Make the IR laws 'inoperable'

NEWCASTLE — "The trade union movement is at a crossroads — we can stick or heads in the sand, we can throw up our hands and promise to be good or we can lead the fight against Howard and make these laws inoperable."

This is what Steve Murphy from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union told more than 35 people at a forum at the Charlestown Bowling Club on June 23.

Murphy said the union movement had been passive for too long and that "if there's any right worth fighting for, it's the right to work; the right to decent pay and a safe workplace".

The forum was organised by the Newcastle Greens and also featured Richard Downey from the Australian Workers Union and a range of other unionists. AWU members at Williamstown RAAF base have been locked out by Boeing since June 1 after refusing to fill in time sheets. The Williamstown workers want Boeing to sign a collective agreement after trialing individual contracts for four years.

Ruth Ratcliffe

From Green Left Weekly, June 29, 2005.

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From GLW issue 631