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worksite@twenty

workSite celebrated its twentieth birthday by reflecting on the challenges facing Australian workplaces today with a series of articles and a conference on the theme Unions After WorkChoices.
See details.

To mark the anniversary Professor Russell Lansbury reflects on 'Workplace Reform In Australia: Looking Forward Under Labor?'

Recollections of a Mad Idea
Harry Knowles reflects on 20 years of workSite. Read

union issues

WOS Research

Andrew Fisher


work and citizenship


Working Life, Enterprise and Arbitration


Why management needs history

Harry Knowles argues that understanding history is an important part of business studies and the craft of management. Read


rhoda stuart
Rhoda Stuart, freethinker, socialist and accomplished singer, just one of 2,000 entries in the biographical register of the Australian labour movement.

Working Lives promotes innovative research into the role of the individual in labour and social history.

Working Lives draws together contributors examining a range of labour biography subjects and methodologies, including: labour history and narrative identity, trade union leadership, labour intellectuals, studies of the justices of the NSW Industrial Commission and a progress report on the Biographical Register of the Australian Labour Movement – which includes entries on 2,000 labour activists.


 


Workplaces Fit for Citizens?


 

Wisconsin Protesters
Actions by the newly elected Republican governors of Ohio and Wisconsin to restrict the collective bargaining rights of government workers have sparked a national debate in the United States over the rights of unions to collectively bargain. Read


Betrayal
As a committee of review presents controversial recommendations to revive Labor's popular base following the 2010 federal election, Simon Benson's Betrayal raises important issues about the relationship between the unions and Labor Governments, and the role of Labor's factions. Read


Ged Kearney
Recently elected president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions Ged Kearney has an unapologetically assertive message to pitch to Australia’s 1.9 million union members – and the workers beyond union ranks. Read


They called him old smoothie
Biography has long been a strong point of Australian labour historiography. Ironically, the Australian Labor Party’s multitude of state premiers have received relatively little attention. Nick Dyrenfurth reviews Peter Golding's new biography of former NSW Premier John Joseph 'Joe' Cahill. Read


Book Reviews: GFC
One of the fascinating aspects of the global financial crisis (GFC) has been the sheer speed at which it has been produced and consumed in press. John Murray examines two books that contribute to the debate. Read


Stikes in China A two-week-long strike involving more than a thousand workers at the Honda transmission plant in Foshan triggered a wave of strikes across China in mid 2010. Read


Work and Strife in Paradiss
The editors of Work and Strife in Paradise point out that labour relations have shaped Queensland’s history. Read


against all odds
Bradley Bowden’s history provides more an insight into what is and will continue to be a successful Union dedicated into looking after not only its members but the wider community of Queensland. Read


union membership on the way ups
Trade union members increased from 19% to 20% over the year to August 2009, although there has been no increase in the level of private sector employee participation in unions. ABS figures on employee earnings also suggest that while the centralised nature of wage fixation in Australia may have been eroded in recent decades, its influence profoundly lingers in the gender pay gap. Read


the legacy of workchoices
The 700 pages of provisions contained in the Rudd government’s Fair Work Act (2009) are a significant hurdle to obtaining a clear and concise understanding of the key elements of Australia’s national workplace system – a problem addressed by two new guides to Australian employment law and the new Act. Read


around the world
Harry Knowles reports that despite the financial downturn in Japan, the unionization rate in the world’s second largest economy increased slightly for the first time since 1975, a trend also evident in the United States. Read


organising the future
Australian unions need innovative strategies and structures to organise in the private sector, where union membership has collapsed. Read


debotton book
Alain de Botton’s The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work brings an instinctive empathy to our efforts to extract a sense of self-worth from the daily grind. Read


Rebuilding Union Strength
LHMU National Secretary Louise Tarrant argues that through sheer hard work and smart organising strategies unions can rebuild industrial strength and grow their membership base. Read


TWU Acts on Carbon Road Print
TWU Secretary Tony Sheldon argues that the transport sector needs to do its bit in the new world of reducing carbon footprints. Read


Book Review: Labor Pains
Greg Patmore believes that the significance of this new study of Labor's early years has been highlighted by the recent clash between the ALP Annual Conference and the Iemma Government over the issue of electricity privatisation. Read


Whatever happened to the revolution?
Michael Hogan argues that the fundamental skill of liberal democratic politics - a willingness to make compromises and accept second best for the sake of achieving genuine reforms - was systematically rejected by the "basket weavers and true believers" discussed in Tony Harris' book. Read


Rethinking Work
Mark Hearn and Grant Michelson introduce the themes of Rethinking Work and their relationship to the world of WorkChoices. Read


Power at Work
Michael Crosby's provocative call for revitalising Australia's unions raises some difficult - and unresolved - issues. Read

About workSite
workSite promotes debate on issues in workplace relations and issues affecting the
Australian labour movement. workSite is produced by staff in Work and Organisational Studies,
School of Business, University of Sydney.

Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in workSite articles are those of the contributors and do not represent the views
of the editorial committee, Work and Organisational Studies, or the University of Sydney.

Editorial Committee
Editors: Mark Hearn and Harry Knowles
Editorial committee: Rae Cooper, Russell Lansbury, Greg Patmore, Nick Wailes.
Contact: Mark.Hearn@humn.mq.edu.au
workSite was created and is maintained
by Southland Media Pty Ltd.
ph: 61 2 9954 7147 fax: 61 2 9954 7148
post: PO Box 1607 North Sydney NSW Australia 2060
e-mail: mh@southlandmedia.com.au
website: www.southlandmedia.com.au