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Australian union launches petition over airport workers’ pay and conditions
28 August 2008
Workers at Australian airports are being urged to back a petition against moves to undermine the pay and conditions of aviation workers.
The ITF-affiliated Australian Services Union (ASU) launched the petition today to highlight the situation of new employees at Toll Dnata, a ground handling company with operations in Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. They are being offered individual contracts providing them with a flat rate of pay of AU$20 (US$17) per hour for all shifts, with no shift allowances, and they are only paid overtime after they have worked 1,786 hours per year. This amounts to an annual pay cut of at least AU$5000 (US$4,300).
ASU Branch Secretary Ingrid Stitt said the 200 Toll Dnata staff, providing customer service and check-in services for companies such as Emirates and Singapore Airlines, had lost patience with the industrial relations system. Labour leader Kevin Rudd, who was elected last year, brought in legislation to overhaul the unpopular anti-union system, Work Choices, which was put in place by his predecessor, John Howard. However, according to Stitt, the workers are “caught in a Work Choices time warp” because the changes are not being implemented quickly enough.
The ASU, which hopes to gather 1000 signatures over the next two weeks, will present the petition to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Julia Gillard, and members of the Labor Industrial Relations Committee. The petition aims to remind the government that Australians voted against Work Choices at the last election.
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