Dear Mr Tapp,

You accuse me of being pathetic?

Well Sir, if I indeed am - then I have
people like yourself to Thank for it!

It's unfortunate that politics splits out
communities and creates unnecessary tensions
when a clear and logical mind would resolve
the problems.

Foxy, the compulsory training that was provided under the government's program was manifestly inadequate. Should every employer have second-guessed the Government and implemented a more stringent regime? what if the employer was himself a recipient of the training? How is he to know that the training is not up to scratch?

The employer's onus of responsibility in this case is lessened by the fact that Government regulation was in place that mandated certain actions which later turned out to be inadequate.

I in the paper this morning that the CFMEU is trying to milk the situation for some publicity while desperately trying to distance themselves from accountability, despite being a key part of the Steering Committee which designed the training.

No doubt they were focussing on the key issue of making sure the installers didn't join some other Union...

Antiseptic: "the CFMEU is trying to milk the situation for some publicity"

On the radio this morning they said these are the first foil insulation fatalities in Australia. The previous 50 years had been fatality free.

I also heard there were insulation contracts going around to rentals, knocking on the door and saying they were there to install insulation. The tenant says OK, of course. The insulation is installed. The first the owner hears of it is the tenant reporting damage to the ceiling by the installers. Signature on the paper work is faked and submitted for the rebate.

It is, in other words, outright fraud. Presumably the perpetrators will be caught and prosecuted in due course. You could wrap the entire thing up in paper work to try and slow down shysters like this, but I suspect it is just cheaper to catch them after the event and let everybody else do their job efficiently.

In the mean time existing installers with a good track record are taking the opportunity to say it is too dangerous to allow anybody but them install the stuff. When it was pointed out home owners have been installing this stuff for years without training apparently without ill effects, he said that should be banned too.

And finally, the first of the electrocuted installers was a sparky. The guy had already had 4 years on the job training. He is supposed to know how to install and maintain electrical wiring in the presence of insulation. The second recent one was a sparky's offsider. The CFMU might well call for more training for its members.

So yes. It appears A lot are making hay while the sun shines, I think.

>>No doubt they were focussing on the key issue of making sure the installers didn't join some other Union...<<

I saw Dave Noonan of the CFMEU giving a TV interview where he looked pretty glum and like he didn't want to be there. Maybe he always looks like this, I don't know.

But the feeling I was picking up was that the penny might have dropped with the union that it was in a pincer. On the one hand, it wants to stay sweet with Garrett, but stick up for those that died. So, they opted to criticise the practices of companies that didn't do the right thing. Yet, it was the CFMEU that was part of the steering committee that was supposed to sort through issues of training and regulations etc.

Maybe Noonan was glum because he recognised the CFMEU didn't have any clothes on.

The facts are clear
Garrett disreagarded the warning
Garret disreagarded the unions

Garrett is accountable

Its that easy

Just like beaconsfield, the mine bosses knew of the safety problems, the unions knew of the safety problems.

Now why did the unions allow these workers into the mines
Why did the unions allow these workers into these roofs when there was a safety problem.

With Combet was he not the workers saviour so where is he, why is he not standing up for the workers.

Belly you are a union rep you should be able to answer these simple questions.

As i grew up union and labor as my father was the secretary for the ASE and also the presedent of the trades and labor council in Orange, I know what the responsibilities are for a union rep but nowadays is gone.

The facts are clear Garrett and the labor government are at fault and as we shall soon see with the litigation that is starting with this issue to the deaths and the destruction of homes, the labor party will pay for the deciet.

If you cannot get your head around the facts then why post.

Oh and another thing belly i am not chasing you, I am making comment on those issues that need to be commented on as those who should comment are to gutless to face the issues of their party being in the wrong.
I do not care which party you are from but those who have made the stand a pronounced there obedience to their parties, say nothing i will comment.
And yes i will be running as an independent at the next election.

Tapp, I'd be surprised if a single roof insulation installer was a union member, before the manna-from-heaven, or even now.

'The union' as you call it, cannot prevent anyone from doing anything, ever.

They can only provide advice.

There are many instances of workers ignoring their own best interests in order to earn money.

That's what,for instance, a 'dust allowance' in a mine was for, payment for offsetting increasingly poor health.

Truckies ignore all sorts of safety rules, to keep earning a quid, but the TWU does not support taking drugs or over-driving hours.

The Beaconsfield case, presumably, was about earning a crust or being sacked, as it always is.

If workers protest about their conditions, politicians, the media and other workers, like to characterise them as 'commos' and 'bludgers'... we are our own worst enemies.

However, Garret is clearly a total dill, but what of his so-called political advisors? No doubt from the rightwing of the NSW union movement, aged about 23, never struck a blow in a job outside of a union office, maybe with a degree in politics and a desire to sit on red or green leather above generating a better life for 'the wurkers'.

The new breed of politicos from all sides of politics, careerists with no ideology at all.

Garret, after all, was just a tired popstar with loose political affiliations who was looking for a something to do, and the ALP gifted him a seat in parliament.... what would he know about ideology and principles?

As for the departmental gurus who have 'advised' him.... it's unlikely they would ever have run anything like this programme before in their lives, and hopefully never will again, whatever it is for.

With any luck, they'll be on a Howard AWA still and Garrett can sack 'em on the spot before he gets the chop too.