EDI workers strike for job protection
BATHURST — Unions representing 90 striking workers at the EDI Rail factory, which manufactures train undercarriages, have been ordered by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission to a compulsory conference on July 21. The workers are covered by the Australian Workers Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.
The workers walked off the job on July 11 when EDI management told them it would not guarantee their jobs or accrued entitlements, following government criticism of faults discovered in the new EDI-made Millennium suburban trains.
Strikers picket EDI
NEWCASTLE — Thirty rail workers employed at the EDI Rail plant on Cormorant Rd, Kooragang Island, have organised a 24-hour picket as part of a strike that began on July 14. The workers are protesting EDI's refusal to negotiate over a wage claim.
The workers are demanding a 6% wage increase, protection of entitlements and improved long-service leave. The company is only offering a 4% wage rise.
Big turnout for Mike Moore film
SYDNEY — On July 15, 230 people squeezed into the Steyne Hotel in Manly to enjoy a screening of Mike Moore's film The Big One. This screening was the first of the Northside Socialist Alliance's monthly political film evenings.
The film screening also provided an opportunity to announce upcoming local campaigns, rallies and public meetings.
Defend Medicare campaign launched
MELBOURNE — On July 8, 25 local residents participated in a meeting in Preston to organise a Darebin Defend Medicare Campaign group.
The meeting involved members of the ALP, the Socialist Alliance, the Preston-Reservoir Progressive Association and People for Panch (a local health-care campaigning group). It decided to campaign on the slogans "Defend and extend Medicare" and "Free and universal health care for all".
Palestinians, Jews oppose Irving film showing
MELBOURNE — On July 10, Palestinian activists participated in rally organised by the Zionist Australasian Union of Jewish Students to protest the screening by the Melbourne Underground Film Festival of Holocaust denier David Irving's film The Search For Truth in History.
The protest rally, which was attended by 200 demonstrators, resulted in festival director Richard Wolstencroft announcing there would be no further attempted screenings of Irving's film.
Palestinian activist Maher Mughrabi summarised the rally's message: "The words 'never again' don't just mean never again to the Jews, they also mean never again to all human beings."
College staff willing to strike for refugees
MELBOURNE — Footscray City College staff are willing to take strike action to protect East Timorese students studying at the college from being deported by the federal government, teacher Maureen O'Flaherty told a public forum on refugee issues on July 17.
The forum, the first organised by the Socialist Alliance in Sunshine, was attended by 25 people and was also addressed by Vannessa Hearman from Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP).
From Green Left Weekly, July 23, 2003.
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