Hmm. So the Commonwealth Govt is not to be seen through 'propaganda filters' because they are 'conservative'?
I think we should read your remarks through 'propaganda filters'!
"there are only a couple of States in which IT workers are actually covered by awards"
Actually, that isn't true. There are IT workers in Australia working in just about every industry - local government, public service, banking systems, mining, agriculture, etc etc. Therefore they are covered by any awards that operate in those industries. To take just one example, there is a Federal (ie. nation wide) Local Govt Officers Award that will cover, alongside everyone else in local government, all the IT workers who are employees in local government. Same for banks. Same for both state and federal public service. Same in just about every industry that has Award coverage (in Australia - most of them, but with Howard's laws - well, give it time).
Can I make another comment, which is I really don't like the 'I'm alright Jack' tone of some of these emails. 'We're IT workers, we'll be alright'. Even if that were true (and I think some of you are in for a rude shock, sooner or later), what about the rest of the country? Its okay for everyone else to be paid peanuts? Its okay for those less clever and exclusive than us to not have enough to hold family, mortgage, and wellbeing together?
What about the day when, perhaps, IT people are the only ones left with decent wages (assuming it happens like that), and everything else around you is a deflationary smoking economic ruin? How long will it be before every IT person's job is looked at, employers say (and remember these are not sympathetic IT people) 'why the hell are they paid more than anyone else?', and start BENCHMARKING your jobs against other equally skilled workers, outside of IT, who earn half what you get? How long, do you think? And indeed, thats before we take outsourcing to India into account...
Finally - go look at the actual legislation - its easy enough to find, just go on the Commonwealth Govt website - and decide for yourself, if you think the Qld govt website is so damn biased. I have, and I know that what they have to say is a fairly reasonable interpretation. Mind you, some of those from overseas may or may not understand just what it is that is being dismantled here by our Government. It ain't pretty.
'Traditional unions' generally establish things like 'fighting funds' where donations from members from other parts of the union, the general public, and sometimes the pooling of union assets, are used to support workers and their families who are taking industrial action and thus not earning money.
Sure, any 'traditional union' can set up job networks - and many do - to support their members in this way, whether the circumstance is industrial action, or redundancy, or whatever.
I don't see how there is anything additional to that, that some other, somehow 'funkier' hypothetical union would do, that hasn't been done or tried.
I also have some doubts about the reality horizons and intestinal fortitude of workers who will only take action if there is absolutely no short term cost to them.
Having said that, there are lots of very effective forms of industrial action workers can take that don't entail stopping work, but do put pressure on the employer to shift their position.
Watch the stress levels in management rise, for instance, when each and every worker sends a fax three times a day, every day, to the CEOs fax machine, for two weeks. 10 seconds of your time, complete chaos at the other end. Harder to 'filter away' than mass emails (although they too can be effective, depending on the campaign).
I know, I've helped people do it.
Slashdot Mirror
Hmm. So the Commonwealth Govt is not to be seen through 'propaganda filters' because they are 'conservative'? I think we should read your remarks through 'propaganda filters'!
"there are only a couple of States in which IT workers are actually covered by awards" Actually, that isn't true. There are IT workers in Australia working in just about every industry - local government, public service, banking systems, mining, agriculture, etc etc. Therefore they are covered by any awards that operate in those industries. To take just one example, there is a Federal (ie. nation wide) Local Govt Officers Award that will cover, alongside everyone else in local government, all the IT workers who are employees in local government. Same for banks. Same for both state and federal public service. Same in just about every industry that has Award coverage (in Australia - most of them, but with Howard's laws - well, give it time). Can I make another comment, which is I really don't like the 'I'm alright Jack' tone of some of these emails. 'We're IT workers, we'll be alright'. Even if that were true (and I think some of you are in for a rude shock, sooner or later), what about the rest of the country? Its okay for everyone else to be paid peanuts? Its okay for those less clever and exclusive than us to not have enough to hold family, mortgage, and wellbeing together? What about the day when, perhaps, IT people are the only ones left with decent wages (assuming it happens like that), and everything else around you is a deflationary smoking economic ruin? How long will it be before every IT person's job is looked at, employers say (and remember these are not sympathetic IT people) 'why the hell are they paid more than anyone else?', and start BENCHMARKING your jobs against other equally skilled workers, outside of IT, who earn half what you get? How long, do you think? And indeed, thats before we take outsourcing to India into account... Finally - go look at the actual legislation - its easy enough to find, just go on the Commonwealth Govt website - and decide for yourself, if you think the Qld govt website is so damn biased. I have, and I know that what they have to say is a fairly reasonable interpretation. Mind you, some of those from overseas may or may not understand just what it is that is being dismantled here by our Government. It ain't pretty.
'Traditional unions' generally establish things like 'fighting funds' where donations from members from other parts of the union, the general public, and sometimes the pooling of union assets, are used to support workers and their families who are taking industrial action and thus not earning money. Sure, any 'traditional union' can set up job networks - and many do - to support their members in this way, whether the circumstance is industrial action, or redundancy, or whatever. I don't see how there is anything additional to that, that some other, somehow 'funkier' hypothetical union would do, that hasn't been done or tried. I also have some doubts about the reality horizons and intestinal fortitude of workers who will only take action if there is absolutely no short term cost to them. Having said that, there are lots of very effective forms of industrial action workers can take that don't entail stopping work, but do put pressure on the employer to shift their position. Watch the stress levels in management rise, for instance, when each and every worker sends a fax three times a day, every day, to the CEOs fax machine, for two weeks. 10 seconds of your time, complete chaos at the other end. Harder to 'filter away' than mass emails (although they too can be effective, depending on the campaign). I know, I've helped people do it.