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After six weeks the McCormick strike is over … and the workers won!
Not happy with having denied their essential workers any pay rise the last five years, this year – after having its workers working throughout the Victorian lockdowns – McCormick wanted a repeat. But not even that was enough for McCormick: they also wanted to slash working conditions.
On February 25th McCormick staff, represented by United Workers Union, went on “protected industrial action” (in Australia strikes are only protected – that is, lawful – during enterprise bargaining discussions, plus a long list of other requisites).
All of us who in one way or another supported our McCormick comrades during this strike can legitimately share the satisfaction that victory entails.
With the exception of The Canberra Times, the national media apparently chose to disregard that victory. Not newsworthy, I suppose. Thanks for nothing, fellas. Regional outlets seemed more interested.
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The national media showed more interest in Hungry Panda riders Jun Yang and Xiangqian Li, who on March 16th won a case filed on their behalf by the Transport Workers’ Union. Yang and Li had been dismissed by their employer after protesting a cut in their pay rates. This is the TWU official press release.
The ABC’s Lydia Feng quoted Jun Yang as saying: “After weeks of protests, meetings with politicians and negotiations with the company I have been offered my job back at the high level I had worked hard to maintain for over a year”.
And Xiangqian Li as having said “a tough few weeks but the riders and union supported us and this result is a big relief for us”.
There’s strength in union. Join your union.
The ABC’s Lydia Feng quoted Jun Yang as saying: “After weeks of protests, meetings with politicians and negotiations with the company I have been offered my job back at the high level I had worked hard to maintain for over a year”.
And Xiangqian Li as having said “a tough few weeks but the riders and union supported us and this result is a big relief for us”.
There’s strength in union. Join your union.
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The thing is that these times have been extremely good for bosses, but crappier than usual for workers, to the point that even RBA Governor Philip Lowe – not known for his love for workers – has repeatedly warned that wages should increase.
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The FWC is currently receiving submissions towards this year’s update of said awards.
Guess what’s the official position of the Morrison Government on wage rises? Last week The Guardian’s Greg Jericho reported that, consistent with its endless class war against workers, the Morrison Government is pressing the FWC to “take a cautious approach” to raising the minimum wage (that, I suppose, is the job they had in mind for Sophie Mirabella).
Guess what’s the official position of the Morrison Government on wage rises? Last week The Guardian’s Greg Jericho reported that, consistent with its endless class war against workers, the Morrison Government is pressing the FWC to “take a cautious approach” to raising the minimum wage (that, I suppose, is the job they had in mind for Sophie Mirabella).
If you are dependent on awards, you could well be in for especially tough times.
This comes after the samebunch of bastards Morrison Government sank hundreds of thousands of Australian workers into unemployment and poverty with the end of JobKeeper and of the COVID19 supplement to JobSeeker (aka NewStart Allowance).
This comes after the same
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The unionisation drive at the Amazon Bessemer workhouse “fulfillment centre” came to a disappointing end. The ABC’s Sarah Ferguson had reported that about 80% of the 5,800 wage slaves “associates” at Bessemer were black and brown, so this could have been a union “of colour”, to use the description currently fashionable.
According to The Guardian’s Michael Sainato, however, only 55% of the eligible votes were cast. Out of these, 1,798 voted against unionisation, 738 voted for unionisation, and 505 votes were challenged, therefore not counted.
Spokespeople for the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, the American union behind the failed initiative, have promised to fight the election.
According to The Guardian’s Michael Sainato, however, only 55% of the eligible votes were cast. Out of these, 1,798 voted against unionisation, 738 voted for unionisation, and 505 votes were challenged, therefore not counted.
Spokespeople for the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, the American union behind the failed initiative, have promised to fight the election.
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A narrative popular among the American Liberal/Leftish identitarians – often white men of middle class extraction, highly educated but little real life experience – is that the white working class kept workers of colour out of their unions, so that unionisation would only benefit whites.
I see no need to comment on that.
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