Workers Issues in Australia & the Pacific
Australian Labor Party and unions assist closure of Hazelwood power plant
By Paul Bartizan and Oscar Grenfell, 20 March 2017
The state Labor government’s union-backed worker transfer scheme will not defend a single job.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
18 March 2017
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Australia: Jobs and in-house production slashed at state broadcaster
By our reporter, 14 March 2017
As they have done in the past, the unions will appeal to management for “voluntary redundancies” while offering their services to assist in corralling staff out the door.
Australian union’s bogus campaign against penalty rate cut
By our reporters, 11 March 2017
The construction unions held rallies as part of an effort to channel workers’ anger behind the election of another pro-business Labor government.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
11 March 2017
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Australia: Young workers speak out against penalty rate cuts
By our reporters, 9 March 2017
Many young people are already deprived of weekend penalty wages, as a result of company-union wage-cutting deals.
Australian maritime union signs 13-year no-strike pledge with energy multinational
By Oscar Grenfell, 8 March 2017
The union has promised to suppress industrial action at the Ichthys pipeline project in northern Australia.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
4 March 2017
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Australian unions and Labor Party launch bogus campaign over penalty rate cuts
By Oscar Grenfell, 2 March 2017
The Labor politicians and trade union bureaucrats are the ones most responsible for this historic cut in penalty rates.
Australian union pushes through pay cut at paper mill
By Chris Sadlier, 28 February 2017
The CFMEU did everything it could to bully the workforce into accepting a 5 percent pay cut and the establishment of a two-tier wage system.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
25 February 2017
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Australian industrial tribunal slashes workers’ wages
By Oscar Grenfell, 24 February 2017
Low-paid workers face pay cuts of thousands of dollars a year following the Fair Work Commission’s ruling.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
18 February 2017
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Australian disability workers strike against privatisation
By our reporters, 15 February 2017
Union officials sought to divert the widespread anger into impotent appeals to the state Coalition government, while promoting the opposition Labor Party.
Australian Paper workers voting on union wage-cutting deal
By our reporters, 13 February 2017
The CFMEU is seeking to suppress opposition to the agreement, which cuts wages by 5 percent and creates a new tier of lower-paid workers.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
11 February 2017
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Australian government welfare staff may strike over pay dispute and “debt recovery”
By Oscar Grenfell, 10 February 2017
The public sector union is seeking to channel workers behind impotent appeals to the government.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
4 February 2017
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Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
28 January 2017
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Industrial court endorses sacking of Australian miners after union betrayal
By Oscar Grenfell, 27 January 2017
The ruling was one of a series of interventions by the Fair Work Commission into industrial disputes that underscore its role as an apparatus of the corporate elite.
Australia: Parmalat lockout in bid to slash conditions
By Will Morrow, 24 January 2017
The lockout of 65 Parmalat workers is part of a corporate onslaught on the wages and conditions of manufacturing workers nationally.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
21 January 2017
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Union seeks to impose wage cuts on Australian Paper workers
By Chris Sadlier, 17 January 2017
The union and management are invoking the threat of an imminent plant closure to bludgeon workers into accepting the deal.
Teenager killed on Australian building site
By Virginia Browne, 17 January 2017
The tragedy is one of a growing number of fatalities in the construction industry as builders, with union complicity, maximise profits by cutting basic health and safety.
Australia: Latrobe Valley power workers, residents denounce wage and job cuts
By our reporters, 16 January 2017
The latest measures are part of a decades-long assault on energy workers in the Latrobe Valley and nationally with the collaboration of the unions.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
14 January 2017
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Industrial court endorses massive pay cuts at Australian power station
By Oscar Grenfell, 13 January 2017
The industrial tribunal’s ruling clears the way for pay cuts of 30–65 percent, a precedent that will be used against other workers.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
7 January 2017
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Job losses continue in Australia amid stalling economic growth
By Terry Cook, 6 January 2017
Mounting levels of unemployment and underemployment underscore the fraud of the government’s claim that its policies would deliver “jobs and growth.”
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
31 December 2016
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Australia: Sacked brewery workers return after union “productivity” deal
By Chris Sadlier, 24 December 2016
The unions have repeatedly boasted of their role in boosting productivity and profitability at the CUB plant.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
24 December 2016
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Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
10 December 2016
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Australia: Industrial tribunal backs the sacking of striking German Creek miners
By Terry Cook, 8 December 2016
A Fair Work Commission ruling, allowing Anglo American to dismiss workers involved in “protected” strike action, sets a dangerous precedent.
Australia: NSW Teachers Federation holds stop work meetings across the state
Demand the right to read the agreement before voting on it! Abolish NAPLAN, TIP, inspectors and other regressive measures!
By the Socialist Equality Party, 7 December 2016
The SEP calls all NSW public school teachers to demand that the full 2017–2019 Salaries and Conditions agreement be circulated well in advance of any vote.
Australia: Fair Work Commission backs mass sackings at Essential Energy
By Terry Cook, 6 December 2016
The Electrical Trades Union handed the dispute over to the industrial tribunal and is wholly responsible for the outcome.
Australia: State Labor government moves to ban Esso strike
By Oscar Grenfell, 5 December 2016
The unions are working with the government and the industrial tribunal to prevent a stoppage by their members.
Australia: NSW Teachers Federation calls meetings to ram through government deal
Demand the new agreement be circulated immediately! Delay the meetings to December 15!
By the Socialist Equality Party, 5 December 2016
The union has called stop-work meetings on December 8, for 50,000 public school teachers to vote on an agreement that they have neither read nor discussed.
Australia’s ABCC Bill: A far-reaching assault on workers’ rights
By Mike Head, 2 December 2016
The central purpose of the bill is to outlaw and suppress all strikes, stoppages and work bans by workers throughout the construction, transport and offshore oil and gas industries.
Australia: CIMIC Group’s takeover of UGL foreshadows more job cuts
By Oscar Grenfell, 1 December 2016
The acquisition will intensify years of job destruction and restructuring by the mining and engineering contractor.
Former Murdoch executive axes more jobs at Australian Broadcasting Corporation
By our reporter, 30 November 2016
The job losses did not begin with the current Liberal-National government but with chronic underfunding that started with the Hawke-Keating Labor administrations three decades ago.
Australia: Mounting evidence of black lung cover-up
By Oscar Grenfell, 25 November 2016
Thousands of miners could be afflicted by the deadly disease as a result of the erosion of safety standards by the major companies, with government and union complicity.
Australia: Pacific National axes more rail jobs
By Terry Cook, 21 November 2016
The rail union is complicit in the widespread job-shedding and casualisation within the haulage sector.
Australia: NSW government re-introduces public school inspectors to enforce unpopular measures
By Frank Gaglioti, 17 November 2016
Inspectors will police standardised testing on behalf of the New South Wales government, with powers to close schools and dismiss “underperforming” teachers.
Anglo American sacks workers amid strike at Australian mine
By Terry Cook, 17 November 2016
The unions are isolating a three-month strike by 140 workers at the German Creek mine in Queensland, even as the company announces sackings.
New Zealand: International Socialist Organisation glorifies deceased Council of Trade Unions leader
By Tom Peters, 16 November 2016
The ISO portrayed the veteran union bureaucrat Helen Kelly as a champion for workers’ rights, covering up her record of enforcing mass job cuts and other attacks on workers.
Australia: Residents denounce closure of Hazelwood power station
By our reporters, 11 November 2016
The state Labor government and the unions are collaborating with management to axe the plant and destroy 1,000 jobs.
Australia: Unions back cuts in working conditions at state broadcaster
By our reporters, 9 November 2016
Union support for the new Australian Broadcasting Corporation enterprise agreement opens the way for even deeper attacks on jobs and conditions.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
5 November 2016
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Australia: Hazelwood power station closure threatens thousands of jobs
By Oscar Grenfell, 4 November 2016
The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union is seeking to impose an “orderly closure” of the plant.
Australian poultry firm Baiada to close Victorian plant
By Will Morrow, 1 November 2016
The National Union of Workers is working with the company to try to enforce an “orderly closure” of the Laverton facility.
Australia: Widespread exploitation of backpackers and overseas labourers
By John Harris, 31 October 2016
The report documented the slave-like conditions for overseas workers which flow directly from the 417 visa arrangements enforced by Labor and Liberal-National governments.
Samoan car component plant to shut, eliminating 740 jobs
By John Braddock, 29 October 2016
Yazaki, with the assistance of the government and unions, has made millions from its 25-year exploitation of Samoan workers.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
29 October 2016
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Australia: Five workers killed in industrial incidents within a week
By Terry Cook, 19 October 2016
Five workers died within seven days, pointing to increasingly unsafe conditions in the construction and transport industries.
Australian tax department seeks to fast-track sackings
By Terry Cook, 13 October 2016
The changes are part of a sweeping overhaul of wages and conditions that the Liberal-National government is attempting to impose across the public service.
Ford Australia’s closure demonstrates need for a global auto workers’ strategy
By the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), 6 October 2016
Ford’s shutdown of its Australian production tomorrow is one of the final nails in the coffin of an entire industry, at the hands of the transnational auto companies.
Job cuts threatened at New Caledonia nickel plant
By John Braddock, 4 October 2016
The Koniambo job “review” foreshadows a major assault on workers throughout the nickel industry in the French colony and internationally.
Australia: Strike continues at Anglo American’s German Creek coal mine
By Terry Cook, 3 October 2016
The union continues to isolate a dispute by 140 mine workers at Anglo American’s German Creek coal mine even as the company moves to recruit strike-breakers.
Australia: Immigration employees take industrial action in public sector dispute
By Oscar Grenfell, 30 September 2016
The limited stoppages are a continuation of the union’s attempts to isolate public sector workers and prevent a unified political and industrial fight against the government’s attacks.
Australian brewery still operating as unions isolate sacked workers
By Frank Gaglioti and Chris Sinnema, 24 September 2016
The trade unions have opposed any unified industrial and political action to win reinstatement of the Carlton & United Breweries maintenance workers.
Australia: Thousands more jobs being destroyed
By Terry Cook, 24 September 2016
Better-paying jobs are being eliminated throughout mining-related and manufacturing industries.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
17 September 2016
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BHP Billiton demands Australian coal miners accept three-year wage freeze
By Oscar Grenfell, 14 September 2016
The company’s move is part of a broader offensive against the jobs and working conditions of workers.
Australian public sector union holds farcical protests amid one-day strike
By our reporters, 12 September 2016
The protests were aimed at appealing to the Liberal-National coalition government and preventing any serious political discussion among public sector workers.
Tens of thousands of Australian public sector workers set to strike
By Oscar Grenfell, 8 September 2016
The union is seeking to corral opposition to attacks on wages and conditions behind the Labor Party.
Australian supermarket chain sheds hardware stores and jobs
By John Roberts, 5 September 2016
The closure by Woolworths of Masters and Home Timber and Hardware stores reflects the impact of slump and deflation on the retail industry.
Australia: Arrium steelworkers reject 10 percent pay cut
By John Roberts, 29 August 2016
From the outset, the union had no intention of waging any struggle to mobilise workers to oppose the cost cutting and fight the threat of closure.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
27 August 2016
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Decades-long cover-up of “black lung” among Australian miners
By Oscar Grenfell, 20 August 2016
Reports of cases pre-date the official rediscovery of the disease in Queensland last year.
Full-time jobs and wages falling in Australia
By Mike Head, 20 August 2016
Part-time work is becoming the “new normal” for growing layers of workers, with devastating consequences for living standards.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
20 August 2016
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Border and immigration workers strike at Australian airports and ports
By Terry Cook, 15 August 2016
Over 100,000 public sector workers have had no pay increase for three years.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
13 August 2016
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Australian central bank chief insists on “difficult” budget cuts
By Mike Head, 12 August 2016
The Reserve Bank governor said politicians had to move more swiftly to impose the burden of the post-2008 crisis on the working class.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
6 August 2016
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Australian Workers Union pushes pay cuts for Arrium employees
By Richard Phillips, 3 August 2016
The union is seeking to blackmail Whyalla workers, by declaring that if they reject the enterprise agreement, Arrium’s steel plant and nearby mines will be closed.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
30 July 2016
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Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
23 July 2016
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Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
16 July 2016
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Australia: BlueScope suing steel union over one-day strike
By Oscar Grenfell, 15 July 2016
The legal action against the Australian Workers Union is aimed at intimidating steelworkers hostile to the conditions imposed by the company-union deal last year.
Australia: Brewery maintenance workers rally to defend jobs, wages
By Frank Gaglioti, 7 July 2016
The unions organised the rally to place pressure on company executives to collaborate with them in driving down workers’ wages and conditions.
Australian Labor’s fraudulent apprenticeship scheme
By Elle Chapman, 28 June 2016
Over the past four years, under both Labor and the Coalition, the number of apprenticeships has plummeted from 516,000 to 295,000.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
25 June 2016
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Australian poultry processor Ingham to close Cardiff plant
By Terry Cook, 23 June 2016
The announcement is part of an attack on jobs and conditions in the meat and food processing industries worldwide.
Australian jobs figures show expansion of part-time work
By Mike Head, 21 June 2016
A new “normal” has emerged—growing numbers of workers being forced to take part-time jobs, which are invariably less secure and worse-paid.
SEP senate candidate speaks with Melbourne tram drivers
By our reporters, 20 June 2016
Chris Sinnema received a warm response when he outlined the party’s fight for a new anti-war movement of the working class.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
18 June 2016
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Widening unrest in Papua New Guinea following police shooting of student protesters
By John Braddock, 11 June 2016
Behind the protests over allegations of corruption lies an immense social crisis caused by the collapse of the economy.
Australia: Labor unveils “tough, unpopular” budget cuts
By Mike Head, 11 June 2016
Labor underscored its commitment to satisfying the demands of the corporate elite for sweeping cuts to social spending.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
11 June 2016
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Australia power union calls off New South Wales strike
By Terry Cook, 10 June 2016
The Electrical Trades Union has pushed a long-running Essential Energy workers’ dispute into arbitration, clearing the way for the company to slash jobs and working conditions.
What the Royal Commission into Australia’s trade unions revealed
Part Five: The TWU and MUA “training funds” and the CFMEU’s “drug and alcohol committee”
By Will Fulgenzi—SEP candidate for Wills, 7 June 2016
Millions of dollars flow into trade union coffers via arrangements between their various “funds,” “organisations” and “committees,” and the major employers.
What the Royal Commission into Australia’s trade unions revealed
Part Four: The CFMEU’s “training organisations” and “charities”
By Will Fulgenzi—SEP candidate for Wills, 6 June 2016
The crown for the most egregious of the unions’ various corporate entities must go to the CFMEU’s “training” organisations and “charities.”
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
4 June 2016
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What the Royal Commission into Australia’s trade unions revealed
Part Three: The trade unions as insurance brokers
By Will Fulgenzi—SEP candidate for Wills, 4 June 2016
Behind their backs, unions and employers funnel workers’ entitlements for illness, redundancy, injury and death into the unions’ own insurance companies.
What the Royal Commission into Australia’s trade unions revealed
Part Two: Companies pay union “membership fees”
By Will Fulgenzi—SEP candidate for Wills, 3 June 2016
In exchange for implementing their agenda, major employers pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to the unions.
What the Royal Commission into Australia’s trade unions revealed
Part One: Workers need new organisations of struggle!
By Will Fulgenzi—SEP candidate for Wills, 2 June 2016
While the Commission’s motivations are reactionary, its report demonstrates that the unions are nothing but labour management businesses whose role is to destroy workers’ conditions.
Australia: Jobs losses continue to mount amid collapsing wage levels
By Terry Cook, 1 June 2016
Australian Bureau of Statistics data exposes growing casualisation of the workforce and low wage levels.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
21 May 2016
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