Bert Fagin was a subscriber to the Freedom Socialist Bulletin and a visitor with his friends to big events at Solidarity Salon. We first met him at an FSP forum exploring how radical Arabs and Jews could work together to win lasting peace in the Middle East. Bert was a generous man who won our… Read more »
workers
“The situation facing workers is the same everywhere.”
Parat Na Nakorn is the newly-elected coordinator of Asia-Pacific Workers Solidarity Links (APWSL), a network of labour solidarity organisations in countries across Asia and the Pacific. In October 2005 she visited Australia to attend a meeting of the APWSL Secretariat. While in Australia she spoke with Alison Thorne. The aims of APWSL are to promote… Read more »
The role of socialists in the union movement today
This article is an edited and updated version of a talk given by Alison Thorne at a Freedom Socialist Party (FSP) meeting on 31 August 2005. Thorne is a workplace delegate in the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) and an activist in the rank and file caucus, Members First. With the Howard Government gearing… Read more »
The role of socialists in the union movement today
This article is an edited and updated version of a talk given by Alison Thorne at a Freedom Socialist Party (FSP) meeting on 31 August 2005. Thorne is a workplace delegate in the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) and an activist in the rank and file caucus, Members First. CPSU workplace delegate, Alison Thorne,… Read more »
Time to halt the race to the bottom: Defence of welfare rights is union business
In its last two sitting weeks for 2005, the Federal Parliament passed a series of laws that will deeply affect most Australians. In this period of war and vicious cutbacks, everyone — unionists, students and the poor — will be forced to defend their right to voice dissent and organise. Among the lineup of measures… Read more »
Neoliberal policies produce a skills shortage
A little while ago, I attended a national meeting of rail industry representatives, called to discuss the development of a national code of operating rules. The fact that national rules have not been developed in 160 years of Australian railways makes the task daunting. What makes it even harder is the fragmentation of the industry… Read more »
Mobilise now to kill the anti-union bills!
The June 30 union and community demonstrations against Howard’s planned Industrial Relations laws were magnificent. The Melbourne rally drew 120,000. More than 100,000 participated across New South Wales the next day. Determined protests drew 20,000 in both Perth and Brisbane, 7,000 in Adelaide and many thousands more in Darwin, Hobart and regional centres such as… Read more »
Your Say
Law change the tip of the iceberg It was great to read the article on provocation in the Freedom Socialist Bulletin. Rob Hulls and John Thwaites have made all the right noises, but the whole of the Defence to Homicide Report needs to be adopted or the situation for women who kill after abuse will… Read more »
How the Howard Government used refugee policy to attack workers’ rights
Even the Murdoch newspapers called it a “bloody disgrace.” Cornelia Rau, an Australian resident, had spent 10 months in immigration detention. Despite the fact that she was listed as a missing person in Queensland, no attempts had been made to establish who she was. Her use of a pseudonym and a nearly imperceptible German accent… Read more »
Howard’s Industrial Relations laws CAN be beaten!
The Australian trade union movement currently faces two huge challenges. One is external. From 1 July 2005 the Howard Government assumes control of the Senate and plans to enact more than 60 pieces of anti-union legislation previously blocked by the opposition parties. The other challenge is internal. In the aftermath of the Federal election result,… Read more »
