Fighting Fund: with thanks
Update: Dr Austin's dismissal has been settled under Unfair Dismissal legislation in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission after RMIT management, despite claims that it awaited resolution there, blocked a hearing under the EBA (see Unfair Dismissal: settlement, below). The DOU Fighting Fund which helped defray the legal costs for the case has now been closed. A Solidarity Fiesta/Fundraiser in April raised around $800: see here.
posted by Defend Our Universities committee @ 10:00 am
3 Comments:
Commission hearing dates are:
28-9 March. We need to rev up the industrial and political campaigning now in the lead up to the hearing, to make sure the feelings of staff and students at RMIT are heard.
Hi all & especially you Robert,
Good to see this site/blog so lively - congrats on the campaign, & best wishes for the fundraiser & the hearing. As Lisa says, rev thinks up - perhaps a demo/gathering outside the court ? one way to show the level of support from staff & students...
Best wishes,
Peter (McGregor - former Lecturer in Media & Social Studies, UWS)
Hi all and especially you Rober,
After reading the story below you may agree with both Lisa and McGregor. The legal system does not run well by itself. We have to do something about it.
http://www.unionsolidarity.org
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Accountant sacked after complaining she was forced to “cook the books”
An accountant was sacked after complaining that she was forced to falsify accounting records.
After she informed the board of the company, the Auditor, the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry about her boss’s unlawful instructions she was immediately dismissed.
Outrageously a recent Full Federal Court hearing ruled against the worker ordered her to pay the employer’s cost and upheld the unfair and unjust dismissal because her claim was “vexatious and without reasons” because she did not complain “to a Court or Tribunal” before she was terminated. In other words for refusing to continue to comply with unlawful directions she was sacked. Because she didn’t go to a legal authority first the court offered her no protection.
The case highlights the horrible “catch 22 situation” many workers now find themselves in. If they expose their boss’s illegal or dangerous activities they risk losing their jobs, but not doing so they become complicit in their boss’s activities.
A petition is circulating demanding constitutional protection for workers resisting unlawful instructions. Please download and circulate widely.
download petition to Commonwealth Senate | download petition to Victorian Parliament
background: http://www.upholdingworkersrights.blogspot.com
High Court Judges were looking at above website and would have pronounced orders on 10/05/06.
State Attorneys-General were looking through above website and ought to make decisions before 10/05/06.
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