Anthony Benbow

  • Labor blamed for union arrests

    PERTH — "When [Richard] Court and [Graham] Kierath were in power we had security guards and thugs on the wharves, now [Geoff] Gallop and the ALP are in and we have the same thing happening on construction sites. Is this what we

  • WA bus drivers launch fight back

    PERTH — Metropolitan bus drivers here are fighting back against years of low pay and worsening conditions. At an April 18 stop-work meeting, drivers from three bus companies — Perth Bus, Path Transit and Southern Coast Transit

  • Linencare workers victorious

    PERTH — After six days of a round-the-clock picket line, workers at Linencare linen service in Perth's southern suburbs returned to work victorious. The members of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union,

  • BHP workers reject contracts

    PORT HEDLAND — "BHP posted out 537 workplace agreements. We've got over 400 of them piled here in the union office, still in the envelopes. We expect another 70 or so when people return from annual leave. Probably 20 more were

  • WA voters take sweet revenge

    PERTH — After eight years of attacks on workers' rights and living standards Western Australian Premier Richard Court's Coalition government is no more, swept from office by a backlash against its increasingly obvious

  • Why is ACTU playing possum in WA?

    PERTH — On January 23, ACTU secretary Greg Combet addressed 300 BHP workers at a mass meeting in Port Hedland. Combet told the workers that the ACTU was appealing the January 10 Federal Court ruling against unions in their

  • Campaign needed to defend BHP Pilbara workers

    BY ANTHONY BENBOW AND MELANIE SJOBERG  Workers employed at BHP operations in WA's Pilbara region must be feeling a bad sense of d‚j… vu. In January last year, they were forced to fight to defend their jobs and hard-won conditions when

  • Courting One Nation

    PERTH — Before the 1998 federal election, Western Australian Liberal Premier Richard Court described the One Nation party as having "racist policies which have no place in the Australian political system". One Nation was placed

  • Kwinana residents oppose industrial expansion

    PERTH — “Kierath says our existence is a 'planning mistake'. We've been here at Wattleup four decades, Hope Valley a century — that's long before the heavy industry at Kwinana. So which one is the 'planning mistake'?”

  • Jarrahdale residents fight sand mine

    PERTH — The local community in the Serpentine-Jarrahdale area 40 kilometres south of Perth has united to oppose planned sand mining in the area and to keep open a hostel for mentally ill men. Two hundred residents and their

  • Activist forced off union body

    Activist forced off union bodyPERTH — The Western Australian branch of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has thrown one of its most conscientious rank-and-file delegates off its delegation to the WA Trades and

  • Alcoa workers locked out

    Alcoa workers locked outPERTH — Five hundred workers at aluminium company Alcoa's operations here have been locked out since early April as part of a union-busting exercise. The workers, members of the Communications,