Well Comrades,
There has been plenty of action in the CBD since my last article with workers continuing to put pressure on builders and the State Government to meet our demands and rid the industry of sham contracting.

Not normally known for its approach to safety, Abi Group has defied its reputation with the ongoing successes of the Mater hospital safety committee.

The words “NOT  GUILTY” will ring in the ears of Ark Tribe for a long time. After two years of stress wondering if and when he may go to jail,  over $300,000 in legal fees and an estimated 1 million of tax payer dollars spent by the ABCC it all came down to a brief court hearing. The hearing accepted our legal advice that the ABCC clowns had acted illegally by serving and charging Ark with the bogus offence of not attending an ABCC interview.

This year’s May Day was a massive success with one of our biggest and best contingents ever. All over Queensland, from Cairns to Mackay, Townsville, the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, Builders’ Labourers marched proud.

 The Building Trade Group of Unions (BTG) is uniting on a number of major issues including the ABCC and Ark Tribe, Safety Harmonisation, Award Modernisation, and Queensland Workers Compensation changes. These issues affect all of us and the only way to have any success is to have a united front.

2009 finishes on a bad note with the demise of Wideform. Operating in Queensland for over 15 years, Wideform were one of the major formwork companies in Queensland and New South Wales, employing around 250 workers.

The new EBA campaign for 2009 is under way with the new log of claims being endorsed on the sites with the collecting of member’s mobile phone numbers to notify them of their EBA meetings.

This worked as a great way to keep you informed through negotiations. If you haven’t given your number to us yet you can call the office on 32362633 and state your name, number and company to be added to the list.