VIC TRADES HALL CONDEMNS SDA ON PENALTY RATES
The Victorian Trades Hall Council has condemned the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees' Association鈥檚 agreement with the South Australian Chamber of Commerce to remove penalty rates for retail workers. The VTHC said it opposed any move to further the federal government鈥檚 agenda by attacking hard fought entitlements and condemns attacks by the business lobby to reduce workers' wages.
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President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela began his visit to Panama City for the Summit of the Americas with a visit to the impoverished neighbourhood of El Chorrillo to lay a wreath at the monument to those killed by the US bombing of the community during the 1989 US invasion of Panama.
The seventh Summit of the Americas, held in Panama City on April 10 and 11, was widely hailed as a victory for left-leaning and progressive forces in the region, particularly Venezuela and Cuba.
United States politics is witnessing a new sorry spectacle 鈥 and one with real consequences for Australia, as well as other nations on the Pacific rim. US President Barack Obama is trying to drum up support from his party to implement the agenda of the huge corporations that sought to block his election and re-election via the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) 鈥渇ree trade鈥 deal involving 12 Pacific rim nations.
Ecuador has lifted 1.3 million people out of poverty in the past eight years, a new survey revealed on April 13, .
The results of the first 鈥淪urvey of Living Conditions in Ecuador鈥 showed that poverty has fallen by one third. It also revealed that 900,000 individuals have been lifted out of extreme poverty, whilst the Gini coefficient, which measures wealth gaps, has dropped 4.8 points since 2006.
BRISBANE
Join us on International Workers鈥 Memorial Day on Tuesday April 28 at 10am to remember all those who have been injured or killed at work and renew the call for safe workplaces. Emma Miller Place, Roma St, Brisbane.
CAIRNS
Come to a May Day Dinner on Friday May 1 at 7pm to celebrate workers鈥 solidarity. With Jeremiah Johnson and band, great speakers and bar. Entry including food $35/$25; entry only $10/$7. Machans Beach Hall. Ph Jonathan 0437 790 306.
MELBOURNE
Recently I went to an asylum seeker forum at Gosford Anglican Parish. Hosted by the awesome Father Rod Bower and chaired by Labor鈥檚 Senator Deborah O鈥橬eill, it featured special guest speaker, Labor鈥檚 Shadow immigration minister Richard Marles.
I was nervous when I arrived. When I left, I was furious! Here鈥檚 why鈥
Despite talking a lot, and very well, Marles made just seven points.
Let鈥檚 take a look at each of these points individually.
1. Liberal is worse than Labor
Tony Abbott鈥檚 government is gearing up for another budget, and much has been made about how to raise revenue and what to cut.
The government has toned down its previous rhetoric about a budget emergency, which appears to have disappeared despite the government failing to pass most of last year鈥檚 budget measures, but it still looks as if they will make the most disadvantaged pay while keeping things sweet for their mates in the big end of town.
Federal education minister Christopher Pyne has given $4 million to Danish climate sceptic Bj酶rn Lomborg to set up the Australian Consensus Centre at the University of Western Australia.
Lomborg is a well-known climate policy sceptic and the director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, whose funding was cut by the Danish government in 2012.
Danny Nahlliah, Australia First Candidate, Pastor for Catch the Fire Ministries and keynote speaker at the Melbourne Reclaim Australia rally on April 4, rang Tom Elliott on 3AW on April 7 and accused Socialist Alliance of planting neo-Nazis in the Reclaim Australia crowd to make the rallies and participants look bad.
This is an accusation that is even more ridiculous than their other claim that Halal certification funds terrorism.
Community Solidarity Action was launched in Darwin to respond to funding cuts under the federal government's Indigenous Advancement Strategy and to protest against the closure of communities in Western Australia.
The group was launched by community organisations, unions and individuals concerned about or affected by the recent funding announcements and community closures.
The head of the Business Council of Australia (BCA), Catherine Livingstone, has called for a national 鈥渃onversation鈥 about what the federal government and the business community euphemistically call 鈥渆conomic reform鈥.
Ever in thrall to trickle-down economics, they manage to talk in 鈥渄oublespeak鈥, a close relative of the doublethink that George Orwell wrote about in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
As the Galilee Basin project faces legal challenges by Aboriginal and other community groups and international banks refuse to finance it, the environment movement is focusing its campaign on ensuring that the Australian Big 4 banks also withhold finance.
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