BRISBANE -- Queensland sugar industry workers walked off the job at midnight on October 31 in support of fellow unionists at MIM Holdings after an Industrial Relations Commission decision to reduce the number of unions covering the mining operations to two. The sugar industry has made a similar application. Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union state secretary Wally Trohear said: “The action of our members is a forerunner of what the sugar industry can expect if we get a similar decision to that given in Mt Isa” where the Australian Workers Union took over.
FREMANTLE -- A 150-strong march wound its way through the streets and onto the wharves of Fremantle on October 29 in a protest against the continuation of live sheep exports. Organised by People Against Cruel Animal Transport (PACAT) and supported by, among others, members of Animal Liberation, the Humane Society and the Meatworkers Union, the rally emphasised the cruelty of the trade, in which the sheep, transported under very poor conditions die at the rate of more than 130,000 a year.
MELBOURNE -- Members and supporters of Australian Humanitarian Aid for Bougainville staged a protest here on October 30 against the Australian government's continuing support for PNG's war on the island people. The conflict, which started with a landowner rebellion against the CRA-owned Panguna copper mine, is being waged in the interests of Australian mining companies. Protesters targeted Transfield Enterprises, a company involved in supplying and maintaining military hardware to the PNG Defence Force. Crosses were planted outside the offices of Transfield in Williamstown, each bearing the name of a Bougainvillean killed by the PNG military or the blockade of the island, in place since 1990.
PERTH -- More than 400 temporary teachers with TAFE rallied outside the office of education minister Norman Moore on November 3, protesting against new workplace agreements. The teachers then marched to parliament house. The agreements offered to 600 temporary teachers would cut holidays by six weeks, increase weekly hours from 30 to 37.5 and abolish penalty rates for evening and Saturday classes in return for a 20% pay rise over three years. If a teacher does not sign the agreement, their position will be advertised. Temporary and permanent teachers at Rockingham and Fremantle TAFE walked off the job within two hours of the workplace agreements being issued.
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