VIDEO: No Sell OFF of Public Assets Rally -- Brisbane July 3, 2009

BRISBANE: Fifteen hundred trade unionists and their supporters marched through the streets of Brisbane on July 3 to oppose the sell off of Queensland public assets. The protest had been called by the Electrical Trades Union and later was supported by the Queensland Council of Unions.Addressing the rally were speakers from the QCU, AFULE, ASU and the Rail Tram and Bus Union.

Mick Carr from the Maritime Union of Australia told the rally that there was no upside for a one off fixing of the debt by selling off public assets. Peter Simpson , state secretary of the Electrical Trades Union, said that his union wont be putting one cent into the ALP coffers at the next election if this legislation is still on the books.

He said it was time to put a line in the sand.

David Matters from the Rail Tram and Bus Union told everyone that his union, with community support, had won their fight against the prisatisation of the Brisbane City Council bus service in the 1990s.To applause he said, that it was time to put Anna Bligh under the control of working people.

But the surprize from among the speakers came from ALP state president and Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Secretary, Andrew Dettmar, who said that his union will not be supporting any politician at the next state election unless they make a no privatisation pledge.

The rally was followed by a march to state parliament .

• Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)
• Watch Video on YouTube

Lavington: Workers' picket after mass lay-off

The 'divide and conquer' method the bosses are using In Lavington is one that is leaving the workers in an extremely hard position over being able to effectively fight back. This is a major issue for the town on the border of NSW and Victoria, and is not the last we will see of similar.

Please distribute as best you can in solidarity with the workers, they are shattered over the position they are in, with no income they are are at the beck and call of the company, with Centrelink being used to stop them from effective protest. They need the money, and the company not telling them who will be employed possibly in the next few weeks (no timeline) has left them in the position they cannot refuse the work, or any benefits will suffer.

Why are the offshore banks being placed above the workers?
Why are suppliers etc being placed above the workers?
Why is management still on full wages?
Where has the workers entitlements gone between December and now?

The only thing the workers have left is for people to show solidarity in getting the message out there over how they have been shafted. They hope that we can raise the profile so that their struggle is heard in the capitals.

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Three hundred and thirty eight workers at Drivetrain Systems in Lavington (Albury) have been sacked without pay or entitlements as management proceeds to strip the factory of an estimated $17 million in assets. Sacked: Workers and families gather at Drivetrain Internation on Kaitlers Rd in Lavington.

Workers are camped at the gates of the Kaitlers Road factory demanding the $5 million dollars in entitlements owed to the workforce. In December management and the AMWU assured employees that their entitlements were safe at the troubled business. On Friday workers were sacked without pay, and informed that there was simply no money.

"Between now and December they've been spent our entitlements" said one worker "we don't know what on".

Whilst all workers were sacked without pay, management and executive staff were retained on full wages. Management still occupies the factory.

Workers say that there are still $17 million dollars worth of gear boxes still at the Kaitlers Road factory, but they fear they wont see a cent. The administrator has announced that the payment of financial creditors comes before giving workers their due entitlements.

The Kaitlers Road factory used to employ 1024 workers, this is not the first time that mass sackings have occurred. The factory is the only manufacturer of gear boxes in Australia, and was until the recent sackings the largest AMWU shop in the state.

Management has embarked on a deliberate campaign to split workers at the Kaitlers Road factory. Management has said they will re-employ a third of the workforce for a period of eight weeks, but have not stated which third of the workforce will be re-employed.

Action by workers has been hamstrung by this move. Desperate workers struggling to support families have said they cannot afford to jeopardize the possibility of eight weeks pay. If workers refuse the eight weeks work, they jeopardize future claims to Centrelink payments. Workers find out who will be re-employed on Wednesday, and will vote on whether to return to work on Wednesday morning.

Support the picket line on Kaitlers Road, workers appreciate all supporters who drop in. In you're not in Albury-Wodonga, you can join the Facebook group, contact media outlets, and raise this issue with your local member.

Why will workers entitlements only be paid after debts owed to banks and suppliers? Surely the families of workers must have a higher priority than the profits of foreign banks, when a business like Drivetrain International collapses?

This report from the picket by:

Dave Fregon - 0434000234
Kieran Bennett - 0430509913

If you need information or contacts for the workers, please contact:
Dave Fregon
NetAxxs Workers Collective
Ph: +613 5721 7777
Mob: 0434 000 234 25A
Ely Street
Wangaratta 3677
Australia

NSW power sell-off: workers prepare response to parliament vote

By Dick Nichols

SYDNEY—A mass meeting of Central Coast power industry workers voted on July 11 for an “immediate stoppage of work by all members across the industry If the sell off legislation is passed by the Lower House of NSW Parliament”.

The meeting also resolved to lift current overtime bans and “comply with the terms of our awards and agreement” and that “if any member is disciplined or has their employment harmed in any way there will be an immediate set cessation of work by all members.”

Before the mass meeting discussed the resolution it was addressed by Greens Member of the Legislative Council (upper house) John Kaye, the most prominent parliamentary opponent of the Iemma government’s electricity privatisation plan.

As the behind-the-scenes battle for MPs votes continues in Macquarie Street the “word” is that Iemma could well lose the numbers in the Legislative Council—provided the Liberals don’t vote to support the power sell-off. The Central Coast mass meeting resolution seems aimed at putting spine into wavering upper house ALP MPs: if enough join the Nationals and Greens and the Liberals also vote against the power sell-off it will be dead.

Speculation is also rife as to if and when the sell-off legislation will next be debated in parliament, with many convinced that there is no way it Iemma will reintroduce it in this session if he is not certain of “the numbers”.

In the meantime the Stop the Sell-Off Community Group, which meets weekly in Sydney and brings together rank-and-file ALPers, Greens, socialists and union activists, decided to prepare an afternoon protest picket outside Parliament House during the present parliamentary session. The group will ask Unions NSW and individual electricity sector unions to advertise the action when the details are finalised.

The group also continues to organise Saturday stalls in Sydney shopping centres, gathering signatures against the sell-off and keeping people up to date on the campaign. Details of the stalls are available of the Socialist Alliance web site at www.socialist-alliance.org.

Meetings of the Stop the Sell-Off Community Group take place every Wednesday in the AMWU building, Chalmers Street, Surry Hills. For details contact Colin Drane on 0419 698 396.

Defend Dave Kerin! Union Solidarity Coordinator Faces 6 months jail.

Union Solidarity Coordinator Faces 6 months jail.

Union Solidarity Coordinator Dave Kerin is now facing up to 6 months jail for supporting striking workers at Boeing.

The Australian Workplace Ombudsman has issued Dave with a "Notice to produce documents" [see attachment] in relation to the recent strike at Boeing. Dave is being asked to supply a government agency with all information and documents concerning Union Solidarity, the AMWU and rank & file members by May 8. Basically Dave is being asked to "rat", he wont.

Union Solidarity will not comply with laws and government agencies whose sole purpose is to prevent workers having the ability to strike and organise. In the last election the Australian people voted overwhelming to get rid of anti-union laws, Union Solidarity operates within the spirit of that intention!

We are asking you to indicate your public support for Dave Kerin and Union Solidarity.

Online:
Please go here and indicate your public support for Dave Kerin and Union Solidarity. At a later date we will publish the names (but not phone numbers) to show the Workplace Ombudsman how much support Dave Kerin has within the movement.

Download for printing:

• Sign up list to be printed and distributed, a return postal address is on the bottom.
• Copy of the summons served on Dave Kerin
  

Messages of support for Dave Kerin can be sent to Dave: defenddave@unionsolidarity.org

Yours in Solidarity

Union Solidarity.

Union Solidarity Coordinator facing up to 6 months jail

From LeftClickBlog, with original info at Union Solidarity:

Union Solidarity Coordinator Dave Kerin (speaking above right ) is now facing up to 6 months jail for supporting striking workers at Boeing.

The Australian Workplace Ombudsman has issued Dave with a “Notice to produce documents” order in relation to the recent strike at Boeing. Dave is being asked to supply a government agency with all information and documents concerning Union Solidarity, the AMWU and rank & file members by May 8. Failure to do so under the 1996 Workplace Relations Act could result in 6 months jail.

Quoting from the notice:

"A contravention, without resonable excuse, of the requirement to produce the documents identified in this notice is an offence under section 819 of the Act. Failure to comply with this notice could result in your being liable to imprisonment for up to 6 months."

Union Solidarity will not comply with laws and government agencies whose sole purpose is to prevent workers having the ability to strike and organise.

We are asking you to indicate your public support for Dave Kerin and Union Solidarity. Go to Defend Dave Kerin Sign Up form

Don’t wait until 2010 – Abolish the ABCC now!

Don’t wait until 2010 – Abolish the ABCC now!

Since it was set up in 2005, the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) has operated as an all-powerful secret police in the building industry, attacking unions, unionists and the right to organise. The ABCC has been handed dictatorial power to secretly interrogate and intimidate workers, to jail and levy huge fines, all in the interest of defending profits in the building industry. The new Rudd government must honour its commitment to abolish the ABCC, not in 2010 but now! Any proposal to introduce a new “tough cop on the beat”, as proposed by deputy PM Julia Gillard in the lead-up to the 2007 federal election, must also be dropped.

The ABCC was set up as the Howard government's special weapon against the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, especially after its critical role in defeating Howard's attack on the Maritime Union of Australia in the 1998 Patrick's dispute. It was formed out of the Cole Royal Commission into the building industry – a trumped-up kangaroo court, which failed to find any evidence of any corruption by building unions. It aims to intimidate union members, bankrupt and split unions, and destroy all workplace solidarity. $32 million a year of taxpayers' money goes to keeping this special cop shop running.

The Commission’s extraordinary powers allow it to operate in secrecy, deny workers the right to silence and impose hefty fines and prison sentences for non-cooperation. No other group of workers in Australia has been singled out to face the draconian and unjust force of the law to such an extent. Already three reports by the International Labour Organisation have been issued outlining how the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act, the Howard government legislation which formed the ABCC, is in breach of international labor law.

The ABCC has been involved in around 38 prosecutions targeting workers and unions who have taken industrial action over occupational health and safety concerns, in particular, including life-threatening workplace issues. Under the current laws the building industry is defined so broadly that it also includes transport and manufacturing workers, making them targets for the building industry’s attack dog. The ABCC’s target list includes the CFMEU, the Electrical Trades Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and the MUA.

Since the election of the Rudd government in November, the ABCC has been pursuing building workers with an increased frenzy. This points to a broader campaign by big business to create the impression of “industrial chaos” in the building industry in order justify the ABCC’s existence beyond Labor’s stated end-date of January 1, 2010. In particular, the charging in Geelong of CFMEU delegate Craig Johnston–former state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union – is a cynical attempt to revive anti-union hysteria by stirring memories of "unionists on the rampage" (when Johnston's "crime" as a union official was trying to defend unjustly sacked AMWU members!).

The bitter truth is that–contrary to election promises and much empty rhetoric–the Rudd Federal government wants to keep most of the previous Coalition government’s anti-worker laws. While promising to abolish the ABCC, Labor will replace it with a special section of its “Fair Work Australia”, which may have similar powers to the ABCC. This is an outrage. The ABCC needs to be completely abolished and discrimination against building workers ended once and for all!

No secret police for the building industry!
No more kangaroo courts – abolish the ABCC now!
Defend the right to organise!
Defend the right to strike!

Rip up ALL anti-worker laws! Motion calling on Rudd government

Motion calling on the Rudd government to repeal all anti-union laws
[This motion was put to the AMWU Brisbane delegates meeting, held on Tuesday, February 26. The motion will go to AMWU National Conference later this year]

Preamble
The Rudd Labor government came to power on the back of a massive upsurge of working people who took mass action on the streets and campaigned tirelessly through Your Rights at Work and other community groups for the repeal of all of Work Choices.
The backlash was so great that the Howard government was voted out and even John Howard lost his own seat.
Now is the time for the Rudd-led ALP government to deliver on its promise to workers and get rid of all of Work Choices and all anti-union laws.

This [name of union or community group] calls on the federal Labor Government to:

1. Abolish Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs)
- Backdate the abolition of Australian Workplace Agreements to the date of the ALP’s election victory, November 24, 2007
- No AWA clones! Abandon legislation for Interim Transitional Employment Agreements (ITEAs).
- Allow workers covered by existing AWAs to opt out and to move onto union negotiated Enterprise Bargaining Agreements (EBA) awards.
2. End “prohibited content” in EBAs
3. Reinstate strong awards for all workers (no award stripping)
Awards must include:
- The protection of all penalty rates, loading rates and allowances
- Full wage indexation
- Protection of shift arrangements and rosters
4. Reinstate unfair dismissal laws for all workers immediately. No delay until 2010
- No watered-down system of “conciliation”
- Restore all lost rights
5. Guarantee that all legislation abide by ILO conventions on workers’ rights to freedom of association including
- Union officials right of entry to workplaces
- Workers right to elect workplace delegates
- Workers right to strike, without the threat of fines
- Repeal the ban on industry-wide (pattern) bargaining
6. Abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC)
7. Abolish the anti-union powers of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)

MOVED……………………………………………………………………………………..

SECONDED………………………………………………………………………………..


To download the Socialist Alliance's leaflet "Now really rip up WorkChoices", click here.