
Issue No 86		02 March 2001

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News

Daewoo Workers See The Ugly Face Of Globalisation

By Mary Yaager

Angry unions and community groups protested this week outside the Korean Consulate in Sydney in support of the Daewoo workers and their families who had been violently beaten by Korean police.

Financial mismanagement by Korean Daewoo executives based on huge illegal overseas loans has seen 4,000 workers sacked, with the remainder taking a 30 per cent paycut.

On one occasion more than 4,000 armed police, using forklifts, surrounded and rammed Korean workers and their familes.

Daewoo is now bankrupt; the owner is in hiding; and the Korean Government is seeking to sell Daewoo. General Motors Holden is the only prospective buyer - but on the condition that there is major restructuring.

Daewoo employees are demanding long term job security through public ownership of Daewoo, as was done for Chrysler, VW and Renault by their respective governments. They are demanding no redundancies and no sale to overseas interests.

John Robertson, Assistant Secretary, Labor Council of NSW, said it is important with the continued growth of globalisation that unions also act globally and support the rights of workers to take industrial action.

Paul Bastian, Secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union said that the threat to jobs and job security is not just at Daewoo. All Korean workers face job insecurity while ever the Korean government adheres to WTO and IMF Free Trade Policies.

Paul went on to say the AMWU completely opposes free trade policies and this is the ugly face of globalisation.

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  Issue 86 contents

Interview: Master of Opposition
Over the past five years, John Faulkner has turned the Senates Estimates structure into his own House of Pain. He explains the art of Opposition.

Politics: Beazley the Bridge Builder?
As the Howard Government flounders, Brett Evans looks at the challenges Kim Beazley faces as his hour of destiny approaches.

Unions: Lashing & Loathing at Patricks
Three years since one of the Howard Government�s most infamous episodes, the Waterfront War, Zoe Reynolds discovers how casuals are now doing the doing the dirty work on the docks.

Legal: Workers Without Rights
Mark Morey outlines the legal status and (lack of) rights for foreigners in Australia on working visas.

International: Dispatch from the Dispossessed
Mahendra Chaudhry, Leader of the People's Coalition and the Fiji Labour Party comments on this week�s court decision.

Economics: Business Power and Mobility
The US election season makes it patently clear how Big Business is able to transform its financial resources into political power via campaigncontributions.

History: The Spoilers and the Split
The Movement, Groupers, the DLP and The Doc. All have been blamed in various ways for the ALP split in the 1950s, ensuring the ALP was kept out of federal government until 1972. Can One Nation return the favour?

Review: The New Hard Politics
Dennis Glover argues that policy has taken over from spin as the political battleground of the new century.

Satire: Bradman Latest: Family In Dramatic Court Action
The family of the late Sir Donald Bradman yesterday sought a restraining order against Prime Minister John Howard after it became apparent that he wants to be involved in every single detail of the The Don's funeral.

» StoneTemple Pirate Outrage Hits Canberra

» Five Star Exploitation at Regent

» Workers Say: We Deserve Better

» Carr Called on Ten Year Temps

» National Textiles Workers Struggling 12 Months On

» MUA Prosecutes Patrick for Crippling Workers

» Test Case: Is Redundancy a Universal Right?

» Who Pays for the Public Works?

» Seven-day Strike at Five BHP Mines

» Chubb Cuts Place Security Guards at Risk

» Vic Employers Support New IR Laws

» Lock-Out Tactics Poison Neighbourhood

» Shangri-La: Lawyers Take Over from Thugs

» Daewoo Workers See The Ugly Face Of Globalisation

» Labour Wings to Meet in Macquarie Street

» Costa Kisses the Rings

» Meat Workers Dropped from the Queue for Q Fever Vaccine

» Activists Notebook