Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Melbourne Australia Taxi Strike

For pictures and original reports please click these links.
Melbourne Australia taxi strike

Union Leader Faruque Ahmed has been developing legal, technical, economic and political arguments in the thread LPG to Iraq and Discrimination against the oil industry. This so called Vice President of the dictatorial ATDA went on to forward invalid and futile argument against Faruque! Can we ask who do they work for - oil industry or taxi workers?!

They also opposed Faruque in Cabcharge and Criminals, Monopoly and de-Regulation of the Taxi Industry and many other burning pro-workers issues.

How long one can tolerate? Are they true friends of workers?

--- In Sydney_TaxiCorruption@yahoogroups.com, "union_faruque" wrote:
Re: melbourne Australia taxi strike
Why do I have to waste my time with a RACIST SON OF A BITCH who like the Channel Nine does not read the news papers or listens radio reports concerning a giant protest by genuine taxi drivers in Victoria and then questions, "why did they took off their shirts"?
Providing a safe workplace to the workers is the most basic duty of a civilized society and a fundamental right of any worker. Where is the "Duty of Care" YOU `white man'? Are you a friend of a taxi driver or arse licker of the taxi mafia?

On Thu, 1/5/08, Ross Nelson wrote:
From: Ross Nelson Subject: RE: [NSWTDAFORUM] NSW to Victorian Taxi Drivers' SafetyTo: "'union_faruque'" Received: Thursday, 1 May, 2008, 4:40 PM
Pray tell us ahmed, why did they take their shirts off?
One radio reporter said it was to show the colour of their skin because an element of the protesters wanted to play the race card.
rossco
--- In freeamericanow@yahoogroups.com, "Jodie" wrote:
Re: NSW to Victorian Taxi Drivers' Safety
Hi Taxi,
Your Blog was very interesting, and I'm glad to know you are involved in Taxi Drivers' Safety. The murders of the two taxi drivers sounded very bad, and dangerous.
Taxi, I hope you are doing well. Be very careful, and take care of yourself!!
NSW TAXI DRIVERS ASSOCIATIONINCORPORATING BAILEE DRIVERS, OWNER DRIVERS AND LESSEE DRIVERSInc.no. 9882558 ABN 98 653 928 763 PO Box 322, Alexandria NSW 2015
'A Fair Share of a Fair Fare'NSW to Victorian Taxi Drivers' Safety
Taxi drivers used to be expendable commodities like the ANZACS to the British. Greedy taxi networks and companies did nothing to save human lives. However, due to the courageous stand of a few dedicated taxi drivers, the NSW community got the Keatsdale Report, Dalziel Report and Cook Reports; all vital in achieving taxi driver safety. The grateful community of NSW gave enough money thorough the "$1.00 flag-fall rise" for taxi-drivers' safety with the GPS and screen recommendations of the Keatsdale Report. The NSW government then extracted $40.00 a day from the vulnerable taxi drivers for their own safety. In return they got unworkable cameras and unreliable GPS systems.
All of those little achievements are going to be buried by the partisan Madden Report- under the leadership of the NSW Labor Government. Tragically this $1000.00 per word David Madden Report is without any direction or vision whatsoever.In the meantime two more taxi drivers were brutally murdered in NSW and many more were robbed and injured.
Today with our Victorian colleagues stood up for their own safety in facing down the police in Melbourne.Channel Nine sinking to unfortunate disparagement and calculated derision of taxi drivers amounting to veiled racism could not resist the insult of describing the attention winning stunt on the part of the drivers of removing their shirts in the wintry weather thus " for reasons best known to themselves drivers removed their shirts". How puerile.Penultimately what drivers want here in NSW and undoubtedly Victoria is workable legislation, regulation and mechanisms ensuring workers' safety to save lives.
Media Manager, Mobile: 041 091 4118,
April 30, 2008

--- In NSWTDAEXEC@yahoogroups.com, "union_faruque" wrote:
Re: One way to get attention
Racist Channel Nine did not know why these people took their shirts off! The Victorian Labor Government should not have to play blind. Please follow these safety reports mentioned in NSW to Victorian Taxi Drivers' Safety and act in a sensible manner.
--- In Sydney_TaxiCorruption@yahoogroups.com, "mamubhi" wrote:Re: melbourne Australia taxi strike
You are welcome to examine the following in light of the NSW to Victorian Taxi Drivers' Safety.
--- In ozcabs@yahoogroups.com, Taxirob wrote: One way to get attention http://tools.goldcoast.com.au/stories/2536535.php
Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ozcabs/message/27126
--- In ozcabs@yahoogroups.com, "Ross Nelson" wrote:
GOOD ON THE MELBOURNE TAXI DRIVER PROTESTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I would suggest caution re demanding that safety screens be mandated.
Sydney had screens mandated at the behest of the TWU.WE HATED THEM!!!90% of job satisfaction was blotted out.
Shouting to communicate with passengers is highly stressful. Vision is impaired . also stressful.The third to last Taxi Driver to be slain in Sydney (Saptul Singh Suri) had a screen in his cab.I believe that screens should be available for those that want them.
This could be a market based thing. If a base with 20 cabs has 10 with screens that are preferred over the non-screen cabs they will put more screens in.The taxi management that Peer calls 'mafia' made a lot of money out of installing screens in Sydney.
If Melbourne does go down this road I hope that the VTDA become major installers.RosscoWho hated driving a cab with a screen.
Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ozcabs/message/27131
--- In ozcabs@yahoogroups.com, "Jimmy" wrote:
Spot on brother, exactly the same situation when in the post war years Australia imported the Migrant Factory Fodder. The difference being that those wogs had the balls to unionise and organise and the present taxi industry wogs ain't got the balls for jack all..........maybe with a handfull of exceptions. Well Victoria is taking the initiative when is NSW going to follow on......?.......or are they all too busy fighting amongst themselves and still trying to decide which TDA is going their way.
Sadly when you have a lacky of the Taxi Council for president in the NSWTDA and a secretary that is also that way inclined, is it any wonder that strike action is a no no?
A........ licking is the order of the day. Remember the NSW Taxi Council does not give a damn about bailee drivers. The expendible fodder sufficently manned by wogs who is going to worry?

Also consider who runs the NSW Taxi Council but a bunch of flea ridden geriatric Kangaroos.
An excellent point you made Taxifixer.
Remember Bob Woodger, he was an Aussie, and what support was there for his unfortunate demise?
Youbert Hormozi had an excellent turn out. I know I was at both of them.
For Woodger even a half an hour demo at parliament house was too much to ask for.
Yes I am a wog too and bloody well proud of it. But I am ashamed of the apathy of my collegue wogs.
--- In Sydney_TaxiCorruption@yahoogroups.com, "union_faruque" wrote:Re: melbourne Australia taxi strike
I am afraid the Minister of Transport and the Transport Workers Union mob may misguide or even sabotage this lawful demand of taxi drivers. Providing a safe work place regardless of the so
called relationship i.e. bailor/bailee is the fundamental right of any worker.
Here is a blatant example of profit overtaking civil rights, human rights and industrial rights of workers under the Victorian Labor Government.
I won't be surprised of any idiotic or racist remark from the `chardonnay revolutionaries' of the ozcabs forum. First of all their silence says, they may have isolated from the real taxi drivers' community or the drivers in general do not trust them in the first place. Anyway, their beloved Channel Nine made them proud tonight!


--- In Sydney_TaxiCorruption@yahoogroups.com, "taxifixer" wrote:
April 30, 2008
Hundreds of Melbourne taxi drivers have blocked a major city intersection demanding better safety after one of their own was critically injured in a stabbing.
Organisers say the protest will remain in place all night despite the arrest of a man this evening in connection with the stabbing.
An unidentified 23-year-old taxi driver, a student from India, was stabbed andcritically injured by a passenger in inner suburban Clifton Hill about 3am, police said.
By late today, more than 1,000 people - almost exclusively from the Indian sub-continent and the Middle East- braved temperatures down to single digits for the sit-inat the corner of Flinders and Swanston streets, in the heart of Melbourne.
Unknown to the crowd, a 45-year-old man was arrested at his Alphington home about 7.30pm, police said.
Parish Charles has been charged with attempted murder by Yarra detectives, police said.
He appeared before an out-of-sessions court hearing and was remanded in custody to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court tomorrow.
Protesters began gathering at the intersection about 6pm, with word of the protest spreading via mobile phones.
Empty taxis and abandoned trams choked Swanston Street, one of Melbourne's busiest tram routes, as the protesters gathered in the shadow of Flinders Street station, watched by scores of police.
Cabs, many double-parked, lay idle for blocks as the peaceful but sometimes rowdy protest gathered strength.
The protesters demanded improved safety, including the introduction of protective screens for drivers.
One of the organisers, Indian-born taxi driver Jazz Randyboy, said cabbies wanted action.
"We get sick of complaining to the Victoria Police about our security. One of our friends was stabbed seven times and the cops are doing nothing. They say they can't get him," Mr Randyboy said.
"This is about getting our security, getting our rights back."
The Victorian government must guarantee driver safety by introducing protective screens, he said.
Many drivers believed police would put more effort into investigating an attack on a white driver, he said.
"There is too much racism in the Victoria Police. One police officer said to me that I am black and we bring all these problems into the country," he said.
"We think Australia is one of the best countries but after these experiences we think it's one of the worst. This is the most racist country in the world," he said.
Protesters will hold their ground overnight, Mr Randyboy said.
"It's going right through to tomorrow morning. They are not going home or do anything else. They will sit here until the government or someone talks to us."
One of the protesters told the crowd: "We will be sitting here as long as it is required. We just want justice".
Another yelled: "We're not going home. We're not going to take this shit anymore."
Victorian Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said earlier today protective screens were being trialled and could soon be introduced in taxis for drivers who wanted them.
Late this evening, ABC Online reported that Ms Kosky would meet with taxi industry representatives tomorrow.AAP
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Free Speech and Pedophiles Uncle

Free Speech and Pedophiles Uncle



Further to Peer’s Peers and NSW Bailees Do Not Receive Entitlements many people including “taxifixer” refuses to contribute in the NSW TDA forum due to the infamous practice of selective free speech.

Peer,

Are you attacking me personally because I stood up for taxi drivers’ right at the NSW IRC? Once you describe CC Connor as Mad Connor in your scabbie magazine and in the post below you called him “Justice Connor”! Do you understand the difference between CC Connor, "Mad Connor" and “Justice Connor”?

Anyway, to increase your knowledge please read Mike Hatrick below.

“The following day, a number of taxi drivers were frog marched behind the "messiah" Robert Mayell at the Industrial Commission in front of CC Connor (NSW IRC Matter No 2383 of 1993).
No one is suggesting any conspiracy here! Poor Faruque and a few taxi drivers busted in anger and confronted the "messiah" Robert Mayell and the Transport Workers Union lawyer Adam Hatcher. During that time those new taxi drivers of Granville asked Faruque to be quiet and follow Meyall. Faruque told them, "I do not know who you are and I have not seen you in any of TWU meetings earlier – who are you people and what is the game going on here"?
Later many of these people confessed to Faruque and others that they were not even members of the TWU, many of them were not financial members of the union and the taxi bosses encouraged them to join in the TWU!
During the proceedings, the TWU lawyer said to CC Connor, "we reserve the right to oppose at a later date".
The good CC Connor found the opportunity and then he keenly passed the responsibility of gas and wash to the bailees without any compensation whatsoever. He did so despite strenuous objections made to him by Faruque and other drivers.

The decision by CC Connor did not change the bailor/bailee remuneration principle or law, but he made a decision which was not opposed by the parties.”


“Today, who is increasing the LPG price and on what basis no one knows or cares. The net impact is the weaker party in the chain is carrying the burden while "taxi mafia" is laughing all the way to the bank. The TWU lawyer Adam Hatcher found a chamber at the higher end of the town and become a BARRISTER! The good union boss Steve Hutchins became the president of the NSW Labor Party and eventually a number one ticket SENATOR from NSW.

Taxi drivers made an appeal to the Full Bench.

After a long and costly exercise, we found out that only the TWU have the right to represent taxi drivers at the Industrial Commission! During that hearing the rights and wrongs of the actual case were not discussed.
That means, in reality the court said the TWU can do whatever they like and they can ignore their own taxi driver members all together or their welfare! They are virtually not answerable to anyone. The union bosses do not have to follow justice, fairness, courtesy or common sense!
Since then the union removed a few bi-laws of their own constitution i.e. they don't have to advance the well being of their own members". The law is same today.”

Source: LPG to Iraq and Discrimination



--- In Sydney_TaxiCorruption@yahoogroups.com, "taxifixer" wrote:
Peer
When driver fronts up to a bailor and asks for work and the bailor offers a job with the sniffof work a tantalizing probability if the worker will listen to the mention of foregoing AnnualLeave for lower than ceiling pay ins I call that thinly veiled coercion and the grub making theoffer no better than a pedophiles uncle
Mike Hatrick

Source: http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/Sydney_TaxiCorruption/message/1047



--- In NSWTDAFORUM@yahoogroups.com, Peer Lindholdt wrote:
Re: Digest Number 990

Re: Digest Number 990Posted by: "union_faruque" http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/NSWTDAFORUM/post?postID=XPC553ejZLrmIVSQ1UDIfslJgq9UsvBm-osl4501HtUxkxlcPf8BUhs2BMcz-pZznFIQ6f2cyUQye9vOowLds6foeQ union_faruqueFri Apr 18, 2008 11:02 am (PDT)
> Peer,
Are you familiar with Case and Statute Law? In law, there is nothing called trade off! If you want to know more then ask CIM Miller. By the way, have you ever been to the IRC in your life?>
Faruque,
if you had bothered to read my posting properly you would have noticed I wrote "a gentleman's agreement" which is obviously not legally binding but is generally considered morally so, at least amongst decent folk.

Yes I have been at IRC taxi hearings twice. Once I even watched you stand up and make a fool of yourself. Even Justice Connor found it amusing and let you rave on longer than usual.
PEER




--- In NSWTDAFORUM@yahoogroups.com, "union_faruque" wrote:
Re: Digest Number 990

Peer,
Are you familiar with Case and Statute Law? In law, there is nothing called trade off! If you want to know more then ask CIM Miller. By the way, have you ever been to the IRC in your life?


--- In NSWTDAFORUM@yahoogroups.com, Peer Lindholdt wrote:

Ted,
firstly NSW drivers were not awarded entitlements, only Sydney drivers (see your points 1 and 2).

Secondly, in a previous posting here I explained the 3 reasons why most drivers don¹t get entitlements:

They don¹t drive enough shifts either by choice or because their operator won¹t let them; they don¹t ask for them or they have a gentleman¹s agreement to offset them against lower pay-ins. That the latter doesn¹t legally stand up in the IRC should the driver be a prick and still demand holiday pay later is irrelevant to this debate.

My information is that all full-time bailee drivers at the base at Cabcharge HQ and all at Lime get their entitlements. I have also spoken to many other drivers who do. We always did at TCS in Paddington provided we asked for them.

The Taxi Council has a strong argument in the IRC, backed by the claims below (1 & 2), for operators to be allowed to trade off entitlements by a set figure against lower pay-ins.

There is a strong rumour that the TC intends to apply to the IRC that method 2 be scrapped in favour of method 1 (50/50 split). That would presently cost many drivers dearly as the earn more than the pay-ins but in a recession would be to the drivers¹ advantage. Also, their income would not be affected by fuel prices as the operator pays for fuel under method 1. Maybe the NSW TDA should start telling its members to choose method 1.

The figure used by IPART of $4,000 towards entitlements is obviously inadequate if an operator has 2 full-time drivers, which makes him liable for $8,000, as shown in the PwC model.

You frankly don¹t know what you are talking about when you say ³... that has been the case for so long that operators with impunity do NOT allow for the payment and cost of Entitlements in the Payins.². The notional cost of entitlements is INCLUDED in the pay-ins ($4,000). The operator can¹t not allow for them, they are there, in the cost model. If they discount that's their choice, their gamble.

The idiocy of the IPART and PwC models is that if an operator avoids paying entitlements by whichever method, he pockets the money himself and there is no simple way of fixing that problem. And that is an incentive to operators not to give their drivers 5 shifts a week especially if there is a glut of drivers which will happen soon enough.

As I have said before, the only fair way to fix the problem is for IPART and the IRC to agree that ALL drivers who regularly drive 3 shifts or more p.w. be classified as permanent full-time drivers and that operators MUST charge the maximum pay-in and pay entitlements to such drivers. A lower maximum pay-in could be set for casual drivers.

That is what the NSW TDA and ATDA should have pushed for in their submissions. Why should cabbies have to work 60 hours a week to get holiday pay when other workers only have to work 40 or less?

The only other alternative is to scrap entitlements altogether and have lower maximum pay-ins. The Taxi Council would love that.
Cheers
PEER
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)