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 →
Mining scare tactics
Mining union slams industry scare tactics on jobs and climate change Australian miners have accused mining companies of using scare tactics in a concerted campaign against Government efforts to tackle climate change. The CFMEU mining and energy union has dismissed industry claims that climate change action would cost jobs or national competitiveness, pointing out that [...]
Read more →LEAN
The LEAN Labor Environment Action Network booklet ‘Ideas for moving to a cleaner economy’ www.lean.net.au
Read more →World day for decent work October 7
Call to Action: Get the World to Work World Day for Decent Work, October 7 2009 The economic crisis threatens the jobs and futures of people everywhere. Decades of deregulation, and the greed and excess of a tiny minority, have pushed the world into the deepest recession since the 1930s. Decent work must be at [...]
Read more →DON’T RISK SECOND RATE OH&S LAWS
As a person who has worked in the area of OHS&W for over 30 years as an educator, public servant and union OH&S officers, I (Andy Alcock) agree wholeheartedly with the call to prevent workplace deaths in Australia. I think that it is important to be aware, however, that most work related deaths do not [...]
Read more →APHEDA
Photos from successful APHEDA dinner in Canberra last week. “It is no longer possible to protect workers’ rights in one country, while in neighbouring countries with whom we trade, workers face exploitation and sweatshop conditions. The fight for workers’ rights in one country has to be a fight for workers’ rights in every country. I [...]
Read more →Unions must move left
mobilizing model produces unions that are directed by fulltime paid staff, in which workers play a subordinate role. At worst, workers become almost irrelevant in a numbers game in which the size of the union is what counts, rather than creating an organization they can learn to use to challenge the employer at work to win better wages and conditions.
Read more →US unions call for a fairer global economy
The 2009 AFL-CIO Convention has ended, but the global union movement is keeping its attention focused on Pittsburgh, as world leaders arrive for the G-20 summit. AFL-CIO members expressed solidarity with workers around the world and recognized that we can’t solve the international economic crisis alone. Convention delegates approved a resolution calling for a coordinated [...]
Read more →NTEU strikes
The NTEU today held sucessful strike action in bargaining. One innovation is to live-tweet and twitpic university strike ‘At the National Tertiary Education Union University Strike we are going to do live updates and mini videos on the picket lines at RMIT University and the University of Melbourne. You can follow along on twitter: @NTEUVictoria. [...]
Read more →No more workplace deaths
Andreia Veigas’ husband Glen was working on a building site when he cut into a live wire that should have been disconnected. An hour and a half later, Andreia had to identify his body. That’s why Andreia’s supporting the safer workplaces campaign. Watch her story here: http://www.nswrightsatwork.com.au/nomoreworkplacedeaths/
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