I’m putting together a post on Labor’s IR backdown, but I’m snowed under at work right now so I’m not really in the mood to finish writing it just yet. In the meantime, here’s some video and music you might find interesting. Kath & Kim: “Bloody Howard” You’ve surely heard that this week’s episode of [...]
As Michael Bachelard pointed out in The Age recently, the ABCC was ostensibly set up to deal with organised crime in the building industry — yet “almost two years after the ABCC was set up as a statutory commission, not one alleged organised criminal has been charged.” Instead, it uses its extraordinary powers to persecute [...]
John Howard made news recently by putting a couple of dull speeches up on YouTube, and Kevin Rudd has launched a big site to sells bumper stickers. As Mark has pointed out, these token efforts don’t really take the online plunge, they just move the same old campaign from talkback and letters pages to a [...]
The Howard Government’s union-busting ABCC released a report (pdf) today claiming that smashing unions is good for the economy. Needless to say, The Australian ran hard with the story, giving it the front page, an opinion piece (“analysis”), and the editorial. The report was prepared by Econtech, a firm that is heavily invested in the [...]
Tuesday’s rallies in support of CFMEU and AMWU members were a great success — well over 1000 supporters attended the early-morning rally in Perth, with 500 in Sydney, 300 in Adelaide, 200 in Melbourne, and hundreds more in regional centres. In court, about a hundred workers and their union representatives packed the public gallery, and [...]
On Tuesday, 29 August, there will be two rallies in Perth to support workers who are being attacked in court under the Howard Government’s new IR laws. 107 construction workers and about 40 metalworkers will appear in the Federal Court to defend themselves. Both groups are calling for support at early-morning rallies in the CBD: [...]
In late February this year, over 400 workers on the Perth-Mandurah railway project walked off the job for twelve days. Their strike was to protest the sacking of their shop steward, Peter Ballard. His unfair dismissal claim was settled, he donated the payout to charity, and the Leighton-Kumagai joint venture said it wanted to put [...]
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