Briefs

Boeing victory

Workers picketing the Boeing operation in Newcastle achieved a victory in November, when the 27 aircraft maintenance engineers, after a 265-day dispute, returned to work and an enterprise agreement was put to the vote nationwide. An overwhelming majority of Boeing employees voted in favour of the collective agreement rather than staying on individual contracts. However Boeing refused to include the union in the agreement so the victory is bitter sweet. None the less all Boeing workers now enjoy overtime penalty rates, shift allowances, regular wage increases, redundancy entitlements and many have joined the union.

AWU National Industrial Officer Ben Swan thanked the MUA for helping on the picket, and in particular praised the role played by the late veterans' leader Bill Bodenham.

World Bank Bastardry

GENEVA: The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions has slammed the World Bank publication Doing Business for advocating that governments should do away with labour market regulations and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The World Bank book lauds the Marshall Islands as the world's best performer in light of its almost total absence of labour regulation. Doing Business is used in World Bank and IMF country level strategy documents to force countries to do away with worker protection. For example these demands have been made a condition of World Bank loans to Colombia

A full analysis of the document can be obtained on the MUA website.

Workers' mission

Indian shipbreaking workers travelled to the UK, as part of their campaign for safe working conditions in their industry. Thousands die, are injured or fall ill in their job of recycling old ships at one of the world's most dangerous, dirty and unregulated occupations. Working in appalling conditions and earning less than a dollar a day they are exposed to hazards of fire, explosions, falls, asbestos and heavy metals.

The workers came to London armed with a short film exposing working conditions to lobby a meeting of the International Maritime Organisation which is looking into international regulations on recycling ships.

The mission was jointly co-ordinated by the International Metalworkers Federation and the ITF with support from the ICFTU and local unions.

The film can be viewed on the website: www.imfmetal.org/shipbreaking