February 2018 Guest Speaker, Tony Payne

Helen introduced our speaker, Tony Payne. Tony is a semi-retired professor of politics at Sheffield University who with Colin Hay has co-written Civic Capitalism, a rejection of Anglo neo-liberalism.

They reject the Thatcherite view that “there is no alternative [to the market economy]”; they also reject the Marxist view of capitalism, that it is global, unreformable, and must be overthrown. Hay and Payne want to occupy the sensible centre, which Payne sees to be increasingly unoccupied.

Continue reading

Japan Airlines picket at Narita Airport

At the end of a family holiday we reached Narita airport in Tokyo looking forward to a trip home under the care of JAL, a reputable airline. Or so we thought. But that was before we met a group of sacked JAL employees distributing leaflets in front of the departure gate.

Photo: “JAL’s unfair dismissals: Not good! Bad for air safety!”

JAL went bankrupt in 2010. But Japan’s corporate support system protected JAL and helped it to reorganise; staff were persuaded to take pay cuts, and pension payouts were halved. JAL was able to make a profit in the same year it had gone bankrupt. Despite this, on New Year’s eve, 2011, JAL sacked 165 people. A year later, its profit margin reached 17%. Of the cabin crew fired, a large majority were union members. And having fired 165 people in 2010, JAL then hired 940 new employees in 2012. 

Continue reading

Penalty Rates at Southern Cross Club

Photo: Kasey Tomkins, United Voice.

Vintage Reds members joined United Voice in protesting outside the Southern Cross Club in Woden recently.

The club has managed to procure a new agreement which will cut Sunday penalty rates for some of its lowest paid workers from next year.

Canberra Times reporter quoted Lyndal Ryan, United Voice union secretary: “We think clubs that hold themselves up as virtuous and community bastions should start making a decent commitment to those workers who don’t deserve to have their wages cut.” (9 June 2017)

It was also noted that the Southern Cross Club made over a million dollars profit in the financial year 2015-16.

November 2017 Guest Speaker, Emma Davidson

EmmaDavidson-2016.jpgWe were delighted to welcome our speaker, Emma Davidson, from the Women’s Centre for Health Matters, who spoke on the topic of housing in the ACT.

Emma noted that housing affordability for women is worse now in the ACT than when she joined WCHM in 2010. There is movement from the government: a housing summit scheduled for September; submissions being sought for an inquiry into housing, due in February; and submissions also being sought for Mick Gentleman’s inquiry into environmentally sustainable housing.

Funding shortages are affecting public and community housing. Women are particularly affected as their numbers are hidden. We need more diversity including models that suit groups and sharing, with a sell-on option. Many women are carers and require courtyard/accessible housing, for example. A non-government brokerage service would be ideal, to place people into appropriate housing. Planning regulations need more flexibility. Capped access to new land blocks (independent of developers) would allow more first home buyers into the market. The Nightingale project and the Women’s Property Initiative, both in Victoria, are good models. Reclaiming of government land by developers (funded by taxpayers) seriously erodes public confidence and housing affordability options. Public housing stock is being lost faster in the ACT than in any other jurisdiction. Negative gearing (a federal issue) is only benefiting big corporations and the wealthy, and must be reformed.

October 2017, Guest Speakers Pat Ranald and Peter Murphy

Two speakers addressed the October VR meeting: Pat Ranald, of the Australian Fair Trade & Investment Network, AFTINET, and Peter Murphy of the Philippines Australia Union Link, PAUL.

AFTINET is, in the words of its own webpage, “a network of community organisations and individuals that has campaigned since 2000 for a fairer and more democratic global trade system, based on human rights and environmental sustainability.”

With its fifty or so component organisations it has been an enormously influential opposition to the worst of so-called “free trade” agreements like the TPP. As Pat explained, the TPP was not about free trade but was meant to let the US write the rules in this region, rather than China. Big corporations would get more power, and those outside the US would get more access to US markets. In the US, unions and NGOs influenced the Democratic Party, and the TPP didn’t manage to get the numbers in Congress. In Australia, a Senate enquiry found that there wasn’t support for the TPP.

Peter gave us a short history of the Philippines union movement. The KMU (Kilusang Mayo Uno, May First Labour Movement) was established in 1980. ACTU president Cliff Dolan made an issue of the gaoling of KMU members in the early 1980s, raising it with the Hawke government, and pressure from the Australians contributed to the release of these people. International links do make some leverage possible.

In 1990 there was a push-back against the unions in the Philippines, driven by US corporations. It became hard to run a union. Philippines union membership is now only at 1%, compared to 13% in Australia. Seventy per cent of Philippines workers are casuals; they are allowed to join a union after working for six months. If they do, the bosses sack them.

Photo: Peter Murphy addresses the Vintage Reds meeting; Pat Ranald looks on.

Don’s October Guide

Don Dwyer’s pick of what is on offer in Canberra this month is the National Film and Sound Archive’s film, “My Year with Helen“, which details Helen Clark’s gallant campaign for the position of UN Secretary-General. Part of the Canberra International Film Festival, which has a wide range of films to suit most tastes!

Continue reading

ICAN wins the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize

The Vintage Reds congratulate the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons on being awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

The prize is for ICAN’s “work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons”.

ICAN has worked for over a decade to get to this remarkable victory. Here’s a link toThe Conversation‘s short article on the organisation’s history.

ICAN_2017_in_Melbourne.jpg

ICAN members photographed at Trades Hall, Melbourne (photo: Chris Hopkins, The Age)

September 2017 Camino report

20170512_Camino_group_crop.jpgWe had no speaker for the September meeting, and were instead treated to a slide show of photos with commentary, from the successful Caministas who are safely returned from their adventures.

The route chosen by Penny (an experienced tour guide on the Camino) took them through south-western France and then across the top of Spain to Santiago de Compostela, though some of the trip was taken on wheels. It’s a very long and demanding trip; the group walked all the nicest bits and clocked an impressive number of kilometres. [photos: Jude Dodd]

Continue reading

VR Camino walkers oppose French anti-labour laws

2017-9-11_French_embassy.jpgThree Vintage Reds members, who recently returned from walking the Camino to Santiago de Compostela through France and Spain, delivered a letter to the Embassy of France in Canberra to protest against Emmanuel Macron’s plan to bring in new labour laws.

The new measures have been fast-tracked by decree with limited debate, and will cut back workers’ labour rights and protections.

Photo by Jude.

August 2017 Guest Speaker, Lyndal Ryan

Lyndal Ryan, ACT secretary of United Voice, spoke to the Vintage Reds on the subject of penalty rates.

2017-08-15_Lyndal_Ryan.jpg

Service sector employers have failed many times to get rid of penalty rates, but failure has not stopped them trying. United Voice has been defending penalty rates cases for years.

The Productivity Commission has given employers more of a voice, and initially recommended stripping penalty rates everywhere. But there was concern expressed about the impact on doctors and nurses, ambulance staff etc., and employers had to pull back. The impact of changes is now felt by young, casualised staff in a few industries. UV has put the case about their need for family time, time off, etc. and this argument is understood by most people.