10 Excellent Reasons not to Join the Military
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg (ed)
The New Press, 2006
157 pages, $24 (pb)
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg (ed)
The New Press, 2006
157 pages, $24 (pb)
692
Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture
By Ariel Levy
Schwartz Publishing, 2005, $29.95
By Ariel Levy
Schwartz Publishing, 2005, $29.95
More than 2000 people are expected to rally in Cairns on November 30 against Work Choices, according to the Cairns Provincial Council of the Queensland Council of Unions. This would be the largest such demonstration yet in far-north Queensland.
Anyone who has visited this giant city of some 6 million people will know that one of the major social problems here is basura (rubbish). For years, the complaints of the population have mounted, along with the piles of garbage in the streets. Now, the Venezuelan government and the municipal council have launched a drive to tackle the problem.
Over the first three weeks of November, participants in a 35-strong Australian solidarity brigade to Venezuela have been arriving in Caracas.
Up to 20,000 people mobilised for a four-hour march through Caracas on November 20. The demonstration, led by campesinos (peasants), was in support of the reelection of revolutionary Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the December 3 election.
Memorial meetings were held on November 11 in Oakland, California, and on November 18 in New York City to celebrate the life of revolutionary socialist and union activist Caroline Lund. She died on October 14 from ALS, Lou Gehrig鈥檚 disease.
The worst drought in 1000 years means that water shortage is as burning issue across Australia, cutting across the city-country divide. A Morgan poll, back in October 2005, found that 80% of Australians believe governments are not doing enough about water conservation, a view that has since been reinforced. But just how well will restrictions, water saving devices such as dual-flush toilets and rainwater tanks, and water trading schemes tackle the problem?
Unions NSW is promoting a campaign, including shopfront stickers and advertising in union journals, to encourage small businesses to promote themselves as union-endorsed 聯fair employers聰. The union body is spending time and money on advertising through union journals. But this campaign detracts from our efforts at mobilising workers and the community against Work Choices and bosses who use these new laws.
The Howard government聮s anti-worker Work Choices laws have placed a powerful weapon in the hands of bosses, which they are using to drive down wages and eliminate hard-won conditions. Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released on November 16 showed that average weekly earnings for full-time workers had fallen by 1.2% in real terms since Work Choices became law 聴 an average loss of $13 a week.
Victoria鈥檚 Labor premier, Steve Bracks, claimed victory in the state election on the evening of polling day, November 25. Bracks said that the result was a message to the federal government 鈥淭o stop dictating about nuclear reactors, and industrial relations, and start listening to families right around this country鈥. With 75% of the vote counted, the ALP had won almost 44% of the vote, a swing against it of around 4.3%.
Among the proposals included in the Australian Council of Trade Unions聮 industrial relations legislation policy, adopted at its October conference, were provisions for unions to be able to hold elections to win recognition in workplaces where the boss refuses to bargain with them. These ballots are aimed at addressing the lack of a mechanism whereby unions can make an employer negotiate a collective agreement for workers. Such ballots have been a feature of the US industrial relations system for over 70 years.
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