-----Original Message----- From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
>As far as I can tell, there hasn't been any coverage of the Australian
>wharfies strike in the U.S. corporate media.
This is from the April 9 SF CHRONICLE and comes under the "If you don't like the news, make your own" category:
SAN FRANCISCO Protesters Arrested At Australian Consulate
Thursday, April 9, 1998
Ten picketers were arrested at a maritime labor demonstration outside Australia's Consulate in downtown San Francisco yesterday afternoon. Police released the protesters without citing them and no charges were filed, officers said. Police said the arrests were made after a sit-down in front of the doors at One Bush Street, where the Australian government has its consulate and trade office. The incident, at 5 p.m., occurred during a protest by about 50 labor supporters, called by the International Transportworkers Federation, a worldwide body of waterfront unions, to condemn policies in Australia. Unionists said the Australian authorities had assisted Patrick Stevedoring Co., a major dockside employer, in firing 2,100 workers. Australian Consul General Joe Hlubucek met with the group's representatives but consul representatives would not comment further on the matter. Gunnar Lundeberg, president/ secretary treasurer of the Sailors' Union of the Pacific, which backed the demonstration, said, ``the Tory government in Australia has taken aim at the maritime unions in a general anti-labor offensive. Australia's labor traditions are too strong and too connected with ours, for us to sit back and watch this happen.''