The last three posts in this thread inflame me!
ON what evidence rechtub do you base your claim we did not know asbestos was dangerous?
That was part of Bernie's claim
THEY KNEW they HID it!
your crimson costs rechtub are those of the consumers who buy your products.
You make a net profit in business and costs to defend your self are coming back to them.
do not measure workers comp by the fraud, think of the true victims.
yes in fact this is true, the ALP in NSW betrayed injured workers crippled the system, put in place by the Liberals.
stop fraud gaol for those who are doing it, lawyers would Be first, but stop destroying the lives of victims too.
I will till my last breath be proud to be union, to fight uninformed or uncaring people like you rechtub and Arjay so that a workplace injury is not life destroying, and that people are not branded because they got hurt.

Belly
We are treading on sensative ground as this proud man has paid with his life, so please forgive me as it is nothing personal about this man. but,
You said he knew it was dangerous, yet he continued to work there then cry foul afterwards.

Now I have not paid much attention to this case however the penny may have dropped, thanks to you.

Maybe this was the defence argument of JH. A bit like the tabaco industry, people smoking all thier lives and, if not knowing it was dangerous, at least susspecting it was, only to sue for damages years, sometimes decades latter.

And Belly,your union crap is just becomming a bore. You acuse PALE and others of highjacking threads yet you turn each and every thread into a union affair.

Give it a rest mate, many of us could not give a toss about unions.

Finnally, our current WC system is the bi-product of corrupt workers minipulating and cheating on what was once a reasonable and reliable system put in place to assist injured workers, many of them union menbers.

I don't think anything should be done to fix WC unless the employees, the very group who screwed the system over, are prepared to dig into thier own pockets to better cover themselves, such as personal injury insurance.

After all, it cost this group ZERO and it was they who stuffed it up through thier greed. Why should either the employers, or the government fix something that they did not break.

Belly,save your diatribe for those who want to luxuriate in victim status.
Those of us who really care,make the individual responsible first before they can have any claims to rights.Workers comp has been rorted by insurance companies ,workers and lawyers.This is why it has failed.

Workers Comp has destroyed many industries in this country and done virtually nothing for the worker.It would be better that we give the premiums to the worker and then they and go find their own accident insurance.Premiums and claims would fall precpitiously!

Those two posts did not change a thing for me.
I still think rechtub is not as bad as reading his posts would suggest.
That he does not understand some issues.
Sorry Arjay, but as you long ago did with me I have formed my opinions of you,
No chance they will change.
workers compensation, hardly an issue a unionist can stay out of.
After all while we refuse to admit it, it was won by unions for workers in far worse times than now.
Workers got hurt and dumped before that.
rechtub bore you it may, but unions fought battles for fairness and equity that won todays conditions, we will never back away from our path.
Now I truly am concerned at the stupid idea that workplace injury's are fraud? what always?
some are, some lawyers are criminal too, but surely not all?
A farmer some place in this country in the next few weeks will have a tractor roll on him, a truck driver will die in his office the cab of his truck before months end.
If they live they may do so in a wheel chair, forever, insurance may not cover the costs but should.
Fairness and equity, rechtub you highlighted your own injury, you got looked after.
If you got killed or crippled would you want insurance?
Who pays your insurances?
Is it not in the end your customers?
Do you know how many employers despite it being LAW do not insure workers?
Or wrongly insure them?
How many family's of dead construction workers got near nothing because of company fraud in not insuring?
fairness and equity.

Belly,just a few yrs ago ie [pre the Bob Carr debacle] a business near mine had a workers comp claim of $750,000.00 for a bad back.The claiment was a holiday worker from Europe.The nurses at the hospital sprung him and they got proof that it was a false claim.

The insurance company did not want to fight it in court and so settled out of court for $300,000.00.The business owner wanted to fight it but had no say in the settlement.His premiums went up enormously over the next few yrs to cover the settlement.This sort of crime has sent many businesses broke and has limited employment for your members.

Belly you are too blinded by your own indignation and union tribalism to see the truth.It is pointless arguing with you.The problem is that the unions are often very like the corporate criminals whom they profess to detest.

You in fact Arjay are the one blinded.
You are quite right, before Carr took workers comp rights to a new low claims often got 3 times what is possible today.
You are also right fraud, often from legal Representatives got more than the victim.
And yes, would ANY person claiming understanding of the subject not be concerned about illegal claims?
Both you and rechtub however, Have Not Once Drawn a line between fraud and honest injured victims.
Not Once.
Claims workers should pay insurance them selves, resorting to tribalism claims, no wonder I have formed opinions.
Let us look at the facts.
Unions won workers comp.
Before that injured or killed workers ended up on the public purse social security.
The costs do go up, are a weight in the saddle of business, but that is a cost of business passed on to us all.
Unions, the good ones, do not just seek fairness in the work place, they play a roll in the community few see.
Including being there for those who can not defend themselves, blindness to crippled people injured in the workplace is something you should separate from true concerns about fraud.
Employers pay by law, and last rechtub that dead man ,like hundreds asked was it ok? he never had proof never knew he would die.
Evidence clearly said his bosses knew it was dangerous.