News briefs

TWU members pledge a fight

BRISBANE — Calling a combined meeting of Transport Workers Union delegates and members for October 8 at the Trades and Labor Council, TWU state secretary Hughie Williams declared that "the federal government's proposed legislation on industrial reform, if passed through the Senate, will turn back the clock many decades, and the TWU will resist this action by government and employers at all levels."

The 250-strong meeting unanimously passed a resolution calling for an immediate 24-hour national stoppage if the legislation is passed, warning employers that the TWU will take industrial action to preserve the right of union officials to enter work sites, and rejecting any attempts to implement workplace agreements.

Hospital workers oppose contracting

MELBOURNE — A mass meeting of hospital workers last week voted to take industrial action to prevent the contracting out of their jobs. The meeting brought together the Health Services Union of Australia; the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union; the Construction Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and the Communication Electrical and Plumbing Union.

A series of recent articles in the Age has revealed that hospitals are constantly on ambulance by-pass, patients can often wait more than 24 hours on trolleys for a bed, and hospitals are dirty because too many workers have been sacked.

From GLW issue 250