While the Abbott Government has buckled to the pressure of the two major iron ore companies and done another backflip , once again showing it is the handmaiden of the Big End of Town , there is no end to the Coalition's destructive,relentless campaigns against important sectors of Australia. It drove the car industry out of Australia , now it is intent on replacing all Australian seafearers with foreign crews who are not paid Australian wages . The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has pointed out this move would not only mean massive job losses but be a blow to our national security and the environment . The Deputy PM , National Party drone, Warren Truss ,whose ineffectual party complained about overseas countries buying up farms , has enthusiastically backed the shipping handover to foreign crews.
It is , of course , another instance of Abbott Government union bashing .The MUA, which will be holding nation wide rallies , including Darwin , against the move is lobbying Senators to stop the government sell out . Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the Abbott approved move was sabotage , Work Choices on water :
" What we see is thousands of Australian jobs to be jeopardised. What we see is this government's predilection for lowering employment conditions in Australia. What this government hopes is that because ships are beyond the breakers and that people can't see every employment condition in a ship, that they can get away with seeing third world conditions employed on ships which carry cargo around the Australian shoreline. This is unacceptable, Australia is an island nation, we should have our own indigenous shipping industry."
" What we see is thousands of Australian jobs to be jeopardised. What we see is this government's predilection for lowering employment conditions in Australia. What this government hopes is that because ships are beyond the breakers and that people can't see every employment condition in a ship, that they can get away with seeing third world conditions employed on ships which carry cargo around the Australian shoreline. This is unacceptable, Australia is an island nation, we should have our own indigenous shipping industry."
The South Australian Premier has just accused the Abbott Government of deliberately sabotaging the Australian shipbuilding industry . Sabotage is the same unambiguous world used by a spokesman for the renewable energy industry who said the government has been hellbent on smashing this sector, resulting in the loss of jobs , reduction in expansion plans and a drastic fall off in investment .
In America , employees of McDonalds have been holding demonstrations outside the fast food campus protesting about the low pay they get , little more than seven bucks an hour, saying it is not a liveable wage , they having to depend on welfare , food stamps . There an economist , commenting on the trashing of the middle class and more money going to the top section of the community, had the hide to say "the poor and middle class" are better off now than they were some decades ago, because they now have a car , electric light and TV ! He also managed to say troublesome unions are responsible for the lowly paid workers in the fast food industry seeking more pay . The Abbott Government clearly has the same mean-fisted, slave master attitude to Australia workers as the American economist. In Queensland this week the LNP Opposition , copying Abbott's destructive approach, renewed its attack on unions and union membership.
