would discuss and address asylum seeker issues (especially as at the time there had been a boat tragedy involving a dubious rescue response)..the visit was more about 'business'.Lend Lease mentioned below.
ABBOTT’S BRIGHT LIGHT HAS NARROW BEAMTHE Abbott government’s announcement of a Royal Commission into unions, including the CFMEU, continues a rich tradition of Liberal Governments.In construction, there have been four Royal Commissions into unions in the last 40 years, all called by Liberal leaders.
In 2012, following the revelation of financial reporting irregularities by Lend Lease on large government projects in Queensland and Victoria, the CFMEU called for a government inquiry. Instead, a few senior executives quietly resigned, while Lend Lease held an internal inquiry and promptly cleared themselves.
As regular as clockwork, there are reports of allegations of serious corporate wrongdoing in the construction and other industries.
When a union is the subject of allegations, Mr Abbott and his henchmen shout them from the rooftops. When corporate Australia is accused of crimes or rorts, Liberal laryngitis is the disease de jour.
Some other countries seem to treat these issues more seriously.
In 2012, following investigations by the FBI in the United States, Lend Lease’s New York chief James Abadie pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit fraud by fraudulently overbilling the company’s clients for over a decade. Lend Lease were ordered to pay $56 million in penalties to the US federal government and restitution to victims of fraud and to institute far-reaching corporate reforms.
If politicians and journalists are looking for a scandal in the construction industry they need look no further than the workers who are currently on the street in Sydney protesting for wages they have never received for work they have done.
They were employed by Steve Nolan Construction – a company that has gone broke owing $30 million to workers and small business owners.
Steve Nolan Construction has also donated generously to the Liberal Party – both in NSW and federally – a total of $200,000.
Will the Royal Commission look into this? Or will the money some have companies paid to Liberal “slush funds” insure them against the glare of our Prime Minister’s bright light?
on 14-05-2014 01:57 PM
why indeed .............
on 14-05-2014 02:08 PM
PM Tony Abbott takes 20 business chiefs on trip to meet Indonesian leaders
“The delegation sends a clear message that the Australian government and Australian businesses are keen to tap the potential for stronger economic ties that exist between the two nations,” Mr Abbott said.
Two-way trade is valued at $14.6 billion but Mr Abbott said there was scope to deepen and broaden relations.
Mr Abbott will take his wife Margie, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop and Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb.
Mr Abbott wants all new Australian PMs to make their first trip overseas to Indonesia to highlight just how important the country is to Australia’ future. He says his government will have a foreign policy that is “more Jakarta than Geneva”.
The business delegation will include agriculture and farming heavyweights Donald McGauchie, Ken Warriner and Malcolm Jackman as well as Business Council chief Jennifer Westacott.
BlueScope chief Paul O’Malley, Orica’s Ian Smith and Greg Robinson from Newcrest Mining will be on the trip with Blackmores CEO Christine Holgate and Ramsay Health chairman Paul Ramsay.
Other include Steve McCann from Lend Lease, Hamish Tyrwhitt from Leighton Holdings, Alf Moufarrige from Servcorp and Mike Wilkins from Insurance Australia Group.
Abbott’s first foreign test: pulling policy fat from diplomatic fire
The awkwardness of Abbott’s visit has been underscored by the inept intervention by former foreign minister Alexander Downer on Thursday. Downer’s status as a former Coalition foreign minister means his “pious rhetoric” comment against Indonesia will be read in Jakarta as informing the Australian perspective.
Asylum-seeker boats leaving Indonesia are a private and, at most, criminal matter. If they do breach Australian sovereignty, it is not a consequence of Indonesian state policy.
By contrast, Australia’s “Operation Sovereign Borders” of sending boats in international waters back to Indonesia is official state policy. On this, Downer blundered and Indonesia holds the high diplomatic ground.
Abbott distancing himself from Downer’s statement will be seen as just as unconvincing as Natalegawa’s claim of the “unintentional release” of notes of his conversation with Bishop. The distinction on issues of sovereignty and official policy can be expected to be brought to Abbott’s attention .