BY OWEN RICHARDS
SYDNEY — The roar of traffic along Parramatta Road in Auburn did not silence 70 spirited protesters gathered outside the Nike factory-warehouse on September 1.
The protesters, organised by Resistance, heard speakers decry Nike's infamously bad record on workers' rights. The exorbitant fees paid to US basketballer Michael Jordan and the high prices charged for Nike products were contrasted to the slave wages paid to Nike workers in countries like Indonesia and Vietnam.
Romawaty Sinaga from the Indonesian National Front for Workers Struggle (FNPBI) described Nike's exploitation of Indonesian workers. Resistance activist and high school student Dani Barley, Greens MP Lee Rhiannon and Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) construction division national secretary John Sutton also spoke.
Among the protesters were some New Zealand workers who had been promised Olympics security jobs by SOCOG, only to be told that the jobs were no longer available.
Sutton said after the rally that the CFMEU would challenge Nike to sign the Fairwear campaign's labour regulation agreement within seven days. If Nike does not comply, further action would be on the agenda, he said.
After the action, a barbecue was provided by the CFMEU for all in attendance, including the cops, who were there in numbers.
The following day, Sinaga was one of two international guests at a seminar discussing the impact of capitalist globalisation on workers and communities and how to strengthen solidarity across national borders. Some 60 people attended the day-long seminar, organised by Unionists Against Corporate Tyranny and Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor.
The other international guest speaker, Francisco Pascual from the Philippine People's Development Resource Centre, which campaigns against the Third World debt, presented a convincing argument as to why the labour movement should not support "social clauses" in trade agreements. He said that such clauses would not help workers in the Third World and would give the World Trade Organisation and other international financial institutions greater powers.
On August 31, the Resistance Centre in Parramatta was packed to hear Sinaga speak about Indonesian workers' resistance against International Monetary Fund-imposed attacks on living and working conditions. She emphasised the need for solidarity between Australian unions and the FNPBI.