Conference Showdown Over Stellar

Date: 05 May 2000

The Carr Government is heading for a State Conference showdown over plans to provide funds to a new call center offering Reith-style individual contracts to all workers on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.

Labor Council secretary Michael Costa has warned that the decision by the Department of State and Regional Development to fund the Stellar call center in Wollongong could spark a brawl at the June party conference.

The South Coast Labor Council has endorsed a peaceful protest at the site, amidst fears that any jobs created will come at the expense of existing workers employed on award rates.

Costa says he'll take the matter directly up with treasurer Michael Egan, who has responsibility for the funding decision.

"This is a firm that has no place in NSW if they continue with these practices," he told the weekly Labor Council meeting.

"This is an outrageous decision ... I'm happy to take it to State Conference to ensure that not one cent of taxpayer money goes to this company."

Costa says the funding issue is broader and that he'll be promoting a resolution calling on the Carr Government not to provide any form of government assistance to firms not prepared to work in accordance NSW Government policy on industrial relations.

Second Strike for NSW

The Carr Government has already raised eyebrows by awarding a contract to Stellar to provide timetable information for the State Transit Authority via a center at Hornsby.

As whistleblower and former human resources manager Andrew Hilliard has told Workers Online (see issue #48) that the AWAs were part of an explicit strategy to drive labour costs down.

Stellar is an offshoot of Telstra, established specifically to undercut the existing Telstra workforce's wages and conditions by placing staff on Australian Workplace Agreements.

The Community and Public Sector Union's Stephen Jones says Stellar's modus operandi is to target depressed regions and then offer jobs at the bottom rate.

Jones has called on all state Labor Government take on Stellar and declare their states "no go area for bottom-feeders" like the Telstra offshoot

For further information

Contact:	Peter Lewis
Union:	Labor Council of NSW
WWW:	http://workers.labor.net.au/

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