Tim Gooden

  • Royal commission ready to fling mud

    MELBOURNE — Wild allegations and mud slinging are expected to come thick and fast during the first weeks of the federal government's royal commission into allegations of corruption in the building industry, due to begin in early

  • AMWU activists: 'Support the Socialist Alliance!'

    BY TIM GOODEN& ALISON DELLIT One of the hottest debates at the August 4-5 Socialist Alliance national conference was the relationship between the alliance and the unions. һƷ̽ Weekly spoke to two Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU)

  • Royal commission an assault on unionism

    The federal government's July 25 announcement of a royal commission into the construction industry is a clear attempt to weaken organised labour and attack workers' rights in an area long a bastion of militant unionism. The

  • 25% pay increase for one week on the picket line

    GEELONG — After two months of fruitless attempts to negotiate a pay increase, workers at Geelong Windows decided that only industrial action would make their boss see reason — and got what they were demanding after a week of

  • Building workers take action

    GEELONG — Victorian building unions, lead by the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, walked off the job for 24 hours on March 1 to kick off a campaign to win a better long service leave scheme. Only 23% of construction

  • NEPAL: Socialists reaffirm fight against globalisation

    BY SUE BULL& TIM GOODEN KATHMANDU — The Socialism 21 Conference here finished on a high note as representatives from 17 countries linked arms and led a spirited 10,000-strong rally against price hikes on November 9. The rally was organised by

  • INDIA: Workers fight anti-union tactics

    BY TIM GOODEN& SUE BULL DELHI — Workers are locked out of a car manufacturing plant, scabs are brought in and workers are told to sign individual contracts before they can return to work. The new contracts require workers not to participate in

  • INDIA: Why the powerful fear gherao

    BY SUE BULL& TIM GOODEN UTTAR PRADESH, India — As Australian activists debate the tactics of blockades following the September 11-13 protests in Melbourne, we could learn a great deal from the Indian practice of gherao (meaning blockade or

  • Picketer run down by forklift

    GEELONG — A picketing worker at the Godfrey Hirst factory here had his ankle crushed when a manager reversed a forklift through a crowd of protesters on September 13. Members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and the

  • Workers draw line at Godfrey Hirst

    Workers draw line at Godfrey HirstGEELONG — A two-week strike at the Godfrey Hirst carpet factory looks set to escalate this week with textile workers likely to join members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU)

  • Defence of Telstra fires up

    GEELONG — Five hundred members of the Communication, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) marched into the Melbourne headquarters of Telstra on March 30 and occupied its ground floor to protest against the company's job-shedding

  • Victorian bosses threaten lockout

    GEELONG — The Victorian building industry faces a three month shutdown from March 11 if threats by the Master Builders' Association of Victoria (MBA) are made good. The threatened lockout is the employers' response to demands by