Anger as IR bill clears first hurdle
The Age, 11 Nov 2005, By Misha Schubert, Canberra
WORKERS who join nationwide strikes against contentious new industrial relations laws next Tuesday, without permission from the boss, risk having their pay docked and potential legal claims for damages. - http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/anger-as-ir-bill-clears-first-hurdle/2005/11/10/1131578172433.html [1]

IR changes 'create US-style poor'
The Advertiser, 11nov05, by Roberta Mancuso
AUSTRALIA'S workforce would become "Americanised" with a large population of full-time working poor under new industrial relations laws, Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said today.
Mr Beazley said Australia had shifted "way too far to the right" at the expense of the nation's way of life.

States to blast IR reforms in inquiry
The Age, November 10, 2005
The states and territories are preparing to pick holes in the federal government's controversial workplace reforms during a special Senate inquiry next week.
The Senate inquiry will include up to five days of public hearings in Canberra, starting on Monday, and report to the Senate on 22 November. - http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/States-to-blast-IR-reforms-in-inquiry/2005/11/10/1131578167238.html [2]

Labor would scrap IR laws
The Australian, November 11, 2005
KIM Beazley has made an "absolute, rolled-gold promise" that a future Labor government would rewrite John Howard's workplace laws from scratch.
The federal Opposition Leader warned the Prime Minister yesterday that "we are coming for you, mate", and claimed voters would not forgive or forget the Government's arrogance for going far beyond its election mandate. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17208413%255E2702,00.html [3]

Blogs

Pile-up in Western Sydney
Suki has an opinion
This morning as I was driving to work I heard HoWARd say (in reference to the Paris riots) that he saw a direct correlation between highly regulated labour markets and high unemployment. http://machinegunkeyboard.com/shao/?p=263 [4]

Conferences

Do Unions Still Matter?
by Michael D. Yates, Keynote Speech: "How Unions Matter in the New Economy" conference in Toronto, 28-29 October 2005.
[excerpt] - http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/yates041105.html [5]

First, working people want and need good jobs and benefits, but the vision worthy of a struggle to achieve, they need that, too.  People are likely to do great things, like build a labor movement, and try to liberate themselves, but only if they are part of something larger than themselves.  This is what the past teaches us, whether we are talking about the IWW, the CIO, or the Cuban Revolution.

Since I'm living in the Southwest, I'm reading a lot about the Mormons.  You read about the Mormons, whatever you think about them, they did some really, truly remarkable things, because they had a zeal, because they had a commitment to something larger than themselves.

Language such as that used by Andy Stern at the CTW convention is just not gonna cut it, labor-management partnerships are just not gonna cut it, top-down organizing and undemocratic unions are just not gonna cut it.

When workers say that, when they have problems, they look for a church, labor better listen.  It better plan to become the church of workers, a revolutionary church, willing to lead workers towards heaven on earth.

Second, we should begin to consider the possibility that existing labor unions and leaders might not be the vehicle through which unions become relevant again.  Maybe new organizations, outside traditional labor, will be necessary -- organizations such as the immigrants-led farm workers in Florida who recently won a heroic struggle against Taco Bell.  David Bacon, a great labor journalist out in California, had an interesting article in The Nation magazine about immigrant groups, Guatemalans and Mexicans, who come and work in California and meatpacking plants in the Midwest.  And he talks about the kind of community cohesion these people have, and they use this community cohesion, churches and other kinds of organizations, to organize workers.  Maybe we better be looking towards organizations like that.  Maybe we better ally ourselves with them.  In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, there are organizations of Black workers and Black organizations in the South that are pushing for change.  Maybe labor better ally itself with them.  Recently there was an article written by a union -- it might have been an SEIU -- member criticizing very harshly some of the organizations, Black organizations, around New Orleans, saying they can't organize anything, they don't have the clout, and so on and so forth.  It's the kind of language we really don't need, I don't think.  Maybe what is left of labor's left wing around the world will have to break away from the labor power that be, ally themselves with new organizations, and reinvent the wheels of class-struggle unionism.

National Day of Community Protest - Tuesday November 15

Union Information

ACTU - http://www.actu.asn.au/work_rights/get_involved/ [18]

The Australian Workers Union - http://www.awu.net.au/national/campaigns/rightsatwork/info_1118817948_26544.html [19]

National Union of Students - http://www.unistudent.com.au/news/1129688740_11783.html [20]

Community and Public Sector Union - http://www.cpsu.org.au/news/1130393023_8000.html [21]

Australian Education Union Victoria - http://www.aeuvic.asn.au/ [22]

Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union - http://www.lhmu.org.au/qld/news/1129611555_12767.html [23]

National Tertiary Education Union - http://www.nteu.org.au/bd/uow/8757/8758/12845 [24]

Health Services Union of Australia - http://www.hsu.net.au/news/1125371310_18157.html [25]

NSW Independent Education Union - http://www.ieu.asn.au/campaigns/general/229.html [26]

Health and Community Services Union - http://www.hacsu.asn.au/home/Index.asp?UID=&ItemID=398 [27]

WA Unions - http://www.tlcwa.org.au/index.php?option=com_extcalendar&Itemid=47&extmode=view&extid=1 [28]

Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance - http://www.alliance.org.au/ [29]