State Labor industrial relations minister John Della Bosca announced the proposed "reforms" in late March, claiming that the workers compensation system is losing tens of millions every year through exorbitant fees to lawyers. Carr later claimed that fraudulent claims by workers was another major problem. WorkCover, the government department that has responsibility for both workplace safety and workers compensation, says it faces a growing deficit that now stands at $A2.18 billion ($A1 = US 52 cents).  
 
Proposals for changes
The proposals include eliminating the right of injured workers to a hearing determined by a court; introducing medical assessments, with no right of appeal, heard by appointed commissioners who do not need to be medically qualified; and changing how permanent impairment is assessed to a system using the American Medical Association's guidelines. The latter move means a sharp cut in the level of lump-sum compensation for permanent disabilities and for pain and suffering and a cap placed on lump-sum entitlements.

The change to an "administrative" system would also virtually eliminate the right of workers to sue for damages under the common law.

Protest actions began in mid-April with Public Service Association members who work in Parliament House setting up a picket line in the foyer on April 11.

Also in April, some 100,000 building workers, members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, downed tools in a 24-hour statewide stoppage. Maritime Union members working on state-owned Sydney commuter ferries organized a 24-hour fare-free day. Workers on state-owned commuter trains and buses followed suit in Sydney. The unions estimated that the government lost $A4 million in revenue. Members of the Fire Brigade Employees Union organized a statewide stoppage and sent 50 fire engines to drive by Parliament in protest.

Members of the Electrical Trades Union stopped servicing the lifts in Parliament House and the 40-story Governor Macquarie Tower that houses state government offices. Ambulance workers who are members of the Health and Research Employees Association also took action.

Unionists also picketed offices of Labor members of Parliament in their electorates to pressure them to support amendments to the legislation.

After the month of actions, the Labor Council called a moratorium on protests and further industrial action on April 30 to allow for negotiations.

On June 19, the Labor Council renewed its campaign of fare-free days on public transport, and organized a peaceful, mass picket line of 1,000 in front of Parliament House to block Labor politicians from entering to introduce the government's bill. "We have spent the best part of the last two months negotiating with the government in good faith," stated Labor Council official John Robertson.

Shortly before 2:00 p.m. a wall of cops forced a path open and escorted the Labor MPs into Parliament by a side entrance to cries of "Scabs! Traitors! Bastards!" Then a dozen mounted police cleared the street. No one was arrested, although about 20 protesters were detained.

Workplace safety is a big topic of discussion among workers on the job and on picket lines as increased line speeds, productivity drives, and other cost-cutting measures by the bosses to protect their profit rates take their toll.

Workers on the picket line at Amcor's Smithfield cardboard factory, told the Militant July 7 how they responded to a recent incident where a worker became trapped in machinery and had his legs crushed at the company's Brooklyn, Victoria, plant. One of his legs had to be amputated to free him. Elvis, a union delegate, explained that the boss then tried to get workers to immediately restart the machinery. The workers walked off the job in protest and when the company refused to discipline the boss, walked off again. While out the second time, they voted to stay out as part of the fight for a new national collective agreement. Workers at Amcor plants nationwide took strike action in solidarity.  
 
Safety an issue on wharves
Workplace safety is also a big topic of discussion on the wharves. Maritime Union members at Patrick Stevedores' Port Botany container facility have seen half a dozen potentially fatal incidents in the last two years, as the company pushes workers to work faster.

In some instances, serious injuries occurred. Injured workers, many of them temporaries, receive only a percentage of their usual wage while on workers compensation.

WorkCover itself is badly understaffed. It conducts fewer and fewer workplace inspections and long delays in investigations of accidents are the norm.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) state secretary Andrew Ferguson noted April 18, "Working people understand why there is a problem in NSW: it is the systematic noncompliance with the law on the part of bosses--and the government's failure to police compliance."

The $A2.18 billion WorkCover deficit exists on paper only. It assumes holding a surplus for potential future payments, based on statistical models that project payments over 40 years to every worker currently injured or likely to be injured in the next 40 years. According to John Wynyard, chair of the Australian Plaintiff Lawyers Association Workers Compensation Group, very few recipients get compensation for 40 years, thus sharply reducing future liabilities to a fraction of what the government claims.

In face of the impending approval of the government's first round of legislation by Parliament, thousands of workers attended stop-work meetings June 27 around the state, including some 2,500 workers and union officials at Sydney Town Hall. Later, in Wollongong, Newcastle, and Dubbo, workers voted to walk off the job for 24 hours. They joined workers in the construction, manufacturing, electrical, and printing industries, bringing 250,000 workers off the job in the strike action.

Doug Cooper is a member of the Maritime Union of Australia.  
 
 
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