Issue No 119 | 16 November 2001 | |
NewsBlokes Stand Up For The Ladies
In a victory for industrial chivalry, a group of blue-collar male workers have forced their employer to deal collectively with their female colleagues in the company's office. The 80 workers, employed by Carter Holt Harvey, a corrugated paper manufacture at Lansvale, had reached agreement on their own enterprise agreement, securing a 14 per cent pay rise. But eight women working in the company's office - who were also members of the union - had been told the company would not discuss a pay rise and keep them on open-ended contracts. The women have not had a rise for three years. After hearing of the response to their female colleagues, the workers - members of the AMWU Printing Division - called a five-day stoppage until the management talks to the women. The dispute drew media attention - placing extra pressure on company management who produce women's sanitary and home entertaining products. They were ready to walk off the job again this week when managers backed down and agreed to negotiate a collective agreement through the union. AMWU state secretary Amanda Perkins says she's really proud of the men who took the stand. "These are middle-aged blokes from migrant backgrounds who have taken a stand for their colleagues," Perkins says.
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Interview: Out of the Rubble Michael Costa argues that Saturday's election result could have been much, much worse. Unions: Sixty-Forty Are Good Odds! John Robertson argues that while there may be many problems with the ALP, union power is not one of them. Politics: Wrong Way, Go Back Labor's failure in the federal election is the result of more than bad luck. It is the result of a shift to populism that has left the Party bereft of core principles. Campaign Diary: Week Five: All Washed Up If you can stand it, relive the fatefull final week of a most remarkable election campaign. International: Trade Piracy Unmasked As the trade barons met in Qatar to chart out their agenda, George Monbiot looks at the machinations behind the scenes. Factions: The Party's Over Chris Christodoulou renews his call for a breakdown of the factional system to bring new life into the ALP History: The Fall-Out Neale Towart looks back to Labor's reaction to its loss in the 1954 'Petrov election' and finds warnings for today's post mortem. Media: Elite Defeat Rowan Cahill looks at the intellectual paucity in the PM's ongoing attacks on 'elite opinion'. Satire: Crean 'Listens To Australian People': Will Sink Refugee Boats Simon Crean, the most likely candidate to replace Kim Beazley as Labor's leader, says he will take heed of the message sent to the ALP by Australian voters at the Federal Election.
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