40 Years of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy
Sacred Fire Ceremonial Gathering
Thursday 26 January 2012
Old Parliament House lawns, Canberra
Come to support the Ceremonial gathering, the commemoration of 40 years of struggle and the discussions on Sovereignty. Always was always will be Aboriginal Land. Read more here.
More on Treaty here. Bahasa Indonesia background here. 

Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner - Freedom fighters commemoration
Friday 20 January 2012 at 12 noon
RMIT Entrance, Corner Bowen & Franklin Streets, Melbourne
Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner conducted a campaign of resistance to European settlement in 1841 around Western Port and South Gippsland. Read more here

The bitter Philippine Airlines dispute against outsourcing continues. AAWL organised a very successful international solidarity visit to Melbourne with PALEA Vice President Alnem Pretencio. Alnem met with Australian airline unions members and officials, and received very significant support. Yet again we see in practice that workers recognise their common interests across national borders, and that the cruel treatment of the companies that care only about profit can be defeated through action and solidarity. More on the visit here. More on airlines disputes and solidarity here.

Sign the petition for PALEA here  Donate to the PALEA strikers here   Lobby the Phiippine consulate

Mr. Mansour Osanloo, a bus driver, was in jail for almost four years. He was released from an Iranian jail in June of this year. Mansour’s health is now severely compromised due to an untreated heart condition while in prison.

Mr. Kim Hyuk also got out of jail earlier this October. He is a South Korean metal worker and spent two years in jail. Hyuk did not receive proper medical care in jail for his workplace chemical exposures, and was never allowed to exercise outside in the open air. A colleague of Hyuk, Mr Han Sang Kyun, still has one year of his jail sentence to serve.

Mr Kim, Mr. Han and Mr Osanloo were imprisoned for their trade union activities. Their crime was in believing that workers have rights. They both campaigned for greater job security, a living wage and safe working conditions. Read more...

Korean unionist Kim Jin-suk has touched ground for the first time since January to end her protest against Hanjin Heavy Industries. She occupied a 35 metre tall crane in the southern port city of Busan for 309 days. The protest began when Hanjin Heavy Industries announced it was cutting 400 jobs from its shipyard. Since then activists organised the Buses of Hope campaign and thousands of protesters marched through Busan in a show support facing resistance from the authorities, often ending in many arrests. After the 11-month deadlock in talks, the company reached a tentative agreement with labour activists to reinstate 94 laid-off workers within one year. More information here.

LOBBY of the Philippine Consulate

Occupy Mendiola rally - 7 December. Workers and students were protesting on Mendiola bridge against the demolitions of poor people's houses, low wages, the non distribution of Luisita lands, and the cuts in budget for social services like health and education.

Mendiola bridge is a traditional area for protest rallies. But the Philippine government can't listen to criticism, and the police attacked. More than 50 people were injured, including Cherry Clemente, ANAKPAWIS General Secretary, and Elmer Labog Chairperson of the KMU Labour Centre. 

Five union leaders are still in jail and  some have been charged with sedition. In an International Human Rights Day statement, the KMU has stated that this is just the latest human rights violation since the current government took office. More here.

Trade unions and church groups in the Philippines have joined together in calling a boycott of Philippine Airlines and Air Philippines in solidarity with the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA).  Philippine Airlines is putting into place a plan to outsource its ground crew, which would result in deep pay cuts and job insecurity with the downgrading of employees from regular to contractual hires. On September 27, the PALEA union launched a protest at Manila airport that paralysed the operations of Philippine Airlines. In response, Philippine Airlines and the government forcibly evicted the protesting workers. Since then, Philippine Airlines locked-out 2,600 airport services, catering and call centre workers, and terminated them from their jobs on October 1. The workers have set up protest camps and are running continuous picket lines. They are calling for our solidarity. Click here to send a protest letter to Philippine Airlines and the Philippine government.
Click here to sign the petition at the International Transport Workers Federation.

Following on from the actions of the Qantas management in locking out its entire workforce, workers are still fighting the company’s to outsource its work.
Last week there protests in many countries. Union representatives from around the world rallied outside the Australian High Commission in London to support Qantas workers. Rallies were also held in Hong Kong, Jakarta, Tokyo, New Zealand, various cities across the USA, Makati City in the Philippines and Singapore.

Members of the New Zealand Meat Workers Union at CMP ANZCO have been targeted by a particularly vicious form of union busting. They have been locked out since 19 October to try to make them accept cuts in wages and working conditions and shift pattern changes. 

CMP ANZCO has proposed such outrageous cuts in pay, bonuses and allowances and an increase in working time without overtime pay that no agreement could be reached. The proposals amount to cuts of more than 20% in overall pay for workers! The New Zealand Meat Workers Union campaigns internationally.

Click here to send a message to CMP's parent company ANZCO Foods. Demand an end to the lockout and a return to the bargaining table!  More info here