Neue VeranstaltungshinweiseIndonesia / Philippines / Australia Es wurden keine neuen Veranstaltungshinweise in der letzten Woche veröffentlicht Kommende VeranstaltungenIndonesia / Philippines / Australia | Workplace struggles Keine kommenden Veranstaltungen veröffentlicht
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Australia: State of the union movement Jan 27 23 CFMEU Victoria fails its Covid test Nov 01 21 May Day 2019 May 01 19 Profits rise indonesia / philippines / australia |
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 Saturday October 29, 2005 09:45 by Takver
 Profits rise and rise while wages drop as a proportion of GDP Thursday October 20, 2005 Taken from melbourne Indymedia I find reading the Business pages can be very informative, like in the article below by Josh Gordon published in The Age of October 19, 2005. Rather than giving me new information, it confirmed what I thought was happening. There are a lot of greedy bastards, and John Howard is doing everything to ensure the game works solidly in their favour, including blatant lieing about wages. Of course, once legitimate industrial dissent is stifled, and conditions of employment and wages worsen, we are going to see more hidden resistance by workers. When you feel hard done by, little pieces of resistance will occur: petty theft of stationary and equipment; theft of working time; throwing a spanner in the works to slow production; deliberate foul ups; and on and on. Most resistance will be haphazard by individuals and hard to track down and pin to a cause. Some will occur on an informal, but organised basis: sickies taken by several people at a crucial time, co-ordinated foul ups that cost the boss money and give the workers a little breathing space. When you take away avenues for legitimate negotiation and remove basic working conditions established over a period of 100 years, then you encourage workers to resort to hidden and underground avenues of survival and revenge. In the great strikes of the 1890s arson was used on more than one occasion as an industrial weapon by individuals. I do not know if arson will occur in the current climate, and if it does, it will almost certainly be the work of individuals without popular sanction, pushed beyond their limits. If the proposed Industrial reforms are pushed through I reckon minor incidents of sabotage will be on the increase. It just might be a bit hard to keep accurate statistics of it. At the moment John Howard is definitely aware of the community concern by the way of protests. But he is still ideologically driven. His attendance at Woollongong early this week for a business lunch stimulated a 500 strong protest which included nurses, firefighters, teachers and police - all protesting angrily at his proposed workplace changes. Rather than meet with the workers of Woollongong Howard told the Business lunch Speaking inside the lunch, «Well I haven’t left their wages alone, I’ve in fact presided over the biggest real wage increase of a sustainable basis this country’s had since World War II.» But of course, this is just another lie, like the Children Overboard, and the necessity to trade in civil liberties for constant surveillance. The wage share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the June quarter was near a record low of 53.2 per cent, while company profits reached a record of 27.4 per cent of GDP. On a rainy Wednesday night with minimal notice 100 people turned up to disrupt John Howards dinner at the Melbourne Museum. Enough from me, here is the rebuttal of one of John Howard’s lies by economics correspondent, Josh Gordon. In the red corner ... lower wages By JOSH GORDON, ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENT, CANBERRA Key Points * Company profits reached a record 27.4 percent of GDP in the June quarter this year. * Prime Minister John Howard claims he has presided over the biggest real wage increase in Australia for decades. *Initially most of the benefits will flow to companies. The record slice of economic prosperity enjoyed by Australian companies could be set to expand if the Government’s controversial industrial relations overhaul tamps down wages, economists say. The latest figures from the Bureau of Statistics show that company profits reached a record 27.4 per cent of gross domestic product in the June quarter this year, up from just 22.6 per cent in the mid-1990s. At the same time, workers’ share of the economy has shrunk. After rising as high as 61 per cent of GDP in the early 1980s, the wage share was at a near record low of 53.2 per cent in the June quarter. The Government has been arguing that the industrial relations package is necessary to cut unemployment, but it suggests this will occur through a resulting productivity surge rather than lower wages. Prime Minister John Howard yesterday said he had presided over the biggest real wage increase in Australia for decades. «People follow me around Australia from time to time and hold up placards saying, ‘Don’t cut my wages John, leave my wages alone’,» Mr Howard said. «Well I haven’t left their wages alone, I’ve in fact presided over the biggest real wage increase of a sustainable basis this country’s had since World War II» HSBC chief economist John Edwards said he couldn’t see how the industrial relations changes would lead to a major increase in productivity. He said the package would only cut unemployment further if it resulted in lower minimum wages. «If real wages, particularly those down the bottom, decline over time then you would expect profits to be higher,» Dr Edwards said. «I think that is probably the intended impact, although the Government won’t say it. «I don’t think they’ll have a major impact but these changes are far more likely to increase employment by cutting real wages rather than any increase in productivity.» Access Economic director Chris Richardson said the changes could lead to higher productivity and a bigger «economic pie», although initially most of the benefits would flow to companies. «Initially the larger economic pie would tend to go towards business,» Mr Richardson said. «If the unemployment rate falls, the wages share could rise again. But over a long period of time, if the measures were to increase total wealth, people would get more income from savings rather than in their hands: this would mean a bigger profit share.» Suggesting that cracks could be forming in the labour market, a survey by National Australia Bank found business confidence and conditions edged down over the three months to September. NAB chief economist Alan Oster said higher oil prices and sluggish trading conditions had made companies less willing to take on new workers. References: 1. SMH - Angry workers dish up protest for PM’s lunch, October 18, 2005 - 2:05PM http://tinyurl.com/ahtsd 2. The Age Business Section - In the Red Corner ... lower wages, October 19, 2005 (reproduced above) 3. Also of interest is The Age Business Section - ‘Howard’s world vision on workplace justifications looks a little skewed’. October 19, 2005. By Josh Gordon with a table showing how our workers compare on an international basis in Unemployment and Basic wage.
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HauptseiteSupport Sudanese anarchists in exile Joint Statement of European Anarchist Organizations International anarchist call for solidarity: Earthquake in Turkey, Syria and Kurdistan Elements of Anarchist Theory and Strategy 19 de Julio: Cuando el pueblo se levanta, escribe la historia International anarchist solidarity against Turkish state repression Declaración Anarquista Internacional por el Primero de Mayo, 2022 Le vieux monde opprime les femmes et les minorités de genre. Leur force le détruira ! Against Militarism and War: For self-organised struggle and social revolution Declaração anarquista internacional sobre a pandemia da Covid-19 Anarchist Theory and History in Global Perspective Capitalism, Anti-Capitalism and Popular Organisation [Booklet] Reflexiones sobre la situación de Afganistán South Africa: Historic rupture or warring brothers again? Death or Renewal: Is the Climate Crisis the Final Crisis? Gleichheit und Freiheit stehen nicht zur Debatte! Contre la guerre au Kurdistan irakien, contre la traîtrise du PDK Meurtre de Clément Méric : l’enjeu politique du procès en appel Indonesia / Philippines / Australia | Workplace struggles | en Sat 20 Apr, 05:23
About 25-30 workers at International Flavours and Fragrances (IFF) in Dandenong, Melbourne have initiated a factory occupation in january 25 2015 in response to the company trying to force a pay cut and indefinitely locking them out. SUPPORT IS NEEDED NOW! It's really significant that these workers have decided to take strong industrial action at a point when workers rights are under attack more than ever. No matter what gains we make in struggle, sooner or later employers and governments will try to roll them back. And no matter how much ground we give, employers and governments will only come back for more. The class war goes on, because whether we fight or we don’t, capital never stops fighting. The struggle will continue until we organise as a class, take the means of production into our own hands, and overthrow the entire capitalist system. Only workers’ revolution can end the class war and bring peace to the human race. As long as capitalism endures, the world will be wracked by economic crisis and war, but there is a solution. We can unite across national borders with a global movement against capitalism and all its ills. We can build our movement with federalism and direct democracy rather than authoritarianism and hierarchy. And we can make a revolution, forging a classless global society of libertarian communism, where a free federation of workplaces and communities replaces capitalism and the State. We can establish, at last, a world of liberty, equality and solidarity and it will be done by practicing the values of the society we wish to create. The only way to end the crises of capitalism is to abolish capitalism itself. And the only way to abolish capitalism is for the working class to seize the means of production which are the foundation of the power of capital. In the immortal words of Lucy Parsons, widow of one of the Haymarket Martrys and a labour activist in her own right, "Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth". In short, we must make a revolution. We will abolish the capitalist State and replace it with the free federation of workplaces and communities worldwide. We will establish libertarian communism, a classless society where the freedom and equality of each is the condition of the freedom and equality of all. After two weeks on strike from 9 – 22 November, poultry workers at the Baiada poultry factory in Laverton have won a 4% annual pay increase and a reduction in the exploitation of casual and contract labour. On Wednesday 9th of November, workers at Baiada Poultry began indefinite protected industrial action in their campaign for secure and permanent jobs. The campaign under the umbrella of the NUW began when every single worker in the largely migrant workforce at the plant has voted to strike. The striking cold store workers at Swift Australia have held onto the eight-hour working day and their penalty rates, after a long battle with belligerent and at times sinister management tactics. It is crucial that all supporters go now and stand on the picket line alongside their friends in Brooklyn.
Since the introduction of the Australian Building and Construction Commission in 2005, we have witnessed a massive increase in deaths and serious injuries in the construction industry.
When in 1964 the Queensland government of Sir Francis Nicklin decided to call on all its powers to crush a strike by Mt Isa's miners, one man stood in their way - the union radical Pat Mackie. He led the strike, inspiring the miners to keep going, in a period when police were given carte blanche to suppress them. more >>
The union movement must be rebuilt and as soon as possible. It will only be harder the more the movement declines. Rebuilding can only be done through a rank and file insurgency. There may be times and places where it is appropriate to organise new unions (for example in entirely unorganised parts of the workforce, or where the existing union is wholly on the side of the bosses and cannot be recaptured by its members). Most workers, though, will not break with the officials until they are already mobilised and a practical decision is in front of them, so the insurgency must operate largely within existing unions.
It should go without saying that Anarchist Communists defend the CFMEU against bosses and the State, even when its officials haven’t done the right thing. It’s up to the labour movement to clean its own house, so neither the CFMEU’s failure over COVID19 nor the personal misbehaviour of the Victorian Secretary justify State intervention against the union. Instead, the Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group calls on construction workers to learn the correct lessons from the COVID19 debacle, clean out the ranks of the officials and bring the union under the direct control of the members. The CFMEU is in danger. Only class struggle will save it.
The Campaign for a General Strike to Stop Tony Abbott is developing, but needs to go a lot further and a lot faster. Each day that goes by without an organised working class response is a day that Liberals harm working class people and democratic rights in Australia further, a day to destroy the environment, torture refugees, wage imperialist war in West Asia, stoke reactionary social forces and stack public offices with Right wing zealots. To wait till the next election is to concede Tony Abbott the right to commit any crimes, no matter how appalling. [Italiano]
The Workers’ Audit A document by angry workers, for angry workers to debunk some audit commission myths.
Instead, we must emphasise that the defence of democratic rights is inseparable from the defence of the working class and its organisations. We have the right to organise, and no government can take it away. The Australian Building & Construction Commission must be defeated. It's as simple as ABCC. more >>
No matter what gains we make in struggle, sooner or later employers and governments will try to roll them back. And no matter how much ground we give, employers and governments will only come back for more. The class war goes on, because whether we fight or we don’t, capital never stops fighting. The struggle will continue until we organise as a class, take the means of production into our own hands, and overthrow the entire capitalist system. Only workers’ revolution can end the class war and bring peace to the human race.
As long as capitalism endures, the world will be wracked by economic crisis and war, but there is a solution. We can unite across national borders with a global movement against capitalism and all its ills. We can build our movement with federalism and direct democracy rather than authoritarianism and hierarchy. And we can make a revolution, forging a classless global society of libertarian communism, where a free federation of workplaces and communities replaces capitalism and the State. We can establish, at last, a world of liberty, equality and solidarity and it will be done by practicing the values of the society we wish to create.
The only way to end the crises of capitalism is to abolish capitalism itself. And the only way to abolish capitalism is for the working class to seize the means of production which are the foundation of the power of capital. In the immortal words of Lucy Parsons, widow of one of the Haymarket Martrys and a labour activist in her own right, "Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth". In short, we must make a revolution. We will abolish the capitalist State and replace it with the free federation of workplaces and communities worldwide. We will establish libertarian communism, a classless society where the freedom and equality of each is the condition of the freedom and equality of all.
Today, on May Day, we dedicate ourselves to this revolution, and the establishment of libertarian communism, a State-less society where each contributes according to their ability and receives according to their need.
The Director of Public Persecutions has dropped the charges against Noel Washinton, the CFMEU Organiser who refused to attend an interview with the ABCC. As a result, the protest rally has been cancelled, but another rally has been called to celebrate the victory. more >> |
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