Weekend Wrap 12th December 2021: Qld to reopen, Omicron brings boosters forward, tornado exposes the brutality of US workplaces, inequality gets worse

Ben Davison looks at Queensland reopening to other states in
Australia with up to 50,000 cars predicted to make the journey
into the sunshine state tomorrow.  The Omicron variant of
COVID has inspired regulators to bring forward booster shots from
six months to five.


A tornado has devastated Kentucky and in the process exposed some
major fault-lines in US workplaces.  With 70 killed in a
candle factory, six killed in an Amazon facility and many more
still to be located the callous indifference of Jeff Bezos, who
owns much of Amazon, has enraged many observers.


This has happened as Kellogg has attempted to replace its 1,400
striking workers in what US President Joe Biden has called an
attack on workers and said he would support laws to make
replacement workers illegal.  Redditors, from social media
platform Reddit, effectively overwhelmed the Kellogg online
application system stopping the companies attack, for now.


Ben contrasts the US political leadership on worker conditions
with Australian reactions to workers asking for decent wages,
secure jobs and safe conditions.


Back home print workers at the West Australian took a four hour
stoppage action and the billion dollar company responded by
locking the workers out of their jobs.  The NSW government
has attacked teachers and transport workers looking for fairer
pay and more secure work and Scott Morrison has attempted to
blame dock workers for the failure of globalisation to provide
during the pandemic and his own government's lack of domestic
industry policy.


Unsurprisingly this is all culminating in higher inequality,
lower wages and richer billionaires in Australia.