Workers Issues in Australia & the Pacific
Oppose the NTEU sellout at University of Sydney! For a unified struggle of all university workers across Australia!
By the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), 20 September 2017
The union is organising retrograde agreements across the university sector.
Australia: New “learning precinct” ties public schools to business
By David Cohen, 18 September 2017
The project has little to do with the quality of education; its priority is the Victorian state government’s relationship with the financial and corporate elites.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
9 September 2017
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Australian state government and health union shut down pathology strike
By Jason Quill and Oscar Grenfell, 7 September 2017
The Health Services Union welcomed the Victorian Labor government’s application for the federal Fair Work Commission to ban the stoppage.
Australia: National Tertiary Education Union attempts to suppress struggle against job cuts at Western Sydney University
By our correspondent, 4 September 2017
The jobs of around 150 professional staff will be destroyed and all security employees retrenched, while other devastating cuts are being prepared.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
2 September 2017
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1917: The Great Strike—an engrossing exhibition about mass walkouts in wartime Australia
By Elle Chapman and Richard Phillips, 24 August 2017
The exhibition is a useful antidote to the government’s glorification of Australian involvement in World War I and shows that the home-front was dominated by intense class battles.
Australian unions, pseudo-left sign up to Labor’s re-election campaign
By Oscar Grenfell, 5 August 2017
Underlying the unions campaign is fear in ruling circles that widespread disaffection over social inequality threatens the stability of the parliamentary set-up.
Australia: Official figures continue to cloak jobs crisis
By Terry Cook, 1 August 2017
The official employment report for June shows there is little to celebrate for the tens of thousands of people engaged in a daily search for work.
The Australian Education Union’s 2017 campaign of misinformation and censorship
By Susan Allan and Linda Tenenbaum, 26 July 2017
Union officials concealed that the EBA contains the adoption of measures proposed in the “Bracks Review,” which escalate the pro-market agenda now underpinning public education.
Australian unions isolate miners facing attacks on pay and conditions
By Terry Cook, 15 July 2017
The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union has restricted the Glencore workers to token stoppages.
Australian cricket pay dispute escalates
By Oscar Grenfell, 15 July 2017
Cricketing administrators are seeking to boost their control over billions of dollars of broadcasting and online streaming revenue.
India: Kerala nurses on state-wide strike
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
15 July 2017
The nurses rejected a pay offer of 17,500 rupees, including allowances, from the government and the Private Hospitals Association.
Australian building experts discuss the Grenfell Tower fire
By our reporters, 12 July 2017
“Fire safety is more important than the façade of a building,” building inspector says.
More Australian workers killed in preventable workplace incidents
By Terry Cook, 11 July 2017
The number of industry-related fatalities this year is on track to match or exceed the grim toll in 2016 when 178 workers were killed.
Australian Labor and union leaders seek to head off workers’ discontent
By Mike Head, 7 July 2017
Speeches at last week’s ACTU 90th anniversary dinner signal desperate efforts to promote the return of another pro-business Labor government.
Australian unions help impose cuts to federal pay and conditions
By Terry Cook, 1 July 2017
The unions’ aim was to wear down workers’ resistance and retain their own position at the negotiating table.
Australian Education Union pushes through pro-market workplace agreement in Victoria
By Susan Allan and Linda Tenenbaum, 1 July 2017
Endorsement of the agreement opens the way for an acceleration of the destructive pro-market agenda that has created a systemic crisis in public education.
Electrician falls 75 feet to his death at Detroit construction site
By Kathleen Martin, 29 June 2017
Michael Morrison, 46, died after falling from a catwalk at the Little Caesars sports arena currently under construction in Detroit.
Australian university staff face cuts to pay, jobs and basic rights
By Mike Head, 28 June 2017
Government funding cuts are accelerating the pro-business restructuring of higher education that began three decades ago.
Australian construction union’s bogus campaign against industrial laws
By Oscar Grenfell, 27 June 2017
The CFMEU’s chief aim is to maintain its own privileged seat at the negotiating table and divert mounting anger among construction workers into electoral support for the Labor Party.
The way forward for New Zealand meat workers
By the Socialist Equality Group (New Zealand), 27 June 2017
A struggle to defend jobs and conditions is only possible through a break with the Meat Workers Union and the Labour Party, the formation of independent workplace committees and a political fight based on a socialist and internationalist program.
Australia: Telstra announces 1,400 job cuts
By Oscar Grenfell, 21 June 2017
The sackings are the latest in a series of pro-market restructures that have destroyed up to 6,000 jobs since 2013.
Australian miners strike against Glencore cost-cutting
By Terry Cook, 20 June 2017
Some 1,400 coal miners took industrial action against the transnational mining and resources conglomerate’s attempts to slash working conditions.
Australian state Labor government agrees to subsidise giant coal mine
By Declan O’Malley and Mike Head, 13 June 2017
After weeks of posturing, the Queensland cabinet provided a lucrative royalties handout to Adani.
Australia: Aurizon announces Queensland rail closures
By Oscar Grenfell, 10 June 2017
Up to 300 jobs are set to be eliminated, following hundreds of sackings over the past two years.
Reject unacceptable workloads and standardised testing! Take a stand for public education!
Vote No to the AEU-Labor government sell-out deal in Victoria!
By the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), 9 June 2017
The chronic underfunding, under-resourcing and under-staffing of public schools is driving many parents to send their children to private schools.
New Zealand: Wellington transport workers face attacks on jobs and conditions
By our correspondents, 6 June 2017
The Labour Party-dominated Wellington Council has awarded bus and rail contracts to private operators to cut costs at the expense of workers.
“Catastrophic failure” of regulators led to black lung among Australian miners
By Oscar Grenfell, 5 June 2017
Queensland authorities failed to look for, or properly identify, coal miners’ pneumoconiosis for more than 30 years.
Socialist Equality Party forum discusses agenda behind Australian Education Union sell-out deal
By our reporter, 5 June 2017
A clear relationship exists between the anti-democratic, bureaucratic tactics employed by the AEU to obtain a majority “yes” vote and the regressive, pro-market content of its 2017 agreement.
Australian city council locks out electricians for imposing work bans
By Ellen Blake, 3 June 2017
The Brisbane City Council’s aggressive action underscores the determination of governments and employers across the country to dismantle workers’ conditions.
Class struggle developing on Indian sub-continent
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
3 June 2017
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Australian timber mill slated to close
By Will Morrow, 1 June 2017
The closure, in the state of Victoria, is part of a restructuring by Carter Holt Harvey and other producers across the timber industry.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
27 May 2017
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Australian building workers hit by construction company collapse
By Declan O’Malley, 23 May 2017
The Brisbane shut-down is another indicator of the danger of a wider collapse in the residential construction boom, threatening tens of thousands of jobs.
Australia: Teachers explain why the AEU-government deal should be rejected
By our reporters, 22 May 2017
“The union has become the policeman to enforce agreements that sell our conditions down the drain.”
Australia: Contract teacher voices opposition to the AEU-government agreement
By our reporters, 20 May 2017
“I feel as though we’re teaching to a test, and not spending enough time on building our relationship with our students, and building on their strengths.”
SEP and Victorian Teachers and ES Staff Forum
The political issues in the fight against the AEU-Labor government EBA
20 May 2017
The forum on May 28 will present a detailed critique of the Australian Education Union’s sell-out deal with the Andrews Labor government, and clarify why teachers and ES staff should reject it.
Miners walkout in Indonesia and Australia
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
20 May 2017
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Sydney bus drivers strike against privatisation
By Oscar Grenfell, 19 May 2017
The transport union has appealed to the government for “consultation,” underscoring its willingness to collaborate with privatisation.
Australian teachers support campaign against AEU-government deal
By our reporters, 18 May 2017
Teachers who attended recent delegates meetings on the new enterprise agreement voiced support for a “No” vote.
Australia:
Teachers criticise anti-democratic character of AEU delegates’ meetings
By our reporters, 17 May 2017
“I think people voted without understanding the nitty-gritty of the agreement.”
Vote “NO” to the EBA!
Australian Education Union pushes through industrial agreement at delegates’ meetings
By our reporters, 16 May 2017
SEP members and supporters who work in public education are campaigning for a “No” vote among rank-and-file teachers and ES staff.
Australia: Tribunal to hear challenge to union-company wage-cutting deal
By Oscar Grenfell, 16 May 2017
The unions and the major corporations are fearful that the case against the deal threatens the entire pro-business framework of enterprise bargaining.
After Australian journalists’ strike
The political issues facing Fairfax workers
By the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), 11 May 2017
The end of the week-long strike and the commitment of the media union to resume back-room negotiations for the destruction of jobs, poses major political issues before Fairfax workers.
Australian media union shuts down week-long Fairfax journalists’ strike
By Oscar Grenfell, 10 May 2017
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, having done everything to contain and weaken the strike, made clear that it will do nothing to oppose the axing of 125 jobs at Fairfax.
Australian rail union responds to Pacific National lockout by resuming talks
By Oscar Grenfell, 9 May 2017
The union will use the negotiating period to try and dissipate anger among freight drivers to the proposed cuts to their wages and conditions.
Australia: Fairfax journalists strike, but union appeals to corporate investors
By our correspondents, 6 May 2017
The sackings, which follow almost a decade of cost-cutting, will eviscerate Fairfax Media newspapers and lead to further job destruction.
Australian Fairfax journalists strike for a week over job destruction
By Mike Head, 4 May 2017
By launching the longest strike by editorial staff in recent history, the Fairfax workers are taking a stand against the ongoing demolition of jobs by the financial elite.
Teachers oppose Australian Education Union sell-out deal at Victorian delegates meeting
By our reporters, 3 May 2017
The Melbourne meeting revealed mounting hostility among teachers to the union’s bureaucratic methods and to the agreement itself.
Australia: Growing opposition to sell-out agreement among Victorian teachers and support staff
By our reporters, 29 April 2017
Teachers from at least five schools have convened meetings to reject the agreement between the Australian Education Union and the Victorian state Labor government.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
29 April 2017
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Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
22 April 2017
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Australian worker challenges union-company wage-cutting deal
By Oscar Grenfell, 15 April 2017
The agreement struck between the SDA and Coles saved the supermarket giant tens of millions of dollars.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
15 April 2017
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Australia: Victorian teachers denounce union-backed agreement
By our reporters, 13 April 2017
The AEU has sought to suppress discussion of its latest sell-out, while falsely claiming it is a “victory” for teachers.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
8 April 2017
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Australian teachers’ agreement: The reality behind union “victory” claims
By Susan Allan, 6 April 2017
On every key issue the teachers’ union and the Victorian Labor government have worked together to entrench and deepen the assault on the public education system.
Australia: Labor and unions facilitate Hazelwood power station closure
By Frank Gaglioti, 5 April 2017
The shutdown will exacerbate the social crisis in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, which has already been hit by decades of job cuts in the energy sector.
Australian government withholds report on death of unemployed teenager
By John Harris and Oscar Grenfell, 1 April 2017
The Liberal-National government is covering-up the dangerous conditions facing unemployed workers and young people forced onto Work for Dole programs.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
1 April 2017
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Australian Education Union agrees to sell-out deal with Victorian state Labor government
By Susan Allan, 30 March 2017
Teacher union claims of a “great win for our members” are a fraud.
Australia: Worker killed at Sydney harbour building site
By Virginia Browne, 27 March 2017
Twenty-nine workers, including 7 in the construction industry were killed in industrial accidents during the period between January 1-March 1 this year.
New Australian union head feigns concern for workers’ rights
By Will Morrow, 22 March 2017
McManus’s elevation is part of the unions’ preparations to try and divert rising working-class anger behind the return of a Labor government in 2019.
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.
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