PM Abbott follows Obama sending in “Special Forces” to “guard our Embassy”. Peace groups say no new military intervention into Iraq. Statement issued by IPAN – Independent and Peaceful Australia Network June 24, 2014 Anti-war and peace groups from across the nation are uniting to urge the Australian government not to involve itself in any […]
Jokowi wins Indonesian Presidential elections
I follow the Indonesian Presidential elections: Jokowi v Prabowo. I will be in Solo, Indonesia for the election July 9th. Update July 22nd: And so Jokowi wins, comfortably. Jakarta was quiet around the streets of the Presidential palace. The return of the Old Fascist Order is now held back. I guess Prabowo’s ‘tactic’ of resigning […]
ITUC right to strike
New Legal Report: Right to Strike Backed by International Law 3 June 2014 Human and trade union rights, Right to Strike A new 122-page ITUC legal report, confirming that the right to strike is protected under international law, has been released today as employers try to overturn decades of jurisprudence at the International Labour Organisation. […]
Tips on the political strike
Once more: tips on the right to politically strike. For example, get your employer to agree to the industrial action protesting politically. Even when your employer does not agree, ensure the merits of why you are taking this political strike prevails. Years of regular political strikes ahead means explaining in addition to the why? of […]
Beyond Medicare—Towards Wellness
Update:Healthcare is not a product, no matter what neoliberalism has taught us Even the staunchest opponents of neoliberalism have been infected by its presumptions. The current Australian healthcare debate is our moment to re-learn what universal provision actually is http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/22/healthcare-is-not-a-product-no-matter-what-neoliberalism-has-taught-us Beyond Medicare—Towards Wellness By Humphrey McQueen Seeing Red, 2003, (slightly updated) The current campaigns to […]
Budget responses
After the large March in March, Melbourne had again 20,000 in the first Budget Sunday communities March in May. The VTHC is organising further working class responses.Stop-work to attend the Budget protest on June 12th 10.30 am at the VTHC,Trades Hall (54 Victoria St). This Budget Fight back was debated at the All Unions General […]
What keeps capitalism going?
What Keeps Capitalism Going? by Michael A. Lebowitz Michael A. Lebowitz is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Simon Fraser University, in Vancouver, and is the author of Beyond Capital: Marx’s Political Economy of the Working Class (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003 and 2010 second edition). This essay is based on an address to the Rebuilding the Left […]
Unions attacked
The class attack on Australian unions. Here are these 12 recent union stories. Update: Politically predictable under instructions Dyson Heydon starts with muckraking against Julia Gillard and an AWU “slush fund” in the 1990s! But Dyson Heydon is not to investigate Liberal/National party slush funds!- see Dave Oliver ACTU request at end of this post. […]
More on reviving unions
Update: This is a great read “Unions need to build power.”Verso has published the first paperback edition of Jane McAlevey’s “Raising Expectations (And Raising Hell)”, a memoir of her decade-long work in the labor movement. Here is an extract with relevance for Australian unionists.”Every strategy available to our union side relies upon sustaining high participation. […]
Recent Comments