Chris is a labour law researcher, specialising in China and the right to strike. He spent 27 years in the SA union movement. Chris now lives in Canberra. More →
On 9 September 1910, four State unions formed the Australian Builders’ Labourers’ Federation, with Tasmania following in November and West Australia joining in 1966. Humphrey McQueen will publish a broad brush history of the Federation in April next year, titled We Built This Country, builders’ labourers and their unions, 1780s to the future (Ginninderra Press). [...]
Workers, unions and stopping Abbott by Tim Gooden ‘For many union leaders afraid of a Coalition victory on August 21, campaigning against Tony Abbott simply means campaigning for Julia Gillard. With a conservative win on the cards unions have escalated their pro-ALP campaigning. The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union — which has filled Labor’s coffers with [...]
We didn’t rally around the country leading up 2007 to see anti-union reactionary Tony Abbott become Prime Minister, three years later! by Brian Boyd VTHC secretary When you cut through all the media hype and mis-information the issue is clear cut – it’s a No vote for Abbott. Because the union movement’s highly successful campaign [...]
Don’t vote for candidates who do not committ to new labour law rights for delegates. Lobby your candidates now. Make sure your union campaigns for this reform. From the YR@W campaign Charter of Delegates Rights Elected union workplace delegates are the volunteers who are crucial to ensuring we all have rights at work. Delegates are [...]
Labor’s GFC Stimulus Package Helped Save Our Jobs from CFMEU http://cfmeu.asn.au/ The Global Financial Crisis that spread across the globe caused the biggest threat to jobs and living standards of Australian workers for numerous generations. Australia managed to weather the storm a lot better than most countries did, however, because the Labor Government acted quickly [...]
AMWU on why we need to re-elect the Labor Government. 1. Securing workers entitlements: For the past 20 years the AMWU has fought for our members who have lost entitlements when their company collapsed, such as Ansett, ACL Bearings, Forgecast etc. We’ve fought for a scheme to protect workers entitlements. After a long campaign, Labor [...]
Who’s policing the police? A question on many people’s lips during the six days of Ark’s trial was : why did the ABCC witnesses enter and leave by the same door reserved for magistrates? A few questions to those in the know revealed that this practice was highly unusual. A journalist in the court couldn’t [...]
Election commentary 1.Tony Abbott’s aged care policy will create a crisis in care The Australian Nursing Federation said more beds without more nurses will create a crisis in care within nursing homes in Australia. Federal Assistant Secretary Yvonne Chaperon said she is concerned Tony Abbott’s pledge to providers of an incentive of $30,000 per bed [...]
Letter reproduced by Andy Alcock to The Editor The Independent Weekly, Adelaide. HEALTH & SAFETY AT WORK Congratulations for publishing the timely article by Dr Kevin Purse about work-related deaths, injuries and disease and the need for more reliable monitoring of compliance levels with OHS&W laws in Australia (Are you safe at work? – TIW [...]
