News

  • Ballarat NTEU votes to strike

    Sue Bull, Ballarat Negotiations towards an enterprise agreement at the University of Ballarat have broken down. In response to the news, a meeting of 100 members of three unions voted on March 23 for a campaign of industrial bans, a series of

  • Rau was abused, witnesses claim

    Paul Oboohov German-born, Australian permanent resident Cornelia Rau was abused by jailers, and immigration detention officials knew about her mental condition, ABC TV's Four Corners revealed on April 4. Rau, a former Qantas flight attendant, was

  • CEPU opposes IRC intervention

    SYDNEY — The NSW branch of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) is challenging an attempt of one of its officials to seek compensation in the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC). CEPU NSW branch vice-president Peter Jones

  • ABM Plastics protest

    MELBOURNE — Workers sacked from the ABM Plastics factory in Braeside held a barbeque outside the K&K Plastics factory in Clayton on March 8. They had received information indicating that some of the production formerly carried out at ABM Plastics

  • Soldiers give thumbs-up to anti-war protesters

    SYDNEY — A handful of protesters took their anti-war message to the Fleet Base East, where HMAS Tobruk was leaving for Iraq, on April 4. The supply ship is to provide sealift for Australian troops deploying to the Al Muthanna Task Group in

  • Socialist Alliance organises against Howard in Victoria

    Karl Miller, Melbourne More than 80 people turned up to the Victorian state conference of the Socialist Alliance, the theme of which was "Organising a community and trade union fight-back against Howard's new attacks". This included around

  • Loose cannons

    Permanent war will bring peace "We're talking about a part of the world in which, uhh, you know, our foreign policy was, let's just hope for the best and tolerate the fact there's no free societies. And — what ended up happening was, there was a

  • VUT NTEU reschedules 48-hour strike

    Jo Williams, Melbourne On April 6, members of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) at meetings on two separate campuses of the Victoria University of Technology (VUT) decided to go ahead with a planned 48-hour strike, scheduled for April

  • Geelong unionists discuss IR 'reforms'

    GEELONG — On April 6, about 100 union delegates and members attended a cross-union meeting at Geelong Trades Hall to discuss the federal government's anti-union legislation. Leigh Hubbard, outgoing secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council

  • ACTU resists Vic unions' call for nationwide action

    Sue Bolton, Melbourne On March 23, a mass delegates' meeting called by the Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) voted for a work stoppage and mass protest on June 30, the day before the federal Coalition government takes full control of the Senate.

  • Autopsy reveals truth about Scott's death

    Kathy Newnam, Darwin The re-autopsy of the body of Douglas Scott has found further evidence that the Aboriginal man was tortured and murdered in the Northern Territory's Berrimah prison on July 5, 1985. Douglas Scott's widow, Letty, has fought

  • Unions protest prep school hours cutback

    BRISBANE — On April 4, about 1000 teacher aides and teachers attended protest meetings in Brisbane and 12 Queensland regional centres jointly organised organised by the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (representing teachers' aides) and