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Stolen wages stolen again, say indigenous elders

Steve Gray

19 August 2009 - Unions have backed a move by indigenous leaders to take their battle for the return of stolen wages to court.

Two dozen Aboriginal elders gathered in Brisbane on Wednesday, with similar meetings in regional cities across the state, to launch the campaign.

The Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) will lodge a writ in the District Court on behalf of Yarrabah man Uncle Conrad Yeatman, seeking recovery of wages withheld by state governments over the decades.

In 2002, former premier Peter Beattie acknowledged that as much as $500 million may have been stolen as Aborigines' wages were taken and supposedly placed in trust accounts which were later found to be deficient or non-existent.

Mr Beattie offered $55 million compensation, and a reparation scheme subsequently paid out around $35 million to 7,000 applicants.

Premier Anna Bligh then placed over $20 million into an indigenous education fund.

Elders and the QCU now allege the wages they are owed have been stolen again.

Mr Yeatman, who worked as a carpenter and labourer in the north Queensland community of Yarrabah from the age of 14, qualified for the maximum $7000 reparation but knocked back the compensation as inadequate.

QCU general secretary Ron Monaghan said the education fund was a welcome initiative, but unions were adamant the stolen wages be compensated.

"The union movement sees that these were wages and if you underpay wages, you steal wages - you must pay it back to the people who earned those wages," Mr Monaghan said.

Vera Cominski said she worked on a sheep station near Tara in southeast Queensland and was not even given the usual pocket money.

"My wages supposedly went to the bank, but I never saw any money," Ms Cominski said.

"When you went to the bank and asked for it there was nothing there, it was all gone."

Artist Charlie Chandler Snr, a former Queensland middleweight boxing champion, produced documents which showed he received four shillings for 10 days' work in Cherbourg's sawmill.

Later his employer, the famous RM Williams, had to remit half of his wages to government officers in Cherbourg, and Mr Chandler never recouped the money.

Hughie Kirk Snr said he was paid two shillings a week for 10 years as a tradesman at Cherbourg.

Mr Kirk said his father spent 37 years on forestry work near Wondai in southeast Queensland, but never saw the six pounds a week he was ostensibly paid.

"When we went to the bank there was nothing there," Mr Kirk said.

Uncle Peter Bird told the meeting the governments of the time, who had almost total control over the lives of Aborigines, were supposed to be a "father figure".

"But the big father was a crook, a thief, a robber, a swindler, a con man," Mr Bird said.

AAP

Source: AAP

Unions pursue indigenous stolen wages

19 August 2009 - AAP

Qld: Unions pursue indigenous stolen wages

BRISBANE, Aug 19 AAP - Legal action will begin in Queensland's District Court today to recover unpaid wages on behalf of indigenous workers who were underpaid for decades.

The court action on behalf of Yarrabah man Uncle Conrad Yeatman has the support of the Queensland Council of Unions (QCU).

Mr Yeatman worked as a carpenter and labourer and had his wages withheld from him since he began work at age 14.

In 2002 then premier Peter Beattie estimated that Aboriginal workers could have been ripped off by up to $500 million.

The Beattie government offered $55 million in compensation.

However, even that amount has not yet been paid in full, leaving the Bligh government subject to criticism from the union movement.

"This government cannot even honour its promise to pay this amount to these workers," said QCU general secretary Ron Monaghan.

"Even though the government re-opened the Stolen Wages Reparation Scheme last year, they still siphoned-off over $20 million into an education fund for indigenous children," Mr Monaghan said.

He said the union movement did not oppose the fund, but it should not have been established using workers' money.

Mr Monaghan said the $55.4 million set aside for compensation to repair the damage inflicted on workers whose wages were stolen, and it should be used for that purpose.

"All we are asking is that the government come good on its promise to pay these workers what was promised to them," Mr Monaghan said.

Like many other Mr Yeatman refused earlier offers of compensation, believing them to be only tokens of what was owed.

AAP

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