Meeting held : 28 May 2009
Chair of Meeting: The President, Comrade Marilyn Issanchon
Location of the meeting : Trades Hall Auditorium, 4 Goulburn St Sydney
UNIONS NSW MEETING MINUTES
MEETING HELD THURSDAY 28th May 2009
IN THE TRADES HALL AUDITORIUM AT
4 GOULBURN STREET, SYDNEY AT 6:00PM
The President, Com. M. Issanchon occupied the Chair.
PRESENT: - M. Lennon [Secretary], C. Christodoulou [Assistant Secretary],
A. Tattersall [Deputy Assistant Secretary].
MINUTES: -
The Secretary, Com. M. Lennon moved: -
"That the minutes as circulated be received".
Com. B. Tubner seconded.
CARRIED
The Secretary, Com. M. Lennon moved: -
"That the minutes as circulated be adopted".
Com. R. Fortescue seconded.
CARRIED
CREDENTIALS
From The Textile Clothing & Footwear Union of Australia, NSW Branch replacing Stephen Davies with Natasha Flores.
The Secretary, Com. M. Lennon moved:-
"That the credentials be received and the delegates welcomed".
Com. S. Bali seconded.
CARRIED
APOLOGIES<,/b>
Apologies were received and accepted for: - B. Holmes, J. Knight, J. Diamond, R. Bonanza, B. Kruse, L. Hankinson, R. Collison, and B. Riordan
The Secretary, Com. M. Lennon moved: -
"That the apologies be received and accepted".
Com. P. Kessy seconded.
CARRIED
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
APHEDA Raffle
The Secretary, Com. M. Lennon invited Peter Jennings to draw the APHEDA raffle.
In doing so Peter thanked affiliated unions who assisted in selling the tickets. He indicated that over $80,000 was raised he also thanked Members Equity for their support in the raffle.
Members Equity representative said that they would continue to support APHEDA and emphasised the importance of unions to promote Members Equity.
The raffle was drawn and the winners were: First Prize: L. Cox and Second Prize: K. McGurk
EXECUTIVE BUSINESS
CORRESPONDENCE
The Secretary, Com. M. Lennon advised that there was no correspondence for tonight's meeting.
REPORTS
The State Labor Advisory Council.
The Secretary Com M. Lennon reported on discussion with the State Government via SLAC in relation to public sector wages, procurement, and OH&S.
ACTU Congress
The Secretary Com M. Lennon reported on discussion held in advance of ACTU Congress and the role that Unions NSW would be playing on a number of issues including OH&S Harmonisation.
The Secretary, Com. M. Lennon moved: -
"That the reports be received and noted".
Com. C. Drane seconded.
CARRIED
GUEST SPEAKERS
The President Com. M. Issanchan introduced the guest speakers The Hon. Bob Carr, Former Premier of NSW and Professor George Williams, University of NSW who discussed Does Australia Need a Bill of Rights?
The Hon. Bob Carr spoke against the need for a charter or bill of rights and illustrated a number of examples around the world where such charter or bills did not stop fundamental neglect of human rights. eg. America has a bill of rights but still has the death penalty in many States.
Professor George Williams spoke in favour of a legislative charter of rights and said what was important was the actual rights that would be put into the charter. Professor Williams said that if a charter had been in place it would have made it almost impossible for John Howard to have introduced the ABCC legislation.
The Hon. Bob Carr responded by saying that whilst the legislative charter of rights might look good under a Labor Government nothing would stop a conservative government amending the charter so that it might be used against the trade union movement.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:00PM
President:____________________________________
About Unions NSW
