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<TITLE>Captain Cook Discovers WorkChoices</TITLE>
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<P ALIGN=LEFT><B><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#003366" SIZE=5 FACE="Arial">Captain Cook Discovers WorkChoices</FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=4 FACE="Arial">Suspicion is growing that Captain Cook Cruises is endeavouring to be Australia's first employer to use John Howard's new work laws to cut workers rights. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial">The Maritime Union smelt a rat after the company made a bizarre bid to strike a three-month non-union agreement rather than negotiate with its workers.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial"></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> </SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial">The company is refusing to negotiate with the MUA despite requests from a largely casualised workforce who want the union to act as their bargaining agent. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial">"We've got a lot of members who are employed at Captain Cook Cruises and they want us to represent them in this dispute," says MUA Sydney branch secretary Robert Coombs. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial">Following the company's attempts to register the three-month non-union agreement the Maritime Union was granted leave to give reasons why it should be a party to the agreement. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial">"No one wants a three-month agreement, unless they've got an ulterior motive," Coombs, said. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial">Captain Cook Cruises then attempted to withdraw its application for the EBA but was stopped by Commissioner Raffielli who decided to hear the matter at a later date. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial">Coombs says this shows how Captain Cook Cruises is prepared to put up every obstacle it can to avoid negotiations and suggested that the company was simply waiting until the regulations were in place so that it could take advantage of WorkChoices. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial">Workers Online contacted Anthony Howarth CEO of Captain Cook Cruises but he was unavailable for comment. </FONT></SPAN></P>
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