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John Parker, secretary of Victoria’s Gippsland Trades and Labour Council, condemned the findings of the federal government’s panel of so-called experts on nuclear energy. “Any attempt to build a nuclear power plant in Gippsland will be strongly resisted”, he said on November 22.
One of the biggest lies that the corporate media has relentlessly pushed for many years is that the trade union movement is a “special interest group”. They argue this because only 23% of workers are members of trade unions today. However, studies show that the great majority of workers look to unions to defend their rights at work, would join unions if given the opportunity and if they didn’t risk being penalised by their boss.
On November 17 the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) claimed that workers’ occupational health and safety rights have been cut by PM John Howard’s government. Changes to the federal OHS act mean that employers, both public- and private-sector, will no longer have to include unions in OHS consultations.
Government and business representatives attending a Work Choices seminar at the Hotel Grand Chancellor on November 21 were met by protesters who described the meeting as a discussion about “exploiting workers, destroying unions and sacking people at will”.
Question: How do we bring our troops home? Answer: In the same planes and ships we took them in!
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Directed by Larry Charles
With Sascha Baron Cohen and Kevin Davitian.
Senate estimates hearings in November revealed that the federal government’s plans for a nuclear dump in the Northern Territory are not running smoothly. The site evaluation is lagging six months behind schedule and, as a result, Canberra wants to conduct environmental assessment and site licensing processes concurrently.
The following statement was issued on November 25 by the socialist youth organisation Resistance.
Kim Beazley’s speech to the Australian Council of Trade Union (ACTU) Congress on October 25 illustrated the limitations of the Labor Party today regardless of who ends up being its federal leader. Beazley told the delegates that he will “govern in the interests of all Australians, never just for the vested interests of a few”. This is the same sort of language that PM John Howard uses, but what exactly does it mean?
The founding conference of the Australian Youth Climate Change Coalition (AYCCC) was held in Melbourne on November 20-22. The meeting involved representatives from 30 organisations, including the Australian Student Environmental Network, United Nations Youth Association, Oz Green, GetUp!, the Oaktree Foundation, the Greens and Resistance. There were also representatives from government youth councils, high school activist groups and university student councils, as well as university-based environmental and social justice groups.
Memorial meetings were held on November 11 in Oakland, California, and on November 18 in New York City to celebrate the life of revolutionary socialist and union activist Caroline Lund. She died on October 14 from ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Packer protesters trial The abbreviated report on the trial of Packer protesters in GLW #689 may have given some readers the impression that everything is rosy. In fact, only one charge was dropped — the charge of failure to obey a police