Welcome...

Submitted by iww on Wed, 23/11/2005 - 14:33.

to the webpage of the IWW in Australia.

clock If you are a working person you might have noticed that there are a lot of things stacked against you. This little page is run by the Industrial Workers of the World; our aim is to even the odds.
We believe that all workers would benefit from forming One Big Union to assist organising the ongoing struggle against all those who think themselves our betters. The pre-amble to our constitution ends, "It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organised, not only for everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organising industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old."
Sounds pretty true to us. If it does to you, maybe you should join us. Think about it anyway!
Or just have a browse around our website. Of course all articles found here are the expression of the writers not the union unless specifically stated otherwise. We are a union not a party.
Please note, we have had to change ISP's ,so if you have tried to message one of our contacts recently and not got a reply please try again as the new system is now up and running.

A working class hero is something to be - even it seems in the land of the free

Submitted by miek on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 19:26.

On that brilliant Saturday, August 11 of 2007, Alexandra Svoboda didn’t do
what she was supposed to do. She didn’t stay home and watch TV. She
didn’t go shop at her local Wal-Mart. She didn’t waste away hours on MySpace.
That beautiful Saturday afternoon, Alex chose action. A twenty-two year old
worker, student, and union activist, she had heard the call for solidarity from
a group of immigrant workers organizing at a Queens, New York sweatshop.
The sweatshop, known as HWH-Dragonland Trading, distributed restaurant
supplies and maintained labor conditions horrendous even by the abysmal
standards of the sector.


October 8, 2008
Maimed By Cops, Charged With Felonies -Working Class Hero: Alexandra Svoboda

By DANIEL GROSS
CounterPunch

A peaceful union march is brutally attacked by police. A union activist’s leg is horribly disfigured and nearly amputated. Maimed possibly for life, she  is charged with multiple felony offenses.

DEBT WHIPS WAGE-SLAVES INTO SUBMISSION

Submitted by Y on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 11:19.

. Debt slavery is the leitmotif running throught most of B. Traven's Mexican novels.  Indian protagonists are the wage-slaves and their bosses are the Spanish patrons.  When the Indio is in debt, repayment is demanded in terms of more and more unpaid labour.  The more unpaid labour, the more debt is necessary to sustain the life of the Indio.  The Indio is forced to borrow and the more the proletarian borrows, the more the worker is tied to the system of debt-slavery--enforced, of course, through real and promised State violence towards the debt-slave e.g. prison.

Wage-slaves now are confronted with a bewildering wave of stories coming out of the capitalist media which tell of the debt crises of the various financiers, even governments.  What have the finaciers' debts got to do with wage-slaves? 

Solidarity Action: UNITE vs 7-Eleven (Carlton) Oct 9 2008

Submitted by miek on Tue, 07/10/2008 - 12:07.

UNITE ACTION: Meet from 5pm – 6pm Thursday October 9 at 743 Swanston Street, Carlton.

The store is near the corner of Swanston and Grattan Streets (close to Melbourne Uni).

This week, as university students are back on campus, UNITE has decided to target the 7-Eleven store in Carlton closest to Melbourne University. We will be letting students know about the super-exploitation taking place at 7-Eleven stores.

This store is usually visited by hundreds of students who study at Melbourne Uni or who live around the area. We will use the action to highlight the illegal employment practices that 7-Eleven is engaged in. We will also ask students to consider shopping at a convenience store that does not rip-off their fellow students.

Plans are also in place to letterbox the many apartment blocks in the area where thousands of students live. We will be distributing our very popular leaflet titled 7-Eleven: High prices and low pay! Please come along to the action or if you can help letterbox an area contact Anthony Main on 0417368215.

Speak out against the powers of the ABCC in Perth on October 31st

Submitted by Y on Fri, 26/09/2008 - 10:45.

"The laws they have at their disposal have no

place in a so called democratic society like

Australia and they use those laws freely to go

after ordinary workers."

Noel Washington

 

Fellow worker, Noel Washington is under threat

of going to prison because he will not go before

a commission where he loses:

 

His right to not answer questions

His right to choose his lawyer

Tales of the invisible hand by ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES

Submitted by Y on Thu, 25/09/2008 - 18:26.

Once Upon A Time: Free Market Fairy Tales 

"Forward with fairness" - a fair go for working families

Submitted by miek on Sat, 20/09/2008 - 16:45.

FAIR FARE FARCE FORCE FRACAS

(As taken from http://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/)
 

Future ALP politicians and current trade union officials are reportedly “furious” at former trade union officials and current ALP politicians for doing what pundits have expected: introducing “business-friendly” industrial relations laws.
 
fair suck of the sav!
1. (Australia, informal) Used to inform somebody that they’re taking more than their share, etc.
fair suck of the sauce bottle!
1. (informal) Used to inform somebody that they’re taking more than their share, etc
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fair_suck_of_the_sav

Fair go : a chance ("give a bloke a fair go")
Fair suck of the sav! (saveloy sausage): exclamation of wonder, awe, disbelief (see also "sav")
http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html

Axe the ABCC!

Submitted by Y on Wed, 17/09/2008 - 14:16.

Fellow Workers,

Some in our class are being treated like criminals if they engage in actions of solidarity.  In response, we should show solidarity with them.   You'll find a pdf file attached here which you can print out and circulate.

Classwide unity trumps narrow, individualist alienation.

Solidarity actions needed for a Wobbly

Submitted by Y on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 12:25.
Please circulate widely.

On the 21st August Chris Lockwood, union organiser and member of the Industrial Workers of the World was fired from his bar job at the Showroom Cinema in Sheffield (UK). This has been part of a long campaign by management of picking off and isolating workers who have voiced objections to recent changes that have worsened the conditions of all who work there. The Showroom cinema is a registered charity and claims to be an "investor in people", yet has consistently attacked workers pay and conditions with the sole aim of greater profits.

We believe that every worker (no matter what the industry) is entitled to respect and should be organised to defend themselves in the work place. Chris’ firing represents a direct and illegal attack against union organising. Management have refused our request to review his dismissal, so on the 12th of September members of the Industrial Workers of the World will be picketing the Showroom cinema to demand the immediate reinstatement of Chris Lockwood.

Scroll down to find out how you can support us:

1) Joining the picket lines.

State of Play - some scores from the game in progress.

Submitted by miek on Thu, 28/08/2008 - 12:47.
In the class war there can be no win win results. If the workers living standard rises a small amount while profits are elevated to obscene heights then this represents not a win but a loss to the working person. Why is it so? Because wealth is not a thing in itself but is an arbiter of power and changes in the rate of inequality cause the balance between the classes to shift. Howard’s Industrial Relations policies and the ABCC can be seen as the direct results of "win win" results of this nature in previous years. The tardiness of the new so-called “Labor” government to fundamentally repeal these same stems from the same root.
In the end workers need to fight for greater and greater proportions of the wealth they create not so that they can amuse themselves with bigger and better toys but because only in this way can democracy and freedom be preserved and extended.
So who is keeping score in the great game? Well we rather thought that we should …
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