Melanie Sjoberg

  • Linking war and globalisation

    BY LUKE FOMIATTI & MELANIE SJOBERG SYDNEY — “This meeting to discuss war and globalisation occurs against the backdrop of US President George Bush's 'state of the nation' speech”, anti-war activist Tara Povey told 60 people at Trades

  • A tragedy for injured workers

    More people die in work-related accidents than on roads each year in this country. According to the construction workers' union, as many as 30% of employers underpay their insurance premiums. In June, New South Wales was rocked

  • Unions fight corporate globalisation

    SYDNEY — A truly international flavour permeated the November 13 union-organised protest against corporate globalisation. Initiated by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) to coincide with the World Trade

  • Anti-war protests grow

    SYDNEY — In the biggest show of Australian opposition to the war in Afghanistan yet, more than 10,000 protesters mobilised in 11 cities on the weekend of November 3-4, declaring: "No to racism, no to war — this is what we're

  • Who's afraid of the AMWU?

    "Balaclava-clad hoons", "busted-up offices", "terrorised staff", "union officials arrested" — these are the lurid makings of a corporate media scare campaign against the leaders of the militant Victorian branch of the

  • Nestle locks out workers

    Have you wondered why the supermarket shelves are looking a little thin in the yoghurt section lately? Food multinational Nestle, which supplies the bulk of yoghurt products to supermarkets, locked 100 workers out of its Echuca

  • Day of betrayal as Labor MPs break picket

    As the sun slowly crept above city office buildings, hundreds of union activists and officials responded to an urgent call by the NSW Labor Council to blockade parliament on June 19 in a desperate attempt to prevent Labor Premier

  • Qantas trains strike-breakers

    Unions claim that Qantas is training management to act as strike-breakers in anticipation of a labour dispute over a new enterprise bargaining agreement. Secret training operations, which include teaching up to 75 managers

  • Abbott plans attacks on CFMEU

    Workplace relations minister Tony Abbott has called for an inquiry into the construction industry, alleging widespread corruption, fraud and intimidation of workers. What this really represents is a blatant political

  • Multinational or 'Big Australian'

    At an ACTU conference in April unions representing workers employed by BHP decided to put aside demarcation differences to "walk arm-in-arm" against the hard-line industrial moves of BHP. On May 10 the Construction, Forestry,

  • Keeping the poor poor

    If you are one of the estimated 1.8 million low-paid workers in Australia reliant on an award for your wage, your pay packet will soon receive a $13 (before tax) boost, courtesy of the national wage case decision handed down by