Federal Election 2010 - part 1

It's hard to get excited about this election. The ALP are boring and the Liberal Party are led by a repackaged turd.

If you need yet another reason to put the Libs last then I will share this video of what Tony Abbott had to say about Bernie Banton. Pretty much sums up Tony's complete lack of integity perfectly really.

The SDA and McDonald's do a dodgy deal. Only problem is Fair Work Australia won't have a bar of it!

On 23 April 2010 Fair Work Australia rejected the McDonald's Australia Enterprise Agreement 2009 being approved. Rejection of enterprise agreements is not uncommon. However, it normally does not involve the biggest union in Australia, where that union has argued in favour of the sub-standard agreement.

The SDA and McDonald's got together and essentially sold a dud agreement to McDonald's 80,000 employees. These employees are particularly vulnerable as over a third are from non-English speaking backgrounds and a whopping 80% are casual.

Some of the "features" of the agreement include (and to quote Commissioner McKenna directly)

• "the Agreement contains no casual loadings at all for employees in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory"

• “18.3 Wage Increases

  In addition to the wage rates specified in 18.1 and 18.2 employees will be paid the following increases. Provided that an employee will not be paid less than the rate otherwise applicable to that employee under the transitional provisions of the relevant modern award.

  As from 1 July 2010
  NSW, ACT, VIC, SA and NT	FWA Annual Wage Review less $7.50
  WA	FWA Annual Wage Review less $3.84
  TAS	FWA Annual Wage Review less $5.00
  QLD (Level 1 employees)	FWA Annual Wage Review
  QLD (all others)	FWA Annual Wage Review less $7.50

How generous - employees get a pay rise LESS than the minimum wage! Jeez, you've driven a hard bargain there SDA. How did you manage to get such a great deal for workers?

Funnily enough, the agreement was not approved for reasons including "the deficient application; the failure to meet pre-approval requirements; the failure to meet the no disadvantage test; and the inadequacy of some of the proposed written undertakings." This was despite the fact McDonald's was represented by the Australian Industry Group's Matt Moir, who apparently is a barrister. Clearly even he couldn't sell this lemon. I wonder how he sleeps at night, when his job is trying to ensure workers get royally fucked over by their bosses? (I often wonder the same thing about the negotiators from the SDA too).

It's good to see somebody sticking up for workers at McDonald's. Apparently the SDA has given up on looking after the rights of workers at Maccas so it's been left to Fair Work Australia.

And all of this is yet another example of how the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association, a so-called union, is an absolute fucking disgrace.

Postscript

The Full Bench overturned the single commissioner's decision. Seems whatever AIG says is gospel these days.

what's this crap?

Now I must admit one of the reasons I am blogging about is that I have a soft spot for Ms Sara Groen, however this article does highlight the double standards women face in the media.

As one commenter says: "I bet if she had a boob job there would be no complaining." Sadly, I think you're on the money mate. Can't have a woman expressing herself now.

I think the last paragraph in the story sums up the situation for women in media perfectly: "It (this story) comes after reporter Christine Spiteri alleged in a statement of claim filed in the Federal Court that Channel 9's head of news John Westacott said that for women to make it in the industry they've 'gotta have fuckability'."

Cath Bowtell quits the ACTU

It is a shame to see Ms Bowtell leave the ACTU after years of service and I can understand her frustration at not getting the top job. The problem is that she is not that media savvy and comes off as a tad...well, boring. Like reading this blog.

Ged Kearney on the other hand has the media smarts and the political edge the ACTU need going forward. It's a shame she'll be working with Captain Boring himself, Jeff Lawrence. He's a nice guy but jeez, he can make even the most interesting topic seem dull.

Mind you, this isn't a problem reserved for the hierarchy of the ACTU. Many state labour councils have the same problem, being run by ALP hacks who lost touch with the realities facing ordinary workers a long time ago, so they could further their own career.

hands up if you like Miranda Devine?

I don't. She has an inflated sense of importance only matched by her rampant conservatism.

She talks about right-wing tool Alex Hawke in the following terms:

"...a man whose "extremism" runs to being a Catholic who attends Mass, is married to a member of Opus Dei, and holds conservative social positions in line with much of the electorate."

Ummm..dumb arse....that makes you pretty fucking extreme. Opus Dei are a right wing cult. No one attends mass in Australia and this leads to my next point - you can hardly have conservative positions in line with much of the electorate if you're going to church every week. Only 9% of us bother going.

Devine revels in the notion of the electorate being conservative deep down, when in reality most people just don't give a shit.

should these men be in jail?

4 men and a cafe have been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for persistent bullying that led to the suicide of a young waitress. More on this can be found in this Age article.

I don't know all of the details so I cannot comment on this case. But it is about time people are held to account for their actions. Bullying that bad, that pushes someone over the edge, deserves jail time. Physical and emotional bullying are bullshit that so many workers have to endure because bosses want to sweep it under the rug or, in some cases like this, they even actively participate in it.

So I say jail the fuckers. These cowards wouldn't last two seconds incarcerated. I think this is one time when the threat of jail actually will help.

Premier of WA says strikers are 'un-Australian'

YAWN. Is this the best you can come up with Barnett? I mean really, this is pathetic. Only people with no argument, wanting to score cheap political points use the tired 'unAustralian' line.