Almost 60 members attended the AGM’s and Dinner on Wednesday this week. The Secretary’s & Executive Officer’s Report and the annual accounts of HSU#4 and the MSAV are available here . (login first)

Guest speaker, Adam Bandt, a Greens candidate in the last federal election, spoke about the failure of the Labor federal government to ‘tear up Workchoices’ yet. Draft IR legislation will be released for comment very soon.

This matter was also addressed in the Secretary’s Annual Report under the heading Workchoices not yet dead, as follows:

WorkChoices gave all the choices to the employers. The changes included taking away workers’ rights to challenge unfair dismissal and the privileging of individual contracts (AWAs) over collective agreements. It also reduced the powers of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC)…

Under the Rudd government the fairness test for agreements has been improved, and there will be no more Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs). But … much remains of the previous government’s Workchoices laws.

This Union will continue to campaign with the ACTU and other Unions to get rid of all elements of Workchoices.

The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) was also discussed. The ABCC was introduced by the Howard government as a weapon against building industry unions. Among its more shocking powers is the power to order workers and union officials to attend secret interrogations without legal representation. Refusal to answer questions can lead to criminal charges. This sounds like the bad old days of the USSR but it is happening in Australia now.

A motion calling for the abolition of the ABCC and support for Noel Washington, a union official charged under the legislation, was passed at the AGM. A copy of the resolution is available in the Minutes of the meeting here . For more information about the campaign to abolish the ABCC go to Rights On Site

On a lighter note, the dinner sponsored by HESTA was a great success, with the team from VIDRL winning the trivia challenge.  Thanks to Tony O’Neill (& sons) for the entertainment, and to Lan and Paula from the MSAV office for ensuring the night went smoothly.