Oceania
Duke, James Herriott, 1939-1992
A short biography of Australian anarchist poet, James Herriott Duke, who also lived in the UK.
Remembering Jim Duke
"I started performing poems as a timid person with a stutter but the spirit of the times soon converted me into a bellowing bull." Jim Duke
“The voice played like a human saxophone.” Nicholas Zurbrugg
Fiji: Military regime facing growing revolt from workers
Fiji's military regime is facing a growing revolt by the country's unions, with thousands more workers voting to support a strike in defiance of warnings they will be sacked.
The Public Employees Union (PEU), representing almost 5,000 blue collar public servants, has voted to back a strike planned by the country's largest union, the Public Service Association (PSA). The PSA voted overwhelmingly on Friday to strike after the military government slashed civil servants' wages under a plan to save the nation's economy from collapse.
Nurses & teachers ballot
Australia: Railway workers walk off over safety
Pacific National railway workers went on unofficial strike on Sunday, reportedly over safety issues.
Alison Ribbon reported that the strike was apparently unplanned and dubbed a "wildcat strike" by the railway union.
Safety issues surrounding Pacific National have been in the headlines recently, with three derailments involving the company's trains in less than a year.
A train carrying paper from Hobart to the Burnie port derailed near Ulverstone a week ago.
New Zealand news hit by 'lightning' strikes
State broadcaster TVNZ's flagship evening news has been targeted for industrial action, with staff walking off the job just before it went to air on Sunday night (5 Nov).
Auckland Newstalk reported that union members in various parts of the organisation carried out lightning strikes between four and seven o'clock. They also took industrial action before One News aired on Friday night.
The myth of passivity: class struggles against neoliberalism in Aotearoa in the 1990s - Toby Boraman
This article from 2004 discusses several episodes of resistance to austerity in New Zealand in the 1990s.
NZ: Maori dancers out on wildcat
Maori dancers employed at the Te Puia (formerly New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute) were out on wildcat strike yesterday.
The dancers are part of a performance group, "Mauri", which provides regular shows at the attraction. They walked out during the middle of an $85/head dinner and performance, then went to the offices of the attraction to stage a haka dance.
NZ: Trolley jam in support of locked out supermarket workers
A number of customers blocked aisles in a New Zealand supermarket yesterday in support of locked out employees.
Customers filled shopping trolleys with goods then used them to block the aisles of the Foodtown Tauranga supermarket. Each trolley included a message of support for the locked out workers.
1914-2000: The Australian IWW and 'Direct Action'
A history of the once highly-influential Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union and its publication Direct Action in Australia.
Direct Action, later a monthly magazine, was first published by the US-founded Industrial Workers of the World union in Sydney in January 1914. They borrowed some dough from a member and bought themselves an archaic printing press so that all restraints upon expression of ‘clear cut revolutionary principles’ were removed.
1883-today: The radical history of Aussie rules football
A history of Aussie rules football and its intersection with working class politics since the first football strike in 1883.
Scabs, coppers, strikes and footy
1989: Australian pilots strike
An account of the 1989 strike of the highly democratic and self-managed Australian Federation of Air Pilots union, which was the biggest industrial struggle of the period.
John Pilger in his book Secret Country wrote about graft and corruption in Australia Today. He mentions several various powerful individuals. These same individuals – Sir Peter Ables, Rupert Murdoch, Bob Hawke all were involved in the conspiracy to smash the Australian Federation of Air Pilots.
