Can You Follow This Crime Trail?
Further to Taxi fares up as LPG price keeps rising – 20th June 2008, Sydney Morning Herald LPG to Iraq and Discrimination please find out how do they commit crimes in Australian courts of law and screw workers in front of them by the so called ignorant lawyer of the NSW Transport Workers Union, smooth talking judge (who is seriously prejudiced and I question his neutrality) and the assassins known as “taxi mafia”!
Amazingly Labor Party politicians are virtually protecting this scam and Liberals don’t want to get involved because the workers unions are screwing workers who are not their natural constituents anyway. The Democrats are no longer in the NSW Parliament and therefore we may have only hope with the Greens.
These crimes are going on for a long time. Earlier I have contacted the Iguana Gate graduate John Della Bosca, Michael Costa and many more with no result. I am sick and tired now.
This year, basically the IPART granted a small taxi fare increase to cover the LPG price increase as the bailee drivers are forced to pay such expenses by a very questionable (I believe unlawful) deal made by the anti-worker NSW Transport Workers Union under the leadership of the war monger Senator Steve Hutchins!
and
Yet, Justice Marks passed all money to the “taxi mafia” with the assistance of so called legal system.
Every year I used to confront these “cliques” and they are very weary of me and my actions. I used to keep them on their toes! This year I have decided not to attend the proceedings lively narrated my good friend Ted below.
The reason behind my non attendance was due to the following reasons:
My tested and trusted friend Mike Hatrick hinted, may be they should try something different this year i.e. massaging the anti-worker TWU leadership to do the right thing (but they failed), may be some people were suspecting my style was provoking some judges and parties (due to my race, religion, look etc and therefore my presence may not be a good thing) and my good friend Ted was not confident of my suggestions and instructions.
Ironically my greedy and dishonest “student” Michael Jools attempted to “follow me or my style” in this proceeding but failed miserably due to lack of driver support and knowledge.
Nonetheless, what went on in front of Justice Marks at the IRC yesterday is a crime. This crime was started back in 1984 and many taxi industry expert suspect the former TWU Secretary Ted McBeaty may have ventured to a misadventure which costed his life and his successor Harry Queen took lots of bribe like Senator Steve Hutchins and labour lawyer Adam Hatcher who eventually became a barrister.
Still I have not given up my hope for justice and fairness.
Warning: Morons & White Trash should not enter in to this debate.
This was my first IRC Industrial Relations Commission.
I was rung to move my butt and get in there by 9.30am yesterday (thanks Mike Hatrick).
The IRC is at cnr Bridge and Phillip Sts. Where Sir Laurence Street had the grand Henry Parkes corner office 10 years ago awaiting a call to be governor of NSW, but missing out. A beautiful stone heritage building (the site of many dreadful and devious deeds).
The hearing was to decide how much increase the drivers and the operators of NSW would get.
(Metro Taxi meters have already been adjusted for a 3.8% IPART increase approved by the Minister ; 3.3% country.)
Justice Marks, 50'ish, mo, affable, smiling, (been there, done that) presided.
The "applicants" were the TIA Taxi Industry Association (Taxi Council) for operators and the TWU for drivers.
What a charade.
The TIA legal, tall, urbane, smooth, smiling experienced assassin, (also been there, done that) was there with small Peter Ramshaw of TIA / TC Ltd.
The TWU legal was a tanned, blond surfie type with cowboy boots who volunteered he did not know about the taxi industry. Good start.
It seems the IPART Report recommendations had been difficult to interpret (indeed IPART reluctantly gave guidance for IRC purposes only after strong protests from NSWTDA and TC Ltd).
Therefore TWU did not oppose, nor support the application ! WOW ! That's representation for drivers for you !
Then some light relief. Jools stood up and asked would he be permitted to "intervene"?
Who are you, who do you represent and do you have any 'status' in the IRC? asked Justice Marks sternly. And do the applicants agree? We object, said Mr smooth TIA. We ask for an adjournment said Mr surfie astutely, to find out what the "intervenor" wants.
After a brief chat, the surfie rang to get 'superior instructions' and then suggested some talks and a return to the IRC at a future date for Mr Jools to seek a new Contract Determination – which is 25 years out of date ! (And which still says $16.95 /hour 'wage rate' for taxidrivers which IPART insisted this year on using as a 'proxy' despite all logic, reason and submissions from the NSWTDA that busdrivers are paid $21 /hour plus for easier work for a 40 hour week !).
Fine, a judicial review has been mentioned for the last 4 years, said Marks who seemed to like that idea.
Such was the complete extent of any drivers' voice at the IRC hearing !
Back to work.
After the IPART Report had been handed up, and told by Mr smooth the 3.8% fare increase was not relevant, Marks said IPART had in the past kindly provided details. Instead he was directed to an obscure 2 line Table in IPART page 52 which was discussed at some length. It assessed increases in costs to drivers 4.8% and to operators 4.7%. (And the total fare increase of 3.8%) Go figure ! No-one else could. Presumably the 4.8 and 4.7% were discounted by IPART with their undefined "productivity incentives", meaning in fact arbitrary punitive reductions of the actual cost increases! And 4.8 & 4.7% presumably indicating approx 50/50 split to drivers and operators? (Given a 140 pages Final Report, lift your game in future, IPART. )
Mr smooth then handed a 'secret' schedule to Marks, arguing the IRC should proceed as it has done for the past 7 years. Just increase the Max Payin and what's left over – if anything – is for drivers. Well, what about the extraordinary fuel price increases, asked Marks several times, which the drivers suffer? Good one, Justice, right on ! But the TIA stuck to its guns – without any fuel answer – and of course the TWU had not opposed or agreed.
So finally, after an hour long charade, the IRC decided as per the 'secret' TIA schedule which Marks didn't understand, nor read out, but "on the TIA's assurance"! Accordingly, and also because of his fuel concerns, Marks pronounced his decision as per the TIA "reflecting the IPART report" to be operative from 12.01 am Sat 5July08 as an Interim Decision which could be challenged, amended or corrected if needed in 6 months.
(Maybe in concert with the 6 monthly IPART fuel review, I thought quietly.)
What a fiasco !
And so what is the result, drivers and operators ask?
Well, don't ask me, f…..d if I know !
And nobody else knows either, except the TIA, because no-one else at the hearing was given a copy of the 'secret' schedule !
What's that old saying about cleaning out the Aegean stables …
Cheers,
Ted
Source: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/NSWTDAEXEC/message/3359
