About chriswhite

Chris White now lives in Darwin, Northern Territory. He is secretary of APHEDA NT. He is a Honorary Senior Research Fellow at The Northern Institute Charles Darwin University +61889467169 chris.white2@cdu.edu.au He lived in Canberra from 2005 researching labour law and industrial relations and worked for the union ASMOF and then the NTEU ACT. He tutored in Politics for two years at the ANU Politics and International Relations. He has been criticising WorkChoices, specifically the labour law supressing the right to strike, the repression of building and construction workers, and reporting on the new China labour laws . He writes on social justice challenges. He links into international solidarity for workers and the disadvantaged. He worked for the SA unions for 27 years. First as an Industrial Officer for the Australian Workers Union SA branch. Then he was for 10 years Research Officer/Industrial Advocate for the LHMU, then the Miscellaneous Workers Union SA branch. In 1985 he was elected Assistant Secretary of the United Trades and Labor Council of SA and then in 1998 elected Secretary until 2001. He was on the ACTU executive for 15 years. He represented unions on SA Industrial Relations and Occupational Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Commisions and social justice and employment committees. From 1998 to 2002 he was a Director and Trustee of SA Statewide Superannuation Trust and United Superannuation Pty Ltd. He was active in Socially Responsible Investment decisions. For 10 years he was on the board of the SA Working Womens Centre. For 15 years he was Chair of the Junction Theatre Company. For 6 years he was Ministerial Arts Board member on the State Theatre Company. He was awarded a Centenary Medal Commonwealth Honour for contributions to unions and the community. From 2003-2005 he was a Board member SA Housing Trust Board In 2002 he was on the Offenders Aid and Rehabilitation Services (OARS): prison rehabilitation and restorative justice. For 30 years he was active in the SA East Timor Association and now Patron. Since 1974 he has been a member of the ALP and with SA unions organising in state and federal election campaigns. He has been active in the ACTU Your Rights at Work Worth Fighting For campaign. He was a Post Graduate Research PhD scholar 2003-2006 School of Law, Flinders University researching 'The right to strike', but for personal reasons did not complete his thesis. He was a radical student activist, editor of ON DIT and Secretary of the Student's Union. He completed a Law degree LLB and Arts (Honours Politics) in 1972. He then worked for a year as a law tutor at the University of Adelaide Law School before his career with the unions. He is an advocate and consultant on workforce and social justice issues. contact chrisdwhite@bigpond.com
Author Archive | chriswhite

ACTU on the economic crisis and unions a debate where to now.

On 1 October, I first attended ACTU Sharan Burrow’s address at the National Press Club. I was anticipating some further union criticism of DPM Gillard on her IR reforms, but Sharan did not do this despite anguish amongst unions. She refused to name it WorkChoices Lite when quizzed…wait for the details she said. At 6pm [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Humphrey McQueen on the capitalist crisis

Freelance left labour historian Humphrey McQueen as guest comments on the capitalist crisis: exploitation the basis, it’s not socialism and all capitalists are parasites. Exploitation leads to over-consumption Even if $US700bn cauterises the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market, it will not touch the core of the crisis. The root cause is the exploitation of [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Capitalist financial crisis September 2008

Financial crisis: working families need protection IR and labour law policy issues in other posts commenting on the Labor governmen cannot but be connected to the capitalist crisis dramatically unfolding with bank and business crashes daily. It is on-going and impacting on working families. This is clear reading the weekend’s press, following Stephen Long daily [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Forward with Fairness? Initial comment on Julia Gillard’s speech.

Critical comments on DPM and Minister for Workplace Relations Julia Gillard’s Forward with Fairness policy speech are widespread. Union activists in Your Rights at Work campaign, acknowledged as pivotal in defeating Howard because of his workplace regime, are bitterly disappointed in DPM Julia Gillard’s address to the National Press Club on Labor’s proposed IR system [...]

Read full story Comments { 4 }

No rights on site for building and construction workers

The ACTU’s TV ads and campaign argues there is no fair play with Australian building and construction workers having less rights at work than other workers. Unions and voters want the repeal of the Building and Construction Act 2005 and the ABCC before 2010. The back-ground. On average, 50 construction workers are killed each year [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

World day for decent work October 7th 2008

October 7th is the world day of decent work which is a joint campaign supported by UNI Global Union and led by the International Trade Union Confederation, the Global Progressive Forum, Social Alert and Solidar which aims to: * Build awareness of Decent Work amongst citizens, decision makers and key institutions; * Show that Decent [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Works Councils Way Ahead

With Australian workers under the Howard regime not having any legal ability for workplace democracy rights, you would have thought Minister julia Gillard would be ensuring these basic rights at work. But not so. This is a book review I wrote in 2002 on the then Works Councils debate. Workplace democracy is worth reviving. WORKS [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

USA Unions Surviving? 2007 report

I was in that great city San Francisco in March 2007 and looked at the union question. Australian unions are dependent on US unions’ surviving, whether we like it or not. I talked with union activists and report on union debates: ∑ social unionism lives; ∑ organising for growth, the SEIU; ∑ militant left unionism [...]

Read full story Comments { 3 }

SA strike day

Workers enjoying strike action at the ABC in South Australia.

Read full story Comments { 0 }