Australia

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.

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

Mount Isa: the great Queensland strike - Solidarity

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Australia: Railway workers walk off over safety

Steven. — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 11:20:56 +0000

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.

1914-2000: The Australian IWW and 'Direct Action'

Steven. — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 11:42:53 +0000

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

Steven. — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 14:33:28 +0000

Scabs, coppers, strikes and footy

1989: Australian pilots strike

Steven. — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 19:06:38 +0000

1986: Victoria nurses' strike

Steven. — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 18:22:05 +0000

Nurses are often seen as the archetypal ‘handmaidens’ of men. Yet if there was ever an experience that demolished this image, it was the Victorian nurses’ strike of 1986, in which a predominantly female workforce took on and defeated the State Labour government.

1985: Victoria nurses' strike

Steven. — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 18:16:52 +0000

It ended in a partial victory, despite the unions' lack of militancy and more importantly layed the groundwork of rank-and-file organisation which was to play a key role in the 1986 nurses' strike.

1981: Kortex sweatshop strike

Steven. — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 18:12:44 +0000

Sweatshop rebels
How quickly people can change. The December 1981 Kortex strike illustrates how women’s oppression and their exploitation as workers combine and interact. A struggle in the workplace can spill over into the home and family life, with remarkable consequences.

1972: Broadmeadows Ford workers’ strike

Steven. — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 18:07:09 +0000

The dispute was only one of the hundreds that tore across Australia that year, but was remarkable for the strikers ability to circumvent official control, gain widespread community support and push the needs of migrant workers onto the national agenda.

1971-1974: Green bans by builders in Australia

Steven. — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 14:37:23 +0000

The bans prevented billions of dollars of development over 4 years, until the campaign was halted by the union leadership.

1971: The Kelly's Bush green ban

Steven. — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 14:31:27 +0000

In 1971 a group of women from the fashionable suburb of Hunter's Hill in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, were trying to save Kelly's Bush, the last remaining open space in that area. Construction firm AV Jennings planned to build luxury houses over the bush land.

1934: Queensland canecutters' strike

Steven. — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 14:19:24 +0000

Like many other anti- fascists, Francesco Carmagnola was forced to emigrate from Italy because of fascist violence. From his arrival in 1922, he was increasingly active and prominent in organising anti fascist activities in North Queensland, Sydney and Melbourne.