Workers Issues in Australia & the Pacific
Australia: Labor uses Howard’s construction industry watchdog to attack building workers
Unions “play-acting”
By Chris Sadlier and Terry Cook, September 5, 2008
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is using the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC)—the construction industry watchdog set up by the previous Howard government—to launch a new as...
Australia: Maritime union promotes nationalism in CSL Yarra dispute
By Terry Cook, May 15, 2002
Nine Australian seamen are continuing an occupation of the bulk cargo ship CSL Yarra in Port Pirie, South Australia, in defiance of a company order instructing them to leave. The seamen began the occu...
Australian nurses union accepts cuts to conditions
By Margaret Rees, September 6, 2001
The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) abruptly ended a protracted industrial dispute with the Bracks Labor government in the state of Victoria on August 23 over the politically sensitive issue of st...
West Australian nurses issue challenge to government's health cuts
By Joe Lopez, January 20, 2001
In the midst of the campaign for a state election on February 10, registered nurses in Western Australia have challenged the right-wing Court government's protracted running down of the public health ...
Australia:
Union ends STP strike with workers still owed millions of dollars
By Barry Jobson and Terry Cook, January 17, 2001
Workers at Steel Tank and Pipe (STP) in Newcastle accepted a recommendation by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) to call off strike action on January 6, even though they have no chance...
Australian power workers reject union attempt to impose job cuts
By Chris Sinnema, December 22, 2000
Power workers at Yallourn Energy in Victoria's La Trobe Valley have defied their union leadership and voted down a new three-year workplace agreement in a secret ballot conducted over three days. The ...
Australian library workers fight cuts to jobs and services
By Erika Zimmer, August 17, 2000
Staff at Sydney's State Library of New South Wales recently took industrial action over job losses— their first such action since the strikes that followed the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor gov...
Media promotes "militant" union faction in Australia
What is Workers First?
By Laura Mitchell, June 30, 2000
Workers First, a faction of officials within the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), is being accorded considerable publicity by the mass media as “the tough new face of unionism&rdqu...
Australian building unions and their phoney 36-hour week campaign
By Peter Byrne, April 6, 2000
An agreement struck at the end of March between building industry unions in Victoria and Grollo, one of Australia's largest construction companies, reveals the bogus nature of the union campaign for a...
Labor Party invokes emergency measures against Australian electricity workers
By a correspondent, February 10, 2000
After only four months in office, the Labor government in the Australian state of Victoria has demonstrated that it will act sharply against workers in order to defend corporate interests.
Sacked Australian textile workers picket for $11 million in unpaid entitlements
By Steve Dean, February 5, 2000
Workers sacked by National Textiles on January 21 are continuing their 24-hour picket outside the company's factory in the town of Rutherford, about 170 kilometres north of Sydney. The 342 workers are...
ACTU holds talks with BHP
Australian unions prepare to impose company demands on Pilbara workers
By our correspondent, February 4, 2000
As the dispute over BHP's imposition of individual contracts on iron ore miners in the Pilbara region of Western Australia enters its third month, it emerged this week that Australian Council of Trade...
