Sunday, 23rd September 2007, 2.00 pm
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This Politics in the Pub sees the launch of two documentary films:
"In 1929 one of the darkest chapters in Australian industrial history was written in blood and bitterness on the Northern Coalfields of NSW …"
Presented by award-winning actor Chris Haywood, LOCKOUT re-tells the miners' story and how community anger lead to the violent battle of Rothbury, when police fired on unarmed miners, killing one and wounding many.
The film you must see before the next election!
A documentary exposing the activity of an industrial inquisition targeting building workers across Australia. "Constructing Fear" shows how these workers are the front line in an attack on civil liberties that has implications for every Australian.
Guest Speakers include:
Bob Debus, Labor Candidate for Macquarie
Greg Hall, Producer of Lockout
Further information:
Brett O’Brien 0413866520 or brett.obrien@amwu.asn.au
4 comments:
Perhaps Bob Debus will be able to ask us why the ALP will NOT abolish this industrial police force upon its election? I urge everybody who attends to press Debus to actively and vocally oppose the ALP's retention of many of the worst aspects of Work Choices.
perhaps you should come along and find out!
I think Dave Noonan's view below is the right one.
Terry
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THE Labor Party's decision to delay abolishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission until 2010 will disappoint tens of thousands of hard-working Australians.
Dave Noonan, secretary of the CFMEU building division says Labor has betrayed building workers
Dave Noonan says that workers will need fight against the ABCC no matter who is in government.
The ALP needs to keep faith with working Australians. Construction workers don't deserve laws treating them worse than other Australians.
The ABCC powers are sweeping – workers and their representatives can be fined and jailed; union meetings can be secretly recorded; legal representation can be denied.
Under the ABCC, so-called freedom of association clauses are applied to restrict union access to the workplace and make most forms of industrial action illegal.
The Howard Government's myth of a corrupt and lawless industry is an insult. The ABCC's actions, against people like 65-year-old grandfather Charlie Corbett in Victoria and the 107 construction workers it is prosecuting in Western Australia, are about intimidating honest workers.
Under the Building Industry Improvement Act, policed by the ABCC, workers who simply stand up for safety and their rights can be fined or imprisoned.
They can be sent to jail for nothing more than refusing to discuss what was said at a union meeting.
Construction workers don't expect preferential treatment. They expect to be treated fairly – the same as everyone else – by the Howard Government and any incoming Labor government.
If illegal activity is discovered it should be dealt with by the police, not by a politically-biased body like the ABCC.
The ABCC isn't going after the bosses who skimp on safety requirements, or rogue companies who declare bankruptcy just to avoid paying their bills.
No, they'd rather attack and malign ordinary working Australians who are simply trying to stand up for their rights at work and earn a living.
The way forward for our industry is via the road of high skills, ingenuity and vision. Most of all, the way forward for the Australian construction industry in the 21st century is by employers and investors, together with workers and their unions, working together to forge a new path, one independent of the ideological prejudices of the Howard Government.
Australia has one of the most highly skilled and productive construction sectors in the world, worth billions to our economy every year. What we need now is not the narrow, ideological battle Howard and Hockey are so intent on but a plan for our industry focusing on occupational health and safety, skills training and new apprenticeships and innovation.
Australian construction workers are sick to death of politicians maligning our industry and their hard work.
The laws governing the ABCC are bad laws – authoritarian, undemocratic and profoundly unfair.
The CFMEU will continue to campaign against the ABCC no matter who is in government.
Dave Noonan is CFMEU construction and general division national secretary.
This article is republished from The Daily Telegraph, June 1, 2007. To see the original article online, click here.
and I hope you find it possible to come to the meeting ... I'm sure you'll find it most interesting
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