"Give me control over a man's economic actions, and hence over his means of survival, and except for a few occasional heroes, I'll promise to deliver to you men who think and write and behave as I want them to."

Benjamine A. Rooge

From the ABC

Union, Govt both claim Cowra abattoir win
The ACTU and the Federal Government are both claiming credit for a decision by a New South Wales abattoir to withdraw termination notices for 29 meatworkers.

It was the ACTU which last week raised the case of the Cowra abattoir's decision to sack the workers and re-employ 20 on inferior conditions as an example of the new workplace laws in action.

ACTU secretary Greg Combet says the subsequent backdown has been a win for the unions.

"Had they not had the ACTU and the Meat Workers Union's support, we wouldn't be in this position," he said.

But the Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews says it is a good outcome for the Government.

read more at the ABC

‘Police fought running battles
with rioters in central Paris last night as youths attacked officers with
bangers, bottles and concrete at the end of a mass demonstration against a
youth employment law that has caused a political crisis for Jacques Chirac's
ruling party. 

Trade unionists and student
leaders said up to three million people took to the streets across France
yesterday - the second time in eight days that the country has seen its biggest
street demonstrations in almost 40 years. The protests, including one by
hundreds of thousands of students and scholars who marched through central
Paris, were mainly peaceful. 

The "easy hire-easy
fire" measure at the heart of the protests was pushed through parliament last
month, in an attempt by the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, to address
France's crippling youth unemployment of 23%. Paradoxically, the law made it
easier for businesses to sack workers aged under 26 after two years without
explanation. The government believed employers would be quicker to take young
workers on if they were spared rigid employment rules that make it difficult to
get rid of staff.’ 

France's
Political Crisis Grows As 3 million Take To Streets

‘On the surface, this is a strange revolution. It was
sparked by opposition to an "easy-hire, easy-fire" contract designed
to ease France's crippling youth unemployment. 

The contrat première embauche, or
CPE, is a "first employment contract" that the prime minister
believes will spur employers to hire young workers safe in the knowledge that
they don't have to keep them on. It allows them to fire workers under 26 after
two years and without giving a reason, bucking all the traditions of the French
paternalistic state, which prides itself on jobs for life. 

Current employment terms are
prohibitively expensive for small businesses, making them reluctant to take
young people on. For young people who already found themselves with no choice
but to take some form of short-term contract, the CPE was the last straw. 

The young rebels are fighting not
for change but for the status quo -- they want the same rights and benefits
their parents enjoyed. They do not put flowers in their hair but take to the
streets with nooses round their necks, carrying mock gallows and coffins,
chanting, "We are disposable pieces of shit!" 

But the festering anger goes
deeper than the CPE. It's fury at what they see as the lie of the Republican
ideal of liberté, égalité, fraternité. This is a country where, because
everyone is supposed to be equal, and equally French, ethnic minorities are not
counted. But most young people believe that no matter how many degrees you
have, your chances of a decent job are nonexistent if you have a non-French
name or an address in an immigrant suburb.’ 

'We Will Not Be Thrown Away!'

From the ABC
Union angry over selective Govt funding for Beaconsfield
A union has criticised the Federal Government for its $8 million contribution to the community of Beaconsfield.

Prime Minister John Howard says the funding package will help the community recover after the Anzac Day rock fall that killed miner Larry Knight and trapped his colleagues Brant Webb and Todd Russell.

However, the Meatworkers Union says communities affected by abattoir closures in recent years have not received any Federal Government funding.

The union's Grant Courtney says the families of those who die in the work place are also overlooked.

"What about the Guy Hudson family?" he said.

"What about the three miners that died on the west coast three years ago, what about the workers that died at Collex this year?" he said.

"No money has been set aside by Michael Ferguson or the Federal Government for those families."

Tasmanian Liberal Senator Guy Barnett says Beaconsfield is a special case.

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Gus says that's the problems with "Liberal" policies... They are "special case" exclusive. This is contrary to proper democracy. Ah I see, the case was "advertised on TV"... See cartoon at head of this line of blog.

From the ABC

Union says Cowra abattoir decision no surprise
The ACTU says it fully expected the employment watchdog to rule that the Cowra abattoir was acting within the law when it sacked 29 workers back in April.

The Office of Workplace Services (OWS) says its investigation found the company had made a decision to sack the workers and offer to re-hire them, because it was in financial difficulty.

But the employment watchdog's director, Nicholas Wilson, also says he is satisfied that the Cowra abattoir's actions would have been legal, before the new laws came into force.

"Our investigation has established no evidence that the 29 employees were selected for dismissal because they were members of a union," he said.

"In addition the Office of Workplace Services has found no evidence that Cowra abattoir's reason for termination was an attempt to move from the provisions of the applicable agreement or award."

ACTU secretary Greg Combet has disputed that, arguing that the new workplace laws give a green light to employers to dispose of workers and slash their conditions.

"This is an investigation under these laws not the old laws and if they're suggesting this would have happened exactly the same way under the old laws that is wrong because we would have had different remedies available to us," he said.

The Federal Opposition says the ruling is a significant sign of the problems workers are facing under the Federal Government's workplace changes.

Opposition Industrial Relations spokesman Stephen Smith says the decision shows how few rights workers now have.

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See cartoon at the head of this line of blogs...