This week's stories: Free Choice Is Fine But People Aren't Choosing
What The Government Wants...US Government Favours Nuclear War...And
Decides They Own the Moon...Kerry Packer Stole My Water...Papua New
Guinea Still A Colony.
The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Tony Abbott, is
taking what the Canberra Times called "new steps to crush unionism in
the Australian Public Service".
A confidential Cabinet submission obtained by The Canberra Times reveals
Mr Abbott is planning to force public servants to sign non-union,
individual Australian Workplace Agreements (AWA's). He also wants to
ban union-based certified agreements.
The government's rhetoric on industrial relations is based around free
choice. AWA's and non-union agreements have been available since 1996.
However most people, when given a choice, have chosen collective
agreements negotiated by unions. Only 5 percent of the public service
have taken up AWA's. Below senior executive level the figure is less
than 1 percent. Non-union agreements have fallen to only 35 percent.
Even staff in Mr Abbott's own Department have chosen a union-based
agreement. Individual agreements are said to give more power to
management and so lead to lower pay and worse conditions.
Mr Abbott recommended that:
Individual AWAs be compulsory for all new public servants.
All jobs be advertised on the basis that the successful applicant be
offered an AWA.
All promotions and transfers resulting from advertised vacancies be
contingent on AWAs.
Agency heads must offer AWAs to all employees.
All certified agreements must be negotiated directly with employees
under the non-union Section 170LK of the Workplace Relations Act.
The Community and Public Sector Union said that some of the
recommendations might contravene the Government's own financial
management legislation and would also be an attack on the merit principle.
(Canberra Times, December 17).
US government policy now favours pre-emptive nuclear strikes - that is,
launching nuclear weapons against countries that have not attacked the US.
The policy favours strikes against countries whether or not they have
nuclear weapons themselves.
(Washington Post, December 11).
The US government has given a private company the OK to start
commercialising the moon. The TransOribal Corporation of California is
expecting to start making money within two years. No other country has
agreed that the US has any rights to the moon.
(WSM, December 3).
The world's poorest nations, where 800 million are hungry and 40 million
are infected with HIV, could solve their basic problems of food, clean
water and health care with only 4% of the combined wealth of the 225
richest people on the planet.
(Mainstream Media Project, Bread for the World Institute, and the 2001
United Nations Development Report, reported by WSM, December 3).
The Australian government secretly agreed with the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund, that they would withhold aid from Papua New
Guinea, unless they adopted spending cuts and other 'free market' policies.
The Australian government provided money to PNG's previous government,
which allowed them to spend large amounts of money before the election.
The Australian government has a history of interfering with Papua New
Guinea, which used to be under its control. The World Bank has a
history of interfering with poor countries in general, enforcing
'structural adjustment' programs by threatening to withhold aid. The
poor countries are dependent on aid largely because of unpayable debts.
Worldwide, almost ten million people have been displaced by World Bank
financed 'development' projects.
In PNG generous figures show the adult illiteracy rate as 35% (much
higher for females), and life expectancy is only 59 years. Most World
Bank loans aim at strengthening industry and government rather than
health or education. In fact it has forced the government to introduce
higher fees for public education and health, abolished controls on basic
foodstuffs, repealed the minimal wages act (1992), and demanded the
privatisation of State-owned enterprises. In 1990 the 'Land Mobilisation
Act' called for the privatisation of communally owned tribal land.
Australia provides about $20 million per year in military funding to
PNG. Money from AusAID, the official Australian aid agency, has been
spent training 'mobile squads' who defend mining operations in PNG,
which are largely run by Australian-based multinationals. According the
ABC reports the squads are also trained in burning villages. One mobile
squad was used to shoot protestors after the police refused, killing two
people and injuring another 17. Mobile squads are considered more
'reliable' than either the police or the army, whose members largely
supported the protets.
Dan Weise, former World Bank representative in Port Moresby, says that
specific instructions from Canberra were given to only report favourably
on the government despite suspicions of corruption, and the killing of
protestors. When Weise stood up against the corruption of the Morauta
government he was removed from the country.
Australian military aid helped make the PNG government's unsuccesful war
in Bougainville longer and more damaging. It peaked at $50 million
Australia per year during this war. During the war over 2000 personnel,
almost half of the entire PNG military, were trained in Australia. The
Australian government also provided Iroquois helicopters - which were
equipped with mounted machine guns and used as gunships - and Australian
pilots.
(Sydney Morning Herald, November 17, and information from PNGSA).
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