MELBOURNE — On February 23, 200 people attended a rally at Telstra's Melbourne headquarters, called by the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), to protest against the planned transfer of information technology jobs to India.
CPSU national secretary Adrian O'Connell told the rally that Telstra must be accountable to the community that owns it. He called for a "moratorium on offshoring" and said the CPSU would campaign industrially and politically around the issue.
Steve Cilia, a CPSU delegate at IBM, told the rally that he formerly worked for Telstra but was transferred to IBM when the work was outsourced to that company. Cilia called for industrial action if any forced redundancies are imposed.
Lindsay Tanner, ALP shadow minister for communications, spoke of the need to "sack the Howard government", which he said is "letting our nation down". He said that while Labor would make it clear that Telstra has "an obligation to continue research and development in Australia", a Labor government would "not interfere in management decisions".
Australian Council of Trade Unions president Sharan Burrow led a chant of "no to outsourcing offshore".
Members First, an activist grouping within the CPSU, attempted to counter the strong nationalist tone of the rally (which was flooded with Australian flags), by distributing a leaflet arguing for workers' struggle rather than Australian nationalism.
Chris Slee
Construction workers force government's hand
PERTH — On February 25, ninety construction workers voted unanimously to walk off the Mt Lawley High School construction site for 72 hours, over safety issues, including asbestos.
Workers discovered brown and white asbestos in the roof cavity of the gymnasium in January. This prompted the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) to immediately draw the state government's attention to the health risk posed to construction workers and staff and pupils at the school.
Peter Ballard, CFMEU shop steward for the site, told Green Left Weekly that the members considered this to be "not just a union issue but a community issue".
Despite site builder Broad Construction agreeing that the asbestos should be removed, it was the threat of a stoppage by the union in January which forced an eleventh hour agreement by the government to do the right thing.
Following the government's January backdown, CFMEU state secretary Kevin Reynolds told GLW that education minister Alan Carpenter has now agreed to work with the CFMEU on an asbestos eradication plan.
Nikki Ulasowski
Ferry workers walk
SYDNEY — Maritime Union of Australia members employed at Sydney Ferries voted to walk off the job on February 23, to protest management's sacking of an MUA member.
One hundred ferry workers marched to Sydney Ferries' Pitt Street office chanting "No more sackings, no more harassment". Management refused to meet a delegation of MUA members and officials. The workers returned to work at 2pm.
According to ABC Online on February 23, Sydney Ferries head Bill Watson labeled the action a "wildcat strike", stating that he will not be intimidated into reversing the sacking.
The dispute went to the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) that day and the parties were directed to undertake further discussions to resolve the matter.
In another dispute, stevedoring company P&O has lodged an application with the IRC to revoke MUA assistant branch secretary Warren Smith's permit to enter sites under the Workplace Relation Act.
The union has received numerous resolutions from MUA members in support of Smith, who is also a leading member of the Communist Party of Australia.
Shane Bentley
From Green Left Weekly, March 3, 2004.
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