At Heinemann Electrics, a factory that produces circuit breakers and switchboards, ETU members are negotiating a new enterprise agreement. They decided to take mild industrial action in the form of overtime bans. Workers would still turn up for their ordinary-time hours, and they would still perform all their duties as directed, but they wouldn’t work [...]
Tuesday’s rallies in support of CFMEU and AMWU members were a great success — well over 1000 supporters attended the early-morning rally in Perth, with 500 in Sydney, 300 in Adelaide, 200 in Melbourne, and hundreds more in regional centres. In court, about a hundred workers and their union representatives packed the public gallery, and [...]
On Tuesday, 29 August, there will be two rallies in Perth to support workers who are being attacked in court under the Howard Government’s new IR laws. 107 construction workers and about 40 metalworkers will appear in the Federal Court to defend themselves. Both groups are calling for support at early-morning rallies in the CBD: [...]
In the most recent issue of Overland, Katherine Wilson writes about a man called Ross Irvine, who toured Australia recently to teach big business “how to create bogus community groups, false statistics, and links with ‘far-right-wing nutso activists’.” She went along to his seminar, along with some very important people: Filing in to see him [...]
This Wednesday, it’s time to take a stand for workers’ rights. Join the National Day of Protest and show your opposition to the WorkChoices agenda. Details of local rallies and events follow.
When finance minister Nick Minchin spoke to the hardline H R Nicholls Society earlier this year, he spoke frankly about the Howard Government’s industrial relations package. Minchin told his friends that although “the Australian people don’t agree at all with anything we’re doing on this”, there was “still a long way to go”. He hoped [...]
The ACTU has launched its next round of television advertisements. This ad features real people who have suffered the effects of WorkChoices. Running these ads is not cheap, and the ACTU is seeking donations to keep the ads on the air as long as possible. As I publish this post, they’ve reached almost $10 000 of [...]
As part of its Clean Start campaign, the LHMU has launched a Golden Toilet Brush Award for cleaning companies that cut corners and mistreat staff: We want to hear from cleaners and office workers about examples of poor health and environmental standards created by property owners who cut corners when it comes to cleaning their [...]
Young victorians in the retail and fast food industries are being asked to support a new, militant union, Unite. Unite has been campaigning in Melbourne since August 2003, with the backing of the Victorian Trades Hall Council. Its previous activities mainly involved naming bad employers and raising community awareness of the problems facing casual workers. [...]
With the Socceroos about to kick off in the World Cup, it’s important to remind people that the excitement and glamour of professional soccer is made possible by the massive exploitation of workers around the world. Oxfam has published an important report, Offside! Labour Rights and Sportswear Production in Asia, which exposes the brutal conditions [...]
