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Issue No. 141 | 21 June 2002 |
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Bitter Pills
Interview: The Fels Guy Solidarity: Life or Death? Unions: Back to Basics International: Global Terror History: Sorry Business Technology: Future Active Satire: Executive Presents PowerPoint Eulogy at Mother�s Funeral Poetry: Santa Claus Was Coming to Oz Review: Dial 'M' For Minority Report
The Soapbox The Locker Room Week in Review Bosswatch
 Tanya IncTom Bites BackRoot Canal Therapy
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The Locker Room The World Game
*************** Out With The Old Guard: And In With The New Arrivaderci Italia - Au Revoir France - Adios Argentina (Don't Cry) - Caio Portugal Who would have thought four of the pre post favourites would not even make the quarter finals? How refreshing to see the likes of Senegal (the West Indies of the football world), South Korea, Japan, the gutsy Irish (missing Big Bad Roy Keane) would show the so-called masters how to play. The pupils are now in charge - GREAT! The USA with their goalkeeper 'Lurch' Frediel have been a revelation. So pleased to see teams who sit on an early one nil lead come unstuck against much more adventurous opposition. This is probably the most exciting World Cup for many years with players like Nakata (Japan), Ah Lea (Korea) and Di Jen (Senegal) out performing the likes of Figo, Zidane and Vieri. What about these shots all sailing over the cross bar? Is it poor technique, all of a sudden, or maybe, could it be the ball? Don't mention the ball. Apparently, the hierarchy from Adidas have given orders to cease ALL discussions about the quality of their new ball. Finally, who is going to hold the prestigious 'Jules Rimet' Trophy on June 30? Brazil the perennial favourites, are still there and their class with its revitalised English side should probably have been everyone's final but the crafty Germans still hang in there, as do the Turkish 'delights'. Spain have proved to be the 'quiet achievers', while South Korea and the USA continue to surprise. But, wouldn't be great to see the Sengalese win the trophy. What a breath of fresh air they have been with their lightening counter attacks and flair. From a lounge room expert, experienced in World Cup excitement since 1966 when England ruled the waves, one who put his 'hard earned' on Portugal to win this one, and one who backed Denmark to beat England, it's getting very difficult. It's one of those competitions where, seemingly, the more you see, the less you know. This final question - WHO WILL DO IT? DON'T ASK ME!! Andrew Casey's World Cup Labor Ratings Korea It was only seconds before the first World Cup whistle that the militant Korean trade unions called off another wave of strikes. However Korean unionists - supported by unions around the world - are using the World Cup to remind the world that this is a country where the right to free association is still tenuous. Check out the Global Unions World Cup web-site http://www.global-unions.org/korea2002.asp?LN=E to get some details. Remember next Thursday, at midday, in front of the Korean consulate in Sydney, 32 Martin Place, there is an International Day of Action in support of imprisoned Korean unionists. Meanwhile in the UK the union representing football players - the GMB - has come out to protest Thursday's sacking of a Korean soccer player. Ahn Jung-Hwan kicked the goal which knocked Italy out of the World Cup. But Ahn Jung-Hwan plays professionally for the Italian team Perugia and the Italians have said his services are not wanted any more - industrial trouble is brewing here! USA The USA is one of several surprises in this year's World Cup. Its trade union movement is also throwing up surprises for the rest of the world. The low percentage of the workforce who are in unions tends to weaken US trade union power. But American unions have shown new life in recent years - kicking important goals for working people in the richest country in the world. In recent years unions such as the SEIU and HERE and UNITE have got a new vim, creating a fresh, new dynamic organising culture which is attracting more and more people to its ranks - especially among the recent arrivals to US shores, Hispanic women workers and Asian workers. Union coaches around the world are now avidly copying this new style of play by this handful of unions. Brazil This is a star player on the circuit - and it has deep roots in the international struggle and, like Korean unions, it has a growing reputation for its militancy. In fact there is much talk of Brazil joining with Korea and the South African trade union movement to form a breakaway tri-partite alliance of unions working hand-in-hand promoting a more militant culture in developing economies. Lots of Brazilian workers are currently closely watching the performance of a former captain of the union team Lula - Luiz Inancio Lula da Silva - who is leading the leftist Workers' Party in the upcoming presidential election. Recent opinion polls have Lula way out in front. England British unions are one of the earliest players, their old trade union traditions mean they can look back to a long history of wins - but in recent years, like a lot of the older stars, they have been seen to be losing more than they win. That may be the reason why there has, in recent months, been a resurgence of the Left . Union election after union election has resulted in a new team taking over the helm at major trade unions. The key theme of the new players in the UK trade union movement is the rejection of Labour PM Blair - and especially hostility to any more moves to privatise. Spain The Spanish trade union movement has shown they are well and truly able to organise a big show of strength at crucial moments - they have just completed a general strike that was backed by ten million workers. The union team called out their supporters to take part in a massive, colourful protest in several major cities to do battle with a conservative government planning to drastically cut back unemployment benefits and other social welfare payments. The one-day strike - the first in nearly a decade - was aimed at causing maximum embarrassment for conservative Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar ahead of the EU summit in Seville on Friday. Visit http://www.labourstart.org/spain/ to get more details. Germany Here we are in the home of Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels. They wrote what many still consider the training manual of class struggle. The trade union movement here still has a dominant influence in the economy and politics of this nation. Despite grumblings about the Social Democrat Party the recently completed Congress of the German Trade Union movement has declared that there is no alternative but for workers to support them in elections due later this year. While some might call it corporatist, the level of co-operation between unions and employers in Germany and the level of regulation continues to remind Australian observers of the Accord years. However the unions have shown they can still bite - there is a national building workers strike on at the moment. The first national strike of building workers in fifty years! Bank union members are also fighting right now with a series of strikes - while the manufacturing workers' union has just completed a wave of national stoppages which won big pay increases for their members. Senegal This is a nation where trade unions are still struggling to get on their feet. The ICFTU survey on trade union rights, issued this week, notes that the Senegalese government still retains the right to grant or withhold approval of a trade union, while the new constitution seriously undermines the right to strike. Protesting workers were badly injured this year when the police arrived to disperse their demonstration. The Senegalese government has cleverly cobbled the effectiveness of the trade union movement by helping to promote tensions within the peak trade union movement, the CNTS, which has ensured that they could not play effectively as a team. Turkey Turkey is another outsider - like Senegal. Its trade union movement is only just beginning to kick magnificent goals for the working class but it is hobbled by deeply hostile anti-union legislation. Over the last twelve months, according to the ICFTU, the public sector trade union confederation KESK and its members faced persistent attacks, including raids on their homes and offices and arrests. Despite changes to the Turkish constitution to improve human rights legislation, there was no improvement in trade union rights. A new law on the public sector actually further undermined union rights Where strikes are allowed, there is an excessively long waiting period (nearly three months) from the start of negotiations before a strike can be held. Collective bargaining must take place first. If there is a decision to go ahead with strike action, the employer must be given at least one week's notice. The issue of 'nationality' is an important one in Turkey - especially with the huge Kurdish minority. The local trade union law says people of foreign nationality can join a union, but workers have to be Turkish to join a union executive - to become the captain of a union team.
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