The Guardian 3 September, 2008
Construction workers launch
"Rights on Site" campaign
Three construction workers, all of whom have been personally attacked by the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), have launched the "Rights on Site" campaign in Parliament House, Canberra.
The campaign, including a TV advertisement, website and other materials, will help inform and educate the public about the excessive powers of the ABCC and build public support for getting rid of the laws.
"Charlie Isaacs, Joe Mannucci and Ivan Franjic will be joining me and other union leaders to launch the Rights on Site campaign", National Secretary of the Construction Division of the CFMEU, Dave Noonan, said.
"The ABCC forced Joe and Ivan to attend interrogations under threat of six months jail. They had no right to silence, and could not refuse to attend. Afterwards, they were not allowed speak to anyone about what was discussed in the interrogation — not even to their families.
"Charlie was prosecuted and fined for standing up for a mate who was unfairly sacked on the job they were working on", Mr Noonan said.
The ABCC powers are sweeping — workers and their representatives can be fined and jailed; union meetings can be secretly recorded; their choice of legal representation can be denied.
Mr Noonan pointed out that the ABCC is the last vestige of the Howard government’s unfair IR laws and that no other workers, apart from workers in the construction industry, are faced with this heavy-handed and undemocratic assault on their human rights.
"The ABCC was set up to benefit Howard’s mates in the construction industry. Now the big end of town is pushing to keep the ABCC, in a desperate attempt to keep their massive profits and intimidate workers from speaking up about safety and their rights on site", Mr Noonan said.
"We’re launching the Rights on Site campaign to highlight the profoundly undemocratic powers of the ABCC. We find it amazing that the Rudd Labor government, elected to restore Australian’s rights at work, should care so little about the rights of people like Charlie, Joe and Ivan and the 900,000 other construction workers in this country."
More information
about construction workers’
rights can be found at rightsonsite.org.au