The Toyota manufacturing plant in Melbourne closed last Tuesday. For Australia, this is the second last act that will put an end to the 92-year-old car manufacturing industry. The last to go will be the Holden plant at Elizabeth in South Australia. Continue reading Toyota Altona plant closure and the death of the car industry
Something is going on. The Reserve Bank has just kept the official rate of interest at a low 1.5 percent for the thirteenth time in a row. Continue reading Reserve bank maintains the rate of interest at a record low
The fallout of the independence referendum in Catalonia is that many more people voted than expected, given the circumstances of an outright assault on the ballot by the paramilitaries that had been ordered by the government in Madrid. At least 844 were injured.
Over 90 percent of those voters cast a ballot. This is around 42 percent of the population or a little over 2.2 million people. More than 90 percent said yes to independence.
While the vote may have been skewed towards those supporting independence, there is enough evidence to suggest that most Catalans are in favour. Any survey taking a sample this size, even considering the margin for error, would conclude the same.
Suggestions that the vote is not representative do not hold water. The will of so many people cannot be denied.
Armed with its success, the Catalan regional government is saying that it will now press on to make independence a reality.
“We will respect the mandate which the citizens have given us,” regional Vice President Oriol Junqueras said.
Catalan unions are holding a general strike today, to protest state violence. Many union leaders and members support the independence cause.
Madrid has only itself to blame. Its actions worked to convince more Catalans that they were better off breaking away.
The result has sent a seismic shock through Spain. Claims about legality and the constitution do change the fact that brutal action was taken to deny a people their voice and this not isolated the Catalan independence movement but the Mariano Rajoy government and the Popular Party.
The bottom line is that millions of Spaniards are disgusted with what has been done in their name. Even many of those who were not sympathetic to Catalonia breaking away are now saying that the people there have a right to be heard.
The result has also caused am for headache for the European Union, which has so far sat on the fence and its reputation as an upholder of “democratic values,” is starting to suddenly wear a lot thinner. It wasn’t particularly strong in the first place. But now it the leaders of most of its nations are really looking like hypocrites.
There is growing nervousness about this and its potential to fuel further political instability in the region. It is possible that the European Union might now be pushed by the need of political expediency, to exert pressure on Madrid to enter dialogue with the Catalans.
The Catalan government is pressing for this and working to gain support for the European Union to mediate in talks.
For Spain, it is already clear that the independence movements, such as that of the Basques, the Galicians and natives of the Canary Islands have taken stock and been armed with a stronger case for breaking away.
Condemnation of Madrid’s methods has been worldwide, even if some of it is rather mild. The point is that the use of violence and rubber bullets on peaceful voters has been a shock and a reaction is building.
Mariano Rajoy might go on about winning, his defending Spain and that there was no referendum. Behind the pronouncements he is a dead duck. He has called an emergency meeting of the government to extricate himself from a sticky situation. What remains to be seen is whether there will enough politicians there with the backbone to make a stand and right a wrong.
Unfortunately, the leader of the Socialist Party, Pedro Sanchez, announced that he would not recognise the result of the referendum either and this might throw a lifeline to Rajoy, even if it is only temporary. Exactly how this translates in the days ahead, only time will tell.
The impact of events that have unfolded does not just concern the Catalans, Spain and Europe. It raises a question about the limit and therefore inadequacy of the western parliamentary system, usually represented by two traditional parties.
Is there a need for change in the direction of giving citizens a much more authentic voice?
This is a matter for Australia as well.
Maybe this is a good reason why our politicians have remained silent about the events in Catalonia. This doesn’t mean that the rest of us should not be involved in the discussion.
The Anti-Poverty Network in South Australia, with the support of the South Australia Council of Social Service and Uniting Communities, is engaged in a campaign to force the government to raise the Newstart Allowance for the unemployed. Continue reading Campaigning in South Australia for Newstart increase
Glencore is another employer trying to turn its permanent workforce at the Oaky North into contractors.
In its effort to enforce compliance after the failure to on a new agreement, replacing the one that had ended in 2015, the owners of the coal mine near Rockhampton in Queensland, have locked out the 190 miners 90 days so far this year. Now, the same change has been tried on 45 workers at the wash plant, also at North Oaky and they have rejected it too.
All are members of the CFMEU’s Mining and Energy Division. Local district union Vice-President, Chris Brody said that both workforces at Oaky North were standing strong in the face of extremely hard line industrial tactics by Glencore.
The deal insisted by Glencore would erode rights and conditions around workplace representation, dispute procedures, and severance and retrenchment, it is argued.
The dispute is set to keep on going for some time yet, because the Glencore workforce has no intention of giving in and is prepared to dig in for the long haul.
Management is continuing with its hard-line stance. Its difficulty however, is that the longer this goes, the greater the impact on its bottom line and its reputation. It must eventually calculate how much it is prepared to commit. Glencore is also risking the possibility of the dispute extending to the six other coal mines it owns in the Hunter Valley, where new agreements have not been worked out either.
For their part, workers without a wage coming in are dependent on the contributions made by supporters. So long as this remains sufficient, they can hold out for as long as they need to. In their favour is the rising trend for others to dig into their pockets and make a contribution.
Chris Brody says, “Glencore… have taken court action to try and stop legal pickets, and they are trying to intimidate, control and silence their workers with extreme and ludicrous company policies on what people can wear and say.
“They are incredibly sensitive to any negative publicity so much so that they even took a giant inflatable rat to court.
“But most ominously, their end game seems to be to replace the workforce with contractors – which would be a dire outcome for the local community of Tieri.
“In the wake of very healthy profits from their Australian coal operations this year, you would think Glencore would be sitting down and negotiating in good faith with the workforce.
“All we have seen from Glencore is contempt for the workers who line their shareholders’ pockets.”
Glencore’s revenue from Australian coal operations jumped from US$1.77 billion to US$3.1 billion in the last half-year.
Esso’s parent, The American Exxon Mobil, happens to be the sixth largest company in the world. It chooses to use its subsidiary in Australia for both a tax dodging and screwing workers, even though it has in its hands unimaginable wealth and is experiencing soaring profits, $7 billion for the last year.
Like many of its cohorts, the company uses the generous loopholes provided by the Australian government, to launder money and get away from paying its contribution into Australia’s taxation system.
For instance, loopholes allow the writing off interest borrowed from offshore subsidiaries, and Exxon Mobil has benefited by millions of dollars in this way, according to research by the University of Technology School of Accounting and campaign group GetUp.
The Federal Court recently ruled that the company had not paid $340 million in taxes during 2004 and 2008.
Tax avoidance is an important matter in this own right. It is also important, because it betrays the desire at the very top, to squeeze out the last drop, no matter what it cost others.
This is what lies behind efforts to drive down the wages and conditions of maintenance workers at the onshore at Longford plant and offshore facilities in Bass Strait. Using a contractor, wages have been cut by up to 30 percent and new family unfriendly rosters put in place.
A significant part of the wage cuts, comes through a reduction on loadings and the allowance paid to those who work offshore. Annual leave has been reduced as well.
The new roster turns away from the one week on, one week off system and is replaced with five weeks on and one week off.
Instead of lying down, the workers have refused to accept the changes and have been sacked for doing so. Rather than give in, they have been waging ongoing action and maintaining a picket on the Longford site.
Scabby, the mascot from the CUB was there. The connection? Here too management tried to use the same method to the same end.
CUB came unstuck and had to pull back and it is hoped that the same will happen here.
Esso took the matter to the court and Scabby was ordered off. Greedy the Fat Cat is now on the scene.
The battle continues unabated and the Esso workers are being recognised and winning increasing support around the country and they are being supported by their unions, the Australian Manufacturing Union, the Electrical Trades Union and the Australian Workers Union.
This is an important battle, because it is another test case that will have repercussions on the wages and conditions of the whole Australian workforce, by setting a precedent that allows conditions that have been hard fought for over the years to be torn up. The question is, can we afford for this to happen?
Scabby at Longford
Greedy the Fat cat
Today (21 September 2017), we commemorate the 45th year of Martial Law declaration with a sense of déjà vu with the transformation of President Duterte into a despotic ruler now almost complete. Continue reading Never again to tyranny and dictatorship in the Philippines
Continue reading We’ve turned our unis into aimless money-grubbing exploiters of students
At his point of time, the focus of the world is on the north Korea issue and a big problem with what is generally being presented, is in the shape of war preparation propaganda, presenting the north Korean political leadership as comic strip “bad guys” and those against them as the “good guys”. Continue reading Korea issue will not be resolved by threats of war
A big turnout off opponents of race hate nationalists in Boston on 19 August, dwarfed the so-called “free speech” rally, which had to be escorted away under police protection.
Horrified by the vile politics of less than two weeks ago led to the death of a woman and injury of others in Chancellorsville, Virginia, Americans are pouring out in a wave of sorrow disgust and anger against those behind the terror in Chancellorsville and peddling of race hate. The strength of the reaction has been such that it quickly forced president Donald Trump to retreat from earlier what many saw as his initial attempt to redirect blame and protect the killers.
The terror in Charlotteville was followed on 13 August by a memorial in this city, as well as in other such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Massachusetts, Birmingham, Philadelphia, Washington and New York.
The Boston rally came less than a week later and drew tens of thousands, who wanted to show that the fascist groups are not welcome. According to the police at least 40,000 people were there.
True to his form, Trump tweeted: “Looks like many anti-police agitators in Boston. Police are looking tough and smart! Thank you”.
Under pressure again, he had to send out another message about an hour later: “I want to applaud the many protestors in Boston who are speaking out against bigotry and hate. Our country will soon come together as one”.
The strength of the American response against the act of terror and those who were behind it, is wobbling the Trump presidency like nothing else has so far. Trump has welcomed the support of these home grown fascists and has lifted them from obscurity. As president he has shown he shares many of their beliefs. They have returned the favour by acting as his foot soldiers in the streets.
This is something that the spin doctors are scrambling to cover up and which is leaving the political advisors rushing to clean up after the Trump gaffs.
Trump is increasingly looking like a loose cannon in need of control. A symptom of this is the pattern of support for the race hate nationalists, followed by the White House condemnations. This reveals a widening rift within the administration, fueled by Trump bluster and the need to cultivate legitimacy.
“It’s time to do something,” said Katie Zipps, who, traveled from Malden, north of Boston, to take part.
