Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020,
Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and
Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
The Modi government claims that these laws will transform India’s agricultural sector by empowering tens of millions of farmers.
However, hundreds of millions of farmers and workers don t agree: they say the laws are “corporate-friendly and anti-farmer” and, on November 26, more than 250 million Indian workers and farmers took part in a general strike.
Addressing the crowd in Perth, rally organiser Turunpeet Singh condemned the Modi government for passing the laws in the middle of a pandemic lockdown, when there had been no serious consultation. He described the government s actions as unconstitutional and undemocratic.
Born in Liverpool, England, on June 1, 1949, John joined the Merchant Navy in 1966. Arriving in Fremantle in 1969, he jumped ship and began a new life in Australia.
The following year, he joined the New South Wales branch of the Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union. His father, too, had been a Liverpool docker and John grew up in an atmosphere of working-class militancy and socialism.
He became the convener of shop stewards at the Garden Island Dockyards and was president of the NSW branch during the 11-week Garden Island strike when the union successfully defended its control of the roster system from the employers.
If the ballot is successful, Coles will ask the Fair Work Commission to approve its non-union agreement.
Coles is currently building a new automated warehouse but, so far, has refused to give skilled and long-serving warehouse workers in Smeaton Grange an opportunity to be redeployed to it.
Some of the 350 workers have worked for Coles for more than 30 years.
They are seeking better redundancy packages, which include an automation settlement, the right to transfer to the new Coles warehouse and job security.
The rank-and-file Concerned Workers Smeaton Grange group is calling on union members to vote “no” to the non-union agreement.