(Sourced from http://chinastudygroup.net/2010/06/some-thoughts-on-foxconn-and-the-honda-strike/)
by Lang Yan 9 June 2010 One Comment Last modified: 9 Jun 2:05 pm
While I was walking around the Shanghai World Expo on a weekday a couple of weeks ago I met a group of workers from a nearby clothing sweat shop. Their company had sent them to the Expo for the day (for which they had to trade their only day off, Sunday). They were too tired to enjoy the Expo as they worked 14 hours a day, six days a week. While this may seem like a nice gesture on the part of the company, the workers also explained that the company was moving much of their production to another building that week, because a worker burned much of the factory down after not being paid on time. I heard this story just as the news of the Foxconn suicides began to break into the media and shortly after that the Honda strike began.
Within public discussion, the Honda wildcat strike has transformed the meaning of the Foxconn suicides. Early interpretations of the Foxconn suicides tended to argue that the suicides should either be understood as individual psychological issues and as copycat suicides, on the one hand, or a result of the particularly brutal and alienating conditions at Foxconn, on the other. Some marshaled statistics to show that there were no more suicides at Foxconn than the social average when one considers the size of Foxconn (for example, see Tom Holland “Why there’s less to the suicides at Foxconn than meets the eye” and Michael R. Phillips “Foxconn and China’s Suicide Puzzle Workers: may not be taking their own lives for the reasons everyone thinks”). Statistics average out, in other words, the social difference of the militarized factory space; Foxconn was treated as a normal social space, a city. (For a discussion of suicide rates and Foxconn, see EastSouthWestNorth #19. Notable also is that the Chinese rate of suicide for people 15 to 34 is quite high. See Suicide main cause of death in 15 to 34-year-olds.)
Analysis of the social and work conditions at Foxconn also appeared. The particularly militarized and alienating work environment at Foxconn is a result of capital’s relentless drive to lower assembly costs and the Asian subcontracting regime; reform-era China and the CCP have been a willing partner in that effort. Activists and scholars have argued that Foxconn is one of the worst factories in terms of it labor regime, with a very long (usually about 70 hours) work week (since the pay structure means that workers must work a lot of overtime) and a very rapid assembly line. Foxconn was able to become the world’s largest assembly company exactly because of its harsh Taylorist production process, which cuts up the process into highly regimented movements, its ability to intensify labor exploitation and its repressive management style (See this article by Andy Xie for some analysis and background on the Taiwanese management style). There are reports that Foxconn initially responded to the suicides by pushing workers to sign contracts that they would not commit suicide, and stating that their families would not receive compensation if they did. It went so far as to state that suicide harmed Foxconn’s reputation.
But the successful Honda wildcat has changed the discussion. The suicides and the strike are being put into the context of changing labor relations in China, with many now arguing that Chinese labor is at a turning point.
For example, NPR’s Marketplace (Honda, Foxconn workers demand more power) argues that a “labor shortage in China is empowering workers to demand better wages and treatment at their workplaces….” In a discussion of the Honda strike, Reuters notes that “[s]ome other foreign companies have begun to address workers’ discontent over pay and working conditions. Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd for instance plans to raise salaries by about a fifth at its Foxconn International unit, maker of Apple Inc’s iPhone, as it struggles to stop a spate of suicides and quell public anger.” Foxconn has said that it will raise base salaries by 30% now with more raises to come in the near future. Clearly this wasn’t only caused by the suicides, however. Foxconn was planning a salary increase earlier in the year in response to the difficulty hiring workers due to labor shortages.
The Honda strike (workers’ demands included wage increases from about 1,500 yuan (less than $220 US) to about 2,300 yuan ($337 US) for higher paid workers) is likewise getting more press than any other worker action in recent years.
China’s economic stimulus has given large subsidies for car sales, and car manufactures are attempting to rapidly increase production in China. Honda plans to add a third to its Chinese production by 2012. But its integrated production process is vulnerable to strike activity. This is particularly true of transmission plants, which are highly automated and expense to construct. Thus they are usually put in the most stable regions, notes the New York Times. But the stability of the Chinese working class is now in doubt. According to the Wall Street Journal:
“The strike has exposed unexpected vulnerabilities in Honda’s China supply chain. Because of the relative absence of labor unrest in China, Honda makes do with only one source of transmissions there, the Foshan factory that supplies roughly 80% of demand, according to Mr. Fujii. The rest are brought in from Japan. Typically, Honda insists on at least two suppliers of parts, partly to protect against any industrial action that might cripple production.”
While quick to tamp down any political interpretation of the workers’ activity, the New York Times argues that in the beginning the state allowed media coverage of the strike because it wants to push up internal demand. On the other hand, the China Daily (in an article now taken off their website) used the strike to editorialize that the Chinese state needs to do more to raise the wages of workers. Since the end of the strike, Chinese media coverage has continued while broadening its analysis. At the same time, the government seems to be increasing its efforts at raising the wages and internal consumption. This follows several years of increased investment for rural China, which means there is less pressure for peasants to migrate out for work.
Broader Implications: First question looking forward:
What does this mean in terms of the changing Chinese political economy? A few points: Increasing wages in China could help rebalance the global economy. As their wages increase Chinese workers will be able to spend more (the wage share of GDP fell from 56.5 percent in 1983 to 36.7 percent in 2005). A rise in internal demand will mean a drop in the savings rate in turn forcing a rise in the savings rate in the US. This will likely also mean inflation, which is already a problem with the huge Chinese stimulus, yet inflation is also another way–other than a direct change in the exchange rate–for the Chinese state to rebalance its trade relationship with the US. The power of the export manufacturers in China seems to have been able to keep the state from changing the exchange rate to any great extent, but inflation might help take care of this for the state. Of course inflation will eat into wage increases and possibly lead to more social unrest. Meanwhile, the Beijing government announced on June 3rd that it was raising the minimum wage by 20% in response to inflation–the past few years it was raised about 10% per year. Other regions are following suit.
The June 7th issue of The Economic Observer (Jingji guancha bao) has articles on the labor situation noting that both the Honda strike and the situation at Foxconn are symptoms of a broader change going on in the Chinese labor market. One article argues that China has reached the “Lewisian turning point”. Arthur Lewis argued in 1954 that, for a period of time, developing countries could rely on rural surplus labor to keep wages from rising. This would allow them to industrialize without wage inflation. But once rural surplus labor is absorbed by the industrial economy and the labor market unifies wages will begin to increase more rapidly. The influential economist Cai Fang has been predicting this shift for some time, and in 2007 edited a volume on the turning point called “The Coming Lewisian Turning Point and its Policy Implications.”
Arthur Kroeber argued in the March issue of China Economic Quarterly that China’s cheap labor regime was coming to an end and that wage inflation will drive up the consumption share of GDP. In the planning for the 12th Five Year Plan, the CCP itself emphasizes this rebalancing and the important role that raising the wage share of GDP should plays in the process. At the same time, some commentators seem to be taking this argument a bit too far. Andrew Peaple states that “the dynamics of China’s economic development are moving inexorably in favor of the country’s workers.” While this will change the shape of the Chinese economy, its effect on capital will be mixed. Higher wages will mean more consumption, helping many companies as much as it hurts. But the assembly and clothing industry in the Southeast will be hit hard, as those plants are both more easily moved to other, cheaper-wage countries and have thinner profit margins. It is too early to say what this transition (of the Chinese economy and of the Chinese labor process) might mean more globally.
A second question looking forward:
Does the Honda strike indicate increasing self-activity of the working class in China? Certainly the example of the success of workers in the Honda strike in winning some wage increases (initially about 24% but in the end much more) might spread to other workers in China. Also, the strike itself was very highly organized, leading to the participation of about 1,900 workers (including a large number of low-paid interns). The workers seemed split, however, when they gave in to a lower wage increase than initially demanded. The People’s Daily reports that the hold out group was involved in a confrontation with representatives of the state union, the ACFTU. (The local ACFTU seems to be playing a more conservative role–by protecting Honda–than even the state-run media.) The World Socialist Website details the attempts by the company to split the workers by putting pressure on the interns to sign no-strike pledges in return for smaller wage increases. According to The China Daily, the strikers also demanded changes in work conditions, more transparency in company finances (this seems like a reflection of the history of worker democratic involvement in enterprise management in China), and a change in union representatives. The New York Times points out that workers complained that Japanese employees at the Honda plant make about 50 times that of Chinese workers. It is likely that nationalism has also played a role in how this strike has been reported in China. Most of the workers held out, however, and the agreement reached will lead to high wage increases. Kroeber talking Reuters stated that “Foreign investors have been lulled into a false sense of security that China has a docile work force. There’s nothing intrinsically docile about the Chinese labor force. There was a period when everything was kind of fine; now we are entering a period of more constraint.” Following the Honda strike, workers at a Hyundai factory near Beijing went on strike, but returned to work after they were immediately promised wage increases. Over 5,000 textile workers in Pingdingshan, Henan have been out on strike since May 14th at a factory privatized in 2006.
As the WSWS notes of the Honda strike:
The strike is a sign of sharpening class tensions in China amid the worsening global economic crisis. While China’s economic growth rate continues to be high, propped up by huge stimulus spending, the gulf between rich and poor is widening. Last year there were 98,568 labour disputes filed in Chinese courts, up 59 percent on the previous year. Most disputes, however, were not reported.
It remains to be seen, however, how successful the CCP’s attempt at economic transition will be. We need to know how much of China’s growth and job creation is due to the stimulus and how sustainable it is. The unsustainable property market is creating an investment bubble. Just as likely as transition to a consumer-based economy, inflation could lead to stagflation once the property bubble bursts and the initial affects of the stimulus wear off. The real question is what then for the activity of the Chinese workers. They are clearly learning important lessons now. The fundamental question is whether their new found strength will lead to a break from the domination of capitalist accumulation or not.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Billionaire Twiggy a capitalist piggy...
"Twiggy" Forrest is the billionaire Chairman, CEO and major shareholder of Fortescue Minerals Group (FMG).
Yesterday in Perth he confronted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and noisily denounced the government's proposed Resources Super Profits Tax (RSPT).
Speaking to a rent-a-crowd of shareholders and blue t-shirted Liberal Party hacks, Forrest said Australia was adopting communist-like policies while China was becoming more market-oriented.
"This day is about your opportunity to change Australia's history from where Kevin Rudd would take it, a largely socialist distribution of capital over creation of value," he told the crowd.
All we can say is "If only...."
For there is nothing socialist about an ordinary rearrangement of taxation policies within capitalism. Forrest is merely saying that the wealth generated by the labour of Australian working people belongs to him and his class of rich parasites to whom he delusively ascribes the "creation of value".
His reference to China is interesting. On February 25, 2009 Chinese steel maker Hunan Valin Iron and Steel Group made application for a A$636 million stake in Fortescue Metals. This was approved by Australian Tresurer Wayne Swan on March 31 2009.
Under the agreement Fortescue issued shares to Hunan Valin to fund the expansion of its iron ore mining operations in the Pilbara. Swan also capped Hunan Valin’s stake in Fortescue to 17.55 percent. Hunan Valin's Chairman and vice president of China Iron & Steel Association Li Xiaowei became a non-executive director of FMG.
Hunan Valin is one of Fortescue’s biggest customers. Fortescue currently ships 1 million tonnes of iron ore to Hunan Valin subsidiary Xiangtan Steel but plans to quadruple that amount to 4 million tonnes during 2010.
Li is in the forefront of a "more market-oriented China" having published four books over his career including The Group Management after Local Iron & Steel Enterprises Restructure. He is part of an ascendant group of managerial leaders who are advancing the resoration of capitalism in China.
FMG's top ten shareholders show that besides Forrest and Hunan Valin, a sizeable group of shares are held by banks acting for owners of securities and shares (the names of the FMG shareholders are followed by the number of shares they won and the percentage of total FMG shares):
1 THE METAL GROUP PTY LTD
936,828,300
30.15
936,828,300
30.15
2 LUK-FORTESCUE LLC
247,986,000
7.98
247,986,000
7.98
3 VALIN INVESTMENTS (SINGAPORE) PTE LTD
228,007,497
7.34
228,007,497
7.34
4 ANZ NOMINEES LIMITED
205,816,609
6.62
5 HSBC CUSTODY NOMINEES (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED
169,691,290
5.46
6 VALIN RESOURCES INVESTMENTS (SINGAPORE) PTE LTD
154,267,590
4.97
7 VALIN MINING INVESTMENTS (SINGAPORE) PTE LTD
152,724,913
4.92
8 NATIONAL NOMINEES LIMITED
149,116,692
4.80
9 JP MORGAN NOMINEES AUSTRALIA LIMITED
106,843,102
3.44
10 EMICHROME PTY LTD
91,753,282
2.95
Commentary by citizens in the capitalist press is currently divided between would-be capitalists supportive of the billionaires' rights to remain rich and class conscious workers and others outraged by the selfishness and greed on display.
Here are some examples of the latter:
Leon of Glandore Posted at 9:13 AM Today
And there's Twiggy Forrest in a workman's shirt like he just emerged from the mine to give a speech. He's one of the richest men in Australia. Don't believe the lies people. He every much a charlatan as any of the politicians.
And there's Twiggy Forrest in a workman's shirt like he just emerged from the mine to give a speech. He's one of the richest men in Australia. Don't believe the lies people. He every much a charlatan as any of the politicians.
Derek of Seaview Downs Posted at 10:20 AM Today
The majority of these "protesters" were employees of Mining companies who were 'told' by the companies to be there, or else. I have a friend who works for one of these companies , in Perth. All hot air. The CEOs flew in on their private jets. They have been ripping off this Country for longer than I can remember and up to 80% of pre tax profits going overseas.
Mike of Balhannah Posted at 11:34 AM Today
As a person who works in the Pilbera I can see it is very good logic to slow down the resource boom, as it is now there is not sufficient qualified labour to service exsisting projects. Companies are already importing labour from overseas this will have a devestating effect on local employment in the long term. Prices are out of control my hotel was $145.00 per night two years ago it is now $300.00 plus a surcharge if you use a credit card. Resources left in the ground are an investment in the future of the nation. If the mining companies want to move to such places as Angola or Yemmen good luck to them - they'll need an awful lot of it.
As a person who works in the Pilbera I can see it is very good logic to slow down the resource boom, as it is now there is not sufficient qualified labour to service exsisting projects. Companies are already importing labour from overseas this will have a devestating effect on local employment in the long term. Prices are out of control my hotel was $145.00 per night two years ago it is now $300.00 plus a surcharge if you use a credit card. Resources left in the ground are an investment in the future of the nation. If the mining companies want to move to such places as Angola or Yemmen good luck to them - they'll need an awful lot of it.
Grumpy of Fulham Posted at 11:56 AM Today
We have a small population and natural resources that are the envy of the world. Why should we have waiting lists in hospitals and 650,000 people on public dental waiting lists across the country? The mining bosses are the new squattocracy - squatting on mineral leases and holding the nation to ransom by threatening not to develop them until the government gives in and surrenders its right to impose a fair level of taxation.
We have a small population and natural resources that are the envy of the world. Why should we have waiting lists in hospitals and 650,000 people on public dental waiting lists across the country? The mining bosses are the new squattocracy - squatting on mineral leases and holding the nation to ransom by threatening not to develop them until the government gives in and surrenders its right to impose a fair level of taxation.
James of Roxby Downs Posted at 1:35 PM Today
If mining expansion projects are shelved then the life of these mines will be greatly extended. Smaller royalties for a long time rather than larger royalties for a short time. The prospect of this upsets the mining company who wants to take as much as possible for as little as possible in the shortest possible time frame, & accept no responsibility for any of their actions. Who will be interested in investing in Australia when the resources are depleted? Growth is inevitable but it needs control!
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Clive Palmer - billionaire liar
(Resources billionaire Clive Palmer, above, on a sit-down strike against the proposed resource super profits tax has been exposed as a liar.)The attempts by mining billionaires to scuttle the proposed resources super profits tax (RSPT) are the equivalent of a capital "strike".
This tactic was infamously used to create an economic crisis during the late phase of the Whitlam government which had aroused the anti-imperialist sentiments of the people with the mild proposal of Minister Rex Connor to "buy back the farm" from the multinationals.
The Whitlam government was subsequently removed from office by the representative of the British Queen, her Governor-General, in a coup stage-managed by the CIA.
The current capital strike was predicted on May 6 by business commentator Robert Gottliebsen. He wrote:
"At this stage it's just private words to selected journalists and few decisions have been made, but Australia is on the brink of the greatest capital strike in its history and one of the largest ever seen in the world.
"In the vicinity $100 billion of resource projects that were almost certain to go ahead are now headed for mothballing until the resources tax is either abandoned or severely modified. If the private words to me and other journalists are converted to action and a new mining project capital strike is launched, then almost certainly Kevin Rudd will not win the next election. The economies of Queensland, WA and South Australia would be decimated. I have never seen an industry so angry...
"Yesterday I had the chance to talk with a number of people who will play a key role in whether there is a capital strike or the miners roll-over. The people I spoke to have no doubt that there will be a strike" (see http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/BHP-RIO-TINO-capital-strike-resource-rent-tax-pd20100506-56SMK?OpenDocument )
On May 24, Gottliebsen announced the start of the strike:
"The greatest capital strike in Australia's history officially started at 10am on May 24, 2010. Australia's second largest minerals company Rio Tinto announced that all its expansion projects would be put on hold and that delay could extend for years if not indefinitely. Moreover, it plans to curb early stage development in Australia and has expressed grave concerns about the sovereign risk implications of parts of the mining tax...
"As I understand it, in the coming months, Rio Tinto will have some $10 billion of expansion projects coming before the board. It plans to allocate only $5 billion and until the mining tax, Australia was at the top of the list and would have received the bulk of that $5 billion dollars. It will now only receive the money required to maintain existing mines....
"Rio Tinto's stance will be studied closely by BHP Billiton who almost certainly will put all of its capital projects on hold. It is likely that this will be followed by the Curtis Island coal-seam gas developments, though that is less certain" (see http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Rio-Tinto-BHP-Billiton-resource-rent-tax-RSPT-capi-pd20100524-5R335?OpenDocument&src=srch ).
The Achilles heel of capital strikes is that capital, unlike workers, cannot hold out. Workers can be supported by other workers and have nothing much to lose, and everything to gain, by sticking to their guns. Capital on the other hand cannot be kept idle. The logic of capitalism requires capital to continuously seek to reproduce its own value over and over again in the relentless pursuit of profit.
So the first significant crack in the unity of the resource billionaires was the announcement by Minerology Pty Ltd boss Clive Palmer, that he had "admitted he exaggerated the possible consequences" of the RSPT (see http://www.news.com.au/business/resource-super-profits-tax-critic-clive-palmer-exaggerated-threat-to-projects/story-e6frfm1i-1225876508564) .
The Mining and Energy Division of the CFMEU commented:
"The hysterical scare campaign of the billionaire mining bosses and their rich multinational mates is being increasingly exposed for the lie it is as the truth emerges on the effects of the Federal Government’s resources super-profits tax.
"One of the chief head kickers, resources billionaire Clive Palmer has retreated from his earlier claim that he had scrapped mining projects because of the Federal Government's proposed resource super profits tax. Palmer owns one of the largest deposits of iron ore in the world, carved out in five separate projects.
"A big Liberal National Party donor, Palmer told the ABC Lateline TV programme last month he had canned two projects in Western Australia's Pilbara region because of the tax.
"He said one of those projects would employ about 3,000 people and generate about $2 billion a year in exports. But now Palmer has told last night's Four Corners programme that he was probably exaggerating. “Probably, it should have been, 'I am slowing them down’”, he said."
Len Cooper, Victorian Branch Secretary of the CEPU Communications Division, released a statement saying:
"We condemn the dishonest and hysterical campaign by the large, foreign owned mining companies, led mainly by BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, over the Labor Government's mining tax proposal...
"These same corporations led the campaign to implement and save the hated WorkChoices legislation of the Howard government, they led the campaign to prevent Australia starting to clean up its environment and contribute to the prevention of global warming, and now they want to deny the Australian people their right to properly benefit from the mining assets belonging to the Australian people.
"How long do we put up with the disgraceful anti-people behaviour of these foreign owned corporations before we begin to demand that the Australian government take them over in the interests of the people?"
The Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) echoed these sentiments, saying:
"The tax on the super profits is an immediate and a small step in securing even a token of national resources wealth for the people. In the longer term, nationalising the mining industry can provide the only guarantee that the wealth from Australia’s natural resources will benefit the national interests of Australia’s people and the whole country."
The full statement of the CPA (M-L) can be accessed here: http://vanguard.net.au/2008/latestnews.php?subaction=showfull&id=1275296442&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&
The only response to threats of capital strikes is nationalisation of the corporations concerned!
Monday, June 07, 2010
Erye Peninsula earthquake a warning for Olympic Dam
The earthquake that rocked the Eyre Peninsula on Sunday June 6 2010 is another warning of what dangers are associated with BHP-Billiton's plans to massively expand the Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine.
Registering 5 on the Richter scale, the quake struck about 25 km north-east of Cleve which is about 400 km south of Olympic Dam. It comes after a 2.7 magnitude quake north-west of Morgan on the Murray River on 27 May, and the 3.8 magnitude quake that rocked Adelaide suburbs on 16 April.
In our previous post we reported on Masher's fault which runs directly across the planned open cut expansion of Olympic Dam. This time we take another look at the work of geologist Edward Cranswick, and the example he presents of the connection between mining and seismic activity at Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.
............................................
SEISMIC EXPERT: "MAGNITUDE 7 EARTHQUAKE RISK OBSCURED AT OLYMPIC DAM URANIUM MINE".
"Was the Clark Shaft accident at the Olympic Dam mine preceded by a seismic event?"
A geophysicist who investigated earthquakes for the US Geological Survey for 22 years, says that the connection between mining and seismicity [earthquakes] is obscured in Australia, particularly the seismic hazard of the Olympic Dam mine.
In a communication [Memo] sent to various federal and state government ministers [and others] on Tuesday 22 May 2010, Seismologist Edward Cranswick discusses the 35-km-long, steeply dipping Mashers Fault which passes through the middle of the Olympic Dam ore body. A fault length which implies an earthquake of maximum about 7.
The same memo is available as a PDF: http://cranswick.net/Kalgoorlie/KalgoorlieEarthquakeOlympicDamMine.pdf
Cranswick draws a comparison to the recent 20 APR 2010 magnitude 5 Kalgoorlie Earthquake which occurred in close proximity to the Kalgoorlie Super Pit mine as further evidence of the potential of open-pit mines to cause earthquakes in stable continental regions (SCR) such as Australia.
A further observation by Cranswick is that censoring of Australian lists of earthquakes and their corresponding source parameters, (i.e., time, location, depth, magnitude) has taken place.
"A plummeting ore skip in the main shaft [Clark Shaft] at Olympic Dam on 06 OCT 2009 was announced as reducing capacity at the mine to about 20 per cent for up to six months", says Seismologist Edward Cranswick.
"No information about the cause of the accident has been released. However, the main shaft is ~2 km north-northwest of the surface expression of the Mashers Fault which dips towards it.
Was the accident preceded by a seismic event?" asks Edward Cranswick.
....................................................
TO: The Hon Paul Holloway MLC, Government of South Australia
FROM: Edward Cranswick
CC: DPLG:Public Submissions
CC: Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett, and others
DATE: Tuesday 25MAY2010
SUBJECT: The Kalgoorlie Earthquake and the Proposed Olympic Dam Mine Expansion
BHP Billiton has proposed to dig the largest open pit mine on the Earth at Olympic Dam, 4.1 km long, 3.5 km wide, 1 km deep.
BHP Billiton has proposed to dig the largest open pit mine on the Earth at Olympic Dam, 4.1 km long, 3.5 km wide, 1 km deep.
As a geophysicist who investigated earthquakes for the US Geological Survey for 22 years [1], I strongly criticised BHP's Olympic Dam Expansion Draft Environmental Impact Statement 2009 (ODXdEIS) [2] because it omitted consideration of seismicity, i.e., rockbursts or earthquakes, caused by open pit mining, despite the fact that seismic hazard is well-known in the Australian mining industry (Hudyma et al. 2003 [3], Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) [4]).
The recent Kalgoorlie Earthquake emphasises the probability and consequences of these seismic events as mines grow larger and deeper - the ODXdEIS needs to be re-evaluated because it does not address this issue at all. I discuss the connection between mining and seismicity and how it is obscured in Australia, particularly the seismic hazard of the Olympic Dam mine, and I make recommendations about these matters.
The 20 APR 2010 magnitude 5 Kalgoorlie Earthquake occurred in close proximity to the Kalgoorlie Super Pit mine (see figure above) [5]. This seismic event is further evidence of the potential of open-pit mines to cause earthquakes in stable continental regions (SCR) such as Australia as discussed in the paper, Mashers Fault and the Seismicity Anticipated to be Stimulated by the Proposed Open Pit Mine at Olympic Dam (Cranswick 2009) [6], I presented at the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society (AEES) in December 2009 in Newcastle, NSW [7].
On 04 DEC 2009, I emailed you a pre-print of my paper that you kindly acknowledged in a letter to me dated 15 DEC 2009 in which you noted that one of your departments, Primary Industries and Resources (PIRSA), would have a representative at the AEES conference. Previously, on 07 AUG 2009, I had made a Public Submission to your office about earthquake hazard&risk in response to the ODXdEIS, Seismicity anticipated to be stimulated by BHP's proposed open-pit mine at Olympic Dam [8].
The Kalgoorlie Super Pit [9], with the dimensions 4 x 1.5 x 0.65 km (2.5 x 1.3 x 0.2 km, 12 SEP 2004, Google Maps [10]), is the largest open-pit mine in Australia, and according to the earthquake location of Kevin McCue (personal communication 2010), the Kalgoorlie Earthquake occurred near the Earth's surface, i.e., at zero depth, about 2-3 km south-west of the pit. A former seismologist with Geoscience Australia, Victor Dent, said, "I think the stress was changed by the digging of the Super Pit and that predisposed the area to an earthquake." [11].
The relationship between mining, stress, and rockbursts (a rock burst is "the significant damage caused to underground excavations by a seismic event") in mines has been long recognised by mining engineers - indeed, it is one of their principal concerns.
Furthermore, Kalgoorlie has a long history of seismic activity induced by mining - Ortlepp (2005) [12], a rock engineer for 33 years in the deep mines of South Africa and organiser of the series of international symposia founded in 1982, Rockbursts and Seismicity in Mines (RaSiM), discusses this seismic hazard:
"In Australia, rockbursting was first experienced as a significant but relatively infrequent problem in the Kalgoorlie district in the early part of the last [20th] century.
During the last decade of the century [1990s], as the extraction of the deepest massive orebodies of the Mount Charlotte mine peaked, several very large mining-induced tremors were experienced. Six seismic events between ML 2.5 and ML 4.3 (Richter scale) were recorded".
Based on the 72 mines that responded to their 148-question survey circulated to 135 mines in 18 countries, Hudyma and Potvin (2004) [13] concluded: "The incidence of high seismic hazard appears to be somewhat greater in western Australia compared with underground, mechanized, hardrock mines elsewhere in the world."
There are reports from other stable continental regions of earthquakes triggered/induced by mines or other human activities (trigger: the fault is already near the breaking point and needs only a small stress change to fail).
In the Kaap-Vaal craton in South Africa, only 8 of the 378 magnitude 3.5-4 earthquakes recorded in 50 years were "natural" i.e., more than 30 km away from mining activity (Otlepp 2005); hence, 98% were near mines. In northeastern United States, one third of the earthquakes greater than magnitude 3 during the period 1971-2003 were "human triggered", mostly by quarries or fluid injection (Seeber et al. 2004) [14].
By contrast, the Australian story seems to be that earthquakes can happen anywhere in Australia except at mines, and when they do happen at mines, it's just coincidence - notable exceptions to this story are seismological papers about mining induced seismicity, e.g., McKavanagh et al. (1995) [15] and Gibson and Peck (2006) [16].
There has often been an implicit, if not intentional, censoring of Australian earthquake catalogues (lists of earthquakes and their corresponding source parameters, i.e., time, location, depth, magnitude) compiled by regional and national seismograph networks because seismic events in the vicinity of mines are frequently discarded under the assumption that these events are explosions.
However, comparison with the South African data cited above suggests that some of these discarded events may have been earthquakes, either "natural" or those triggered/induced by the mining process - important information has been lost. Some of these events may have been very well recorded by microseismic monitoring systems within mines but that information can be difficult to access - BHP Billiton at Olympic Dam is exempt from Freedom of Information Act 1991 (Burdon 2006) [17].
Cranswick (2009) discussed three earthquakes triggered by open-pit mining, and now there has been another even larger earthquake at Kalgoorlie within about a pit's length of the Super Pit - maybe it's just coincidence... the KCGM mine management might know - do a search for "earthquake" on their website .
The proposed 4.1 x 3.4 x 1 km open-pit at Olympic Dam would be much deeper than the Super Pit is now and several times the volume, and it would be excavated from rock subjected to high horizontal EW compressive stresses (~43 MPa at 1 km depth, Bunger et al. 2008 [18]).
Traditionally, underground mines are deeper, and therefore, more seismically hazardous than shallow open pits, but the proposed pit at Olympic Dam will be as deep as the underground mine it replaces. Based on the dimensions of the open-pit, the results of McGarr et al. (2002) [19] suggest an earthquake of maximum magnitude 4-6 could occur.
The 35-km-long, steeply dipping Mashers Fault passes through the middle of the Olympic Dam ore body that is to be mined - that fault length implies an earthquake of maximum magnitude about 7. (Wells and Coppersmith 1994) [20].
Cranswick (2009) discusses Australian earthquakes in the magnitude range 6-7 during the last half century that produced fault scarps more than 1 m high and more than 10 km long. At Olympic Dam, such scarps and the strong groundmotions generated by the corresponding earthquakes could severely damage the 9 Tailings Storage Facilities (TSFs, i.e., square tailings dams, 2 x 2 km, and 65 m high) that will be built to contain gigatons of hazardous tailings.
Bores in the 100-500-m-wide Mashers Fault zone near the mine have high fluid flows (ODXdEIS), and Ito and Zoback (2000) [21] find that, "critically-stressed faults in the crust are also the most permeable faults"; hence, Mashers Fault may be critically stressed. More recently at Olympic Dam, "damage from a plummeting ore skip in its main shaft [06 OCT 2009] is expected to reduce capacity to about 20 per cent for up to six months" (The Australian 21OCT2009) [22], but no information about the cause of the accident has been released - the main shaft is ~2 km north-northwest of the surface expression of the Mashers Fault which dips towards it. Was the accident preceded by a seismic event?
Bores in the 100-500-m-wide Mashers Fault zone near the mine have high fluid flows (ODXdEIS), and Ito and Zoback (2000) [21] find that, "critically-stressed faults in the crust are also the most permeable faults"; hence, Mashers Fault may be critically stressed. More recently at Olympic Dam, "damage from a plummeting ore skip in its main shaft [06 OCT 2009] is expected to reduce capacity to about 20 per cent for up to six months" (The Australian 21OCT2009) [22], but no information about the cause of the accident has been released - the main shaft is ~2 km north-northwest of the surface expression of the Mashers Fault which dips towards it. Was the accident preceded by a seismic event?
In their paper, An Engineering Approach to Seismic Risk Management in Hardrock Mines, Hudyma and Potvin (2009) [23] state: "The problem of mining-induced seismicity in hardrock mines has become significant as underground mines from around the world are pushing production to deeper levels. At many mines, the risk associated with large seismic events and rockburst damage must be managed to ensure the safety of mine workers and minimise production losses."
Ortlepp (2005) concludes: "It is to be hoped that large mining corporations and mine owners will also see the light and realise that it is ultimately in the best interests of all the stakeholders that the spectre of the rockburst hazard must be further exposed and eventually eliminated."
So here's the picture - on the surface, mining management & seismologists are not talking about earthquakes & mining - meanwhile, down in the mine, seismologists and the rest of the shift are worrying about when the next rockburst will happen as management tells them to go deeper & deeper...
It is absurd - irrational, unscrupulously & tragically dishonest and unprofessional - that the ODXdEIS for the proposed largest open-pit mine on Earth does not address the principal hazard to digging that mine, triggered/induced seismicity and rockbursts. The latter term does not appear once in the 4,600 pages of the ODXdEIS and its appendices. This omission echoes the Washington Post (05 MAY 2010) headline , "U.S. exempted BP's Gulf of Mexico drilling from environmental impact study" [24], about the world's worst oil spill and environmental catastrophe. The ODXdEIS purports to predict the water depth in the open-pit 3,000 years from now (see figure below) [25] but does not mention any earthquakes at the mine during that same period.
No decision should be made concerning the ODXdEIS until specific new investigations are undertaken at Olympic Dam and published -made available to the public - regarding the seismic hazard of proposed open-pit and the seismotectonic potential of the Mashers Fault.
These investigations of the Mashers Fault and vicinity would be conducted by independent teams that each focused on one of the following tasks: paleoseismology, i.e., evidence of previous fault movement; a microearthquake survey done in conjunction with the existing mine-wide microseismic monitoring system; a search of regional & national seismograph network data to recover all records of seismic events near mines (within 30 km), identification of sources, i.e., blasts or earthquakes, confirmed by mine blasting records; geomechanical analysis of in situ stress, pore pressure, borehole data, etc., to estimate Coulomb stress change (King et al. 1994) [26] on the Mashers Fault in response to excavation of the open-pit; geophysical analysis of gravity & magnetics to determine regional structure related to Mashers Fault.
An independent group of mining geologists, geomechanical engineers and mining seismologists would integrate the reports from the teams and write an overview, but all reports would be released in full as appendices. Much of this work has undoubtedly already been done - it needs to be released to the public and made available from a SA government website.
The majority of Australia's foreign exchange comes from mining, and mining is already the most hazardous industry in Australia [27]. As mining activity increases, seismic activity increases, and the amount of toxic tailings from the mines that must be safely contained increases - both seismic hazard & risk increase. Following the recent example, "U.S. to Split Up Agency Policing the Oil Industry" (New York Times 11MAY2010) [28], the responsibilities to promote and to regulate mining, both now done by the one South Australian government department, PIRSA, should be divided between two independent departments.
Edward Cranswick 12 Bowillia Ave Hawthorn, SA 5062, TEL: 08 8271 1309 email: e_cranswick@yahoo.com
REFERENCES
1. http://cranswick.net/Kalgoorlie/SeismoBioAEES20091115.pdf
2. http://www.bhpbilliton.com/bb/odxEis.jsp
3. Hudyma, M., D. Heal, and P. Mikula (2003). Seismic monitoring in mines – old technology – new Applications, Proceedings of 1st Australasian Ground Control in Mining Conference, UNSW/EAGCG, Sydney, Australia, Nov, ISBN 0 7334 2085.
4. http://www.kcgm.com.au/Environment/NoiseandVibration/SeismicMonitoring/tabid/132/Default.aspx>
5. http://cranswick.net/Kalgoorlie/GEI_KalgPitEQ_Mw5MPa10Caption.jpg
6. Cranswick, E. (2009). Mashers Fault and the seismicity anticipated to be stimulated by the proposed open-pit mine at Olympic Dam, in Kevin McCue and Sonja Lenz (eds.), Earthquake engineering in Australia: proceedings of the conference held by the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society in Newcastle, NSW, 11-13 December 2009. http://cranswick.net/MashersSeismicityAnticipatedOlympicDam/
7. http://www.aees.org.au/Conferences/2009/AEES/AEES.html
8. http://www.olympicdameis.sa.gov.au/html/submissions/public/CranswickEdward.pdf>
9. http://www.superpit.com.au/
10. http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=-30.774547,121.501322&spn=0.02688,0.038581&t=h&z=15
11. http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/mp/7093175/super-pit-linked-to-quake-cause
12. Ortlepp, W.D. (2005) RaSiM comes of age—a review of the contribution to the understanding and control of mine rockbursts, inYves Potvin and Martin Hudyma (eds), Controlling Seismic Risk, 6th International Symposium on Rockburst and Seismicity in Mines Proceedings, Australia, 9-11MAR2005.
http://www.acg.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/2147/Ortlepp_keynote_web.pdf
13. Hudyma, M. and Potvin, Y.H. (2004). Seismic hazard in Western Australian mines, The Journal of The South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Vol 104, No 5, pp 265-276.
14. Seeber, L., J.G. Armbruster and W-Y. Kim(2004). A fluid-injection-triggered earthquake sequence in Ashtabula, Ohio: implications for seismogenesis in stable continental regions,
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol 94, No 1, pp 76–87.
15. McKavanagh, B., B. Boreham, K. McCue, G. Gibson, J. Hafner and G. Klenowski (1995). The CQU regional seismic network and applications to underground mining in central Queensland, Australia, Journal Pure and Applied Geophysics, Vol 145, No 1, pp 39-57.
16. Gibson, G. and Peck, W. (2006). Seismic hazards in underground mines, The Geological Society of Australia, Victoria Division, Evening Lecture, Thursday 26 October at 6.30 PM, Monash University, published in The Victorian Geologist, October 2006.
http://www.vic.gsa.org.au/newsletter/NLfiles/GSAVNL0610.pdf
17. Burdon, P. (2006). Above the law? Roxby Downs and BHP Billiton̢۪s Legal Privileges, Website: Friends of the Earth, Adelaide. http://www.foe.org.au/antinuclear/issues/oz/u/roxby/indenture/indenture
18. Bunger, A., A.R. Jeffrey, G. Meyer, A. Larking, G. Jenke, G. Klee, and F. Rummel (2008). High horizontal stresses in SE-Australia derived from discing, breakouts and hydraulic fracturing to 2 km depth, Proceedings 3rd World Stress Map Conference, Potsdam, 15-17 October 2008.
http://sclilp.gfz-potsdam.de/fileadmin/SCLILP/user_upload/pdf/projects/proceedings.pdf
19. McGarr, A., D. Simpson and L. Seeber (2002). Case histories of induced and triggered Seismicity, International Handbook of Earthquake and Engineering Seismology 81A, pp 647– 661.
20. Wells, D.L. and Coppersmith, K.J. (1994). New empirical relationships among magnitude, rupture length, rupture width, rupture area, and surface displacement, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol 84, No 4, pp 974-1002.
21. Ito, T., and Zoback, M.D. (2000). Fracture permeability and in situ stress to 7 km depth in the KTB scientific drillhole, Geophysical Research Letters, Vol 27, No 7, pp 1045-1048.
22. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/news/bhp-declares-force-majeure-on-olympicdam/story-e6frg90f-1225789052940
23. Hudyma, M. and Potvin, Y.H. (2009). An engineering approach to seismic risk management in hardrock mines, Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, Published online: 21 November 2009.
24. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/04/AR2010050404118.html
25. http://cranswick.net/Kalgoorlie/ODXdEIS_Chap11SurfaceWaterFig11.7PredictedPitLake_Mashers.jpg
26. King, G.C.P., R.S. Stein and J. Lin (1994). Static Stress Changes and the Triggering of Earthquakes, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol 84, No 3, pp 935-953.
http://www.ipgp.fr/~king/DownloadsVarious/1994/Big/King1994.pdf
27. http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/DB85C40F-E337-4035-ACA6-870CBD8E98FA/0/Mining200708.pdf
28. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/us/12interior.html
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Monday, April 26, 2010
Olympic Dam's faulty expansion
The Olympic Dam uranium and copper mine at Roxby Downs is susceptible to seismic activity that could result in the release of radioactive tailings into ground and surface waters, together with the dispersal of radioactive gases and particles in to the atmosphere.
The mine is currently operated underground, but is due to be expanded into the world’s largest open cut uranium mine by owners BHP-Billiton with the active support of the South Australian state Labor government.
A 35 kilometre long Mashers Fault line runs through the centre of the ore body and the proposed open pit.
Natural seismic activity, and changes in groundwater pressures caused by the massive pumping of artesian water supply by the mine, could equally result in a radioactive event.
Seismic activity is common throughout parts of South Australia.
The suburbs of the capital city of Adelaide sit astride several major fault lines. The most notable earthquakes have been in 1954 (magnitude 5.5) and 2010 (magnitude 3.8). Earthquakes in SA regional centres have included Beachport (1897 mag. 6.5) and Warooka (1902, mag. 6.0).
The most active area for earthquakes in SA is the Flinders Ranges (see here) where the Chinese-backed Marathon Resources hopes to tunnel into a wilderness sanctuary to mine uranium.
But it is the potential for disturbance at Olympic Dam that has excited recent comment. Edward Cranswick, a retired geophysicist, has been warning of the dangers of expanding the Olympic Dam into one of the world’s largest open pit mines.
These details are taken from the Coober Pedy Regional Times:
OLYMPIC DAM: Mashers Fault
Mashers Fault and the Seismicity Anticipated to be Stimulated by the Proposed Open Pit Mine at Olympic DamBy: Edward Cranswick (30DEC2009) REVISED* Public Seismic Network (Geophysicist, US Geological Survey, resigned)
(Figure 1 Mashers Fault schematic SSE-NNW cross-section through the Olympic Dam ore body, no vertical exaggeration )
Abstract: The proposed excavation at Olympic Dam of one of the largest open pit mines on Earth, 4.1 km long, 3.5 km wide, 1 km deep, at a bend in the steeply dipping, 35-km-long Mashers Fault, and the associated perturbation of the local groundwater pore pressures in a region of horizontal compressive stress would most likely stimulate local seismicity.
(Figure 2 Map of Olympic Dam showing existing underground mine and outline of the proposed open pit in bold black, the potentiometric contours (labeled by elevation, m, above sea-level) in blue, and the trace of the NE-SW Mashers Fault in yellow (the eastern-most 5 km have been truncated). Black arrows indicate the principal horizontal stress direction (Bunger et al. 2008)
Faulting, perhaps related to variations of pore pressure, has occurred intermittently on structures in Australia that are difficult to recognise, and open pit mines have caused earthquakes in other countries.
Removing 1 km of rock at Olympic Dam would reduce the vertical stress by ~25 MPa, increase the deviatoric stress and facilitate thrust-type faulting in the vicinity of the open pit, and possibly stimulate strike-slip failure on the Mashers Fault, triggered by the extensive pumping and disposal of ground water.
["potentiometric contours" in Figure 2 refers to contours of water table with respect to sea level]
Relatively small (magnitude <6), href="http://www.bhpbilliton.com/bb/odxEis.jsp">http://www.bhpbilliton.com/bb/odxEis.jsp )
Introduction: Broken Hill Proprietary (BHP Billiton) currently owns and operates the existing underground copper-uranium-gold-silver Olympic Dam mine (coordinates: –30.44°, +136.87°) 10 km north of Roxby Downs in South Australia.
The company has proposed in their Olympic Dam Expansion Draft Environmental Impact Statement 2009 (ODXdEIS; BHP Billiton 2009) to expand the mining operation over a period of 40 years and create an open pit mine 4.1 km long, 3.5 km wide, 1 km deep – making it one of the largest open pit mines on Earth.
The Olympic Dam ore body is a hematite breccia within the basement of Palaeoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic crystalline rocks that are unconformably overlain by ~300 m of Neoproterozoic to Cambrian age, flat-lying sedimentary rocks of the Stuart Shelf and a veneer of surficial deposits on the eastern margin of the Gawler Craton (Reynolds 2001). The mined ore is ground into particles and treated with acid to dissolve and remove copper, uranium, gold and silver, and the resulting tailings are a slurry that is pumped to the Tailings Storage Facility (TSF). There the tailings solids are allowed to settle and the liquid component is removed by evaporation and seepage into the surficial layer of sands and clays (~3 m thick) and the underlying shallow aquifer of the Andamooka Limestone, and some excess liquid drains into evaporation ponds (ODXdEIS).
Next to the ore body, the most prominent geological structure at Olympic Dam is the 35-km-long Mashers Fault that passes through the middle of the ore body and the proposed pit. The excavation of the open pit mine and the associated perturbation of the local groundwater pore pressures would most likely stimulate some level of seismicity in the vicinity of the mine, and possibly slip on the Masher Fault itself. I use the term “stimulate” as defined by McGarr et al. (2002):
‘“induced” describes seismicity resulting from an activity that is comparable in magnitude to the ambient shear stress acting on a fault to cause slip, whereas “triggered” is used if the stress change is only a small fraction of the ambient level … By “stimulated” we refer generally to seismicity either triggered or induced by human activities.’
___________
To continue: Included at the following link is a recent peer-reviewed scientific paper, “Mashers Fault and the Seismicity Anticipated to be Stimulated by the Proposed Open Pit Mine at Olympic Dam” by Edward Cranswick, presented at the annual meeting of the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society held in Newcastle, NSW, in December 2009 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Newcastle Earthquake (in January 1990.
Mr. Cranswick participated in the tail-end of the then on-going aftershock investigation of the Newcastle earthquake). His presentation slides from the annual meeting of the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society held in Newcastle, NSW can be found at this website: http://cranswick.net/MashersSeismicityAnticipatedOlympicDam/
Further Seismic information by this author is included here as a submission on the application licenses for a National Radioactive Waste Repository (at Woomera)
13 Nov 2003
Edward Cranswick
mailto:e_cranswick@yahoo.com
Site 40a is approximately 20 km east of Woomera. Instead of being located within one of the least seismically hazardous zones of Australia, the site is adjacent to the one of the most hazardous zones, that which encompasses the Flinders Ranges (Figs. 4 and 5).
Indeed, the Federal Member for the South Australian electorate of Mayo and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, recently said, “There have been more moderate-sized earthquakes near Adelaide over the last 50 years than anywhere else in Australia” (Geoscience Australia, 2003a).
(Figure 5 – Earthquake hazard map of Australia. The numbers, e.g., “greater than 0.10”, refer to the ground acceleration (measured as a fraction of the Earth’s gravitational acceleration, g, i.e., 1.0 g = 9.8 m/s2) with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years (Geoscience Australia, 2003b).
SA earthquake hazard map of region surrounding location marked by the black square. The yellow, brown, and red dots represent earthquakes (Geoscience Australia).
Figure 5 – Earthquake hazard map of region surrounding Site 40a whose location is marked by the black square. The yellow, brown, and red dots represent earthquakes (Geoscience Australia, 2003b).
The PIRSA earthquake maps (PIRSA, 2003) for years 2000 and 2001 show events to the west of Lake Torrens, and the EIS states “Activity west of the Torrens Hinge Zone, in the areas of the proposed repository … are likely to be related to blasting activities associated with mining at Olympic Dam and Mt Gunson” (my italics). However, I note the following: 1) not all these events are located at either Olympic Dam or Mt Gunson; 2) whether all these events are explosions should be explicitly determined by consulting the records of the respective licensed blasters; 3) mining activities can trigger seismic events; 4) Olympic Dam has a sophisticated seismic array to monitor earth movements at the mine (S. Eldridge, 2003, personal communication), and data from this array can be used to constrain the nature of local seismic sources, i.e., those within a hundred km.
Because of the historical paucity of seismograph stations, the occurrence and exact locations of earthquakes and their corresponding wave propagation characteristics in northern SA are not well known, and an intensive field campaign of earthquake monitoring has recently commenced “to improve estimates of seismic hazard in the region” (Geoscience Australia, 2003c).
In addition to the hazard posed by the known sources of seismic activity in the Flinders, there is the hazard posed by large intraplate earthquakes that could occur anywhere throughout the Australian craton, such as the 1987-1988 Tennant Creek earthquake sequence that included three magnitude 6+ events: “The Tennant Creek area had no history of earthquake activity before 1987.” (Seismology Research Centre, 1998). Cummins et al. (2003) argue that there are “large uncertainties … regarding an earthquake hazard map for Australia in which we can have complete confidence”, and they conclude, “Recent neotectonic investigations in areas of low topographic relief, for example, indicate that seismicity must be transitory in both space and time over large parts of Australia.”
Not only strong ground shaking, but also faulting and ground rupture can pose a significant hazard to the NRWR. Ground rupture such as that which damaged the gas pipeline during the earthquakes at Tennant Creek can damage waste containment structures. The 1992 ML 5.6-5.8 Little Skull Mountain Earthquake, whose epicenter is within 20 km of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA, a potential high-level NRWR, is the largest tectonic event that has occurred within 50 km of the site in historic time, and it has raised concerns about “coupled processes that may lead to the future release of radioactive material to the accessible environment.
A few examples of tectonically coupled processes are: co-seismic changes in the water table; changes in infiltration rates due to changes in fracture characteristics … ” (Whitney and Keefer, 2000). Similar abrupt changes in the water table were observed after the 1998 magnitude 5.3 Pymatuning earthquake in Pennsylvania, USA, and Fleeger et al. (1999) argued that these changes could be explained by faulting that fractured the aquitard and drained the aquifer. Faulting plays an important role in the natural occurrence of mound springs in the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) 200 km to the north (James Cook University, 2000).
The last sentence of the “Seismicity” section of the EIS is, “The repository and buildings would be designed in accordance with AS 1170.4-1993.” However, the abstract of the AS 1170.4-1993 states (Standards Australia, 2003):
Sets out data and procedures for determining minimum earthquake loads on structures and their components, and also minimum detailing requirements for structures. It does not consider related phenomena such as settlement, slides, subsidence, liquefaction or faulting in the immediate vicinity of a structure. It does not include nuclear reactors, dams, transmission towers, bridges, piers and wharves, which may require special consideration. The Standard is in limit states format. New earthquake maps are defined in terms of an acceleration coefficient instead of the zoning system used in the previous Standard AS 2121. Domestic structures are now included.
Therefore, AS 1170.4-1993 is essentially irrelevant to the design of the repository because the repository would clearly be one of those structures which “require special consideration.” The title, “Seismicity”, of this section about seismic hazard is itself a misnomer because the term seismicity refers to the temporal, spatial, and magnitude distribution of earthquakes but does not directly refer to their damaging effects.
Site 40a is not a site of minimal earthquake hazard. There is much uncertainty at present about the seismic hazard in the region, and much of the information that is available has not been included in the EIS. Furthermore, it is premature to attempt to evaluate the earthquake hazard until results are obtained from the recently commenced tectonic and seismic studies of the Flinders Ranges.
Most critically, the misunderstanding concerning AS 1170.4-1993 indicates that the EIS Study Team is not competent to evaluate seismic risk. The EIS Study Team did not include any geophysicists – it is essential that the EIS be approved by seismologists, and my Australian colleagues who are familiar with the Australian land are the ones to do that. In conclusion, as characterized by the Draft EIS, ARPANSA should not grant a license for the construction and operation of the NRWR at Site 40a.
Edward Cranswick
(for bibliography, see Coober Pedy Regional Times link above).
The mine is currently operated underground, but is due to be expanded into the world’s largest open cut uranium mine by owners BHP-Billiton with the active support of the South Australian state Labor government.
A 35 kilometre long Mashers Fault line runs through the centre of the ore body and the proposed open pit.
Natural seismic activity, and changes in groundwater pressures caused by the massive pumping of artesian water supply by the mine, could equally result in a radioactive event.
Seismic activity is common throughout parts of South Australia.
The suburbs of the capital city of Adelaide sit astride several major fault lines. The most notable earthquakes have been in 1954 (magnitude 5.5) and 2010 (magnitude 3.8). Earthquakes in SA regional centres have included Beachport (1897 mag. 6.5) and Warooka (1902, mag. 6.0).
The most active area for earthquakes in SA is the Flinders Ranges (see here) where the Chinese-backed Marathon Resources hopes to tunnel into a wilderness sanctuary to mine uranium.
But it is the potential for disturbance at Olympic Dam that has excited recent comment. Edward Cranswick, a retired geophysicist, has been warning of the dangers of expanding the Olympic Dam into one of the world’s largest open pit mines.
These details are taken from the Coober Pedy Regional Times:
OLYMPIC DAM: Mashers Fault
Mashers Fault and the Seismicity Anticipated to be Stimulated by the Proposed Open Pit Mine at Olympic DamBy: Edward Cranswick (30DEC2009) REVISED* Public Seismic Network (Geophysicist, US Geological Survey, resigned)
(Figure 1 Mashers Fault schematic SSE-NNW cross-section through the Olympic Dam ore body, no vertical exaggeration )Abstract: The proposed excavation at Olympic Dam of one of the largest open pit mines on Earth, 4.1 km long, 3.5 km wide, 1 km deep, at a bend in the steeply dipping, 35-km-long Mashers Fault, and the associated perturbation of the local groundwater pore pressures in a region of horizontal compressive stress would most likely stimulate local seismicity.
(Figure 2 Map of Olympic Dam showing existing underground mine and outline of the proposed open pit in bold black, the potentiometric contours (labeled by elevation, m, above sea-level) in blue, and the trace of the NE-SW Mashers Fault in yellow (the eastern-most 5 km have been truncated). Black arrows indicate the principal horizontal stress direction (Bunger et al. 2008)
Faulting, perhaps related to variations of pore pressure, has occurred intermittently on structures in Australia that are difficult to recognise, and open pit mines have caused earthquakes in other countries.
Removing 1 km of rock at Olympic Dam would reduce the vertical stress by ~25 MPa, increase the deviatoric stress and facilitate thrust-type faulting in the vicinity of the open pit, and possibly stimulate strike-slip failure on the Mashers Fault, triggered by the extensive pumping and disposal of ground water.
["potentiometric contours" in Figure 2 refers to contours of water table with respect to sea level]
Relatively small (magnitude <6), href="http://www.bhpbilliton.com/bb/odxEis.jsp">http://www.bhpbilliton.com/bb/odxEis.jsp )
Introduction: Broken Hill Proprietary (BHP Billiton) currently owns and operates the existing underground copper-uranium-gold-silver Olympic Dam mine (coordinates: –30.44°, +136.87°) 10 km north of Roxby Downs in South Australia.
The company has proposed in their Olympic Dam Expansion Draft Environmental Impact Statement 2009 (ODXdEIS; BHP Billiton 2009) to expand the mining operation over a period of 40 years and create an open pit mine 4.1 km long, 3.5 km wide, 1 km deep – making it one of the largest open pit mines on Earth.
The Olympic Dam ore body is a hematite breccia within the basement of Palaeoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic crystalline rocks that are unconformably overlain by ~300 m of Neoproterozoic to Cambrian age, flat-lying sedimentary rocks of the Stuart Shelf and a veneer of surficial deposits on the eastern margin of the Gawler Craton (Reynolds 2001). The mined ore is ground into particles and treated with acid to dissolve and remove copper, uranium, gold and silver, and the resulting tailings are a slurry that is pumped to the Tailings Storage Facility (TSF). There the tailings solids are allowed to settle and the liquid component is removed by evaporation and seepage into the surficial layer of sands and clays (~3 m thick) and the underlying shallow aquifer of the Andamooka Limestone, and some excess liquid drains into evaporation ponds (ODXdEIS).
Next to the ore body, the most prominent geological structure at Olympic Dam is the 35-km-long Mashers Fault that passes through the middle of the ore body and the proposed pit. The excavation of the open pit mine and the associated perturbation of the local groundwater pore pressures would most likely stimulate some level of seismicity in the vicinity of the mine, and possibly slip on the Masher Fault itself. I use the term “stimulate” as defined by McGarr et al. (2002):
‘“induced” describes seismicity resulting from an activity that is comparable in magnitude to the ambient shear stress acting on a fault to cause slip, whereas “triggered” is used if the stress change is only a small fraction of the ambient level … By “stimulated” we refer generally to seismicity either triggered or induced by human activities.’
___________
To continue: Included at the following link is a recent peer-reviewed scientific paper, “Mashers Fault and the Seismicity Anticipated to be Stimulated by the Proposed Open Pit Mine at Olympic Dam” by Edward Cranswick, presented at the annual meeting of the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society held in Newcastle, NSW, in December 2009 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Newcastle Earthquake (in January 1990.
Mr. Cranswick participated in the tail-end of the then on-going aftershock investigation of the Newcastle earthquake). His presentation slides from the annual meeting of the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society held in Newcastle, NSW can be found at this website: http://cranswick.net/MashersSeismicityAnticipatedOlympicDam/
Further Seismic information by this author is included here as a submission on the application licenses for a National Radioactive Waste Repository (at Woomera)
13 Nov 2003
Edward Cranswick
mailto:e_cranswick@yahoo.com
The Project Management Officer
NRWR
ARPANSA
PO Box 655
MIRANDA NSW 1490
RE: Public Submission on the application licenses for a National Radioactive Waste Repository Edward Cranswick
I am opposed to the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency’s (ARPANSA) granting of a license for the construction and operation of the National Radioactive Waste Repository (NRWR) at Site 40a in South Australia (SA). There remain serious unresolved issues regarding the impact to the health and safety of people and the environment by the proposed shallow burial of radioactive waste near Woomera. In particular, I am concerned about the inadequate analysis of seismic hazard in the NRWR Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
I recently retired from the US Geological Survey where I worked as a geophysicist for 22 years and investigated the strong ground motions produced by earthquakes.
The whole discussion of seismic hazard is limited to less than one page in the Main Report of the EIS (Environment Assessment, Chapter 8, Physical Environment, 8.1.3 Seismicity, p. 157), the text of which is reproduced in its entirety below:
The level of seismic activity in Australia is generally considered to be low when compared to the seismically active areas of the world.
The most seismically active areas of South Australia are associated with the Adelaide Geosyncline in an area extending from the Flinders Ranges in the north to Kangaroo Island in the south; the eastern portion of Eyre Peninsula; and the southeastern region of the state around Mt Gambier.
The area between Quorn and Leigh Creek has the highest number of seismic events (considered to be related to zones of crustal weakness), with several earthquakes ranging in magnitude from Richter Local Magnitude (ML) 4.5 to 5.7 between 1939 and 1983. Activity west of the Torrens Hinge Zone, in the areas of the proposed repository, range from ML 1 to 2 (with ML 2 being the lowest magnitude able to be felt). Discussion with the South Australian Office of Minerals and Energy Resources has indicated that the cluster of predominantly ML 1 recordings are likely to be related to blasting activities associated with mining at Olympic Dam and Mt Gunson.
In Eyre Peninsula the earthquakes appear to be associated with the Lincoln Fault Zone, the highest recording being the 1959 Mambin earthquake of magnitude ML 4.9. In the South East, seismicity is related to the western margin of the Otway Basin and an onshore volcanic belt. The highest recorded earthquakes are the 1897 Beachport–Kingston earthquake of magnitude ML 6.5 and the 1948 Robe earthquake of magnitude ML 5.6.
The Standards Association of Australia AS 1170.4-1993, Minimum Design Loads on Structures, Part 4 Earthquake Loads indicates that a ground acceleration coefficient of 0.08 would be appropriate for Site 52a, and between 0.085 and 0.09 for the eastern sites. There is a 10% probability that the aboveground acceleration levels would be exceeded in a 50-year period.
The repository and buildings would be designed in accordance with AS 1170.4-1993.
The repository and buildings would be designed in accordance with AS 1170.4-1993.
In the following submission, I will review this text.
(Fig. 4. Earthquake hazard map of Australia. The numbers, e.g., "greater than 0.10”, refer to the ground acceleration (measured as a fraction of the Earth’s gravitational acceleration, g, i.e., 1.0 g = 9.8 m/s2) with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years (Geoscience Australia).
Site 40a is approximately 20 km east of Woomera. Instead of being located within one of the least seismically hazardous zones of Australia, the site is adjacent to the one of the most hazardous zones, that which encompasses the Flinders Ranges (Figs. 4 and 5).
Indeed, the Federal Member for the South Australian electorate of Mayo and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, recently said, “There have been more moderate-sized earthquakes near Adelaide over the last 50 years than anywhere else in Australia” (Geoscience Australia, 2003a).
(Figure 5 – Earthquake hazard map of Australia. The numbers, e.g., “greater than 0.10”, refer to the ground acceleration (measured as a fraction of the Earth’s gravitational acceleration, g, i.e., 1.0 g = 9.8 m/s2) with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years (Geoscience Australia, 2003b).
SA earthquake hazard map of region surrounding location marked by the black square. The yellow, brown, and red dots represent earthquakes (Geoscience Australia).
Figure 5 – Earthquake hazard map of region surrounding Site 40a whose location is marked by the black square. The yellow, brown, and red dots represent earthquakes (Geoscience Australia, 2003b).
The PIRSA earthquake maps (PIRSA, 2003) for years 2000 and 2001 show events to the west of Lake Torrens, and the EIS states “Activity west of the Torrens Hinge Zone, in the areas of the proposed repository … are likely to be related to blasting activities associated with mining at Olympic Dam and Mt Gunson” (my italics). However, I note the following: 1) not all these events are located at either Olympic Dam or Mt Gunson; 2) whether all these events are explosions should be explicitly determined by consulting the records of the respective licensed blasters; 3) mining activities can trigger seismic events; 4) Olympic Dam has a sophisticated seismic array to monitor earth movements at the mine (S. Eldridge, 2003, personal communication), and data from this array can be used to constrain the nature of local seismic sources, i.e., those within a hundred km.
Because of the historical paucity of seismograph stations, the occurrence and exact locations of earthquakes and their corresponding wave propagation characteristics in northern SA are not well known, and an intensive field campaign of earthquake monitoring has recently commenced “to improve estimates of seismic hazard in the region” (Geoscience Australia, 2003c).
In addition to the hazard posed by the known sources of seismic activity in the Flinders, there is the hazard posed by large intraplate earthquakes that could occur anywhere throughout the Australian craton, such as the 1987-1988 Tennant Creek earthquake sequence that included three magnitude 6+ events: “The Tennant Creek area had no history of earthquake activity before 1987.” (Seismology Research Centre, 1998). Cummins et al. (2003) argue that there are “large uncertainties … regarding an earthquake hazard map for Australia in which we can have complete confidence”, and they conclude, “Recent neotectonic investigations in areas of low topographic relief, for example, indicate that seismicity must be transitory in both space and time over large parts of Australia.”
Not only strong ground shaking, but also faulting and ground rupture can pose a significant hazard to the NRWR. Ground rupture such as that which damaged the gas pipeline during the earthquakes at Tennant Creek can damage waste containment structures. The 1992 ML 5.6-5.8 Little Skull Mountain Earthquake, whose epicenter is within 20 km of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA, a potential high-level NRWR, is the largest tectonic event that has occurred within 50 km of the site in historic time, and it has raised concerns about “coupled processes that may lead to the future release of radioactive material to the accessible environment.
A few examples of tectonically coupled processes are: co-seismic changes in the water table; changes in infiltration rates due to changes in fracture characteristics … ” (Whitney and Keefer, 2000). Similar abrupt changes in the water table were observed after the 1998 magnitude 5.3 Pymatuning earthquake in Pennsylvania, USA, and Fleeger et al. (1999) argued that these changes could be explained by faulting that fractured the aquitard and drained the aquifer. Faulting plays an important role in the natural occurrence of mound springs in the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) 200 km to the north (James Cook University, 2000).
The last sentence of the “Seismicity” section of the EIS is, “The repository and buildings would be designed in accordance with AS 1170.4-1993.” However, the abstract of the AS 1170.4-1993 states (Standards Australia, 2003):
Sets out data and procedures for determining minimum earthquake loads on structures and their components, and also minimum detailing requirements for structures. It does not consider related phenomena such as settlement, slides, subsidence, liquefaction or faulting in the immediate vicinity of a structure. It does not include nuclear reactors, dams, transmission towers, bridges, piers and wharves, which may require special consideration. The Standard is in limit states format. New earthquake maps are defined in terms of an acceleration coefficient instead of the zoning system used in the previous Standard AS 2121. Domestic structures are now included.
Therefore, AS 1170.4-1993 is essentially irrelevant to the design of the repository because the repository would clearly be one of those structures which “require special consideration.” The title, “Seismicity”, of this section about seismic hazard is itself a misnomer because the term seismicity refers to the temporal, spatial, and magnitude distribution of earthquakes but does not directly refer to their damaging effects.
Site 40a is not a site of minimal earthquake hazard. There is much uncertainty at present about the seismic hazard in the region, and much of the information that is available has not been included in the EIS. Furthermore, it is premature to attempt to evaluate the earthquake hazard until results are obtained from the recently commenced tectonic and seismic studies of the Flinders Ranges.
Most critically, the misunderstanding concerning AS 1170.4-1993 indicates that the EIS Study Team is not competent to evaluate seismic risk. The EIS Study Team did not include any geophysicists – it is essential that the EIS be approved by seismologists, and my Australian colleagues who are familiar with the Australian land are the ones to do that. In conclusion, as characterized by the Draft EIS, ARPANSA should not grant a license for the construction and operation of the NRWR at Site 40a.
Edward Cranswick
(for bibliography, see Coober Pedy Regional Times link above).
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Aboriginal Customary Law and Culture Movement
Aboriginal community leaders have announced the launch of a weekly television program, which can be seen on this website: http://www.4-days-in-july.org/
The program is hosted by John Hartley and David Salomon. In the first episode, David intrerviews John about the background to the Ampilatwtja walkoff and the construction of the protest house which was aided by the CFMEU and other unions.
During the show, John sings two of his songs, Poison in the Water, and Let it Shine.
The "4 days in July" taken for the name of the website refers to a historic national convergence of Aboriginal leaders which will take place in Alice Springs from July 6 - 9 2010 to condemn the racist Northern Territory Intervention and to demand the unconditional restoration of the suspended Racial Discrimination Act.
For further information on the Ampilatwatja issue, scroll down to page 12 on the following link:
An anti-revisionist people's rally in Luoyang, Henan, China
(The following item and the translation accompanying it was circulated in an International League for Peoples Struggle distribution list - Mike)
An anti-revisionist people's rally commemorating and calling for continuing Mao Zedong's struggle against revisionism, in Luoyang City, Henan Province.
To see the rally, go to: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTYzMDk5OTky.htmlluoyang people
A rough translation of the speech is here below
A Memorial for Chairman Mao and Other Martyrs - Luoyang City, Henan ProvincePosted by Utopia (http://www.wyzxsx.com/) on April 14, 2010http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTYzMDk5OTky.htmlluoyang people
The banner says: A Rally by Luoyang People to Pay Tribute to Chairman Mao and Other Martyrs
The Speech (translated into English) is as follows:
Chairman Mao worked hard his entire life to win the revolution and to establish a new China. Anyone who has a conscience will always be grateful to him. We can say with certainty that without Chairman Mao there could not have been a new China.
Chairman Mao often reminded us that we should always remember the revolutionary martyrs for the contributions they made, and we should understand why they sacrificed their lives to fight for the cause. Chairman Mao once asked us whether we remember the many martyrs who died in the revolution. He said that he thought about them often. He said they sacrificed their lives, because they wanted to build a new China - a new China where there would be no class exploitation or class repression, a new China where the people would become the master of the country. Those revolutionary martyrs wanted to build a new China where foreign and domestic reactionaries could no longer oppress our working people.
In 1974 Mao wrote a poem as a memorial to the martyrs for their accomplishments. He said the revolutionaries were very courageous, and that they dared to challenge the sun and the moon in order to change our destiny. Chairman Mao repeatedly reminded us that we must not betray the road our martyrs traveled, and we must not betray the high ideals these martyrs held. Chairman Mao said that so many people sacrificed their lives in order to build a prosperous China, so that Chinese people could enjoy better lives. They wanted to build a strong China that could stand proudly among the world's other peoples and nations. Many revolutionaries died on the battleground fighting against the enemies or were executed by the enemies. They died without any regrets but with smiles on their faces. They shouted with their last breath: "Long live the Communist Party! Long live Chairman Mao!".
Chairman Mao said even when he was still alive they [the revisionists] could not accept what he said. Our Chairman said that he was not thinking of himself but of our country and our people. He did his best he could to assure our country would not change colors and that socialism would prevail. He said that even when he was alive, they [the revisionists] were already doing what they wanted to do. If they could accomplish what they wanted, then the blood shed by our martyrs would be in vain and people would have to suffer all over again. Chairman Mao continued to say that he knew the Chinese people wanted socialism and how he worried the Chinese people would suffer if China should abandon socialism. Therefore, he relied on the masses and refused to retreat.
Why did Chairman Mao work so hard for us and worry so much about us? What were his worries? Wasn't he worried that our country might change colors and that the blood of our martyrs would be for nothing? Wasn't he worried that our country would revert to barbarism and slavery? What would our martyrs have thought, if they had known that the socialist values and morals of our society have been so totally corrupted, and that our peoples' lives again have fallen into such deep water? Isn't it true that all Mao's worries have become reality?
We gather here today not just to show our deep appreciation to Chairman Mao and our martyrs. We gather here to assert that our martyrs did not sacrifice their lives for nothing. If we still have our consciences we cannot forget what the Communist Party had struggled for. Today we have things to tell our Chairman and martyrs. We want to tell you with shame and regret that we lost what you left for us - the right to be the masters of our country and the beautiful future of socialism. It was our fault but now people have awakened. We know the revisionists have seized power. We, the proletariat are united with our determination and our fearless spirit. We are singing our battle song - the Internationale. We do not rely on any savior, nor do we rely on any gods or emperors. We rely only on ourselves. This is our last struggle and we are united for tomorrow's final victory. This country is our country and the people are our people. The battle drums have been sounded. We are marching forward to fight the reactionaries and to smash the bourgeoisie into pieces once for all. We want to make sure that the generations after us will not suffer again. We are going to once again hold up the flag of Mao Zedong Thought on this land. We will fight to restore true socialism.
Long Live the Great and Invincible Mao Zedong Thought!!
Long Live the Great Proletarian Class!!
(Translator note: This is not an exact translation word for word. The sound quality of the video was not good. Some words were lost. However, under the circumstances the translation has captured the important meaning of the speech, the expressions of the speaker and his choice of words and phrases.)
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Gillard and the reinvention of Margaret Thatcher
Michael Roux made an observation on-line at Business Spectator (6 April 2010) that perfectly explains the need that the ruling class has for social democracy.
Social democracy is the advocacy of social reform measures within the confines of a parliamentary institution. The Australian Labor Party is the Australian representative of social democracy.
Roux wrote: “'Only Nixon could go to China' is the counter-intuitive rule of modern politics that says that hard but necessary decisions often (and often must) emerge from the opposite end of the political spectrum.”
“Richard Nixon went to China in the middle of the Cold War, the theory goes, because only a communist-bashing conservative US President could possibly negotiate with Chairman Mao without coming across to voters as a weak-kneed appeaser.”
Now, Nixon was no social democrat, but Roux expanded: “A good example last week was President Obama's decision to approve offshore oil drilling; another was free-market reforms overseen by Labor governments in Australia and New Zealand in the 1980s.”
To these examples we might add Julia Gillard’s emerging record on industrial relations.
The conservative Liberal government of Australia had sought through its Work Choices legislation to weaken the collective bargaining rights of workers and to coerce employees into entering into individual contracts (Australian Workplace Agreements or AWAs) with their bosses.
They had also attacked the most militant section of the working class – construction workers – by setting up a special industry police force, the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) with powers to rival those embedded in anti-terrorist legislation.
Workers gave overwhelming support to a Your Rights at Work campaign in the run-up to the election which saw the Liberals thrown out and Labor elected.
Gillard was a major beneficiary, coming in as Deputy Prime Minister with portfolio responsibility for education and industrial affairs.
But what has she done with these responsibilities?
On the positive side, she has put a stop to any new AWAs. She has introduced legislation (the Fair Work Act 2009) that restores and protects collective bargaining. There is some recognition of union rights to enter work sites to engage with members. There is better protection for low-paid workers.
However, AWAs that existed prior to the election or which were written before the passage of the Fair Work Act were not rescinded. Unions are assumed to be the bargaining agents for their members, but members can nominate other bargaining agents (including their employer!), and non-members may nominate the union (getting the advantage of membership without paying for it) or someone else.
Industrial action during a bargaining period is “protected” so long as it is not recommended or ordered by an industrial court that it cease in favour of arbitration before the court. Industrial action taken outside of a bargaining period is not protected and such action is deemed to be illegal and subject to heavy fines and possible jail sentences for union members and their officials.
The hated ABCC remains. It makes second-class citizens of construction workers. A South Australian rigger, Ark Tribe, faces 6 months jail for refusing to answer ABCC interrogators about union intervention over a worksite that government safety inspectors subsequently found to be in breach of regulations. Construction workers have been compelled to work under the supervision of the ABCC for a longer period of time under Gillard than they did under the Liberals.
The coal miner/cop/security guard’s daughter who once dreamed of becoming a teacher has left open an unspecified threat against the nation’s education workers who want her to legislate to prevent the publication of school league tables.
Social democracy is the advocacy of social reform measures within the confines of a parliamentary institution. The Australian Labor Party is the Australian representative of social democracy.
Roux wrote: “'Only Nixon could go to China' is the counter-intuitive rule of modern politics that says that hard but necessary decisions often (and often must) emerge from the opposite end of the political spectrum.”
“Richard Nixon went to China in the middle of the Cold War, the theory goes, because only a communist-bashing conservative US President could possibly negotiate with Chairman Mao without coming across to voters as a weak-kneed appeaser.”
Now, Nixon was no social democrat, but Roux expanded: “A good example last week was President Obama's decision to approve offshore oil drilling; another was free-market reforms overseen by Labor governments in Australia and New Zealand in the 1980s.”
To these examples we might add Julia Gillard’s emerging record on industrial relations.
The conservative Liberal government of Australia had sought through its Work Choices legislation to weaken the collective bargaining rights of workers and to coerce employees into entering into individual contracts (Australian Workplace Agreements or AWAs) with their bosses.
They had also attacked the most militant section of the working class – construction workers – by setting up a special industry police force, the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) with powers to rival those embedded in anti-terrorist legislation.
Workers gave overwhelming support to a Your Rights at Work campaign in the run-up to the election which saw the Liberals thrown out and Labor elected.
Gillard was a major beneficiary, coming in as Deputy Prime Minister with portfolio responsibility for education and industrial affairs.
But what has she done with these responsibilities?
On the positive side, she has put a stop to any new AWAs. She has introduced legislation (the Fair Work Act 2009) that restores and protects collective bargaining. There is some recognition of union rights to enter work sites to engage with members. There is better protection for low-paid workers.
However, AWAs that existed prior to the election or which were written before the passage of the Fair Work Act were not rescinded. Unions are assumed to be the bargaining agents for their members, but members can nominate other bargaining agents (including their employer!), and non-members may nominate the union (getting the advantage of membership without paying for it) or someone else.
Industrial action during a bargaining period is “protected” so long as it is not recommended or ordered by an industrial court that it cease in favour of arbitration before the court. Industrial action taken outside of a bargaining period is not protected and such action is deemed to be illegal and subject to heavy fines and possible jail sentences for union members and their officials.
The hated ABCC remains. It makes second-class citizens of construction workers. A South Australian rigger, Ark Tribe, faces 6 months jail for refusing to answer ABCC interrogators about union intervention over a worksite that government safety inspectors subsequently found to be in breach of regulations. Construction workers have been compelled to work under the supervision of the ABCC for a longer period of time under Gillard than they did under the Liberals.
The coal miner/cop/security guard’s daughter who once dreamed of becoming a teacher has left open an unspecified threat against the nation’s education workers who want her to legislate to prevent the publication of school league tables.
Asked on January 29 2010 whether she would “bring in outsiders” to do the tests that teachers are threatening to boycott she said “I’m not going to speculate but my determination is absolutely clear. The tests will go ahead.” Two days earlier she said she would not “rule anything in or anything out” when asked whether she was “talking about strikebreakers”. Three days before that she had stated she was not ruling “anything or anything out about individual actions to ensure we deliver national testing”, thus indicating that individual teachers engaging in the boycott could well be targeted. On January 19 she stated “action that’s taken not within the context of bargaining is unprotected and there are sanctions and penalties under the workplace relations law to deal with unprotected industrial action.” Once again, she was “ruling nothing in and nothing out”. On January 20, asked whether teachers could have their pay docked”, she was “not ruling anything in or anything out”.
What “unprotected” industrial action means for workers was clearly displayed during Gillard’s response to strike action by workers at Woodside Petroleum’s Pluto gasfield on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia (see strike vote photo below). The workers had been housed in “dongas”, transportable homes in which they could store personal property during their “off” times (this is a remote area and workers are flown in and out on a roster basis). The company sought to reduce costs by “motelling” the workers, which meant a downgrade in their accommodation and inconvenience in relation to personal items left at the workplace during “off” time.
The traditional response to bosses trying to attack conditions is to have a blue, but the Pluto workers found that under the new Fair Work Act, this was illegal. This is how Gillard dealt with Woodside’s attacks on workers’ accommodation entitlements in a radio interview in Perth on 28 January:
STEVE CANNANE: Julia Gillard, good morning.
JULIA GILLARD: Good morning.
STEVE CANNANE: How do you respond to Mr Masson’s and Woodside’s observation that they need you to come out and say you strongly support the rule of law, that you have to be tough here and if anything force these workers to arbitration?
JULIA GILLARD: I did that yesterday so I agree with Mr Masson. That’s exactly what we should be doing as a government and I did that yesterday in a public statement, I’ve done it on AM which you’ve just played and I am happy to do it again.
STEVE CANNANE: But when we say there is a difference between you saying ‘I don’t approve of the behaviour’ but are you able to force this to arbitration? Are you able to take a big stick to this issue?
JULIA GILLARD: The industrial umpire has to deal with it and Mr Masson made that point himself, what he’s asking the Federal Government to do is to clearly say to the workers involved that they must obey the rule of law and they must respect and obey the orders of the industrial umpire, Fair Work Australia.
I said that yesterday, I’ve said it publically this morning and I am happy to say it again as Deputy Prime Minister, as a representative of the Rudd Government, we have no tolerance at all for breaching industrial laws and breaching orders of Fair Work Australia. This industrial action that is being taken now is not lawful, the people involved are exposing themselves to thousands of dollars of fines and penalties, they need to sit down, have a think and get back to work.
STEVE CANNANE: Those workers are listening to you this morning and particularly phrases like no tolerance of such thing; we could argue that it’s easy to use tough rhetoric about language here, but beyond that sort of general statement go back to work or you could face problems, it seems that people are asking more of you. Can you do more?
JULIA GILLARD: This is a matter for the independent industrial umpire. The independent industrial umpire has issued orders to get people back to work, if they breach those orders then that is a matter that gets dealt with by the Federal Court. Obviously the Federal Court is independent of government and an independent judge will deal with the issue.
STEVE CANNANE: But it’s also a test of Fair Work Australia because the employers are saying that if those workers continue to defy the order of Fair Work Australia well then it sort of begs the question how relevant and affective is this independent umpire if its findings are ignored?
JULIA GILLARD: Well with respect, if we look back on industrial relations history in this country, we’ve seen these issues from time to time, this has happened before. Obviously Fair Work Australia as the independent umpire issues orders and if orders are breached, then people can be fined. That’s the system and my message to employees engaged in this conduct is they must get back to work.
STEVE CANNANE: We’ve spoken to some of those workers, in fact they were ringing us this morning and have asked you to come and talk to them. They said they voted for you and Mr Rudd and they won’t be voting for you again. They feel unsupported. Do you have any interest in going and talking to them?
JULIA GILLARD: Look, I’m happy to say to anyone via your program, in person, in writing, any other way; no tolerance for unprotected industrial action. This industrial action is not in accordance with the law. People have an obligation to go to work, to do the right thing, to do all of the things that their job requires of them and these individuals need to go and do just that.
STEVE CANNANE: Is there a real possibility that some of these workers could go to jail? I know that’s always the threat and that always seems the threat of somewhere down the line, but is it possible they could?
JULIA GILLARD: The industrial system obviously works on orders and getting people to abide by those orders. The principal sanction if someone breaches an order is that they face penalties and fines, that is they will be very, very, very substantially out of pocket.
STEVE CANNANE: Does it pose a risk to our reputation internationally and risk the reputation of our resources sector if it continues for more than a few days?
JULIA GILLARD: What we’ve got here obviously is an industrial dispute. We’ve got an industrial dispute where our industrial umpire is there dealing with it, issuing orders, the system is working, the matter can now go to the Federal Court in terms of fines and penalties so that’s the system for dealing with and managing disputes.
……………….
Gillard’s stance on right of entry also exposes the service that social democracy offers to the ruling class. When the National Union of Workers and New South Wales’s Dunlop Foams reached agreement on a relatively favourable approach to the union’s right of entry, the manufacturing employers’ “union” the Australian Industry Group demanded action from Gillard. The deputy PM has a particularly close relationship with this group and sprang into action on their behalf by personally intervening to block the NUW-Dunlop agreement. Heaven forbid that a precedent be set that might flow on to the advantage of other unions and their members!
Interviewed again on Perth radio on 29 March, there was this exchange:
……………….
Gillard’s stance on right of entry also exposes the service that social democracy offers to the ruling class. When the National Union of Workers and New South Wales’s Dunlop Foams reached agreement on a relatively favourable approach to the union’s right of entry, the manufacturing employers’ “union” the Australian Industry Group demanded action from Gillard. The deputy PM has a particularly close relationship with this group and sprang into action on their behalf by personally intervening to block the NUW-Dunlop agreement. Heaven forbid that a precedent be set that might flow on to the advantage of other unions and their members!
Interviewed again on Perth radio on 29 March, there was this exchange:
GEOFF HUTCHISON: You were at a breakfast speaking this morning and talking about industrial relations and I know recently you’ve been trying to make clear to the union movement that they won’t have easy access to work sites. What did you say this morning?
JULIA GILLARD: Well this morning I made it very clear that the rules are the rules. We put the Fair Work system into place because we think it gets the balance right. The Australian community didn’t want Work Choices. It had gone too far. Mr Abbott is obviously out there, very much enamoured with Work Choices and still arguing for it. I think the Australia community will reject it again.
But having got the system right with the Fair Work Act, they are the rules. And there are some individuals in this state, I believe, aren’t respecting the Fair Work Act and aren’t respecting the rules. We believe in tough compliance. Everybody has to respect the rules. Rights come with responsibilities and if you don’t acquit your responsibilities, then you should expect to feel the full force of the law.
…………………
The attacks on working people’s rights enshrined within social democratic nonsense about “getting the balance right” are as bad as anything that her Liberal predecessors served up.
…………………
The attacks on working people’s rights enshrined within social democratic nonsense about “getting the balance right” are as bad as anything that her Liberal predecessors served up.
There was some pulling back from the precipice, but because the Liberals were on the nose, the social democrats had to be given the task of breaking the resistance of the workers and bringing them back under the “full force” of ruling class “law”.
“Tough compliance” indeed, when you go around the country threatening to fine and jail workers with legitimate grievances and legitimate causes for action!
Only Nixon could go to China, and Gillard and Labor had to be brought in to continue what the Liberals had begun.
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
SA needs an ICAC to help fight crony capitalism
The best weapon against corruption is an active and awakened citizenry. The voice of the people, emerging in the struggles of the unions, community and residents’ groups, and various issue-based organizations, will always be the most genuinely independent and effective force against official malpractice.
Having said that, an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) acting as a watchdog over business and government is an urgently needed conduit through which the demands of the people of South Australia can be channeled.
We need an ICAC to act on our demands to rid SA of crony capitalism.
Crony capitalism, according to online dictionary Investopedia.com, is a "description of capitalist society as being based on the close relationships between businessmen and the state. Instead of success being determined by a free market and the rule of law, the success of a business is dependent on the favouritism that is shown by the ruling government in the form of tax breaks, government grants and other incentives."
In a sense, it could be said that crony capitalism emerges when the pretence of a "free market and the rule of law" wears thin and the reality of capitalist governments as mere executive committees of an actual ruling class is put, shamelessly and nakedly, on public display.
The government, which is entrusted by the ruling class to exercise certain powers for the benefit of the capitalist class as a whole, becomes puffed up with the arrogance of its ability to play sectional interests of the capitalist class off against each other, and emerges as a broker in the awarding of favours to those interests that pledge to reciprocate by maintaining it in office.
The reality of the state as the executive committee of the whole ruling class becomes tainted with the corruption of service to favoured sections of the elite.
Social democrats and crony capitalists getting into bed
Generally, crony capitalism has been associated with the most reactionary proponents of capitalist class rule. The Bush-Cheney regime in the United States was a byword for crony capitalism. The privatising apparatchiks of the countries headed by the former Soviet Union have taken crony capitalism to new heights. Reactionary governments in Mexico, South Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia took and are taking crony capitalism to new lows.
South Australia might seem far away from these homelands of crony capitalism. But its governing Labor Party, now in its eighth year of office, obviously sees no reason why the benefits of crony capitalism should be left to the open parties of big business.
Despite the affiliated membership of certain large trade unions, it is rapidly dropping any pretence to being a social-democratic or "labor" party and has proudly rebadged itself as "pro-business, pro-growth and pro-mining".
Business leaders are offered access to leading Ministers in return for payments to Labor Party coffers.
And not just any business leaders.
PPPs foster crony capitalism
Prominent among those hosting lunches and dinners for Labor politicians are companies that were bidding for government contracts for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects.
PPPs create particularly favourable opportunities for crony capitalism. A privileged few big corporations "win" contracts for rock solid investment opportunities with the government as guarantor of profitability. In return, they talk up the "business-friendly" and "investment-friendly" credentials of the government.
Money doesn’t talk, it swears…
So rampant is this transition to crony capitalism under the Labor Party that Murdoch’s Advertiser reports "Business leaders say brochures arrive in the mail every week for events offering high-priced boardroom functions and cocktail briefings with state and federal Labor MPs. Some business leaders also say that they have been asked to host events."
This brings out contradictions between the various sectional interests of the ruling class, or as the Advertiser put it, "The functions raise questions about the potential of buying influence or paying for the ear of the state’s most powerful people…"
Mining and "defence" are on the front line of corruption
A prime candidate for investigation by an ICAC is Marathon Resources, the "cowboy outfit" that damaged Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary.
Despite applying that label to these despoilers, Rann took part last year in a uranium-touting trip to China organised by Chris Schacht, former Labor Senator and an executive director of Marathon. The largest shareholder in Marathon is Queensland coal mining magnate Ken Talbot who is currently facing charges of bribing former Queensland Labor MP Gordon Nuttall, now languishing in goal for having taken the bribes.
US missile and bunker bomb manufacturer Raytheon is paying $150,000 per year to Aberfoyle Park High School, in return for which it gets privileged access to the school’s special gifted and talented program students. The circumstances surrounding the involvement of military contractors and weapons manufacturers with adolescent students is also worthy of an ICAC investigation.
Let’s get rid of crony capitalism
Some might say that there is nothing new in all of this. It’s true, for example, that the pro-business Liberal Party has been past master at soliciting the financial support of powerful corporate interests. Former Prime Monster Howard was notorious for this sort of thing.
What is new is the way in which Labor is unashamedly stealing the pro-business mantle from the Liberals and their open cultivation of crony capitalism as their preferred means of keeping themselves in office.
These developments can only contribute to the further disillusionment of working people from the whole system, beginning with their rejection of Labor as any sort of alternative to the Liberals.
So long as they have faith in their own capacity to wage struggle independently of the two-party monopoly that is the bourgeois parliament, and with the introduction of an ICAC, the conditions will exist for the growth of the movement against crony capitalism.
Social democrats and crony capitalists getting into bed
Generally, crony capitalism has been associated with the most reactionary proponents of capitalist class rule. The Bush-Cheney regime in the United States was a byword for crony capitalism. The privatising apparatchiks of the countries headed by the former Soviet Union have taken crony capitalism to new heights. Reactionary governments in Mexico, South Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia took and are taking crony capitalism to new lows.
South Australia might seem far away from these homelands of crony capitalism. But its governing Labor Party, now in its eighth year of office, obviously sees no reason why the benefits of crony capitalism should be left to the open parties of big business.
Despite the affiliated membership of certain large trade unions, it is rapidly dropping any pretence to being a social-democratic or "labor" party and has proudly rebadged itself as "pro-business, pro-growth and pro-mining".
Business leaders are offered access to leading Ministers in return for payments to Labor Party coffers.
And not just any business leaders.
PPPs foster crony capitalism
Prominent among those hosting lunches and dinners for Labor politicians are companies that were bidding for government contracts for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects.
PPPs create particularly favourable opportunities for crony capitalism. A privileged few big corporations "win" contracts for rock solid investment opportunities with the government as guarantor of profitability. In return, they talk up the "business-friendly" and "investment-friendly" credentials of the government.
Money doesn’t talk, it swears…
So rampant is this transition to crony capitalism under the Labor Party that Murdoch’s Advertiser reports "Business leaders say brochures arrive in the mail every week for events offering high-priced boardroom functions and cocktail briefings with state and federal Labor MPs. Some business leaders also say that they have been asked to host events."
This brings out contradictions between the various sectional interests of the ruling class, or as the Advertiser put it, "The functions raise questions about the potential of buying influence or paying for the ear of the state’s most powerful people…"
Mining and "defence" are on the front line of corruption
A prime candidate for investigation by an ICAC is Marathon Resources, the "cowboy outfit" that damaged Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary.
Despite applying that label to these despoilers, Rann took part last year in a uranium-touting trip to China organised by Chris Schacht, former Labor Senator and an executive director of Marathon. The largest shareholder in Marathon is Queensland coal mining magnate Ken Talbot who is currently facing charges of bribing former Queensland Labor MP Gordon Nuttall, now languishing in goal for having taken the bribes.
US missile and bunker bomb manufacturer Raytheon is paying $150,000 per year to Aberfoyle Park High School, in return for which it gets privileged access to the school’s special gifted and talented program students. The circumstances surrounding the involvement of military contractors and weapons manufacturers with adolescent students is also worthy of an ICAC investigation.
Let’s get rid of crony capitalism
Some might say that there is nothing new in all of this. It’s true, for example, that the pro-business Liberal Party has been past master at soliciting the financial support of powerful corporate interests. Former Prime Monster Howard was notorious for this sort of thing.
What is new is the way in which Labor is unashamedly stealing the pro-business mantle from the Liberals and their open cultivation of crony capitalism as their preferred means of keeping themselves in office.
These developments can only contribute to the further disillusionment of working people from the whole system, beginning with their rejection of Labor as any sort of alternative to the Liberals.
So long as they have faith in their own capacity to wage struggle independently of the two-party monopoly that is the bourgeois parliament, and with the introduction of an ICAC, the conditions will exist for the growth of the movement against crony capitalism.
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