In brief

$55.2 million for wharf fatality

The family of a US longshoreman who was run over and killed by a Dodge Dakota pickup at the APL terminal in 2004 was awarded US$55.2 million by a jury who found the truck was mechanically defective.??

Richard Mraz's wife and three children were awarded US$5.2 in compensatory damages and US$50 million in punitive damages in a wrongful death suit against DaimlerChrysler Corporation.??

Mraz, 38, a Local 13 member, was working the APL facility on terminal Island (LA) when the pickup reversed into him after he got out, knocking him to the ground and resulting in a fatal head injury. ??While Mraz was found to be 10 per cent responsible, DaimlerChrysler and APL were found to be most responsible because of known defects in the 1992 vehicle - specifically a "park-to-reverse" problem in which the vehicle slips out of park and into a power-reverse.

Commenting on the case, a lawyer for the Mraz family said:" DaimlerChrysler had 20 years to fix the park-to-reverse transmission defect in the Dodge Dakota that lead to Mraz's death. Refusing to act as a responsible corporate citizen and falsely blaming Mraz for his own death explains why the jury imposed $50 million in punitive damages against DaimlerChrysler."

Pay deal for Chinese seafarers

China is to implement minimum wages and conditions for its 1.5 million seafarers from September 1, Lloyds List reports. Companies flouting the regulations will face fines and cancelled licences.

The new law enforces minimum wages and leave as well as medical, unemployment and retirement insurance schemes.

Russian unionist stabbed

Mikhail Chesalin, the chairman of the local Dockers' Union in Kaliningrad, Russia, was savagely stabbed and beaten outside the union office in June.

An unknown number of assailants attacked Chesalin when he got out of his car, stabbing him numerous times in the spine, and beating him severely about the head. He was left lying face down, unconscious, in a pool of blood. Chesalin's colleagues believe the attack was orchestrated by Vladimir Kalinichenko, General Director of the Sea Commercial Port where the dockworkers' union is currently running an organising campaign.

MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin, who chairs the dockers' section of the ITF, sent a letter of protest to port management calling on the General Director to respond to allegations he had condoned and even orchestrated the attack: "We call on you to demonstrate otherwise by ordering that all subordinate managers in the port cease all attacks on the union, its leaders and its members," he wrote.

Bank boss pockets $33.5m

Macquarie Bank Chief Executive Officer Allan Moss pockets $33.5 million this year --earning more in one day than a wharfie earns in a year.

The wage including a $12 million pay rise shows the huge gap between the rich and poor in Australia created by the Howard Government.

"Working families are struggling with the downward pressure on their wages caused by the Howard Government's unfair IR laws along with increased housing costs, higher petrol prices and other inflationary pressures," said ACTU Secretary Sharan Burrow. "At the same time Australia's banks and big business executives have never had it so good. Big business is raking in profits like never before because of the very same laws."

Women worse off

Women employees are paid less than men

under WorkChoices AWAs, according to consultations of 60 women's organisations by the National Foundation for Australian Women released in June.