Friday 22 May 2009

Who is Australia's worst boss?

A South Grafton abattoir owner has repeatedly made headlines for allegedly refusing to pay sacked staff their entitlements. Now he is coming under more fire from workers who claim he has banned them from taking toilet breaks.


Workers say boss banned toilet stops

(The Daily Examiner, 22 May 2009)

SOUTH Grafton abattoir owner Stuart Ramsey has repeatedly made headlines for allegedly refusing to pay sacked staff their entitlements.

Now he is coming under more fire from workers who claim he has banned them from taking toilet breaks.

Two workers contacted The Daily Examiner with concerns Mr Ramsey was penalising staff for leaving their work stations to visit the toilet.

The workers did not want their names published, but said Mr Ramsey told staff they could not leave their stations unless they were on lunch or smoko.

The workers said this ban included staff leaving their stations to visit the toilet. If true, this would mean abattoir staff were expected to work for almost three hours at a time without having to go to the toilet.

One of the workers said Mr Ramsey was punishing those who took toilet breaks by issuing them formal letters of warning and forfeiting their Over Award payment.

The payment is given when workers process above their quota. It can add more than $100 to their weekly pay.

Many staff received this payment regularly and had come to rely on it to meet living costs, the worker said.

Stuart Ramsey - owner of Ramsey Meats Processing - did not return The Examiner's calls yesterday. Mr Ramsey's business is being investigated by the Workplace Ombudsman after sacked staff were not paid their entitlements.

Ken Henry, I luv u....


One of the few pleasures left (when faced with the mountains of negative financial news which greets unwary readers each week) is to find that Secretary to the Treasury Ken Henry has spoken out again.

This time it was his Post-Budget Address to the Australian Business Economists last Tuesday:

This is story-telling of extraordinary complexity. And while it hasn't tested Ross, it clearly has exceeded the reading age of many.
Consider, for example, the reporting of the budget in the Wall Street Journal Asia last week. According to that reporting, in all of the decisions taken by the Government in response to the global recession, the only ones that will have any stimulatory impact on the economy are the 'tiny' personal income tax cuts announced in the 2008-09 Budget. The journal also informs its unfortunate readers that revenue downgrades alone would not have driven the Australian budget into deficit. And to cap it off, readers were told, in what is surely one of the most ironic sentences ever uttered in macroeconomic analysis, that '(t)his Keynesian revival comes at a particularly bad time, given that tax revenues are falling as the economy slows, a normal feature of economic downturns'. Apparently, the right time for a 'Keynesian revival', involving the spending of large amounts of public money, is when tax revenue is strong and rising, a normal feature of economic boom times.
As you know, I don't always agree with Australian commentators. But our newspaper readers can be thankful that they don't often have to confront material that is quite that bad.

Just love to hear that Taree boy's plain speaking.

Casino Beef Week Festival, Tuesday 26 May - Tuesday 2 June 2009


Feel like getting in touch with the farmer in your family tree?
Then come on up to Casino next week, join in
Country Energy Casino Beef Week and enjoy the cattle judging, milking comps, country arts & crafts, bush poets, circus workshop, fashion parade, floral art display, masquerade ball, country races, street stalls and much more.

Programme
here.

Thursday 21 May 2009

Flood warnings for the Tweed, Richmond, Wilsons and Brunswick Rivers 21.05.09

Radar Image loop here.

It's a trifle wet and windy here on the NSW North Coast right now and this level of wind and water may see some or all of this blog's authors somewhat preoccupied over the next couple of days.

So enjoy North Coast Voices coming scheduled posts, as we watch river levels and cross fingers over electricity supply.
Update:
Update:
Update:

State Emergency Service PH: 132 500 - requests for immediate emergency assistance
The Public Information and Inquiry Centre PH: 1800 227 228 - information about displaced person, road closures, welfare assistance etc.,