Tom Barnes, Australian Catholic University e Kevin Lin, University of Technology Sydney
The growing labour movement in China, as fragmented and repressed as it is, offers hope for workers everywhere as an example of organising against incredible odds.
Too many free riders, and the system of organized labor collapses.
Turtle and hamster from www.shutterstock.com
The ranks of labor unions have been decimated over the last half century by outsourcing and anti-union campaigns. The result has been rising inequality.
To Tolkien, the machine represents a means to attain power over others. His orcs – deformed and ugly creatures, whose hands are sometimes replaced with weapons – embody this lust for power.
LOTR Wikia
My grandfather was a carpenter, and I don’t think he ever developed much of a sense of trust in machines. I remember him laboring away at our home one summer, transforming our screened-in porch into a…
Labor, under opposition leader Bill Shorten, leads the Coalition by ten points in the latest Newspoll.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
Labor’s support is at its highest for nine months in the latest Newspoll and Bill Shorten is ahead of Tony Abbott as better prime minister. In two-party terms, the opposition leads the government by 55-45…
Gough Whitlam speaking to crowds outside parliament house on the day of the dismissal.
National Library of Australia
Former prime minister Gough Whitlam has died at the age of 98. His family said in a short statement that he died this morning. “A loving and generous father, he was a source of inspiration to us and our…
After federal and state tensions between Labor and Greens, it’s unlikely that we’ll again see a formal alliance between the two parties any time soon.
AAP/Alan Porritt
When sitting down to dinner late last month, Tasmanian voters were given the clearest insight yet into the shape of their island’s Labor-Greens relations. In a remarkably blunt piece of campaigning ahead…
Rudd’s zip gives Shorten an early electoral test.
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
The spectacular story ran for a nanosecond. Kevin Rudd had allegedly done a deal for daughter Jessica to get preselection for the seat he is vacating. It would have been the ultimate Ruddism. Jess immediately…
You might have never heard of them but the Dawkins reforms changed pretty much everything about higher education in Australia.
AAP Image/National Archives of Australia
Why is Australian higher education the way it is today? To answer this we must go back to Labor minister John Dawkins, who initiated a radical suite of reforms a quarter of a century ago. His impact on…
Would business leaders pay to see Anthony Albanese (pictured) debate Bill Shorten for the Labor leadership?
AAP/Dan Peled
Anthony Albanese has suggested Labor should help pay for its leadership contest by running a forum for business people to hear from the two candidates. Tomorrow Labor’s national executive will discuss…
Both the Labor and Liberals see infrastructure as a crucial economic driver; but Chinese investment in this area has been politicised.
AAP
Tony Abbott wants to be known as the infrastructure prime minister. He could be remembered for building roads and scrapping high-speed rail. But the role of Chinese finance and technical expertise in infrastructure…
Research on work and family policies support an approach that responds to the intensive demands of early childhood, as well as birth.
Image from www.shutterstock.com
When the Labor government introduced a national paid parental leave (PPL) scheme on 1 January, 2011, it was late to the international party. The International Labour Organisation had been recommending…
There are two visions for the National Broadband Network, but what are the long-term costs?
Lukas Coch/AAP
Consumers know well that buying a cheaper product often costs more in the long term when the cheaper product has to be replaced. This is true of the Coalition’s vision for the National Broadband Network…
Election FactCheck is checking key claims in political advertisements. Here we look at the “Rudd’s record” ad from the Liberal Party. Kevin Rudd was borrowing $100 million every day. Now we have a $254…
Does Labor’s most recent attack ad pass the truth test?
Labor Party
Election FactCheck is checking key claims in political advertisements. Here we look at the “If Tony Abbott Wins, You Lose” ad from Labor. Families will lose the Schoolkids Bonus The Coalition has made…
A still from an ALP advertisement. Which party is spending more to get the message across?
“In every recent election, state and federal, the Labor Party has massively outspent the Coalition and this election is going to be no exception.” - Opposition leader Tony Abbott, press conference, 21…
Foxtel and the NBN … why all the noise of late?
Gaye Gerard/AAP
No-one would describe News Corp Australia’s view on the National Broadband Network (NBN) as rosy. But if it’s true the company has engaged in repeated attacks on the government because it “hates” its network…
ICAC has found Eddie Obeid (pictured at an earlier hearing), his son Moses and former NSW mining minister Ian Macdonald engaged in corrupt conduct.
AAP Image/Paul Miller
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) today found NSW Labor powerbrokers Ian Macdonald and Eddie Obeid, and his son Moses Obeid, engaged in corrupt conduct and has recommended criminal…
The two proposals for Australia’s NBN offer two potential realities.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Broadband – in the shape of the National Broadband Network (NBN) – remains a key point of difference between Labor and the Coalition’s policies going into the federal election. Our politicians are not…
Australian manufacturing workers are feeling the heat of economic change.
“Under this [Labor] government we’ve seen one manufacturing job lost every 19 minutes.” - Opposition industry spokeswoman Sophie Mirabella, Q&A, 1 July. The Conversation contacted Mirabella’s office…