Kat Tu, from Act!onAid Australia writes
Today we took to the streets of Sydney to demand that Nike pay its workers!
We stood with the 1,200 women workers of the Violet Apparel factory in Cambodia, who are demanding Nike pay the US$1.4 million in owed wages, benefits and damages.
After the Violet Apparel factory – which produced for Nike – abruptly closed down in 2020, these women lost their jobs overnight. They were relying on wages and benefits to feed their families, pay rent, and pay for medical care, but the full payments never came.
They've been waiting for nearly 2 years. Nike made over US$19 billion in profit last year, while these women who made their clothes are wearing the cost of the pandemic.
You can help those comrades (they are women, Act!onAid folks, but above all they are workers!). Give Nike a piece of your mind.
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Yesterday the High Court threw out a challenge against Scotty from Marketing’s intrusions in the internal workings of the NSW Liberal Party. Settled the Liberal internal feud in his favour, Scotty won’t need Commonwealth money to fund his legal costs. Besides, he already gave his mates all the highly paid jobs they wanted.
So, having squeezed the last drop of public money, Scotty has no excuse left to further delay calling for the next federal election. Unfortunately for him, he still has to pay lip service to the law and is supposedly going to make the announcement today.
A traditional Labor voter, this election I will deny the Australian Labor Party my first preferences. Instead, I’m shifting my first preference to the Australian Greens/the Socialist Alliance. If, like me, you give priority to climate change action and workers’ issues, I suggest you give that some thought.
Both the Greens and the Socialist Alliance are accepting donations and they do need money. If, like me, you are a bit short, you can still help. Both the Greens and the Socialist Alliance are calling for volunteers. There’s a range of things you can do: phone calls, letter-box dropping, door-knocking.
NSW Greens website. The homepage links to policies, candidates, donation and volunteering information.
Socialist Allaince website. Somewhat less professionally designed, the homepage still provides most of the important links, except for donations (which you can find here) and volunteering, which you need to search for (SA comrades: take a hint on how to organise your website from the Greens).
Remember: in Australia we have a preferential voting system. This short ABC’s BTN video (endorsed by the Parliamentary Education Office) shows its basics (to be precise, for Upper House election):
So, having squeezed the last drop of public money, Scotty has no excuse left to further delay calling for the next federal election. Unfortunately for him, he still has to pay lip service to the law and is supposedly going to make the announcement today.
A traditional Labor voter, this election I will deny the Australian Labor Party my first preferences. Instead, I’m shifting my first preference to the Australian Greens/the Socialist Alliance. If, like me, you give priority to climate change action and workers’ issues, I suggest you give that some thought.
Both the Greens and the Socialist Alliance are accepting donations and they do need money. If, like me, you are a bit short, you can still help. Both the Greens and the Socialist Alliance are calling for volunteers. There’s a range of things you can do: phone calls, letter-box dropping, door-knocking.
NSW Greens website. The homepage links to policies, candidates, donation and volunteering information.
Socialist Allaince website. Somewhat less professionally designed, the homepage still provides most of the important links, except for donations (which you can find here) and volunteering, which you need to search for (SA comrades: take a hint on how to organise your website from the Greens).
Remember: in Australia we have a preferential voting system. This short ABC’s BTN video (endorsed by the Parliamentary Education Office) shows its basics (to be precise, for Upper House election):
My
suggestion? If in your seat Socialist Alliance, Greens and Labor are available, I’d give SA 1, Greens 2, Labor 3 and I’d put Liberals last.
As a worker, I do not put much faith in the independents.
Very important: you don’t need to follow the instructions in the “how to vote”
fliers party activists (most likely Labor or Liberals) hand out at
polling stations on election days.
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You may also like to verify your electoral registration. This is the official page the Australian Electoral Commission set up for that purpose: https://check.aec.gov.au/.
For your own safety, I recommend – before giving away any personal info anywhere – you check that the page is encrypted (look for a locked lock icon in your favourite browser), and verify the URL in the URL line of your browser (it must show exactly https://check.aec.gov.au/ including the initial https). To be extra safe, open a link or two in a different tab (check the one on top with the AEC logo and the bottom ones), to see if it’s really the AEC website.
On election day, if you do not have a driver’s licence with your current address, do not forget to bring with you utility invoices, bank statements or such documents, to verify your address.
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