ADELAIDE — The state Liberal government is planning to offer the management of South Australia's sewerage and water systems to one of seven international companies. State infrastructure minister John Olsen said that operations would be taken over by an international company, but the government would retain full ownership and control of the state's water supply and sewerage assets and services. The Automotive, Food, Metals and Engineering Union, which covers the department's workers, rejected Olsen's claims that this is not privatisation.
PERTH — Meeting here November 18-25, the Third Indian Ocean Regional Trade Union Conference, attended by 120 unionists from 12 countries including Australia, adopted a statement entitled "Challenge to political leaders in the Indian Ocean and Asian regions".
The statement calls for "a new society where workers share in the fruits of their labour; where labour leaders are no longer murdered and imprisoned because of their just work; where the misery and hardship for the majority that exists alongside unimaginable wealth will be changed; where children will be able to enjoy their teenage years instead of becoming old by the age of 24 because of daily exhaustion before the machines of mass production".
The conference voted to encourage unions to "organise a campaign from May Day 1995 to May Day 1996 to promote the rights to work, organise and bargain collectively, the right to strike, the right to a safe workplace, the right to education and health care and the right to freedom of expression".
The conference noted that throughout the region "political and social restructuring is impacting upon existing systems of oppression for women and is increasing the burden that women bear".
PERTH — In elections held between October 17 and November 16 for the leadership of the State School Teachers Union, the conservative "Lindberg Unity" around president Brian Lindberg picked up nine of the 14 executive positions. The left "Pledge" ticket won four executive positions; Pat Byrne from a group of progressive independents gained the final executive position. Returned general secretary Peter Quinn, standing on the Pledge ticket, won 44% of the primary vote against four other candidates; this was the first time the position had been directly elected. Defeated executive candidate and Pledge activist Ian Bolus told Green Left Weekly that Pledge would prioritise "building the rank and file movement".
PERTH — One hundred and twenty state electricity workers have received a not very merry Christmas present from management: they were fired. The sackings, which are part of the Court Liberal government's "corporatisation" of the State Electricity Corporation, are planned to take effect by the new year. A private consultant's report found that the section where the sackings will take place was financially viable and ruled out the government's favoured option of privatising it. On December 8, 250 workers marched through the streets of Perth in protest at the move.