More than 4000 teachers, school support staff, parents and students rallied outside the South Australian parliament on June 14. The rally, called by the Australian Education Union (AEU), protested the 聯efficiency dividends聰 announced in the recent state budget, which will result in funding cuts of $50,000-$100,000 to most schools.
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In an effort to be reelected for a fifth term PM John Howard is trying to convince workers that this is as good as it gets. Looking at his favorite figures, we might be forgiven for thinking he聮s right. In May, unemployment was at a historic low of 4.2% and the economy was growing at an annual rate of 3.8%. Employment grew by 39,400 that month while unemployment fell by 5500. However, these figures hide the reality that the benefits of the boom have been very unevenly shared.
The University of Western Sydney聮s Board of Trustees has officially proposed closing UWS聮s Blacktown Nirimba campus by 2009. The university administration claims that the closure is due to a decline in student numbers (not surprising since the administration has cut most degrees at the campus) and financial constraints (despite a $36 million surplus in 2006). According to a June 16 report on ABC聮s Stateline, Blacktown has one of Australia聮s fastest growing populations.
The right to strike is always agreed in principle. 聯We won聮t remove the right to strike聰, the Work Choices ads said. Employers agree 聴 subject to restrictions to protect their class interests. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) policy is for the workers聮 right to withdraw labour without sanctions.
The Tasmanian state Labor government has rejected a claim by public sector nurses to bring their pay and conditions in line with their mainland counterparts.
On June 3, an elderly flower seller in the municipality of Chongqing was critically injured when council rangers violently cleared the area of street hawkers. In response, a thousand-strong riot erupted. Three days later, a similar incident occurred in the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou, when a riot of thousands of people forced a backdown from the authorities.
The enormity of China鈥檚 environmental nightmare is well-known. However, its root causes 鈥 especially the part played by First World capital 鈥 is less widely understood. One example is the massive dumping in China of First World 鈥渆-waste鈥 鈥 electronic and electrical waste.
The Vote Against Discrimination
Kirrit Barreet Aboriginal Art and Cultural Centre, 407 Main Road, Ballarat
Free entry, until August 30
Kirrit Barreet Aboriginal Art and Cultural Centre, 407 Main Road, Ballarat
Free entry, until August 30
As It Happened: Six Days in June (Part 2) 聴 Looks at the 1967 six-day war when Israel occupied the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank. SBS, Friday, June 29, 8.30pm.
On June 13, explosions destroyed the two 100-year-old minarets of the highly revered Shiite Askariya mosque in the largely Sunni inhabited city of Samarra, 100 kilometres north of Baghdad. 聯The Askariya shrine means a lot to us, the people of Samarra聰, Abu Abdullah, a Sunni who lives next to the shrine, told the June 13 Washington Post, adding: 聯To lose the shrine hurt us a lot, and made us afraid about what will happen next. Someone wants to create sectarian strife by doing this act.聰
As the national strike by more than 700,000 South African teachers, nurses, health workers and other public servants entered its fourth week on June 22, the African National Congress (ANC) government steadfastly refused to seriously revise its miserly pay offer. President Thabo Mbeki knows that if his neoliberal, pro-big business regime relents and grants the public-sector workers a much-needed above-inflation pay increase, it will embolden the country鈥檚 private-sector workers to fight for a similar rise.
On June 18, Vilma Espin Guillois, legendary guerrilla fighter and leader of the Federation of Cuban Women, passed Away in Havana. An official note issued by the Cuban government is abridged below.
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