We met up with another "Anna", Ronnie from the ASU who is ETU for the week, so I was able to learn a great deal about the ETU from their organiser Beau. It was great to see the ETU and CFMEU stand shoulder to shoulder over matters that affect their members on this and other sites. The site delegates, Badge and Tommy, were a wealth of knowledge and experience and all members on site were very accommodating in letting me climb, ride and access vehicles, machines the jump etc.
After sitting on or in a forklift, mini excavator, scissor lifter, grader and steamroller, I realise why I'm in the classroom and not an operator of one of these.
Relaxing at the Hilton - aaahhh. This was our next stop, a Multiplex site which will soon become the Hilton at Surfers Paradise. The site manager and Dave the delegate took us on a journey from the jump (on top of the building), down the levels to see each stage of development, such as windows, plastering, tiling, carpeting etc. until we reached a floor with ready to live in apartments. The views and breezes were spectacular from the jump which has reached the 31st floor so far.
Note to self for the day: Must remember to avoid the term "I'm easy" on a male dominated work site. Must remember to say "I'm easy going"!!!
I just hope that the ABCC is abolished since it's unfairly undermining workers' rights such as the right to speak up about safety issues. Workers who do so can be interrogated and jailed up to 6 months!
Paula - mining
Today I ventured into the world of energy. Jim Valery took me into the city to attend the CS Energy Peak Consultative Committee meeting. This was my first foray into the inside operations of the corportate world. I have to say that it is encouraging to know that there are consultative mechanisms in existance in large, government sponsored corporations - various commentators will have differing opinions as to the level of effectiveness. The committee comprised company bosses of various operational areas (OH&S; HR; Learning & Development) the ASU (Rebecca), ETU (Keith) & CFMEU (Jim). The agenda item that sparked most energy from the union reps was the discussion about the Swanbank retrenchment/relocation progress. There was also a lenghty report from the OH&S Manager which I found very interesting. He provided graphed figures (from all sites) on such things as category 3 injuries; drug & alcohol testing. He also provided a report on all OH&S targets & outcomes and a policy for continuous improvement. Jim was very active in this discussion talking about the dangers of managers not reporting or recording incidents because of the pressure to improve company targets & the need to provide current training to ensure a consistent understanding & skilling of safety requirements at the workplace (sound familiar???...national curriculum....appropriate implementation & training....Developing Performance Framework...appropriate implementation & training!!!!).
Immediately following that meeting EB negotiations started for the Kogan Creek Site. It became clear from the outset that it wasn't going to go very far. There was a key HR player missing (because of illness) and there was a misunderstanding of the purpose of today's meeting. CS employs a 'facilitator' (according to Government policy) to ensure that the meetings/negotiations progress. Union officials were adamant that they needed to see a draft outline of the classification structure of the new agreement. Unable to be given that, the facilitator facilitated another meeting date at which officers would see a draft of the new classification structure along with a second draft of the log of claims (including the companies position/concessions on an extra 13 days off per year/9 day fortnight claim). It is interesting to note that the current agreement doesn't expire until August/Sept, so the negotiations are very slow and lack the sense of urgency if the timelines were tighter. Also, the unions are aiming for a common/core agreement that can be used across a number of sites which is proving difficult to negotiate.
During the meeting, I kept picturing Kate & Graham and trying to draw parallels to the types of discussions and arguments that they would have when they go into negotiations with EQ.
I forgot to bring my camera today, so no photos again.....more tomorrow
