Support Ark Tribe on 15 June!

Submitted by martin on 6 June, 2010 - 3:04
Ark Tribe

Unions are organising demonstrations in support of construction worker Ark Tribe, prosecuted under the Building and Construction Industry Improvement (BCII) Act.


Update: A court decision on Ark's case is due in late September 2010.
Ark Tribe could face six months' jail for trade-union activity. Dave Noonan, secretary of the Construction and General division of Ark Tribe's union, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) says: "If Ark is sent to jail we will begin immediate industrial action across this country".

Ark Tribe's "crime" is simply to have refused to give evidence to the ABCC, the special industrial police set up by the BCII Act. Under that law, construction workers have no "right to silence" when summoned to give evidence by the ABCC.

Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party promised to repeal the BCII Act and scrap the ABCC. But the promise was only to do that very slowly, and by replacing them with new, slightly softer, versions of the same thing. In fact, pleading inability to get legislation through the Senate, the Rudd government has done nothing on the issue.

Action on 15 June:

SA: Rally supporting Ark going to court. Starting at the 'Ark Tribe Embassy', Victoria Square, Adelaide at 8:15am.
NSW: March of Solidarity 12pm, corner of Goulburn St and Dixon Lane.
TAS: Parliament House 12pm.
Vic: Tent Embassy, ABCC Headquarters, 533 St. Kilda Rd, Melbourne.

Comments

Submitted by martin on Sun, 12/09/2010 - 08:43

CFMEU member Ark Tribe is back in court on 13th september

The building and construction industry continues to be a dangerous workplace.

Since the introduction of the Australian Building & Construction Commission (ABCC) there has been a 95% increase in fatalities on building sites.

On 13 September 2010, Ark Tribe, a South Australian rigger and CFMEU member, is again going to appear in the Adelaide Federal Court of Australia – and he is still facing a six months jail term.

WHAT WAS ARK’S CRIME?
Ark Tribe was charged by the ABCC for failing to attend a compulsory interrogation about his involvement in a safety meeting called to improve safety on the Flinders University site.

A worker should never be intimidated by anyone for discussing his workplace’s safety. Such intimidation causes fear of reporting when there are safety hazards, which could easily lead to yet another workplace death.

Sydney Rally
12 NOON – MONDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER 2010

PROTEST OUTSIDE THE ABCC OFFICE 255 ELIZABETH STREET, SYDNEY

ABOUT THE AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSIONER (ABCC)

The Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC) was created by the Howard Government in 2005 to enforce its laws and ‘criminalise’ much union-related activity on construction sites.

Its predecessor, the Building Industry Taskforce, was set up in the wake of the politically driven Cole Royal Commission into the building and construction industry.

While its brief is to oversee adherence to industrial law, the ABCC conspicuously fails to investigate or prosecute employers underpaying workers or breaching safety regulations. Rather, it targets individual workers involved in union activity.

Under these unjust laws, even if a worker is killed on site, workers must be able to prove they had a reasonable concern about an imminent risk to themselves to legally stop work and assess the safety situation.

Passersby can also be interrogated by the ABCC for witnessing activities on a building site.

The ABCC has the power to seek fines against individual workers of up to $22,000 and gag interviewees. Anyone who refuses to cooperate fully faces a potential 6 month jail term. More than 92 construction workers have been secretly interrogated by the ABCC.

JUSTICE FOR SAFETY VIGILANCE!
JUSTICE FOR ARK TRIBE NOW!

Andrew Ferguson
CFMEU State Secretary Construction Division

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