Oceania

Tongan riots, 2006

catch — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:54:16 +0000

Quote:

The Tongan riot is part of a wider surge in class struggle in the Pacific since 2005. Since this date, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, New Caledonia and Tahiti have experienced major strikes, and Tonga and the Solomons have experienced riots.

Melbourne postal workers in wildcat strike

Ed — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:40:11 +0000

Mail into and out of Victoria was also be affected by the snap strike by mail workers at the Dandenong letters processing centre, which normally is staffed by up to 1200 people. The workers walked off the job yesterday afternoon over the loss of special Sunday shifts that took about $160 out of their pay packets.

New Zealand: Brackenridge Estate strike - day two

Asher — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 02:28:43 +0000

The second day of the strike at Brackenridge Estate, a Ministry Of Health run complex for the care of intellectually disabled adults, saw around 40 workers and their supporters on the picket lines, under shade from the 30 degree plus heat. Friday, the first day of the 48 hour strike, saw around 100 people on the lines.

New Zealand: Maritime workers take fight to gates of Port of Napier

Asher — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 02:19:17 +0000

Mediation between the Maritime Union and Port Company is taking place currently, in an effort to stop moves by the Port of Napier to contract out stevedoring work which threatens 25 permanent and 60 casual jobs, with workers to be thrown on the scrap heap just before Christmas.

The Industrial Workers of the World in Australia - Ian Bedford

Ret Marut — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 23:02:55 +0000

THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD IN AUSTRALIA

IAN BEDFORD

Memoirs of the I.W.W. [Australia] - Bill Beattie

Ret Marut — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:29:59 +0000

MEMOIRS OF THE I.W.W. [Australia]

Bill Beattie

Papua New Guinea: Wildcat causes millions in losses

Marshall — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:43:41 +0000

Workers at the Lihir gold mine in Papua New Guinea walked out five days ago over a pay dispute in an unofficial action that is still unresolved. Efforts to cut a deal have stalled while managers consider Lihir's workers' demands, which include sacking the entire management of the mine. It is claimed that workers have been consistently denied the right to organise to protect their rights at work.

Mount Isa: the great Queensland strike - Solidarity

captain soap — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 00:51:31 +0000

Fiji: Public sector strikes grow amid death threats and intimidation

Asher — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 00:21:42 +0000

They are demanding the reversal of a 5% pay cut and the changing of the retirement age from 60 to 55, and an additional 10% pay rise. The pay cut and change in retirement age were announced shortly after the military government took power in a coup last December.

A Peoples’ History of Auckland- From the general strike to the ADB summit: 1912-1995

omar — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 07:38:58 +0000

A Peoples’ History of Auckland- From the general strike to the ADB summit. 1912-1995
IWW, 1912

New Zealand: 800 Hospital cleaners locked out after strike

Asher — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 09:24:05 +0000

The action involved striking for 55 minutes of every hour, 24 hours a day in a struggle for better wages and conditions.

New Zealand: International solidarity as miners launch indefinite strike

Steven. — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:10:53 +0000

About 140 Reefton and Dunollie miners were due to meet in Runanga at 1pm to decide their next step.

In an escalation of previous action, the Spring Creek miners walked off the job on Friday morning.

Coal miners across Aotearoa strike after negotiations break down

Asher — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 07:13:38 +0000

The miners are seeking a 5 - 5.5% pay increase, while Solid Energy (which directly employs 1/3 of the miners and the rest indirectly via contractors) has refused to go higher than 4%.

Strike Across The Empire, 1925 - Baruch Hirson and Lorraine Vivian

Ret Marut — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 21:09:02 +0000

The strikers confronted the shared hostility of governments, employers and union leaders alike. The text also deals with how the racism prevalent in the labour movement affected the conduct and outcome of the strike.

"THIS IS A STRIKE that has vanished from history. In August 1925, the seamen of Britain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand walked off their ships in protest against a ten per cent wage cut. It was one of the few genuinely international strikes, directed against a powerful international cartel. One would have expected it to be widely debated. Yet, newspaper coverage apart, history has largely been silent.

Fiji: minister attacks bloggers

jef costello — Tue, 22 May 2007 21:49:17 +0000

A local businessman, Ulaiasi Taoi, has been detained twice over the past month in relation to a blog and Mr Sayed-Khaiyum has warned of the dangers of bloggers using their anonymity to attack the government. A wave of blogs sprang up after the coup, with many bloggers publishing uncensored accounts of the coup and of the actions of its instigators once in power.

The Chinese mining industry - cheaper lives mean cheaper coal; so Australian bosses threaten relocation

Ret Marut — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:44:04 +0000

Quote:

[i]Those responsible for safety had sabotaged scenes, destroyed evidence and moved bodies, Xinhua News Agency quoted Li Yizhong, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, as saying, adding that most had been brought to justice.
In one 10-day period last month, 72 people were killed in four separate accidents.

Tahiti: Strikes underway with more to come

jef costello — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 11:22:15 +0000

The strike action is in support of a claim by workers for increased salaries and for their benefits to be brought into line with those of other workers at the Officeof post and telecommunications (OPT). An inter-union grouping of CSIP, CSTP/FO, Otahi, A Tia I Mua called the strike and 60% of workers are observing it.Tikiphone shops are either closed or picketed.

Australia: three-day lockout at Bridgestone ends

pingtiao — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 14:15:14 +0000

There has been no progress on their pay dispute as the company refused to negotiate in good faith.
“The company is refusing to negotiate with its workers and their union, and is hiding behind Howard’s laws to deny their workers a collectively negotiated agreement.”

Duke, James Herriott, 1939-1992

Steven. — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 10:52:10 +0000

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

Ed — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 23:40:02 +0000

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