Unions to march against nuclear subs, citing health risks over jobs
Angus Thompson, May 5, 2023 —
Labor’s red-shirted rank and file will join a coalition of unions to protest against a major container port south of Sydney becoming a nuclear-powered zone under the AUKUS deal.
Representatives from the Electrical Trades Union, Maritime Union of Australia, Australian Services Union and Unions NSW are among those who will on Saturday rally against the possibility of Port Kembla, near Wollongong, becoming a nuclear submarine base.
NSW Electrical Trades Union secretary Allen Hicks, who represents a workforce that would be expected to work on the future fleet, should it be docked at the commercial port, said his members were resolutely opposed to nuclear propelled submarines in Australia.
“Electricians and engineers have deep and long-standing health and safety concerns about nuclear technology,” said Hicks, who is scheduled to speak at the May Day march.
The Australian Services Union’s NSW secretary, Angus McFarland, said his union was opposed to such a base anywhere on Australia’s coastline.
“The presence of nuclear attack-class submarines in our ports would make us a nuclear target and pose an unacceptable risk to the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of people given potential exposure to hundreds of kilograms of highly enriched uranium,” he said.
South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said opposition to the nuclear submarines was widespread among the labour movement.
“What we’ve tried to do is to paint a picture of how deep and serious the concern is over the AUKUS submarine base proposal,” Rorris said.
South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said opposition to the nuclear submarines was widespread among the labour movement.
“What we’ve tried to do is to paint a picture of how deep and serious the concern is over the AUKUS submarine base proposal,” Rorris said.
Former Albanese government press secretary Marcus Strom, now a spokesman for Labor Against War, said he was worried about the direction the government had adopted with AUKUS. “Australians do not want to be dragged into another US-led war,” he said.
Opposition to the new submarines extends to the top of the union movement, and ACTU president Michele O’Neil voiced the peak body’s decades-long stance at the National Press Club in March, although the Australian Workers Union supports the AUKUS deal…………………..
Port Kembla has also been floated as a future hydrogen hub, and Rorris said renewable energy “dwarfs any benefit that we might get from a nuclear parking lot”…………..
On Friday, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen announced the introduction of a national energy transition authority helmed by unions, employers and the government to help fossil fuel workers train for jobs in the renewables sector. https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/unions-to-march-against-nuclear-subs-citing-health-risks-over-jobs-20230505-p5d5ug.html
No comments yet.
Antinuclear 
Leave a Reply