James Vassilopoulos

  • Scabs attack Davids picket line

    SYDNEY — On the night of August 6, two truck drivers attempting to break the picket line at Davids' Blacktown warehouse jumped out of their truck and assaulted picketers. One discharged a fire extinguisher at the workers

  • Sydney water crisis due to corporatisation

    SYDNEY — The Sydney Water Corporation announced on August 3 that the city's tap water was again safe to drink. Since July 30, nine days after the parasites giardia and cryptosporidium had been detected in Sydney's water

  • Davids workers call for union and community support

    Davids workers call for union and community supportAbout 25 minutes' drive west of the Sydney CBD lies the suburb of Silverwater. Here is one of the two sites of the dispute between the National Union of Workers and

  • Davids workers stop the trucks

    Davids workers stop the trucksSYDNEY — July 3 was a great day for the National Union of Workers members in a four-week long dispute with Davids. On that day, 800 picketers, other unionists and community

  • Another waterfront conspiracy

    Sack the entire Maritime Union of Australia work force; deregister the MUA; cancel MUA awards and agreements; use the Crimes Act and secondary boycott laws to smash the union: these were the options the Coalition government

  • MUA members vote for deal

    MUA members vote for dealSYDNEY — On June 24, 450 Patrick members of the Maritime Union of Australia voted in favour of the draft settlement between their union and Patrick Stevedores. Before the vote, those present

  • French workers could be World Cup winners

    French workers could be World Cup winnersA range of French workers, from pilots to train workers, have made use of the world's main soccer tournament, being held in France this month, to press for a "World Cup bonus" and

  • Patrick seeks to deregister MUA

    Patrick seeks to deregister MUAIn an attempt to smash the Maritime Union of Australia, Patrick Stevedores applied on May 22 to the Federal Court seeking massive damages and fines from the union and its deregistration.

  • Patrick tries to steal MUA victory

    Patrick Stevedores and the Howard government, unable to sack wharfies through thuggery — backed by balaclava-wearing security guards with vicious dogs — are now trying to win the dispute through corporations law and the

  • Federal budget no answer to health crisis

    The small funding boost for some health programs in the federal budget will not address the massive cuts that occurred in the Coalition's 1996 budget. Nor will it provide the expansion that is needed in the public health

  • A shorter working week: lessons from recent history

    A shorter working week: lessons from recent history"Thirty-five hours, more jobs, more leisure!", was the demand by the Amalgamated Metal Workers and Shipwrights Union in its industrial campaign of 1980-81. With full-time

  • Struggle continues as wharfies return to work

    After a month of mass pickets, wharfies are back at work at the major Patrick operations, following the Maritime Union of Australia's win in the High Court. Mick O'Leary, national organiser of the MUA, told Green Left Weekly