US expands Garuda Shield war games

Written by: (Contributed) on 9 August 2022 

The 2022 Garuda Shield military exercise taking place the first two weeks of August, has included Indonesia, regarded as a key western Cold War ally.

Recent high-level diplomatic initiatives with Indonesia and other regional countries, however, have revealed the predicament confronting the vast Indo-Pacific region: US-led foreign policies have been foisted upon the region without consideration for important domestic economic concerns.

The 2022 Garuda Shield US-led military exercise is the largest ever with the addition of Japan as a major regional player, with its defence forces joining the US, Australia, Singapore and Indonesia, together with Canada, France, India, Malaysia, South Korea, PNG, East Timor and the UK also participating as observers. (1) Moves, by pro-US figures in Japanese politics including the late Shinzo Abe, for the country to 're-interpret' Clause Nine of its pacificist constitution to enable it to become a fully-fledged regional hub for 'US interests' and Asian diplomacy, have now become a fact of life.  

For the first two weeks of August the Garuda Shield participants will act out simulated war games in North Kalimantan and on Batam, the noted gateway to Indonesian islands and the South China Seas. (2) According to an official Defence Department media release, 'the drills were 'unprecedented in scale and sophistication'. (3)

At least 4,000 Indonesian and US troops from all defence services 'will share war tactics, simulate fighting and search and rescue operations with forces from Australia, Singapore and Japan in South Sumatra and on the Riau islands'. (4)

The military planner of the 2022 Garuda Shield exercises have also drawn on other factors: in the lead-up to the military exercises, for example, the US Navy moved the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and its strike group from Singapore to the Western Pacific toward the South China Seas. (5) The moves follow an almost continual sabre-rattling stance by the Pentagon, sending shock-waves across the vast Indo-Pacific region.

Secondly, the Garuda Shield military exercises have also coincided with a regional high-level diplomatic series of talks conducted by US House of Representatives Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who has visitited Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, together with a provocative stop-over in Taiwan. (6) The US diplomatic delegation has also included house foreign affairs committee chairman, Gregory Meeks, and other members of various house committees with responsibility for the intelligence services and armed forces. (7) A delegation containing such high-level dignitaries is clearly not intended for frivolous diplomatic exercises based on little other than courtesy calls.

In another high-level US diplomatic position, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Mark Milley, visited Canberra in late July, where he met US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral John Aquilino alongside Australian Defence Chief, General Angus Campbell: brief media releases from the Defence Department noted the deterioration in US-China relations across the region. (8) Why it took such a high-profile meeting to note the obvious, while the main causal factors were left unanswered, is particularly revealing.

Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan has already led China to send aircraft and vessels into the Taiwan Straits as tensions between the US and China escalate. (9) China remains very sensitive about the Taiwan issue. These high-level diplomatic rivalries should, therefore, not be under-estimated: in late July, for example, Assistant US Secretary for Defence for Indo-Pacific security affairs, Ely Ratner, noted that 'it was only a matter of time before there is a major incident or accident in the region'. (10) US-led military planning and exercises are increasingly likely to become 'real-war scenarios'. There is a wealth of information to suggest that is their stated intention.

As US-led diplomatic rivalries escalate across the region, however, other factors have considerable bearing upon important allies. China has become a major trading partner of choice in recent decades, and Indonesia is no exception. From the latest economic statistics China has already become Indonesia's largest trading partner. Last year, the two-way trade amounted to US$124.3 billion, while Japan as the main US Asian hub, was only Indonesia's twelfth largest source of imports. (11) Indonesia, therefore, at the end of the day is hardly very likely to want to seriously upset China, in fear of serious disruption to its chosen trade pattern. Such developments reveal the changing balance of forces taking place across the Indo-Pacific region: in coming decades the changes will become even more pronounced.

US-led regional diplomatic initiatives across the Indo-Pacific have, therefore, not been established on a particularly strong base of support. While the Pentagon has been quick to state the Garuda Shield military exercises are intended to 'develop interoperability and modernise our militaries collectively to ensure they could meet whatever challenges that China poses', the longer-term outcome will amount to little other than wishful thinking. (12) Rather, various countries participate in US-led diplomatic ventures, as they have with the Garuda Shield military exercises, from a position of short-term political expedience.   

 

1.     Japan to join regional war games, Australian, 28 July 2022. 

2.     Ibid.

3.     Joint war games 'send signal' to China, Australian, 2 August 2022.
4.     Ibid.
5.     Pelosi's trip leaves open stop in Taiwan, Australian, 1 August 2022.
6.     Ibid.
7.     Ibid.
8.     China 'using bully boy tactics' in Indo-Pacific, Australian, 28 July 2022.
9.     Pelosi's trip, Australian, op.cit., 1 August 2022.
10.   Joint 'war games', Australian, op.cit., 2 August 2022.
11.   Japan to join, Australian, op.cit., 28 July 2022.
12.   Ibid.

 

Pelosi's reckless visit to Taiwan also threatens Australia

 Written by: B. Bill on 8 August 2022

You might be inclined to look at Pelosi’s interference in internal Chinese issues by speaking in Taipei as simply a desperate display of arrogance and self importance by a politician on the way out. This couldn’t be more wrong.

It is part of an intricate strategy to raise tension with China by the career warmongers in Biden and Pelosi that currently direct US imperialism. The endgame of this strategy is catastrophic war. We don’t know how far away this war is, but one thing is for certain.

That certainty is that if this war were to break out while we are as blindly subservient to US foreign policy as we have been since WW2, be it tomorrow, be it in 40 years time, it is Australia who is going to be feeling China’s wrath the most devastatingly.

In allowing our country to be used as the staging ground for Pine Gap and other US military installations that make us the number one intelligence asset the US has in watching China, we have made ourselves a legitimate target for devastating attack the second war breaks out.

Being the US’ ‘deputy sheriff’ in the Pacific means that our military will be sent in as the very first wave to be slaughtered by Chinese forces. If you think Gallipoli was bloody, this will be Gallipoli on a 100x scale.

We gain NOTHING from our military ’alliance’ with US Imperialism. The ‘security’ it provides us from China is a crock and is only needed because we aid and abet US imperialism in the Pacific, facing China.

The minute we establish ourselves as a nation with a completely neutral, peaceful and independent foreign policy the ‘need’ for any of the ‘protection’ disappears. I really hope you have a think about how vital it is and the urgency with which we need to act. Your children’s future depends on it. Pulling out of AUKUS is the way to start.

 

Declaration of the International Kurdistan Conference Initiative

Written by: International Kurdistan Conference on 8 August 2022

Our Party has always supported the Kurdish people's struggle for national self-determination and a state of their own. How that is achieved is a matter for the Kurdish people. We are not familiar enough with their complex situation to do anything but offer general in-principle support. We recommend this notice of an international conference on Kurdistan to all our readers, but particularly to the Kurdish people living in Australia.Those people can get into touch with the conference organisers here: International Kurdistan Conference <intkurdistanconference@gmail.com> .

Declaration of the International Kurdistan Conference Initiative

 

1. Whenever the ones without sovereignty try to rise against the arbitrary massacres of the ruling states, ruling states accuse them of being corrupt bandits, traitors, or terrorists. This might summarize the hundreds of years of history of the Kurdish, who are currently occupied by four states in their homeland. Recent developments in all parts of Kurdistan in the last few months have illustrated this centuries-old story.

2. Ten years ago, an airstrike killed Kurdish villagers who were trading on their territory in Roboski, and today mortars rained on the children of Zaxo. Back then, the Turkish state claimed terrorists were amongst trader villagers to justify the bombing. Today they say, “terrorists killed the civilians, not us.” These remarks clarify that the Turkish state considers killing Kurds legitimate as they cannot be subsided to recognize the Turkish state. Turkey is not the only state ignoring the sovereignty of the Kurdistan Regional Government by dropping bombs on Bashur. On March 13th, Iranian missiles hit Hawler. Even though the pretext of the attack was to prevent Israel’s terrorist activities, the essential objective was to intimidate the regional government in Bashur. These recent political and military events show that the territory of the Kurds has become a hunting ground for the oppressing nation-states to settle their diplomatic and military accounts.

3. Likewise, the most reckless operation of the last decade has been conducted in Bakur over the previous three months. Aside from the delusional statements of victory over Kurds, the way the Turkish state wages the war exposes its feebleness. The Turkish state avoids sending the drafted privates to the war. Instead, it relies on unmanned robots, not even its contracted military personnel. The defeat in Vietnam War forced the USA to adopt such combat techniques. And history tells us that the second-class imitation of the US will only be successful as the United States was in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. On the other hand, the Turkish state is not capable of waging war by relying entirely on technological opportunities on its own. Therefore, the war in Bakur continues with the approval of the governments of Iran and Iraq to some extent. These attacks are also not independent of the intentions of the United States and Russia in the region.

4. Afrin, the westernmost branch of Rojava, has been under the occupation of the Turkish state for a long time. The approval of Russia and the US is a decisive factor in the invasion rather than the Turkish army’s military capability. Now the Turkish government, seeing the Ukrainian war as an opportunity, is trying to get permission for an operation to the east of the River Euphrates. The Turkish government indeed wants to use this operation as a tool to advance domestic political plans. It cares more about its pandemonium than the operation itself. Moreover, no state has given its permission for the operation so far. Yet the Afrin example has shown that the occupying states or their bearers will not defend the Kurdish. The current political developments show that attempts to plot against the Kurds with the support of Iran and Russia will gain momentum with the effort to revive the Astana “Peace” process.

5. Iran, whose president said “Bijî Kurdistan” in Sanandaj, was the number one force that invaded Kirkuk after the 2017 referendum and marched towards Hawler. And today, the Kurdish massacres in Rojhelat are continuing with executions. Last June alone, 12 Kurds were executed by the Iranian government.

6. The attacks carried out cooperatively and sometimes competitively by different states in different parts of Kurdistan prove the despair of the oppressing nation-states, not the Kurds they enchain. While all four regional Kurdish states are experiencing or expecting major political crises, the desire for independence is growing in every part of Kurdistan while the different Kurdish movements’ diplomatic, political and military opportunities are increasing. Under these political conditions, occupying regimes cannot capture the Kurds using traditional ways. These regimes, which have assumed an utterly repressive character due to their domestic predicaments or drawn to civil wars, want to use the Kurds as a crutch or antagonize them to solve their domestic crises. However, at the end of each attempt, they attack the Kurds more aggressively.

7. The present political condition stipulates that the Kurds should unite with a national claim aimed at the unity and independence of the four parts of Kurdistan. The current condition also highlights the importance of waging a struggle against the occupation of Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran. Breaking the occupying aggressors’ tenacity of war will raise Kurdistan’s struggle for independence and pave the way for victory.

8. Taking a stand against those who forbid sovereignty to Kurdistan is also an indispensable condition for the struggle for democracy in Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq. These regimes use attacks and campaigns against the Kurdish to fortify their repressive structures. In this regard, the Kurds may gain their independence on their own, but the struggle for democratic Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey is impossible by remaining indifferent to the independence of Kurdistan and the occupation of their own state.

9. The International Kurdistan Conference Preparation Initiative is taking a stance on this political climate. Its call is for those who see that the independence of Kurdistan is an indispensable condition for the emancipation of not only the Kurds but also the oppressed of the Middle East and the whole world.

Australian Government Stance on Taiwan is Par for its Pro-USA Course

Written by: Ned K. on 7 August 2022

The Pelosi visit to Taiwan, the Chinese government response and Australian Government response are worth thinking about for a few minutes at least!

From One China Policy To ‘What Is Next?’

A lot has changed since the Whitlam Labor Government showed the USA the way by establishing diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the early 1970s. 

The establishment of diplomatic relations with the PRC led Australia to the One-China policy whereby the sole government of China, including the province of Taiwan, was the government in Beijing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The Nixon government in the USA followed the same path soon after. 

However, the USA never ceased its economic and military support for the reactionary Chiang Kai-shek KMT led Republic of China (ROC) government set up when Chiang Kai-shek and his clique fled to Taiwan in 1949. The ROC claimed to be the government for not only Taiwan but the Chinese mainland as well, ignoring the fact of the KMT's defeat by the CCP and the Peoples Liberation Army and the founding of the Peoples Republic of China (RPC) on 1 October 1949.

During the war between the reactionary so-called "nationalist" forces of the KMT and the CCP from 1945-49, the USA backed the KMT and its setting up of a government in the island province of China, Taiwan. Chiang Kai-shek as leader of the KMT in December 1948 ordered the KMT's Central Bank to transport US $500 million worth of gold, silver and foreign currency to Taipei. The KMT also transferred many trained and experienced professionals to Taiwan when the KMT (and their USA backers) could see the writing on the wall that the CCP and the Peoples Liberation Army were going to win the war against imperialism and its supporters in China. The exodus of capital to Taiwan was a deliberate attempt by the KMT to sabotage what was already a mainland economy damaged by years of imperialist plunder and war.

The Australian Governments from 1949 up to the election of the Whitlam Government went along with the position of the USA regarding Taiwan by failing to recognize the PRC.

Every Labor and Liberal Government since the Whitlam Government has played the USA game of One-China policy but in practice recognizing Taiwan as an independent state rather than as a province of the Peoples Republic of China.

Australian Government Economic Ties With Taiwan

A brief look at the actual government to government relations between Australia and the Republic of China government in Taiwan and the economic relations between Australia and Taiwan shows that the Australian Government's One China policy is paper thin.

The Australian Government has a "representative office" in Taipei and the ROC has a "representative office" in Australia called the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office" (TECO).

In 2020 trade between Australia and Taiwan was $16.1 billion, placing trade with Taiwan as the twelfth largest trade between Australia and another regional identity.

Australia exports coal, iron ore, natural gas, aluminium, copper, agricultural and forestry products direct to Taiwan.

Taiwanese exports to Australia in 2020 were worth $5.1 billion and included refined petroleum, telecommunication equipment, motor cycles and bicycles.

Taiwanese investment in Australia in 2020 was $15.6 billion, an increase of 50.9 % year on year, mainly in the resource and banking sectors.

There are 9 Taiwanese banks in Australia, more than from any other economy. 

In April 2019 the Fortescue Metals Group-led Iron Bridge project  included Taiwan's Formosa Steel investment, the largest single investment in Australia, worth $1.2 billion.

Australian exports to Taiwan include tourism and education. Prior to restrictions of Covid 19, 20,000 students from Taiwan came to Australia in 2019 to study and 194,610 Taiwanese visitors came to Australia on short term tourist related visas.

Peaceful Reunification of Province of Taiwan and Peoples Republic of China  Less Likely

For decades the PRC has said it wants peaceful reunification, even at one stage saying Taiwan would maintain its own standing army! 

As China has moved further away from the socialist road and as the USA has become more provocative towards China as China has grown to rival the USA on the world stage, the likelihood of peaceful reunification have become more unlikely.

Australia Needs An Independent Foreign Policy

In a war between the PRC and Taiwan's ROC backed by the USA, it is predictable that the Australian Government will support the latter without hesitation. This will be due to the Australian Government's subservience to the USA ideologically, politically, militarily and economically and to maintain its economic relations with Taiwan as outlined above. The main reason the Australian Government maintains the facade of its One-China policy is that the Peoples Republic of China has become such a major export destination for Australia's mineral wealth, particularly iron ore. 

The current Australian Government's position of silence towards the USA's Pelosi’s provocative visit to Taiwan and the Australian Government's subsequent loud opposition to China's reaction to the Pelosi visit to Taiwan would have got a round of applause from the Pentagon and the White House. 

There are rich lessons here for the Australian people. The people have just elected a "Left wing" led Albanese Labor Government with a "Left wing" Foreign Affairs Minister in Penny Wong. The result finds the Australian people being led deeper into the firing line of a looming war between the USA and China. 

Millions of people in Australia have come to Australia to escape wars, oppression and abject poverty from all parts of the globe. The last thing they want is a government leading them in to an imperialist led war. Albanese Government will be short lived unless it charts a course independent from the USA and any other big powers.

  

Hiroshima Never Again – Mobilise for peace against imperialist war!

 

Written by: Alice M. on 4 August 2022

Peace rallies and activities commemorating the US dropping Atom bombs on the cities and people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in 1945 are being held across Australia in all major cities and regions on 5-6 August. (See list below for all Hiroshima activities across the country.)

This year the solemn reminders of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are being held against a background of intensifying global inter-imperialist military conflicts that can quickly escalate to WW3, potentially with the use of nuclear weapons. The imperialist war between US/NATO and Russia, with Ukraine as the US proxy could be overtaken by a potential major war between the US and China in Asia-Pacific. Imperialist wars can spill across the entire world.

The underlying drive towards inter-imperialist war is the decline of US imperialism and China’s global economic rise and expansion which is threatening to replace the US as a major global superpower. The laws of capitalist survival dictate the necessity for imperialism to constantly expand (the rate of profit), leading to fierce competition between imperialist powers to capture, or redivide, and control the world’s resources, markets and spheres of influence. 

 

It’s deceptive to promote fairy tales that imperialist powers can co-exist peacefully and live happily with each other after dividing the world amongst themselves.    Capitalism relies for its survival on the ruthless dog-eat-dog competition between imperialist powers.  As long as imperialism continues to stride the world, wars of aggression between rival imperialist powers will continue.

 

In today’s world US imperialism is the most militarily aggressive and belligerent superpower instigating and perpetuating wars.  US needs its puppet allies like the successive Australian governments to support and promote US economic, political and military interests around the world. 

 

From the first day of British colonisation of what is now called Australia this country has been a dependent vassel state of first British colonialism, and now US imperialism.  Australia’s foreign policies and relationships with other countries have followed and supported almost all British and US imperialist interests and wars. At the behest of the British ruling class the Australian government delivered young Australian lives to WW1, and after WW2, to the US wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.  And now the US is preparing Australia as a staging platform for an imperialist war with China.  It will have devastating consequences for the people and the environment in Australia and the region.

 

The recently elected Australian Labor government’s foreign and military policies are indistinguishable from those of the US.  By grovelling at the feet of US war mongers, Richard Marles, Australia’s Deputy PM and Defence Minister, confirmed that the new Labor government will continue the servile relationship with US imperialism as its obedient “deputy sheriff”.

 

The AUKUS (Australia, UK, US) military pact and nuclear-powered submarines announced in September 2021 will integrate Australia even deeper into the US military industrial complex and its war machine.   The sole purpose of AUKUS and nuclear-powered submarines is to consolidate and strengthen US war plans against China.  Very little public information and details on AUKUS are available, but it has been described as a version of NATO in Asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific.  Recently some NATO members’ warships (British, France, Denmark) traversed the disputed South China Sea waters.

 

Against this background Hiroshima-Nagasaki rallies across the country this year are more urgent as the calls are made for Peace, No More Hiroshimas, No AUKUS and an independent Australian foreign policy.  There’s more urgent calls to build the people’s united front for peace, abolition of nuclear weapons and against imperialist wars.

 

Hiroshima Day rallies across the country – Mobilise to stop imperialist wars

Across the country a movement is growing demanding No More Hiroshimas, No Nuclear Submarines, No AUKUS, No nuclear industry, No War with China and for the Australian government to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Included in the demands are No Nuclear Waste Dumps, and after the recent announcement of the reopening of a fourth uranium mine – No Uranium Mining. The last two demands are particularly relevant to Australian First Peoples who are the traditional owners of the lands on which these two activities are set to take place.

 

For decades Hiroshima Day commemorations have been held across Australia.  From the late 1950s every year thousands of people rallied on 6 August calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons and wars of aggression.  On Hiroshima Day peace groups, workers and unions took to the streets, gathered in public forums calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons and imperialist wars.  In some cities the peace movement came together on a “Long March” lasting 2-3 days.

 

Calls to end U.S. imperialist aggression and imperialist wars were always raised at these peace rallies, protests and long marches.

Public campaigns against wars of aggression, for an independent Australian foreign policy and ending the US-Australia alliance are growing and spreading.  

An anti-imperialist independent and socialist Australia will guarantee genuine and lasting independence and peaceful foreign policy.

 

Mobilise for Peace!

No to AUKUS!

No nuclear submarines!

$170 billion for urgent needs of the people and the environment, Not Nuclear Submarines and US war!

No Nuclear waste dump!

For an independent and peaceful Australian Foreign Policy

Oppose imperialist war! 

 

Commemorating Hiroshima and Nagasaki - National Peace Rallies

Adelaide - South Australia

Friday 5 August 

12.30 pm

Beehive Cnr (Rundle Mall & King Williams st)

No More Hiroshimas, No Nuclear submarines, No First Use of nuclear weapons, No Nuclear Industry, Sign Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty

Information and contacts: https://www.facebook.com/events/433389905384662

nonuclearsubssa@protonmail.com

 

Mparntwe Alice Springs – Northern Territory

Saturday 6 August

8 am – 9 am

Uniting Church Lawns https://goo.gl/maps/YpD599c9CHw7zTZ5A

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembrance Vigil: Never Again! (Minute’s silence at 8.45 am)

Information and contact: aspatt2016@gmail.com.au

 

6pm – 9pm

3rd Yami Lester Memorial Address: ‘Half-lives and half-truths: The nuclear industry in Australia’

Witchetty’s (Araluen Arts Centre) 

Information and RSVP: mcifali@bigpond.com or 0450 474 043

 

Brisbane - Queensland

Saturday 6 August 

11am

Assembling:  Reddacliff Place, 266 George Street Brisbane, (outside the Casino)

“Remembrance Day. Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Never Again!"

"No Nuclear Subs in Brisbane!”

Information and contact: noaukusqld@gmail.com

 

Canberra – ACT

Saturday 6 August

11 am

Rotary Peace Bell

Nara Park

Hiroshima Remembrance

(This is not a No War No AUKUS ACT event)

To contact No War No AUKUS ACT – nowarnoaukusact@gmail.com

 

Hobart – Tasmania

Saturday 6 August

11am – 12 pm

Parliament Lawns, Hobart

 

Melbourne/NAARM - Victoria

Saturday 6 August

12.30 pm

State Library, Swanston street

No More Hiroshimas, No Nuclear Submarines, No AUKUS, Free Julian Assange

Followed by march to Trades Hall to join cultural event Singing for Hiroshima Day.

Information and contacts:   https://fb.me/e/2F3C3AKZb      noaukusvic@gmail.com;

 

Newcastle - NSW

Saturday 6 August

11 am

Peace Park, Tighes Hill Reserve, Maitland Rd, Islington

Commemorating Hiroshima and Nagasaki – No to nuclear submarines in Newcastle Port, Say No to AUKUS Pact

Information and contact:  hunterpeacegroup.2016@gmail.com

 

Perth - WA

Saturday 6 August

11 am

Forrest Place, Perth

Rally for Julian Assange and Hiroshima – Never Again

Information and contact https://www.facebook.com/events/464850568804753?; stopaukuswa@gmail.com

 

 

Sydney - NSW

Saturday 6 August

2 pm

Sydney Town Hall Square

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Never Again

https://www.facebook.com/events/762548164944884/?ref=newsfeed

 

Wollongong - NSW

Saturday 7.30 am

Crown St Mall

Hiroshima Day Commemoration

Information and Contact:  https://www.facebook.com/WollongongAgainstWarandNukes; wollongongagainstwarandnukes@gmail.com

Rights at work, still worth fighting for

 Written by: Ned K. on 3 August 2022

The trade union movement led Your Rights at Work, Worth Fighting For which saw the end of the Howard Government in 2007.

The thousands of people who took action in this campaign expected the incoming ALP Government to make significant changes to the industrial laws of the Howard era. The people were let down pretty badly with the new Fair Work Act 2009 being labelled "Work Choices Lite", a reference to the repressive industrial laws of the Howard years.

Now in 2022 workers in particular expect significant changes to the Fair Work Act that provide workers with rights at work.

 

The ACTU and affiliated Unions have a long list of demands regarding changes needed in industrial law. Some of the changes Unions and their members will be campaigning for include:

 

• Right to strike beyond the so-called "protected industrial action" limited in the Fair Work Act to enterprise bargaining with a single employer or even single workplace

• Collective bargaining across an industry or sector

• Abolish all laws targeting the CFMEU and construction industry

• Right of Entry of Union Officials laws to be changed (short on detail)

• Organizing rights of elected Union Delegates to be specified in law

• No sham contracting in its various forms of labour hire and sub-contracting and the list goes on

• Heavy fines for employers who swindle workers and pay below minimum wages set, called "wage theft"

 

These demands are worthy demands but based on previous experience of ALP governments in office, they will only be won in law by a strong, worker led campaign on the ground outside parliament.  Workers’ rights still worth fighting for.

 

United tram depot workers win through against Downer Rail

 Written by: B. Bill on 2 August 2022

After two long weeks out on the grass, members of the AMWU, ETU and RTBU at Downer Rail’s East Preston Tram Refurbishment returned to work today after a decisive and inspiring victory over management.

Workers at the old East Preston Tram Depot site downed tools on the 19th of July, one of the coldest Melbourne mornings on record, determined not to return to the job until Downer literally backed down on their repeated insulting offers in terms of pay and conditions for the project’s new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement. Downer Rail thought they would be able to bully their workforce into accepting a well below inflation pay increase per annum for the rest of the life of the project (Only estimated at around 12-18 months) as well as workers handing back hard fought for conditions such as their Employee Free Public Transport Pass. 

After two long, cold weeks off the job, Downer finally came to the table on the 2nd of August with an offer of a much healthier pay increase and indeed improvements to conditions around rostering and fatigue management which was accepted by the workforce. The new EBA is much closer to parity pay and condition wise with the standard set around the corner at the Preston Tram Workshops, where Downer Rail is carrying out essentially the same work under the guise of Yarra Trams, the 50/50 partnership they share with French transport operator Keolis, the current franchisee for Melbourne’s Tram Network.  

The victory by this courageous, cohesive and united workforce should be inspiring to all workers in struggle for a plethora of reasons. First among these being the fact that the dispute was run to a large degree by the elected delegates from the shop floor, who formed a united front across all 3 unions represented on the job.   

Another key reason is the way the workers were able to mobilise the local community to support their struggle, workers on site took advantage of the very public location of the site, creating a welcoming environment for locals to drop in, have a snag and a yarn and be informed about what was happening. As a result of this many locals returned again and again to offer their support, material and moral. We can all learn from how this was done, as under the Draconian busting laws still in force under the new Albanese government community support is vital to hold a picket as officials and workers are forced to vacate the scene.  

Many links were made with local workers on the line, battle stories shared, this blue genuinely brought the workers of the Northern Suburbs together, many gaining a powerful first insight as to what is possible when rank and file workers band together and heed the famous battle cry ‘Dare to struggle, Dare to win, if you don’t fight you lose!’