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Issue No. 134 | 03 May 2002 |
The Hijacking of May Day
Interview: Youth Group History: Back To The Future Industrial: On the Street Unions: The New Deal Legal: The Police State Road Women: What Women Want Politics: Street Party International: The Costs of War Review: Songs of Solidarity Satire: Bono Satisfies World Hunger for Preachy Rockstars Poetry: Woomera
Yarra Seamen Take Border Stand Kinkos Copies Anti-Union Script Nike Told to Shoosh on Sweatshops Rapper Wins Wobbly Anthem Prize Unions Target Labour Hire Bidding War Rally Targets Tight-Arse Costello Councils To Be Audited On Language Allowance Scope For Payback In Privacy Limitations Heavyweight Push For Medibank Private To Stay Public East Timor MPs Question Timor Gap Plan Artists' Union Bans Voice For Peace
The Soapbox The Locker Room Bosswatch Week in Review Tool Shed
M1 Open Letter Julian Online May Day Debacle Mothers Day Musings Greetings From Canada
Labor Council of NSW |
News Yarra Seamen Take Border Stand
Crew on board the CSL Yarra have been denied food and other supplies by the ship's owners as the stand-off at Port Pirie enters its third day with ship workers refusing to lower the gangway. Despite winning an injunction against CSL plans to reflag the ship and crew it with Ukranians, the workers have been told to leave the ship on full pay. Maritime Union of Australia national secretary Paddy Crumlin says that the 17 workers on board are refusing to leave, fearing they will be replaced by Ukrainians straight away. Crumlin says the owners, CSL, are now attempting to starve the workers off before re-flagging the ship in the Bahamas and employing foreign crew on inferior wages and conditions. "CSL has denied our members a long-term future, now it is trying to deny them basic necessities such as food," Crumlin says. "Our members, though, are standing firm in defence of their jobs, Australian shipping and the integrity of the national coastline." Illegal Immigrants? Crumlin has also called on the Howard Government to intervene as a matter of urgency to secure the long-term future of Australian seafaring. "We suspect that the federal government has been more than just an innocent by-stander in this affair," he says. In particular the unions want Transport Minister John Anderson to answer three questions: - Have the Ukrainian seaman who will take the Australian jobs been granted access to Australia? - If so, under what visa conditions? - What dealings did the Howard Government have with CSL before it made the decision to de-flag and de-crew. "This smacks of another conspiracy to break Australian shipping," Crumlin says. "It started on the waterfront, but we are determined that it will not end at Port Pirie." Ongoing Action Meanwhile, the Australian Workers' Union whose members work for the company chartering the CSL Yarra, Adelaide Brighton Cement, has made a pact with the MUA, with top-level meetings considering support for the embattled crew. And supporters of the Yarra workers will rally outside CSL's head office in Sydney at 619 Pacific highway, St Leonards on Monday, May 6, from noon. The MUA will also lobby the Canadian Government over the behavour of CSL, a company controlled by Canadian Trade Minister and Prime Ministerial aspirant, Paul Martin. CSL purchased the Yarra from the Australian National Line when the former Labor Government privatised the line.
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