UP-WORDS
Volume 3 No 6/7 June/July 2002
The Blocked Brain Syndrome!
By Monika Baker
When was the last time you heard about a good idea to reduce unemployment and get this country growing? And if you heard one, where did it come from? From our politicians or bureaucrats, or from our academics, or maybe from any of the many consultants siting on committees?
Here in Australia they all seem to suffer from the "Blocked Brain Syndrome" or maybe they are caught in the attitude of "not enough resources"? Other countries seem to be more innovative.
Denmark, for example, developed a program so good, that they have practically achieved full employment, for their own population only, not their immigrants, yet quite remarkable! And that happened in only a few years. France created close to 250.000 new jobs through the restriction of overtime and introduction of the 35 hour week. Almost all European countries have maternity leave. German mothers have enjoyed this privilege for as long as I can remember (45 years).
So what's wrong with our beautiful country and its great potential, us Australians? Can we fight the blocked brain syndrome, or are we condemned to follow the American lead? A United Nations study from 2000 showed that Amerika had the highest level of poverty in the Western World followed by Ireland.
We, the unemployed, believe that this is not good enough.
We came up with a few ideas. They may be simple, they may have been heard
before, but we want to talk about it with all members of our society.
Modell for full employment in Australia
Each good and solid construction is build on a strong foundation.
Our foundation is build on the principles:
- Democracy - participation in decision making pro-cesses for all
- Sharing - of commonly owned resources and equal and fair distribution
of profits
- Respect - for and observance of the International Conventions of Human,
Social and Economic Rights,
- Solidarity - with and appropriate support for the weakest links of
our societal chain.
On this foundation stand four pillars which are capable
of carrying a strong roof, which enable all of us to live in a protected
and strong society and to lead a fulfilling life, enjoying the privileges
of employment and other remunerated contributions that come with them.
The four pillars are:
1 Healthy and fulfilling workplaces
2 Training and Lifelong Learning
3 a fair tax system and a supportive Social Security system
4 Strong support for innovative and committed employers who employ long
term unemployed and people with a disability.
Functional, flexible, job consultancies, decent vocational
guidance, as is offered in Germany, are essential. They form part of the
Social Security system, as are many other community and advocacy services.
Our suggestions to aim for full employment:
Pillar 1: Create healthy, less stressful work environments,
eradicate bullying and include staff in decision making and planning activities.
Call on the potential of all staff members. Profit and turnover will rise,
while absenteeism and sickdays will be markedly reduced. Allow family
friendly practices, introduce family leave, by employing an unemployed
person over the period of leave. Restrict overtime and shorten the working
hours per week.
Most importantly: Review career goals of staff and send certain staff
members (who so choose) on study/training leave. Training incentives ought
to be funded by Government as well as financial support during time of
study. Employer hires unemployed and trains them or the unemployed person
has already been trained in anticipation of this job coming up by identification
of job bottlenecks in certain industries.
Pillar 2: Career Development Everyone, unemployed and employed
should have access to improve their career by accessing appropriate training
or study. Learning fees should be affordable to unemployed people and
be subsidized for employers training their staff. The lifelong learning
sector and the vocational and higher education institutions need to work
more closely and flexibly together with the business and industrial stakeholders,
who in turn should be obliged to project employment trends, so that all
demands in certain sectors can be identified early and appropriate training
measures implemented.
Pillar 3: A fair tax system places the heaviest tax burden
on those who made profit from our common goods, while avoiding a tax burden
on those who live in poverty or on low incomes. In Australia unemployed
people starting a job effectively pay a marginal tax rate of nearly 80%.
A supportive social security system enhances and expands the chances of
employment of its recipients. It does not punish the efforts made to gain
employment.
It is time that we get a decent vocational consultation service, and improve
these superficial job matching attempts! Germany conducts psychological
tests and vocational guidance tests. This is what the Centrelink Occupational
Psychologists ought to do with every long term unemployed person. In Europe
people gain jobs purely on the basis of their test results, such is the
quality of the efforts.
Pillar 4: Employer support and initiatives
Every employer introducing affirmative action and staff training into
their business ought to be rewarded by incentives. Trainees need to receive
financial support during the period of their training, but the payments
for the unemployed person fall away. Training costs could be shared by
employer, training deliverer and Commonwealth subsidies.
Affirmative action is needed (and has been introduced in
Denmark) for mature age employees, people with disabilities and the longtime
unemployed.
Should maternity leave, restricted overtime, job sharing
and training/study leave be introduced in a company and they employ long
term unemployed, mature aged people and/or people with a disability in
positions which have become available, there is a chance that this measure
alone will reduce unemployment significantly.
In addition small- and middle-sized businesses should be supported in
developing apprenticeship or traineeship places. Government incentives,
accessible information and consultation, ongoing external training provision
and a mentor or consultancy system to assist employers and apprentices
with difficulties are essential as well as a fair industrial relations
system which protects young people at work from exploitation.
Budget SA promises a lot of thinking
We have commented on the Federal Budget in our May Up-Words. A lot has happened since and continues to happen, and a lot has not happened. We still have no proposal for a new Income Support System, the changes to the Disability Support Pension have been rejected by the Senate, but who knows when the first Senator starts making deals.
In the meantime the budget 2002/03 was released by our State government
in SA. A few more teachers, a few more nurses (let's hope there are still
a few unemployed nurses around, otherwise we may have to import them!)
and 1000 new jobs at Mitsubishi. Admittedly, there were grants and programs
for research and development of industries and a few jobs in some of the
suggested infrastructure projects, like the railway developments and a
new police station for Mount Barker. Above all there was money for Committees
to think and sit.
Surely, this will create a few jobs and satisfy some in the community,
more hospital beds are great. It also looks as if there has been a firm
commitment to fund unmet needs in the Disability Services areas and to
do something for mental health, although 50% of the budget for mental
health is still eaten up by hospital costs. But what is lacking are innovative
ideas to increase employment.
Regional Development Boards maybe are achieving greater employment. Some
regions have turned around, yet other regions have not been helped. Where
are the improvements?
Sadly for all young people, the State Government's Youth Traineeship Scheme has not been raised to its former level of 1000 places. Only 500 young people will get a chance to start their careers in the public sector of the State government. Of some consulation ought to be that TAFE fees have been cut by 10% and capped at just over $10,000 per year. It is almost affordable to study at TAFE, especially with the new training vouchers for 390 hours Work for the Dole!
AMWU listens!
On the 26th of June UPM's chairperson David Rigney addressed the State Conference of the AMWU in SA regarding employment creation and the situation of the unemployed in general. He was well received and many comrades have contacted us since with enquiries and messages of support.
David spoke about the benefits of the 35 hour week in France. He also told the delegates about the insidious Work for the Dole scheme which avoids job creation by vreating slave labor for social security recipients.
If all the costs for administration were to be paid as wages for the participants, there would be more employment and better outcomes for the participants.
Employees and the unemployed must work together to fight the injustices applied to the unemployed but designed to crush the workers!
Should Telstra be privatised?
By David Farrant
I don't believe so, and the telco is having problems.
We all know about Richard Alston's mobile conversation in the country
near Dubbo, it went something like "there will be $20 million for
. . . hello, hello, maybe I will try and go and get a fixed line somewhere!"
This gaffe embarrassed his leader John Howard, who just
hours before, vowed to conduct an audit on Telstra services to determine
if the telco was ready for a further sell-off. Mr Howard said the services
in the bush are getting closer to a point where they can be sold.
So the Liberals are thinking of a sell-off this year. I
just hope it is better than the last share float, where initially it did
not perform as the Libs and all their so-called economic experts expected.
The SA Farmers Federation president John Lush was contacted
by 'The Advertiser' to comment on the issue of services in the bush and
how they compare to services in the city. He mentioned Internet access
and mobile phones dropping out. He also said that it can take up to six
months for Telstra to put in another phone line for data transmission
or to run a fax. But before he could complete the conversation his mobile
phone dropped out.
This is happening while Telstra is winning overseas contracts,
such as the one in China, to provide phone coverage for the 2008 Olympics.
The Democrats, the Greens and Labor presently oppose such a move and I
was reading in the weekend press that all the independents except one
support such a move.
The former leader of the Democrats Meg Lees faced disciplinary action,
because she spoke out and said the Democrats should have some discussion
on what to do with the money once the telco is sold. In the end she even
left the Party, yet she is still promising not to vote for a sale. If
so, why did she leave? Are there other policies she needs to help the
Liberals with?
I do not believe that Telstra should be privatised. Telstra
would make more money in a few years than we could sell it for. They are
obviously having problems with their mobile phone and Internet access.
The Liberal Party's philosophy to sell everything is just bad business.
So why sell assets that are profitable and that return huge dividends
to the treasury?
The government will introduce a system whereby if a Telstra
service is slow, such as phone line maintainance, the Telco will get a
million dollar fine. Well, so the government admits that Telstra is substandard,
but still insists they will sell it. If Telstra is sold, prices will go
up and services will become worse. Would they really need to care about
a small fine of a few millions, when they make that much in a few days?
When any of the government assets are sold, we always have
a restructuring that leaves hundreds unemployed.
Selling government-owned assets which don't operate as a monopoly, eg Qantas, Commonwealth Bank, may have some some merit to it, as long as we need the money from the sale. Such a sale should only be done through a share market float and not a sale to the highest bidder. Selling an asset that makes the government a small fortune every year and is a monopoly, eg Telstra, doesn't make sense to me. I was brought up to believe that assets that are monopolies should stay in public hands.
Contents:
Modell for full employment in Australia
Budget promises a lot of thinking!
Take the test, are you a Cruiser?
Could not find originator as it got send to us! Our Apologies!
If anyone knows please send me an e-mail
Take a look at this month's additions to the Sleuth
Click here to access our previous newsletters:
UpWords 1 No. 1:
What is BreachingUpWords 1 No. 2:
Young Poor under AttackUpWords 1 No. 3:
Frog Boiling;UpWords1 No. 4::
Welfare Reform;UpWords1 No. 5:
S11;UpWords1 No. 6:
History of Unemployed Movements,
HomelessnessUp-Words No. 7:
Launch of UPM/Latest Breaching StatisticsUpWords1 No 8:
Open Letter to Minister Amanda VanstoneUpWords2 No 1:
Millionaires' Coup for Govenrment
Centrelink Officiouisness hurts us allUpWords2 No 2:
Big Brother is watching you!
Work for the Dole is not workingUpWords2 No 3:
Globalisation - the Excessive Wealth Disease?UpWords2 No 4:
Is Howard a Communist?
Mal Brough, Minister for Compassionate Employment Figure FudgingUpWords2 No 5
Benefits 37% below poverty line
May Day protests worldwideUpWords2 No 6:
The Permanently Alienated Underclass Speaks UP!
The Budget for the Unemployed
Views from the Coal FaceUpWords 2 No 7
Criminalisation of Poverty
Job Network is not working - from rorts to incompetenceUpWords 2 No 8
Work for the Dole can kill!
National Coalition against Poverty Petition
Post card campaign
Poet's Corner:
Views on UnemploymentUpWords 2 No 9
UPM joins Ranks for Peace
International Day for the
Eradication of Poverty
Unemployed Treated Worse Than Criminals!UpWords 2 No 10
Election 2001: UPM's How to Vote Card
Annual General Meeting
How much longer?Up-Words Vol. 2 No 11
Not Drowning - Just Looking for Work
Election Aftermath: ALP Awake!
Human Rights Day Picnic
AGM
Up-Words Vol. 3 No 1
35 hour week or share Argentina's destiny?
Human Rights Day - do we count too?
State Election Issue
No 1: Jobs
My experiences with Job Network ProvidersInsert in this issue:
War against Terrorism - the Police State Agenda
can be found at:
http://www.newdawnmagazine. com/articles/War_on_Terror_ The_Police_State_Agenda.htmlUp-Words Vol. 3 No 2
Is it Australian to bully the unemployed?
Greens support the 35 hour weekUp-Words Vol.3 No 3
New compassionate breaching rules?
Put 35 hour week on the agendaUpWords Vol.3 No 4
New Parking Zones for the Unemployed!
Unemployed must unite against fascism
UpWords Vol.3 No 5
Cruising through Poverty!
43% of politicians are cruisers
New UPU in WA: Budget Comment
Link to the Crusing Report and Behaviour Modification advise for the unemployed!
Have a look at our new campaign site:
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