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Thirty people protested outside the office of NSW Labor MP Carmel Tebbutt on August 16 as part of a “Super Saturday” of campaign stalls against electricity privatisation. Around 50 electorates around the state were targeted by Power to the People — a campaign group that includes ALP members, trade unions, Greens, the Socialist Alliance, Solidarity, and other community and environment groups.
Thirty people protested outside the office of NSW Labor MP Carmel Tebbutt on August 16 as part of a “Super Saturday” of campaign stalls against electricity privatisation. Around 50 electorates around the state were targeted by Power to the People — a campaign group that includes ALP members, trade unions, Greens, the Socialist Alliance, Solidarity, and other community and environment groups.
When does a worker, even a casual or part-time worker, join a union? When it’s clear that membership brings better pay, working conditions and job security. Why, then, is union membership among workers at an all-time low? Because in so many industries union membership doesn’t seem to bring these benefits.
On August 6, in memory of the bombing of Hiroshima by the US in World War II, a vigil to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons was held outside Hobart’s Town Hall. The vigil, attended by 40 people, had a street theatre component to it titled Target X. Members of the Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW) and medical students demonstrated the effect nuclear weapons had on people.
On August 4, the Australian Education Union’s (AEU) federal president Angelo Gavrielatos announced the union’s proposed reforms for teachers’ career structure and salaries. It amounts to an endorsement of the divisive “performance pay”, in which schools are treated as businesses rather than places of teaching and learning.
“Renewables now!”, “Leave coal in the ground”, “No carbon trading loopholes!”, “Expand public transport” and “Keep power in public hands” will be the key demands of a climate emergency rally to be held at Darling Harbour in Sydney on October 2, just days after Ross Garnaut is to deliver his final report on recommendations for Australia’s response to climate change.
It’s easy to get confused about forests and climate change. Deforestation and forest degradation contribute to around 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, second only to the burning of fossil fuels to produce energy. Climate scientists say that preserving our forests is a quick, easy and cheap way to prevent further global warming.
Around 200 angry residents crowded into Sunshine’s Glengala Community Centre on August 12 for a second meeting on a proposed $9 billion east-west road tunnel to be built in their neighbourhood.
More than 200 people attended the preview screening of This is Our Country Too on August 13 at the NSW Teacher’s Federation Auditorium. The event was organised by the Stop The Intervention Coalition, Sydney.
As the Olympic Games opened in Beijing, world leaders have been issuing entreaties to “put politics aside”.
A group of maintenance workers at the National Foods milk processing plant in Chelsea Heights has won a 21% pay rise after having been on strike for three and a half weeks from late July. They will resume work on August 17.
On August 7, after a week of border clashes, Georgia’s pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili launched a military attack against South Ossetia.