Issue No 108 | 24 August 2001 | |
Letters to the EditorWaterfront Women's Support Group
On Thursday August 9th 2001, 80 workers at CSX World Terminals on the docks in Brisbane, Australia, are summoned into a meeting with the company's Australian general manager Grant Gilfillan with MUA leaders and human resource and employment officers. They are told that CSX has sold the company's equipment and terminal to their competitor Patrick Stevedores and that the entire workforce will no longer be required. Only weeks before, the workers received letters congragulating them on being the most efficient stevedoring workforce in Australia, with the highest crane rates, and a second berth next door that would increase future contracts and add to their competitiveness. To many of the workers who transferred from Patrick Stevedores 3 years before, this is a double blow. Despite an historical win in the highest court in the land in which Patrick's was found guilty of unfair dismissal and ordered to reinstate them, a ruthless Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) followed. Workers were forced to either leave, stay on in a brutal work environment where conditions had become severely undermined, or transfer to the more union-friendly company Sealand. In the past year, Sealand has been sold to CSX, and now Patrick's is once again, destroying their livelihoods.To add to the worker's frustration, its an election year, and no-one seems to want an industrial battle so close to an election. Its as if these proud workers are meant to die off quietly..
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Interview: The Man from Manusafe Manusafe chief Andrew Whiley explains why employers have nothing to fear from the entitlements trust fund. E-Change: 2.4 The Skeptic�s Response In this round-table discussion, Noel Hester leads the charge against the argument that globalisation and change are inevitable. Politics: No Hand Idle Whitlam Institute director Peter Botsman finds much to agree with in John Howard's social coalition for welfare delivery. Unions: Slavery and Struggle A battle with all the elements of the infamous waterfront dispute is being played out in Charleston, South Carolina: International: Postcard from Santiago The CFMEU's Phil Davey meets up with Communist Party cadres in Chile who led the underground resistance to Pinochet. History: Race and Australian Labour. Australian unionists have long been questioning notions of a �White Australia�, even before the colonies united with it as the central feature. Economics: Global Regulation Public sector unions from around the globe are taking the first steps to work internationally against the deregulation agenda. Satire: Niche Identified in Left-Wing Publications Market A marxist-feminist activist has discovered a gaping hole in the lucrative left-wing publications market. Review: The Fight for Equal Pay In this extract from her new book, Zelda D'Aprano looks at the contribution Kath Williams made to the struggle for equality.
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