Labour notes

Eight hundred Federal Hotel workers from the Wrest Point Casino 
in Tasmania stopped work this week when negotiations between 
their union, the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers 
Union (LHMU) and their employer broke down. The Tasmanian Branch 
of the union said that this is the first time in history that 
large numbers of hotel workers had stopped work to consider 
actions in support of an enterprise agreement. David O'Byrne, 
Tasmanian Branch Secretary of the LHMU said that after 10 weeks 
of negotiations little progress had been made and workers were 
frustrated that an agreement had not been reached.

* * *

On June 12, World Day for Action Against Child Labour the 
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) called for more action 
to protect children and young people. Recent figures show that 
half the young people working in fast food outlets had suffered 
an injury or illness and that on average more than one child a 
fortnight in Australia dies from a farm accident. "While the 
exploitation of children is not as widespread here as overseas, 
more action is still needed to protect children and young people 
in Australian workplaces", ACTU President Sharan Burrows said. 
Child exploitation is also a problem internationally where there 
are almost a quarter of a billion child labourers world-wide and 
every year 22,000 children die in work-related accidents.

* * *

Hundreds of members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union 
(AMWU) and other unions in Queensland protested outside the 
Australian Labor Party (ALP) State Conference in Brisbane last 
weekend in opposition to the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement 
(FTA). The protest comes after Premier Peter Beattie made 
comments to a Sydney Australian Chamber of Commerce luncheon in 
support of the agreement, and while Federal Labor is still 
considering its position on it. "Peter Beattie cannot avoid 
scrutiny of his position on the FTA, especially given its neglect 
of one of Queensland major industries — the multi-million dollar 
sugar industry", Australian Manufacturing Workers Union State 
Secretary Andrew Dettmer said.