General News Archives 2007		This General News Archive area will be maintained as a reference resource for members and delegates. Please be aware some items and articles may be out of date.
December 2007 17 December 2007 CFMEU issues Xmas Pay Alert Our Wage Claims Department advises that every Xmas, workers are ripped off with the incorrect calculation of their annual leave pay. Use this checklist to check your Xmas pay calculations. [full story] 14 December 2007 Building workers join fight against electricity privatisation Union delegates representing major building projects throughout Sydney will today vote to support the fight against the NSW Government’s plans to privatise the electricity industry. [full story] November 2007 30 November 2007 Minister Announces New Home Building Newsletter [full story] 28 November 2007 Victory for sacked crane driver after 15 month picket After maintaining his one man picket line for 441 days, sacked crane driver Barry Hemsworth will tomorrow return to work, ending the long-running WorkChoices dispute which his employer had threatened to take to the High Court. [full story] 28 November 2007 Boss sentenced after bashing guest worker with hammer A building contractor faces sentencing tomorrow after being found guilty of assaulting an 18 year old boy, one of five guest Cook Island guest workers he employed, with a claw hammer. [full story] 13 November 2007 Put Fairness Back Into Work Message from Tom McDonald to all Members [full story] 5 November 2007 Two new novels about life in the building industry from the United States Message from a working class and left point of view [full story] October 2007 29 October 2007 Barnsley joinery workers retrenched without pay Eighteen workers retrenched without notice by Barnsley Joinery Works on Friday are holding a protest outside the factory to demand thousands of dollars in unpaid entitlements. [full story] 24 October 2007 Why United Nations Day is important [full story] September 2007 21 September 2007 Chinese Guest Workers Ripped Off, Sacked and Homeless Two workers from a rural area of Jiangsu Province in China are the latest victims of John Howard’s failed guest workers immigration system. [full story] 21 September 2007 Legal win for injured guest workers after kidnap and assault The District Court today ordered the employers of a Korean guest worker to pay $96,788 after kidnapping and assaulting the worker when he asked for compensation following a serious injury. [full story] 4 September 2007 One year on picket line for sacked Botany Cranes worker On Thursday September 6, sacked crane driver Barry Hemsworth will clock up a full year maintaining his one man picket line outside Botany Cranes, the company that sacked him after a workplace safety dispute. [full story] 3 September 2007 CFMEU Looking for Safety Co-ordinator Applications are invited for the position of CFMEU Safety Co-ordinator. [full story] August 2007 31 August 2007 Workers support Lauren Huxley with rebuilding life Lauren Huxley’s long road to recovery, following a brutal attack in her Northmead home in November 2005, will be given a boost tomorrow as union members from Sydney building sites present the family with a cheque to assist with rebuilding her life. [full story] 31 August 2007 Building workers demand better treatment for asbestos victims Union delegates from building sites across Sydney will tomorrow join asbestos victims to launch a petition to Prime Minister John Howard calling for urgent legislation to ensure all victims of deadly mesothelioma receive access to appropriate treatment for the disease. [full story] 06 August 2007 Punchbowl carpenter awarded for half-century of union service Retiring after 31 years at Bankstown RSL, Punchbowl carpenter Ray Hugo has been awarded life membership to the building union in appreciation for more than half a century of active service. [full story] July 2007 18 July 2007 Revesby: MP meets local workers worried about IR laws Local building workers from the Boral Scaffolding and Formwork yard in Revesby will today meet Banks MP Daryl Melham to hand him a petition calling on Kevin Rudd to fight for working families disadvantaged by the Howard Government’s IR laws. [full story] 10 July 2007 Ray Hugo - CFMEU Member Ray Hugo was born on September 1935. He joined the BWIU in July 1953 as a 17 year old apprentice (five year apprentices in those days). Ray worked for a Spec. house builder in Greenacre. Ray left that employer and went into the city to work for a shopfitter, F.J. Corbor, where he finished his apprenticeship. [full story] 06 July 2007 Tom “Mac” explains the truth behind Howard’s IR Reforms [full story] June 2007 26 June 2007 Union helping migrants become citizens to have their say The building union is encouraging migrant workers to become Australian citizens, allowing them to cast their vote and have a say in the laws which govern their adopted nation. [full story] 22 June 2007 Swearing on building sites – what next? [full story] 13 June 2007 Penrith man sacked while hospitalised with kidney failure A 41 year old rigger from Cambridge Park was sacked while being treated in Nepean Hospital after being diagnosed with serious kidney failure, according to the building union. [full story] 12 June 2007 Bathurst: Illegal workers under nose of government inspectors Inspectors from the Howard Government’s controversial building industry watchdog spent two days on the $50 million Mt Panorama Resort project with illegal workers operating under their nose. [full story] 08 June 2007 Billionaire works with union to deliver $1.3m to workers In an unlikely partnership, billionaire property developer Harry Triguboff has stepped in to assist the construction union recover $1.3 million dollars in wages and entitlements owing to 230 workers who were locked out of Meriton building sites last week. [full story] May 2007 26 May 2007 National Secretary Dave Noonan reports on One Year of Bad Laws – Bad for Workers – Bad for Industry [full story] 08 May 2007 NSW Parliament: unions protests drop in OH&S standards A union protest on the first sitting day of the NSW Parliament will highlight a move by several major builders to abandon the protections and benefits for workers under NSW workers compensation and occupational health and safety laws. [full story] 08 May 2007 Barry Hemsworth leads May Day march against IR laws On Sunday, several thousand people took part in the annual May Day Rally to highlight the injustice of the Howard Government’s radical industrial relations laws and demand a fair system. [full story] 02 May 2007 Hotel Slashes Workers Pay The landmark Mean Fiddler hotel in Rouse Hill has slashed the pay of staff, removed penalty rates and bragged on the internet about reducing wages to $13 or $14 per hour on Anzac Day. [full story] 01 May 2007 ACTU commends ALP’s new Industrial Relations Policy A clear choice: Labor's full IR policy announced [full story]   April 2007 23 April 2007 ALP Left Policy Initiative 2007 [full story] 18 April 2007 Fairfield: injured worker sacked for putting in compo claim Injured 21 year old worker Robbie Lee Thorne has organised a community picket outside the Fairfield factory of her former employer Catas Food Services after she was sacked for putting in a workers compensation claim when her hand was crushed by an unguarded machine. [full story] March 2007 23 March 2007 What kind of Industry do you want for the future? National Office questions the kind of industry our members want [full story] 18 March 2007 Union welcomes memorial for forgotten bridge workers After being neglected at its opening, the sixteen workers killed while building the Sydney Harbour Bridge will be formally honoured with the unveiling of a memorial as part of the iconic bridge’s 75th birthday celebrations. [full story] 12 March 2007 Redfern: Koori Job Ready Course gets young people work A groundbreaking 8 week training course for unemployed Indigenous youth that boasts a guaranteed job in the building industry for every graduate is holding an information session on Tuesday 27 March for Redfern locals interested in signing up. [full story] 08 March 2007 Penrith: conference highlights attack on health and safety Federal Government changes to workplace health and safety laws taking effect from March 15 will lower standards, restrict the investigation of accidents and lower compensation payments following a death at work, according to the building union. [full story] March 2007 Training Void Hurts Workers A significant proportion of injured and ill workers didn’t receive occupational health and safety training (OHS) during 2005-2006, say recent Australian Bureau of Statistic’s (ABS) figures. [full story] March 2007 On the Edge – Too many work deaths Your February 22 article about the tragic death of a builder in Kogarah Bay is an important reminder that, on average, one worker in the building industry is killed each week in the workplace. [full story] March 2007 APEC Public Holiday The NSW Government has announced details of a public holiday to coincide with the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Summit to be held in Sydney in September 2007. [full story] 02 March 2007 Brighton-Le-Sands worker welcomes NSW Government help Sacked crane driver Barry Hemsworth welcomed the NSW Government’s intervention after his employer attempted to use WorkChoices to prevent the NSW Industrial Relations Commission hearing his victimisation claim. [full story] February 2007 23 February 2007 Visa worker paid $3 an hour in ‘modern slavery’, claims AMWU The Dept of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) and the Office of Workplace Services are investigating the case of a Chinese worker on a s457 visa who the AMWU claims was paid $3 an hour, slept in a factory corner, and sacked when he complained [full story] 16 February 2007 Homebush: Julia Gillard meets workers worried about IR On Tuesday, 120 concreters employed by De Martin & Gasparini will meet Deputy Opposition Leader Julia Gillard to express their concerns about the Howard Government’s industrial relations laws as part of the building union’s ‘6:30am Campaign’. [full story] 12 February 2007 ABCC wins FOA Case against CFMEU, but Loses Agreement Coercion Claims The ABCC has won a technical victory against the CFMEU for freedom of association breaches in a major prosecution that failed to establish coercion in agreement-making. [full story] 8 February 2007 Employers fined $168,000 over botched asbestos removal Both companies equally culpable [full story] January 2007 19th January 2007 John Pilger speaks out about John Howard & David Hicks [full story] 18th January 2007 Don’t fall for Debnam in the NSW State Election [the Debnam record]