- The Guardian
- Issue #2131
The United Workers’ Union (UWU) declares that “Climate change is union business.” The union notes that workers in Australia are on the frontlines of the climate crisis and that UWU members are already dealing with the impacts of a changing climate. Workers are being left without support as workplaces close, industries begin to transition, and climate change impacts cause risks to health and safety in the workplace.
“As organised workers, we have an important role to play in making sure Australian workplaces, communities and political leaders step up to do what is necessary to limit global warming to well below 2°C.
“We can’t let the future of working people and our communities be decided in corporate boardrooms and private meetings. United Workers’ Union members are campaigning for just transitions, including sustainable jobs with union agreements, secure jobs and decent conditions for workers.
“Our climate work is guided by our member advisory bodies. At our 2022 member convention the following four climate resolutions were passed.”
We endorse a plan for UWU’s operations to get to zero emissions on a timeline that is in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
We call for UWU to put pressure on Labor to ensure we do better than 43 per cent emissions reductions by 2030, and to support policies and targets that are in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
We call for UWU to resource a campaign to improve access to Disaster and Emergency Services Leave, with the aim of having universal access enshrined in the National Employment Standards.
We endorse the ongoing collaboration and resourcing of the work with Union and non-Union partners towards achieving climate justice.
Who is the target of the AUKUS alliance? This is explicit in all the writing on the subject and what all the leaders of AUKUS have said: It is China. In other words, this is a containment of China policy with the South China Sea and the Taiwanese Strait as the key contested oceanic regions. Positioning US naval ships, including nuclear-powered submarines armed with nuclear weapons makes Australia a front-line state in the current US plans for the containment of China.
For those who have been following the nuclear proliferation issues, the deal raises a different red flag. If submarine nuclear reactor technology and weapons-grade (highly enriched) uranium are shared with Australia, it is a breach of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to which Australia is a signatory as a non-nuclear power. Even the supplying of such nuclear reactors by the US and the UK would constitute a breach of the NPT. This is even if such submarines do not carry nuclear but conventional weapons as stated in this agreement.
PARASITE OF THE WEEK: is Alfred Deakin, the author of the White Australia Policy and prime mover of the Aboriginal Protection Amendment Act, which divided Aboriginal people into “full and mixed race” which in practice meant the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their homes, the Stolen Generations. Thus, there’s currently a move to have Deakin University renamed.
The White Australia Policy was a set of historical racist policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin – especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders – from immigrating to Australia, starting in 1901, in order to create an Anglo-Celtic deal. The policy also affected immigrants from Germany, Italy, and other European countries, especially in wartime.
