Gadigal Country/Sydney

  • NSW firefighters prepare for Work Choices struggle

    Jim Casey was elected senior vice president of the NSW Fire Brigade Employees Union (FBEU) in its May elections. Casey, a socialist, was part of a left ticket of four, running with an ALP member, a syndicalist and a rank-and-file unionist with a history in of activism in the Maritime Union of Australia. The team decided to run an executive ticket of four people, with recommendations for the other nine positions on the committee of management.

  • Queers building 'AIDS care not warfare' movement

    Activists from Sydney-based Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) went to Melbourne to form a queer bloc for the November 18-19 G20 protests. The bloc called for money for AIDS care not war.

  • UWS board backs down

    Pressure from workers and students forced the University of Western Sydney’s Board of Trustees to review its rejection of a $250,000 SRC funding proposal on November 29. The proposal is designed to help UWS Student Association (UWSSA) survive federal “voluntary student unionism” (VSU) legislation and came on the back of UWSSA having its budget slashed from $2.5 million to $450,000 for three years.

  • Library backs down on anti-gay DVD

    On November 23, the SX News websire reported that Penrith City Library, in far western Sydney, had tentatively rejected a DVD promoting the “ex-gat movement” donated to its collection by the right-wing Christian Democratic Party.

  • Can you lend us your ute?

    Socialist Alliance in Sydney is appealing for help finding a ute that can be used in the NSW election campaign. The idea would be to mount a mobile display profiling our “Stand up for your rights” message. The ute could also be used as a platform for protests and rallies.

  • Iemma oversight on housing

    The NSW Council of Social Service (NCOSS) and Homelessness NSW/ACT have criticised the Iemma state government for not doing enough for the homeless, following the government’s November 14 release of a 10-year plan to tackle the problem.

  • Howard slashes workers' OHS rights

    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.

  • Should we join the Fair Employers Campaign?

    Unions NSW is promoting a campaign, including shopfront stickers and advertising in union journals, to encourage small businesses to promote themselves as union-endorsed “fair employers”. The union body is spending time and money on advertising through union journals. But this campaign detracts from our efforts at mobilising workers and the community against Work Choices and bosses who use these new laws.

  • Victory for Thompson's strikers

    Eight workers on strike at Thompson’s Roller Shutters in Turella returned to work on November 15 after winning a 12% wage rise over three years and other conditions in a collective agreement. The company had been the target of a number of community pickets over the preceding week.

  • Student organisation imposes AWAs

    The new student organisation at the University of New South Wales, established as a result of the Howard government’s “voluntary student unionism” (VSU) law, is forcing staff earning $40,000 or more per year onto individual contracts (AWAs — Australian Workplace Agreements).

  • Peace festival to aid war victims

    The Burj el Barajneh refugee camp in Lebanon and Doctors for Iraq will be the beneficiaries of a peace festival and benefit concert on November 25 at the Pioneer Park in Leichhardt.

  • Philippines killings protested

    On November 16, 45 people rallied outside the Philippines consulate in the CBD to demand an end to the killings and harassment of political and trade union activists in the Philippines.