Workers’ Mail: Proud to Protest.

 

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In Australia we’ve grown used to be endlessly lectured on how lucky we are for living in a liberal democracy. It’s “government of the people, by the people, for the people” this; “rule of law” that. Aussie pollies go around the world in a crusade against foreign autocrats.

It sounds good, right?

Worker’s Mail: a Friendly Reminder.

Clare O’Brien, writing for Working Life, the ACTU newsletter, remind us that we must check our payslips carefully:

As we ring in a new financial year, we welcome a very well-deserved pay increase for minimum wage workers. As of 1 July, those on minimum wage should expect a 5.2 per cent pay rise while those on awards will receive either a 4.2 per cent increase or an extra $40 per week (whichever of the two is highest).

Also coming into effect on 1 July is the removal of the $450 threshold for super contributions. Are you starting to receive super for the first time? It’s important you make the right choice for you about which super fund your employer starts contributing to. Here’s a good place to start your research.

Australian union members fought long and hard for these much-needed changes that Australian workers have truly earned!

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Worker’s Mail: Ukraine.

 

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Kate Lee, Executive Officer (Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA), writes that

In light of the terrible consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with widespread destruction ongoing and already more than one million refugees having had to leave Ukraine, the International Trade Union Confederation and European Trade Union Confederation have called a global “Solidarity with Ukraine” day of action on Tuesday, 15th March.

Australian unions are supporting actions in Canberra and Sydney. Please join us at these events, and share these details with your networks.

• Canberra - Ukraine embassy, 11am. (Level 12, St George Centre, 60 Marcus Clarke St, Canberra.)
• Sydney - Ukraine consulate, 9.30am. (27-29 Church St, Lidcombe.)

Worker’s Mail: Call to Workers.

Left: A; Centre: B; Right: C.

Seen from Australia, the world seems to be entering a time of permanent crisis. Drought, bushfires, floods, cyclones, heat waves, pandemics, wars.

Times like these require solidarity, decency, generosity, honesty and courage: the same things our “leaders” demonstrate time and again they lack (think of COP26). It’s up to us, the little people – yes, us, the workers – to demonstrate those qualities. They call us heroes as an insincere exercise in PR. But they unknowingly are right: we are heroes.

ACTU Statement on RATs and Masks.

 

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Comrade Sally McManus, ACTU Secretary, sent us an email today. It’s at the bottom of this post. I fully support it. Before reading it, let me give you my own views on the matter.

Faced with a COVID outbreak of his own creation, Scott Morrison once again wants essential workers to risk their health so that society does not grind to a halt. He is right on something: we (not himself, not business people, not CEOs, not shareholders, not professors of philosophy or history or economics) are essential. We, with all our faults and weaknesses, but also with all our strength.

(If you are interested: a list of those included in that essential We.)

Workers’ Mail.

Sam, from the Megaphone Team (Victoria Trades Hall Council), writes that

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GPI just acquired “AR Packaging in the EU for over $1.4 billion”, Sam adds. But now they claim they cannot afford to increase their workers’ wages, forcing their workers to strike. This is particular cruel as Christmas approaches.

Environmentally Conscious Workers’ Mail.

Credit: ACTU

I’ve just donated to the ACTU’s Secure Jobs campaign – can you join me?

Big business is profiting big-time by making jobs less secure – and workers are paying the costs. And the Morrison Government is actively scheming with corporate lobbyists to remove more job security, reduce pay, and undermine work conditions.

With the next Federal Election looming, we’re campaigning to make sure insecure work is a problem that no voter or party can ignore.

Please consider a donation to the ACTU today to help reach more voters. We can make a difference together!

Workers’ Mail: Australian Workers’ Wages are Going Backwards.

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ACTU media release:

Workers’ wages in Australia are more than remaining dismally stagnant – they are in fact going backwards in real terms.

The latest Wage Price Index data released today shows that real wages have fallen by 2.1% over the last 12 months. In this quarter, wages growth has been only 0.4%, while inflation in Australia has increased to 3.8%.

In addition to those shocking figures, the public sector recorded wages growth of only 1.3% this year - its lowest annual rate of wages growth since the ABS started tracking this in 1997.

Prof. Bill Mitchell gives a panoramic view of the Australian labour market: wages, employment.

Worker’s Mail (Updated)

Resistance Hero [A]

 
During the four Trump years, nothing beyond getting rid of the Pussy-Grabber in Chief mattered. So gazillionaire Jeff Bezos, owner of openly anti-Trump The Washington Post, became a hero of the identitarian Leftist Resistance (Ed B, that’s you, among others).

Conclusive proof that capitalists – especially the really filthy rich ones – are really top blokes/sheilas and a force for progress, the guy could do no wrong.

Now US President Joe Biden – the main beneficiary of Bezos’ journalism – seems to be repaying Bezos’ support … supporting the unionisation drive in the Amazon Bessemer warehouse (in Sweet Home Alabama). Strange, uh?

Workers’ Mail: IR Omnibus Bill and Superannuation.

 
Michele O’Neil, ACTU President, emailed workers these days. I want to share some passages from her email, so as to explain Australian readers the situation we face and to ask for their help.

O’Neil explains what the Morrison regime wants with their IR Omnibus Bill:

• “Give employers the power to bring in workplace agreements that reduce workers’ job security and cut take home pay and conditions. Specifically, the Bill will allow workplace agreements to be exempt from the Better Off Overall Test (BOOT).
• “Wreck secure jobs by giving employers the power to wrongly classify workers as casuals even when they have ongoing regular work.
• “Remove overtime payments and certainty about hours from part time workers.
• “Hand multinational corporations the power to dictate wages and working conditions through 8-year long ‘Greenfield’ agreements - leaving workers on large construction projects with no say over their conditions and rights, and no ability to address serious work health and safety concerns.
• “Weaken the wage theft laws that are in place in Victoria and Queensland.”

I subscribe to her appraisal and will try to complement it.

Workers’ Mail: Climate Change, COVID-19 and Wage Theft.

“As we reconstruct our economy after the pandemic we have an opportunity to build a stronger, fairer economic framework that includes a credible and coherent plan on climate change and energy. In rebuilding our economy from the COVID crisis it is critical that job creation efforts also reduce emissions and keep Australians safe from the devastating impacts of bushfires and climate change.” - Michele O'Neil, President, Australian Council of Trade Unions

The ACTU, as part of the Australian Climate Roundtable, has issued the statement “Far-Reaching Climate Change Risks to Australia Must be Reduced and Managed”, among other things, calling the Morrison Government to adopt a net-zero emissions target for 2050.

Comrades O'Neil and McManus, keep up the good work!

Workers’ Mail: Morrison’s Kill the Unions Bill (Updated).

The working class has been reduced to this. Email from Michele O’Neil, ACTU President:

Two years ago Federal Police raided union offices in full view of the national media, who had been tipped off about the raids.

On Friday, the Federal Court ruled that the Registered Organisations Commission did not have reasonable grounds to organise the AFP raid of the AWU offices.

These raids should never have happened. The raids were not justified and were used as a political weapon against unions.

If the Ensuring Integrity Bill becomes law, the same Registered Organisations Commission who organised these discredited raids, will be given the power over a union’s very existence.

Workers' Mail: Support O-I Glass Strike.

From Sally McManus,

Last week I visited striking workers at O-I Glass. They have been on strike for nine weeks for a fair pay rise and they need your support.

All Australians need a pay rise. The Reserve Bank Governor says so, economists say so, even the government says pay rises are needed to keep the economy going. But as we know, pay rises don’t fall from trees - working people by being union, fight for them. These workers are taking up the fight against this multinational to break through for 3% - at least 3% is what the Reserve Bank says all of us need.

Workers’ Mail: “We Are Not Going Away”.

It ain’t over until it’s over, for Australian workers and for kids fighting for climate change action. Yep, we got knocked down. But we get up again. As that old Chumbawamba song says: They’re never gonna keep us down.

First, Sally McManus’ message to us, workers and trade union members:

Workers’ Mail: ACTU’s TV Ad Campaign.

Email from Sally McManus:

Today we’re launching the biggest ad campaign we have ever run. And we wanted you to see it first. [link to adds page]

This election is about deciding what sort of Australia we want to be. We can either lock in US-style low wages & inequality or Change the Rules.

Our TV ads give voice to millions of working people that are experiencing insecure work & stagnant wages.

Can you help us get this ad on TV by chipping in here? [link to donate page]

The Liberals are spending millions on TV ads to further the big business agenda – we need your help to ensure that working people are heard on every television and radio across the country.

Share the ads with your co-workers, your family, your friends on every social media platform that you use.

We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to correct the power imbalance that has shifted too far in favour of big business.

Together we can Change the Rules.

In unity,

Sally McManus

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t claim McManus is a Commie. In spite of which, I think she is doing a very good job. Much better than the Australian norm.

If readers can, please, consider donating. Alternatively, volunteering is also appreciated.

In the name of our families, friends and communities, in the name of our environment and our future, it’s time to stop the Morrison corrupt gang of leeches of the leeches and their Murdoch presstitute cheerleaders. Remember Menindee and Adani. Remember the impunity for banking scammers. Remember Barnaby Joyce’s 80 million bucks #Watergate. Remember the weekend penalty rates cuts for us and the tax cuts for their rich patrons.

Bits and Pieces: Workers’ Mail.

Sally McManus, Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), is promoting the Change The Rules campaign and calling workers to take part in it. On April 10 the ACTU is taking to the streets with a national political protest for fair wage rises and better job security.

The campaign received a significant boost recently when Bill Shorten, Federal Opposition Leader, committed Labor to replace the minimum wage with a living wage.

Can we count on you to be there?