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 [...]
The Catholic Bishop of Parramatta, Kevin Manning, recently addressed a meeting of 160 NSW Police union delegates. He had a challenging message for them: A just society cannot expect its police force to enforce laws that undermine human dignity. Bishop Manning was talking specifically about the WorkChoices legislation: [T]he new industrial landscape presented a moral [...]
More good news! The smirk workers — sacked for standing up to attacks on their pay and conditions — have been reinstated as a result of media coverage and community activism. When the Union Solidarity group heard about the case, they organised a community picket at the Finlay Engineering site. Over 300 people turned up [...]
This week’s Labour Day celebrations in Brisbane were a resounding success. 35 000 people filled the oval at the RNA Showgrounds. The crowd was three times bigger than last year’s, and is attributed to significant union membership growth. Last week the Courier Mail reported that “Queensland workers worried about their security under new workplace laws are [...]
Twenty nine sacked abattoir workers have their jobs back — for now — thanks to public outcry, union pressure, and a desperate government bid for a political fix for a political problem. The Cowra abattoir, which had for some time been negotiating with the meatworkers’ union about a proposed restructure, wasted no time exercising its [...]
Victorian readers should make a trip to Fitzroy to catch Grant Hobson’s photo exhibition, The Industry of Working. The photographs depict workers after the Kennett IR reforms, in factories that have since closed down. Hobson’s exhibition is part of the celebrations for the 150th anniversay of the eight hour day, and he hopes it will [...]
Australian workers should pay close attention to the mass protests against the First Employment Contract (Contrat Première Embauche; CPE), an attack on job security reminiscent of our own Government’s removal of unfair dismissal protections. When — if — the law comes into force, employees under the age of 26 can be sacked within a two [...]
