This week's stories: Prison Labour Sends Factory Broke...Wharves Dispute
Sequel?...Guards Charged With Assaulting Child Refugee...Executive
Stress A Myth...ALP Successfully Avoids Democracy...ANZ Bank Threatened
to Sack Unionist...Voting No Longer Compulsory...Refugees Given Numbers
Instead of Names...US Jail Industry Doing Better Than Education.
A toy factory has gone bankrupt because it can't compete with cheap
prison labour.
Chequers Toy Factory in Ballarat has closed, laying off 12 employees,
after being undercut by a government-run agency who uses prisoners as
workers.
Public Correctional Enterprise does not have to pay Workcover, payroll
tax, super, or award wages.
(Herald Sun).
Businessman Chris Corrigan has hinted that he might try and break the
power of the unions in the railway industry. Mr Corrigan said he wanted
a "significant culture change" in the industry. He also said that he
would not be surprised if there was a "flare-up" involving rail unions.
Mr Corrigan is the managing director of Patrick Corporation, which was
involved in the wharves dispute, trying to replace the workforce on the
wharves with non-unionised labour.
(aus.rail news group).
Three guards at the Woomera detention centre have been dismissed after
being charged with assaulting a child detainee.
(Herald Sun).
Despite most people believing in 'executive stress', researchers have
found that undemanding, low level jobs are more likely to kill you than
demanding, manager-level jobs.
Researchers from the University of Texas School of Public Health found
that workers who spent their lives in undemanding jobs with little
control over their work were 35 percent more likely to die during a
10-year period than workers in challenging jobs with lots of
decision-making responsibilities, after controlling for other relevant
factors (such as income).
The workers were divided into four categories based on their answers to
questions that measured how much latitude they had to decide what work
to do and how to do it, the psychological demands their job placed on
them and other factors. On one extreme were low-stress jobs with little
decision-making responsibilities, such as maintenance worker or housekeeper.
At the other extreme were jobs with lots of demands and lots of freedom
to make decisions, such as high-stress managerial positions -- precisely
the kind of jobs that people typically think can shorten your life span.
(Star Tribune).
The ALP has avoided any debate over their refugee policy (largely
supporting that of the government) at their special conference.
The Labor for Refugees lobby group agreed to stop pushing for debate, in
return for their leaders being part of a committee which will
investigate the policy.
(Sydney Morning Herald, ABC news website, The Age).
ANZ Bank has been fined $10,000 for threatening to sack union official
Joy Buckland for talking to the media about work issues.
(CEPU newsletter).
A woman has had charges against her for failing to vote dropped.
Ursula Howard refused to vote. She was charged with Refusing to Vote.
She wrote back pleading No Jurisdiction, saying that Australia had been
occupied against the will of Aboriginal people.
A phone call came back from the court saying they did not want to set a
precedent like this so the charges will be dropped.
A letter followed asking her to disregard and destroy the summons.
A judge has apologised to an asylum seeker in court, for being legally
unable to refer to him by name.
A law passed last year means that asylum seekers can't be referred to by
name in court.
The Immigration Department's lawyer suggested that the judge call him
'S200' instead.
(Sydney Morning Herald).
Spending increases for US prisons far outstripped spending hikes for
highereducation since the mid-1980s. A study by the Justice Policy
Institute showed that since 1985 an extra $20 billion has been spent on
jails across the US - almost twice the increased budget for colleges
and universities.
It found that in 2000 there were 66,300 black men in Texas
prisons, and only 40,872 in state colleges.
anarchist news service
write to James, PO Box 503, Newtown NSW 2042
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All the News That Fits appears in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review
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Some other Australian anarchist websites:
www.angry.at/racists - Anarchist/anti-racist music site with free mp3s, Real
Audio, Real Video, band interviews etc.
www.dolearmy.org - information for unemployed people.
www.activate.8m.com - anarchist magazine aimed at teenagers.
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