Government claim challenged

From World Socialist Web Site, 3 April 2002

Federal Treasurer Peter Costello recently said employment statistics released in May showed the number of people in work is beginning to rise. However governments all over the world are becoming skilled at portraying desperate situations as ‘improvements’.

While official statistics show a drop in unemployment, ordinary people are wondering why thousands of workers are being retrenched.

The most glaring example is at Ansett where 3,000 more redundancies in February brought the total number sacked since Ansett went bust in September 2001 to 16,000. Thousands more workers are already headed for factory doors according to recent company announcements, which include the National Australia Bank, Wespac, South Pacific Tyres, Elma Electric Lamp, Orbital Engine, Hugo Boss, Holeproof, Fujitsu, Sling-Rig, Lanes Biscuit, BHP-Billiton Coal, Allied and Coal, Hillgrove Gold, Telstra, EMI, Dingo Blue, AAPT, Financial Services Group Computershare, Connex, and NSW’s State Transit Authority.

A closer examination of the statistics used by spin doctor Costello show that the answer to the employment statistics riddle is a definite increase in part time working.

Airline strife

From The Herald Sun, 6 March 2002; The Courier Mail, 5 March 2002

900 workers at Sydney Airport went on strike on 4 March angry about the lack of progress in negotiations for a new enterprise agreement with Qantas. 300 maintenance workers walked out of Melbourne Airport on 5 March after Qantas proposed a 12-month wage freeze. Australian Workers Union secretary Bill Shorten said the employees were frustrated that their enterprise agreement was still undecided after seven months of talks.
“The workers involved in this action are less than half our total maintenance workforce,” a Qantas spokeswoman said.

Workers were also angry because Qantas signed a deal for seven aircraft to undergo maintenance in Singapore and other planes flew to Air New Zealand at the end of January, while Ansett’s maintenance depot is looking for work. About 7,000 Ansett employees received payments for leave, wages and eight weeks’ redundancy pay by early February, while 4,500 more were expected to receive the same deal within eight weeks.

Striptease artists covered

From the age.com.au, 27 March 2002

A new union, Striptease Artists Australia (SAA), now represents Australia’s exotic dancers, including strippers, lap dancers, and topless barmaids. Clubs in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane charge dancers up to A$80 a day before they can begin making money at the venues.

The union convenor, Mystical Melody, said the charges on the dancers were a kind of indentured labour. Ms Melody said, “Many of the clubs along King and Lonsdale Streets charge a shift fee of about $80 just to work. You don’t pay it, you don’t work,” adding that the club owners were making a fortune at workers’ expense.

Conceding that a minority of “babes” could make a decent living, she added, “Some girls end up owing the house after a shift and have to work to pay back debts. It’s a scandal.”

The SAA demands that the women be classed as employees, not free-lancers, which would allow it to bargain for health and safety standards, compensation, pensions, and other fringe benefits enjoyed by formal workers.

The SAA was founded with 300 members, Web site www.aussiestripteasers.com.