It’s 2005 and Craig Johnston, former Victorian State Secretary of the AMWU, is still locked up in Loddon Prison. He’s serving nine months of a 33-month sentence for his alleged involvement in a run-through of Johnson Tiles after the company sacked 29 workers. Johnston was the only one of 18 unionists originally charged to receive… Read more »
workers
Sexism and ageism place women of all ages on the frontlines for freedom
Here we are, in the 21st century, and young women are still portrayed as sex objects. From billboards, TV and glossy magazines the image of slim, sexy women sells products, from breakfast cereals to men’s toiletries and anti-wrinkle creams. They grace the catwalks, showing off the latest expensive fashions. These are bodies that all women… Read more »
Newcastle CPSU members say NO to centralisation
CPSU members in the Hunter region have been making waves inside the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU). When the National Management Committee (NMC) of the union made a decision to close its Newcastle office, members were incensed and vowed to get the decision overturned. Members were particularly angered by the shabby treatment of the… Read more »
End corporate terrorism: Time to stop business getting away with murder
Deadly dust. Asbestos is a mineral which should have been left in the ground. Its crystal structure causes it to break down into incredibly fine, sharp fibres which penetrate cells in the lungs and stomach, leading to scarring and causing mutations that become cancers. James Hardie was the leading source of this poison. Cut and… Read more »
Edith Morgan: A life of working class struggle
In May this year, Melbourne lost an inspiring feminist and working class organiser. Edith Morgan was a veteran fighter against injustice. A founder of the Older Persons’ Action Centre, well into her 80s she led resistance by pensioners and superannuants against attacks such as the introduction of the Goods and Service Tax. A regular spokesperson… Read more »
Katie Ball: rebel with a “can do” attitude
The death of Katie Ball on 25 June leaves a big gap in activist circles. Katie was a tenacious fighter for disability rights, the environment and against imperialist war. In her autobiographical piece in Jocelynne Scutt’s 1992 collection As a Woman she explains: “I refuse to limit my social and political participation to campaigns which… Read more »
Gaylene Seadon – Farewell to a gutsy feminist fighter
On 31 May, Gaylene Seadon’s long fight with breast cancer came to a close. Gaylene, who was mother to Matthew and Katie, was 49 years old. She fought cancer in the same way she struggled against bosses, sell-out bureaucrats and patriarchs — with tenacity! Until ill health slowed her down, I knew I’d find myself… Read more »
Junior rates are Wage Slavery – Equal Pay NOW!
According to the Howard Government, young people should be grateful for being paid peanuts. The “youth wage,” it claims, gives them a foot in the door and reduces unemployment. But does it create jobs or slaves? International labour standards and human rights conventions prohibit workplace discrimination on various grounds, including age. Similarly the Australian Industrial… Read more »
Pay up now! Stolen wages campaign demands full compensation for fleeced Indigenous workers
Fred Edwards is 64 years old with a heart condition, asthma and diabetes. Yet, as a former stockman from northern Queensland’s Gulf Country, he has to get back in the saddle in order to pay off his car loan before he can retire. Descendants of Elliott Bennett, who died in 1981, are suing the Queensland… Read more »
Workers fire up against Abbott’s ongoing anti-union push
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott spent last year trying to convince employers to be “more militant” — and take on unions. He takes every opportunity he can to convince bosses that many of them have made “insufficient use” of “all sorts of freedoms and flexibilities” within the existing industrial relations laws. In August Abbott presented… Read more »
