Steve O'Brien

Why I join the May Day march

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I happily admit that I will take any opportunity to parade down the street waving a red flag, and the May Day march in Hamilton on Sunday will be one of those opportunities.

Since the 1850s, when the first workers鈥 associations were formed in the Hunter, trade unionists and their families have put their demands forward on occasions such as May Day.

Newcastle鈥檚 radicals and renegades on display

RAD Exhibition
Until August 27
Newcastle Museum
Radical Newcastle
Edited by James Bennett, Nancy Cushing & Erik Eklund
New South Publishers, 2015
$39.99

Exhibitions like RAD, now showing at the Newcastle Museum, and Radical Newcastle, the book that inspired it, help each generation of activists remember and learn the lessons of previous struggles.

Peter Dutton pi帽ata takes a beating

Speakers at Newcastle鈥檚 refugee week rally on June 24, including Rafi, a detainee on Manus Island who spoke via telephone, called for activists to keep up the pressure on the government鈥檚 inhumane refuge policies.

Gleny Rae, Go back to where you came from; Fr Rod Bower, Gosford Anglicans; Dr Kate Murton, Doctors for Refugees; Keira Dott, Students Against Detention; Ian Rintoul, Refugee Action Coalition; Rafi, from Manus Island via telephone; Councillor Therese Dole, Newcastle City Council and others spoke about maintaining the rage.听

Our unions support social equality for all Australians

Fifty years ago building worker activists took back control of their union, the NSW Builders Labourers Federation (BLF), from a leadership clique that ignored the members. Under the new leadership of , the re-energised BLF created high standards for workplace safety, decent pay, union democracy, accountable leadership, community engagement and, most famously, Green Bans.

Bernie Sanders and his example for Australian voters

At a talk given at the Newcastle Resistance Centre in the mid-1980s, visiting US activist Peter Camejo mentioned that a socialist, Bernie Sanders, had just been re-elected Mayor of the largest city in the state of Vermont. Camejo described his meeting with Sanders in the Burlington City Hall. Banners were stacked in the corner and posters in solidarity with the Third World and women's, black and labour struggles decorated the walls. 鈥淚t was just like being in an activist centre like this,鈥 he quipped.

Real jobs are the real issue this election

The silence around jobs in the NSW election is deafening. Newcastle has been losing 200 jobs a year from the sale of state assets and the casualisation and retrenchment of state employees. Up to 8000 workers in jobs such as fitters, boilermakers, welders, riggers and trades assistants in ship building and rail manufacture are also under threat. Both major parties are focusing on other issues instead of the Hunter region鈥檚 jobs.

Don鈥檛 be fooled by Mike Baird鈥檚 sell-off spin

The other night the phone rang. I picked it up and a recorded voice said something like 鈥淭he NSW Premier Mike Baird isn鈥檛 going to lease the state鈥檚 electricity assets. He鈥檚 not going to sell them. He is going to create jobs. Don鈥檛 be fooled.鈥 Indeed, I thought. This happened on the same day that the Hunter Valley鈥檚 unemployment rate topped 10% and set a 10-year record. The link between unemployment and privatisation is so obvious that Baird can鈥檛 say the 鈥淧鈥 word. Gladys Berejiklian, Baird鈥檚 Minister for the Hunter, is also coy about the 鈥淧鈥 word.

Contesting Baird鈥檚 contestability

NSW premier Bruce Baird was confronted by 200 TAFE students, teachers and supporters when he visited Newcastle鈥檚 Hamilton TAFE campus on February 16. His visit was to inaugurate the offices of the Hunter Business Chamber, which have been relocated to Hamilton TAFE. Significantly, the old TAFE signage out the front of the campus has been replaced with a sign that reads 鈥淎ustralian Business Apprenticeship Centre鈥.

Doorknocking against privatisation in Newie

There is obviously volatility in the Australian electorate. I gained an insight into that new mood last weekend when I went doorknocking in Raymond Terrace as part of the NSW Public Service Association鈥檚 (PSA) campaign against privatisation. The PSA was not advocating a vote for any party except to ask people to put concerns about privatisation up front when they vote in the NSW elections of March 28.

Members win back public service union

The (PPSA) team has won important victories in elections for the 43,000-member NSW Public Service Association (PSA). PPSA member Anne Gardiner won the top position of General Secretary, and PPSA candidates took all positions on the 45-member Central Council. A recount will be held for other executive positions following an extremely close vote.

NSW public servants debate pay deal

A fierce controversy has broken out in the NSW Public Service Association (PSA) over the union鈥檚 recent pay award. The dispute occurs as the union鈥檚 43,000 members receive voting papers for seven executive members and 45 central councillors.

Zimbabwe: Deal 'no cause for celebration'

While many Movement for Democratic Change activists are confident that the power sharing agreement between the ruling ZANU-PF and the MDC is a step forward, there are widespread concerns about the deal.