Workers Online
Workers Online
Workers Online
  Issue No 108 Official Organ of LaborNet 24 August 2001  

 --

 --

 --

.  LaborNET

.  Ask Neale

.  Tool of the Week


Letters to the Editor

Waterfront 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..


------

*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 108 contents

In this issue
Features
*  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.
*

News
»  Entitlements Just Tip of the Iceberg
*
»  State-Wide Push for Entitlement Protection
*
»  Support Builds for Industrial Manslaughter Laws
*
»  Organiser Assaulted � Police Called In
*
»  Young Casuals Not Paid Overtime
*
»  Commonwealth Hit With Criminal Conviction
*
»  Back Door Bob Does Wollongong
*
»  ABC IR Memo Draws More Fire
*
»  Unions Warn of More Deaths in Construction
*
»  Big Brother Hits Rail Workers
*
»  Libs Dodge Public Education Forum
*
»  Westfield Squeezes The Extra Dollar
*
»  MP's Staffers Fume Over Pay Deal
*
»  Mat Leave Win for Country Energy
*
»  No Wonder Wonderland Workers Unhappy
*
»  Qld's First Major Review of Awards
*
»  Unions Buck Online Ambush
*
»  Bras Burned for Burma
*
»  Two Capps To Cancel Debt
*
»  Australians Work Too Much, Too Long
*
»  Activists Notebook
*

Columns
»  The Soapbox
*
»  The Locker Room
*
»  Trades Hall
*
»  Tool Shed
*

Letters to the editor
»  Waterfront Women's Support Group
*
»  Banking Lobby Group
*
»  Love Your Tool!
*
»  More on Indonesian Workers
*

What you can do

Notice Board
- Check out the latest events

Latest Issue

View entire latest issue
- print all of the articles!

Previous Issues

Subject index

Search all issues

Enter keyword(s):
  


Workers Online - 2nd place Labourstart website of the year


BossWatch


Wobbly Radio



[ Home ][ Notice Board ][ Search ][ Previous Issues ][ Latest Issue ]

© 1999-2000 Labor Council of NSW

LaborNET is a resource for the labour movement provided by the Labor Council of NSW

URL: http://workers.labor.net.au/108/letters1_one.html
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005

[ Privacy Statement | Disclaimer | Credits ]

LaborNET is proudly created, designed and programmed by Social Change Online for the Labor Council of NSW

 *LaborNET*

 Labor Council of NSW

[Workers Online]

[Social Change Online]