More than 100 workers and union solidarity activists closed down the Yarraville CSR construction site on July 25. They were protesting against construction manager John Kints threat to dock the pay of any worker who talked to a union official. Kint is notorious for his anti-union stance. He was responsible for sacking a workers representative at Woodsides Otways gas plant in Port Campbell in 2007, which led to months of industrial unrest. There will be a community meeting in Yarraville to discuss the CSR dispute. For more information, visit http://www.unionsolidarity.org.
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Refugee activists have welcomed the July 29 announcement by federal immigration minister Chris Evans to significantly dismantle Australia’s policy of mandatorily detaining refugees. They noted, however, that while the changes represent an important victory for the movement for refugee rights, the struggle is not yet over.
From the first day it appeared online, the masthead of the Climate and Capitalism blog has carried the slogan Ecosocialism or Barbarism: there is no third way.
SYDNEY A speakout and concert is being organised for August 16 to unite campaigns for Aboriginal rights in Australia.
A French court has denied a woman citizenship because she wears a burqa a veil covering the entire body according to a July 11 Reuters report.
Former PM John Howard’s blandly named Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) remains under PM Kevin Rudd. It is prosecuting Victorian vice-president of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), Noel Washington, who faces six months’ jail for not answering questions about a union meeting.
While some, including US presidential hopeful Barack Obama and the Australian government of PM Kevin Rudd, attempt to present the US-led occupation of Afghanistan as a good war counterposed to the disastrous occupation of Iraq seen as a distraction from the war on terrorism the bloodshed and repression in the service of the US-installed warlords in Kabul continues.
On July 19-20, the latest negotiations over Irans uranium enrichment program were held in Geneva between the five UN Security Council members (the US, Britain, France China and Russia) and Germany on one side and Iran on the other.
With the August 10 recall referendum on Bolivian President Evo Morales and eight out of nine prefects (governors) approaching, the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) government, together with the social movements, has launched an offensive against attempts by the right-wing opposition to prevent the electoral process going ahead.
Millions of Australian workers have faced the worst losses in their superannuation since 1992. Super funds have shown losses of on average 6.4% for the last financial year, with some showing losses as high as 15%, putting workers retirement funds in jeopardy.
His hair has grown, his voice sounds a little deeper and his wounds appear to have healed somewhat. But what isnt clear from the first ever Guantanamo Bay interrogation video to be released for public consumption is that Omar Khadr is blind in one eye.
The Reverend Helen Elizabeth Cox died on July 15 after a short illness in hospital in Melbourne. A service was held on July 21 at Doncaster East Uniting Church, and was attended by her extended family, friends and the many people touched by her ministries.
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