Workers Issues in Australia & the Pacific
Australian coal miners strike over safety, wages and conditions
By Richard Phillips, February 20, 2012
The seven-day strike, the longest by BMA miners in more than a decade, is over management demands for cost-cutting trade-offs in a new enterprise agreement.
Australian coal loader workers continue industrial action
By Richard Phillips, February 9, 2012
Strikes are continuing at the Port Kembla Coal Terminal, while coal miners in central Queensland’s Bowen Basin voted last week to strike.
New Zealand port threatens to sack striking workers
By John Braddock, January 21, 2012
Ports of Auckland is seeking to shatter the conditions of its workforce in line with attacks on waterfront workers internationally.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
January 21, 2012
About 100,000 teachers from 24,000 non-government primary schools held a three-day strike on January 17 to demand that they be brought onto the government’s payroll. The teachers threatened to walk out over the issue in March last year and last December several thousand struck and demonstrated at the Shah
Australian mental health workers maintain bans over wages and conditions
By Susan Allan, January 19, 2012
Mental health services are in profound crisis, following decades of chronic underfunding by successive governments at state and federal levels.
Australian maritime union delivers “productivity” demands to DP World
By Will Marshall, January 10, 2012
The deal follows DP World’s 24-hour lockout of workers in South Australia and threat to do the same elsewhere.
Schweppes Australia locks out workers
By Chris Sadlier, December 30, 2011
The pre-emptive lockout of the Schweppes workers in response to limited industrial action follows similar action recently taken by Qantas management and POAG stevedoring.
Union prepares to sell out Australian port workers
By Terry Cook, December 23, 2011
Having ended all industrial action following last week’s lockout, the union is now in backroom talks in the Fair Work Australia tribunal to deliver the productivity demands of the company.
Waterfront workers disgusted by Australian government’s intervention
By our correspondents, December 23, 2011
WSWS reporters spoke to port workers about the lockout by stevedoring company POAGS and the government’s intervention, backed by the union, to end all industrial action
Australian Labor government shuts down port workers’ dispute
By Terry Cook, December 15, 2011
Under conditions of a worsening global crisis, the government is acting on the demands of finance capital for sweeping cost cutting measures to ensure Australian-based corporations remain “internationally competitive.”
Australia: Union shuts down nurses’ industrial action
By Will Morrow and Patrick O’Connor, November 26, 2011
The ANF decision is an abject capitulation to the federal Labor government’s industrial relations regime and the state government’s agenda of slashing wages and conditions.
Australia: The political issues facing Victorian nurses
By Socialist Equality Party (Australia), November 23, 2011
Tens of thousands of public hospital nurses confront an assault on their jobs, wages, and conditions that is being coordinated between the state Liberal government of Ted Baillieu and the federal Labor government of Julia Gillard.
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