The battle for union rights under the Rudd Labor government is set to hot up in August, when building workers around the country go on strike in support of Ark Tribe, a South Australian union member, who faces court on August 11.
There was much media fanfare about the G8’s decisions on climate change, intended to be a step towards global negotiations in Copenhagen in December.
Leaders tried to spin the line that their agreement to keep temperature rises to 2 degrees was “historic” progress. But the commitment will amount to literal hot air.
It is not yet clear who is responsible for the terrorist bombing of the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta. It has raised the spectre of the Bali bombings in 2003, although the attack specifically targeted an elite business meeting rather than tourists.
On June 20, coinciding with national mobilisations against the NT Intervention, more than 1000 people marched in Perth demanding justice for Mr Ward, an Aboriginal leader from the remote community of Warburton in WA.
A Productivity Commission report into Indigenous disadvantage was released in July. Examining the period 2000 – 2008, it demonstrates the horrific human toll of Howard’s assault on Aboriginal self-determination. Across 80 per cent of 50 surveyed indicators, “the gap” has stayed the same or become wider.
Rudd’s CPRS has sent the message that big polluting companies can continue business as usual well into the future. The consequences are on display in NSW.
Lack of political clarity has held back the climate movement’s ability to galvanise opposition to Rudd’s climate policies and mount an effective challenge to the government. Power Shift, a “youth climate conference” that drew 1000 people in Sydney this month, was an example of the worst of these problems. It was exactly what the climate movement didn’t need.
Environment activists at the recent Students of Sustainability conference made a solidarity trip to visit workers on strike at the Hazelwood power station in Victoria.
Plan B, a program for immediate action to reduce emissions across all sectors of the Australian economy, was recently released by a coalition of environment groups, including Environment Victoria, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, The Wilderness Society, and various conservation councils.
The government is now arguing that the recession will not be as bad for Australia’s workers as first thought. We are told there is evidence of “green shoots” of recovery—for example a 25 per cent rise in the stock market since March. But there are serious doubts about this outlook.
General Motors, a company previously thought to epitomise the success of American capitalism, has collapsed, filed for bankruptcy, and been taken-over by the US government. While Obama has committed to the “fight for workers”, being labelled by the American right as a socialist, the facts present a much grimmer reality for General Motors (GM) employees.
The campaign to drop the abortion charges against a young Cairns couple continues. In April 2009, Tegan Leach, 19, and her partner Sergie Brennen, 21, were charged under the anti-abortion provisions of the Queensland criminal code.
State and Federal politicians are finding it difficult to ignore the continuing attacks against Indian students because of the impact they have had on international student visas, university enrolments and crucially their fees.
The dramatic events surrounding a boat of Afghan asylum seekers at risk of sinking off the Indonesian island of Sumbawa has revealed how Rudd’s demonisation of people smugglers is putting the lives of asylum seekers at risk.
Labor’s environment minister Peter Garrett has given approval for the opening of a new uranium mine in South Australia, the “Beverly Four Mile” project.
Hundreds of people were killed, with hundreds of others injured and arrested, during protests by the Muslim Uighur people in the Xianging region in the west of China recently. Simmering tensions produced by the Chinese state’s long-term oppression of the Uighur people have boiled over.
The war in Afghanistan is rapidly spreading into Pakistan to create what is becoming known as the Af-Pak war. The US has undertaken about 48 drone air strikes in Pakistan since the beginning of 2008, killing about 465 people. The attacks are focused along the border areas with Afghanistan.
Malalai Joya visited Australia recently to promote her new book, which tells the story of how civil war and foreign intervention have ripped Afghanistan apart, and why the government supported by the US-led occupiers is every bit as vicious as the Taliban was. She spoke to Solidarity.
A coup against Honduran president Manuel Zelaya has provoked protests throughout the country.
Pro-democracy protests in Iran have continued despite a bloody crackdown by the authorities.
Iran’s revolution in 1979 ended up replacing one dictatorship with another. But the outcome could have been very different, writes Shannon Price
Carl Taylor takes a look back at a strike where workers took on a Labor government
It was so close. There were just eight votes in the decision at Brisbane’s Treasury Casino to accept the company deal (see story p 22). There are two main reasons the Casino dispute went the bosses’ way—the laws and the union officials.
Anger and resentment is running high among workers at Brisbane’s Treasury Casino. Eight months of bargaining and two cancelled strikes have left us with a sub-standard agreement.
IN EARLY June Thiess Services sacked four union members for pushing a union collective agreement with the company.
Anna Bligh’s Labor government is well and truly on the nose following its decision to privatise $15 billion worth of public assets.
The gap between unions and the NSW state Labor government continues to widen. At the end of June Unions NSW unveiled its new response to the privatisation offensive at a meeting of public sector delegates and organisers.
Review: Possession
By Bain Atwood, Melbourne University Press, $54.99
Review: Bruno
Directed by Larry Charles, in cinemas now
Echoing the dramatic land rights struggle of the 1960s and 70s, elders at the Ampilatwatja community, 300 kms north-east of Alice Springs, have walked off their community demanding an end to the Intervention and immediate action to address shocking housing conditions.
