Police have been kicking arse and employers have been kicking goals @ the Visy factory in Dandenong and @ the Swift Australia factory in Brooklyn. Between 29 and 34 picketers were arrested @ Visy, while 120 workers have been locked out @ Swift. (“The 20 hectare Brooklyn plant situated in Melbourne’s west is the largest multi-species processing facility in the southern hemisphere.”) According to one report, “Last Friday [December 9], Visy management secured a Victorian Supreme Court injunction banning union organisers and delegates from the Dandenong picket” (Australia: Striking Visy workers arrested on picket line, Richard Phillips and Tania Baptist, wsws.org, December 13, 2010).
Unions are bad, mmmkay?
Helicopters, on the other hand, are very cool, and Visy management has been using them to fly scabs in over the heads of picketers.
A community picket has been called for Tuesday, December 13 from 6am. The picket is located near the corner of Greens Rd and Hammond Rd in Dandenong.
The picketers welcome solidarity from fellow workers, especially those with helicopters, or even vocal training:
Word on the street is that, as well as refusing to grant minor wage increases, combative Visy management is attempting to accelerate casualisation (with a concomitant reduction in wages and conditions) with a view to de-unionising the site.
As for Swift Australia, it’s a subsidiary of the Brazilian-based TNC JBS Friboi, the largest beef producer in the world. Swift has been busy taking advantage of the 457 visa scheme elsewhere in the country, and raking in even fatter profits as a result. The lockout was triggered by workers’ refusal to to agree to a measly 2% pay increase “in exchange for working Saturdays with reduced penalties” (Brooklyn meatworkers in wage war, Maribyrnong Weekly, December 8, 2010).
Presumably, police will eventually be kicking arse in Brooklyn too, altho’ if the company had enough smarts, it would have ensured it had sufficient stockpiles to starve the recalcitrant workers into submission, and thus avoid the need for any nastiness.
Still, every cloud has a silver lining, and while workers fight for scraps, others–in particular their employers–are a little more fortunate…
* The average total remuneration of a chief executive of a top 50 company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2010 is $6.4 million. The average CEO’s total pay packet is now worth almost 100 times that of the average worker.
* Executive pay rose by an average of over $940,000 over the past year – the equivalent of an extra $18,000 a week, while the annual wage for a full-time worker rose by just $3200, or $62 a week.
* Since 2001, the base pay for executives has risen by 130%, while average weekly earnings have risen by 52%. Inflation over the same period has been 28.6%.
* Across the economy, profits soared by 27.5% in 2009-10 financial year. Gross operating profits in mining have risen by 60.6%, while wages grew by just 3.8%. Construction profits rose by 55.5%, but wages by just 2.9%. And profits in the information, media and telecommunications sector grew by 10% – five times wages.
* Company profits as a share of national income are now back to the record levels of 2008, while the wages share is the lowest since 1964.
For what it’s worth (which may not be much), I thought I’d write down a few thoughts I had following the Union and Community Summer School 2010 held at Trades Hall on December 10/11. I only attended part of the conference, and thus am presenting only a (very) partial account. No doubt there’ll be other, more complete accounts in the weeks ahead, and I’ll link to them as and when I discover them. Otherwise, a series of proposals was agreed to at the end of the conference, and the School will take place again next year.
To begin with, the conference brought together activists and union officials from across the non-ALP Left in an attempt to reinvigorate debate within these ranks. [1] Disillusionment in the Labor Party is hardly a novelty, and criticisms of its machinations have been articulated many times before. [2] But recent years have, arguably, witnessed the beginnings of what may be a permanent break between the ALP and The Australian Left™, and thus an opportunity for leftists in the Australian labour movement to seriously re-consider their political strategies. [3]
A few key themes were present in the program and animated much of the discussion: principally, the relationship between the trade unions (and the labour movement generally) and the ALP. Beyond this, Dave Kerin summarises the School’s intent as follows:
Most left political traditions will take part in the school, which aims to strengthen unity on issues for which there is agreement. The approach will be one of problem-solving. To usefully tackle the big challenges confronting the union movement — such as the fight against anti-union laws and the struggle for a sustainable economy — … setting out the concrete questions these challenges pose to unions and labour movement activists.
As is common knowledge, while there are exceptions, on a national level trade unions are in decline in terms of membership, as well as influence. (The exceptions are industrial and occupational, gendered and generational.) The reasons for this are many, and may be found in the changing nature of Australian political economy–the decline in full-time jobs, the rise in tertiary industry and so on–but also, and of greater relevance in this context, the declining industrial utility of unions. That is, the extent to which unions–in the face of an incipient economic crisis, hamstrung by the recent introduction of anti-unions laws, and suffering from a longer-term political decline–find it difficult not only to carry out their otherwise routine function but to retain existing memberships, acquire new members, and continue to pursue a broadly ‘social democratic’ vision. The super duper love unions which resulted from the forced amlgamations of the late 1980s and early 1990s have been super for some… but not very many. [4]
In terms of the current malaise, and how it came to be, all the usual suspects featured in the line-up: the ALP, of course, which controls the trade unions, and does so in its own, particular interests–interests which even Blind Freddy can see are not necessarily in accord with those of trade union memberships, the labour movement, or the working class as a whole; the historical legacy of the Accord, which gutted the unions and coincided with the destruction of the few unions which failed to recognise its enormous benefits; and the subsequent establishment of a repressive legal framework (WorkChoices/Fair Work) by successive Coalition and Labor Governments, the jewel in the crown of which is the ABCC. The two recent trade union campaigns which were referred to in (largely) positive terms were the MUA dispute (April–June 1998) and the campaign against WorkChoices (2005–2007) aka the campaign to get Labor re-elected.
In real terms, both I think can be considered nominal failures.
Thus while the MUA dispute [5] did succeed in mobilising large segments of the labour movement and the public generally to defend the MUA, management did eventually manage to realise most if not all of its goals. And while the 2007 election was won by Labor, the new industrial relations framework the triumphant government adopted is different to the one the previous mob instituted only in degree rather than kind. Having largely fulfilled its function, the ACTU’s “Your Rights at Work” campaign has become largely moribund.
The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) (which allegedly costs The Australian Taxpayer $35 million a year to fund and—D’oh!–narrowly avoided triggering an industrial dispute through the eventually unsuccessful–fnarr fnarr–prosecution/persecution of Adelaide unionist Ark Tribe) came in for particular criticism, as did the ALP’s continued support for it. In fact, in labour terms, the case against the ABCC is a Lay Down Misère, which is one reason why Labor’s failure to abolish it has generated so much sound and fury.
Pay Up… Or Don’t
Something like 250 people attended the conference, but the only note of real anger I saw (but likely not the only one expressed) was when someone spoke of the pressures those working in the community sector face, and the general reluctance of workers in the sector to take industrial action; not because workers enjoy low wages and poor conditions (including stress and a resulting very high turnover rate), but because doing so disadvantages their clients (akathe poors). [6]
After many months spent virtually kissing Joolya’s arse (the img above being of the postcard workers were encouraged by the ASU to send Joolya ahead of the 2010 Federal election), the ASU’s ‘Pay Up’ campaign has to nobody’s surprise flopped: the Government declaring that, because it will simply cost too much, it will no longer be supporting the union’s wage case. [7] (The ‘Pay Up’ campaign was preceded by another flop titled ‘Respect The Workers Sustain The Services’). [8] A “furious” union has declared that on Thursday, December 15, the ASU and other unionists will be conducting rallies–“the biggest mobilisation for Equal Pay in history!”–in the vain hope that this might alter Joolya’s mind.
Or perhaps not. Given plummeting approval ratings–not least as a result of some rather unfortunate remarks on the potential prosecution/real persecution of Julian Assange–Joolya might be moved to try and salvage some respect in the eyes of a feminised workforce, and in some other way sustain the hope of a better deal for the 200,000 workers in the social and community services sector. [9] In any case, Joolya herself manages to scrape by on a measly annual salary of $354,671 (plus bonuses!).
Union Solidarity / Workers Solidarity Network
There was also some disco at the conference on Union Solidarity / Workers Solidarity Network. Rather than write some blah blah blah of my own, here’s links to a few articles which debate some of the issues raised by such networks in the context of radical struggles against capitalism: Pro-revolutionaries & trade unions, Anthony Hayes, Mutiny, No.49, April 2010 | Radical Unionism, Lindsay Hawkins, Mutiny, No.51, June 2010 | Against Capital; Against Work, Anthony Hayes, Mutiny, No.55, October 2010 | A perspective on directions in 2011, Liz Turner, Renegade News, No.2, 2010 [not available online].
Conclusion
I don’t think I’m gonna get my teef fixed anytime soon.
[1] Note that the conference was also attended by current, former, recovering and (presumably) future ALP members, non-aligned activists, and various leftists and socialists of one stripe or another.
[2] Vere Gordon Childe’s 1923 essay ‘How Labour Governs’ is a notable case. The IWW and other, earlier socialist political formations also had some choice words for this ghastly political machine (the internal workings of which that slack bastard Mark Latham recently and memorably dissected in his Diaries); the IWW’s ghost continues to haunt the labour movement.
[3] ACTU President Ged Kearney has recently expressed some mild criticism of the ALP (October 13, 2010). This break–at this point, hairline fracture–is also obviously contingent upon the continued ability of the Greens, and its embrace of a more progressive industrial relations policy, to act as an alternative pole of attraction for unionists.
[4] See : ‘After Labourism: The Neoliberal Turn by Labor Parties and the Response by Trade Unions’, Jason Schulman, 2009 (PDF). See also : “A dose of libertarianism would enhance our democracy” — and if my aunt had balls, she’d be my uncle.
[5] See : ‘War on the Waterfront’, Tom Bramble, Brisbane Defend Our Unions Committee, October 1998 and elsewhere on Takver’s Soapbox; What was the “victory” on the Australian waterfront?, Terry Cook, wsws.org, April 13, 1999.
[6] See : Deborah Robinson, Gender pay gap costs Australia $93 billion each year, Australian Women Online, March 15, 2010; Why are women still paid less than men?, ABC, June 11, 2010. Lots of disco on the subject @ Larvatus Prodeo (Gillard betrays low paid workers, Kim, November 19, 2010).
[7] Alex White, among other ALP members, reckons it was a bad decision (November 19, 2010); a worker from the DVRVC explains the relevance of the case here (December 7, 2010). Note that in Queensland the ETU–which is also reportedly “furious” at the State government’s selling off state/public assets–has threatened to form its own party (Anna Bligh ‘has lost the plot and is ‘behaving like Sir Joh’ says union leader, December 6, 2010). The “extremist and militant”–but otherwise remarkably civil, seemingly honest, and even entertaining–Peter Simpson was one of a number of former(?) True Believers to address the conference.
[8] See : ‘Behind the ACTU’s latest pay equity ‘campaign”, Linda Waldron, Direct Action, No.22, May 2010.
[9] The Australian Community Sector Survey Report 2010 (PDF) provides some useful data on the sector, employment, funding and conditions.
i) Errant nonsense. Everybody knows it’s the International Cricket CouncilInternational Communist Current wot done it.
ii) Mad props to the kids from the slums of London (from the land down under).
“…it is unprecedented to see a government teeter before a movement in whom the iconic voices are sixteen and seventeen year old women, and whose anthems are mainly dubstep.”
“The cops would find it far more difficult to recklessly block and beat protesters like they did yesterday if they were facing the assembled membership of the UK’s radical trade unions. Would they kettle firefighters and prison officers the same way they do students and school-kids?”
~ Off your knees, comrades, Donnacha DeLong, The revolution will be streamed, December 10, 2010.
Lunch with Arbib at Azuma’s in Sydney. It’s interesting to listen to these machine guys: they live in a world of non-stop political manoeuvres and gossip, no structured thoughts about making society better. Their only points of reference in public life are polling and focus groups. And so it is with Arbib. Some snippets from him.
…The focus groups… show that it’s popular to bash the blacks: ‘You need to find new issues, like attacking land rights, get stuck into all the politically correct Aboriginal stuff–the punters love it’. Maybe he should have had lunch with Pauline Hanson, though not at Azuma’s.
…Arbib reckons that [Laurie] Oakes was consistently against us during the campaign: ‘He was the worst every night, so you must have a problem with Packer. You need to go and see the big media people every now and then and kiss their arses. Carr does it all the time, it works wonders’. Yes, if you don’t mind having shit on your lips.
~ Mark Latham, The Latham Diaries, Melbourne University Press, 2005 (Monday, 1 November, pp.369–370)
FEDERAL minister and right-wing Labor powerbroker Mark Arbib has been revealed as a confidential contact of the United States embassy in Canberra, providing inside information and commentary for Washington on the workings of the Australian government and the Labor Party.
Secret US embassy cables obtained by WikiLeaks and made available exclusively to The Age reveal that Senator Arbib, one of the architects of Kevin Rudd’s removal as prime minister, has been in regular contact with US embassy officers.
His candid comments have been incorporated into reports to Washington with repeated requests that his identity as a ”protected” source be guarded…
Operation: Payback seems to be having some effect. The website belonging to Stockholm law firm Borgstrom and Bostrom is refusing to answer any questions, and while there are (allegedly) some things money can’t buy / for everything else, there’s MasterCard… when you can find it.
*shrugs*
Other sites apparently targeted have included Swiss bank PostFinance (what froze a defence account for Assange), the Swedish Prosecutor Authority website, and one or two others…
First, let’s be clear, this is a difficult issue to deal with and there are opinions on all sides. Second, EveryDNS.net, the world’s largest free managed DNS provider, is not taking a position on the content hosted on the wikileaks.org or wikileaks.ch website, it is following established policies so as not to put any one EveryDNS.net user’s interests ahead of any others. Lastly, regardless of what people say about the actions of EveryDNS.net, we know this much is true – we believe in our New Hampshire state motto, Live Free or Die.
Defend Assange and WikiLeaks on Human Rights Day in Melbourne
WHEN : 4:30pm, Friday, December 10
WHERE: State Library Lawns
Julian Assange has been arrested in London. Join the protest to defend Assange and WikiLeaks on Human Rights Day in Melbourne, this Friday, December 10 @ 4.30pm @ the State Library.
Spread the word…
The demonstration will go till about 6 or so – so people should come after work.
December 6 is the second anniversary of the police murder of Athens teenager Alexandros (aka Andreas/Alexis) Grigoropoulos. His death triggered widespread rioting in Athens and elsewhere in Greece; these uprisings in turn helped to lay the groundwork for further revolts against state repression and the (ongoing) imposition of EU and IMF-backed austerity measures. (In October 2010, Epaminondas Korkoneas, the fascist-sympathising policeman responsible for executing Grigoropoulos, was sentenced to life in prison.) The (so-called) Global Financial Crisis has had European authorities shitting bricks over the prospect of Greek stylee resistance spreading across Europe, a possibility which has been partly realised in some territories (Iceland) and simmers away in others (England, Ireland, France). Their worst fears are now apparently centred upon economic dysfunction leading to (a deepening of) political unrest and social revolt in Portugal, Spain and Italy.
Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies (ADCS) is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal devoted to the study of new and emerging perspectives in anarchist thought and practice from or through a cultural studies perspective. The interdisciplinary focus of the journal presumes an analysis of a broad range of cultural phenomena, the development of diverse methodological traditions, as well as the investigation of both macro-structural issues and the micrological practices of “everyday life”. ADCS is an attempt to bring anarchist thought into contact with innumerable points of connection.
On October 15th, 2007 an estimated 300 police raided houses all over Aotearoa New Zealand and arrested people based on warrants issued under the Terrorism Suppression Act. Lives were turned upside down as the police searched for evidence of ‘terrorism.’ This book is a collection of oral history interviews of people affected by those raids and the aftermath: defendants, friends, family, supporters and other people subject to the state’s coercive powers on that day.
The case is the first ever attempted use of the Terrorism Suppression Act, a piece of legislation enacted in response to the 9/11 events in New York and Washington DC. The terrorism charges were not brought, but the people arrested continue to face a long journey to freedom as the state seeks to punish political activists and to reinforce the status quo.
Two Greek anarchists are making molotov cocktails. One says to the other: "So who will we throw these at then?" The other replies: "What are you, some kind of fucking intellectual?"
