1500 Reps and deputies converge on the new Convention Centre
Once again the VTHC's Annual Reps Conference was a huge success, with just under 1500 reps coming to the new Melbourne Convention Centre at South Wharf.
The theme of the conference this year was
Having a voice is having an impact. One year ago at the last conference, reps were addressed by two of the members of the National OHS Review Panel, Barry Sherriff and Stephanie Mayman, on their report into OHS legislation around Australia. This year, reps heard views on what was being proposed in the model Act from the VTHC, WorkSafe and academics. There are many issues that concern us, and during the lunch break reps and others gathered outside the Convention to protest against proposed changes which will reduce the powers of reps and make it harder for them to work with their employers to ensure safe and healthy workplaces.
The Conference was opened by Kevin Bracken, President of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, who welcomed reps to the event. Ged Kearney, National President of the Australian Nursing Federation then gave a
Technical Summary of the Model Laws, outlining some of the proposed differences between the draft model and Victorian laws. (Ged's address can be downloaded on the right)
Ged was followed by Brian Boyd, Secretary of the VTHC and the Honourable Tim Holding, Minister for WorkCover, both of whom stressed the importance of where Australia is at in terms of national harmonisation of OHS laws.
Our international keynote speaker, UK-based Fiona Murie, from the
Building and Woodworkers International, came
next. Fiona spoke about the importance of building international solidarity in the struggle to address the unacceptably high levels of death, disease and injury amongst the world's workers. Fiona's presentation is also downloadable from the right hand side of this page.
After reps had the opportunity to ask Fiona questions, they were able to check out the many exhibitors during the morning tea break. The format of the conference this year differed from that of those in the past, with reps now attending a themed workshop before lunch, and then going into either a union-specific workshop, or for non-union members, a topic workshop.
The workshops and speakers were as follows - many of their presentations can be downloaded from the right hand side of this page:
| Illness from Work |
Derrick Harrison - WorkSafe Fiona Murie - Building Workers International Union Assoc. Prof Tony La Montagne - Melbourne University Dr Rosemary Nixon - Skin Cancer Victoria Prof. Malcolm Sim - Monash University |
| Work Intensification |
Eric Windholz - WorkSafe Victoria Dr Deborah Vallance - OHS Officer, AMWU Federal branch |
| Enforcing the Law |
Con Lolis - WorkSafe LSID (legal) Ross Pilkington - WorkSafe Cameron Roles - Australian National University Frank Fairley - OHS Officer, AMWU |
| Model Laws: Where are we? |
John Merritt - CE WorkSafe Victoria Richard Johnstone - from Socio-Legal Research Centre, Griffith Law School, National Research Centre for OHS Regulation, ANU Cathy Butcher - OHS Officer, VTHC |
| Return to Work |
Dorothy Frost - WorkSafe Andrew Paice - Nabenet Ralph Lowe - VTHC Return to Work Unit |
| Manual Handling Injuries |
Catherine Clerehan - WorkSafe Victoria Assoc. Prof Ross Armstrong - Global Ergonomics Safety and Health Sarah Ross/Renata Musolino - AMWU/VTHC |
Copies of presentations can be downloaded on the right hand side of this page