Tougher penalties and a central role for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission are key parts of Labor’s policy to crack down on union corruption.
People finishing tertiary education can now expect to take 4.7 years on average to find full-time work.
Reuters/Jose Manuel Ribeiro
Young people’s transition to work is prolonged and highly precarious. An entry-level job becomes a career, savings become subsistence, weekend shifts become lifelines. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Bill Shorten’s strong ties to the union movement are problematic for his credibility as alternative prime minister.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Bill Shorten can heave a sigh of relief at the statement from the royal commission into union corruption that he didn’t do anything illegal in the activities it examined in his Australian Workers’ Union…
South Africa is far from being the non-racial, classless society envisaged by 1970s activists.
Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi
The egalitarian society envisioned by political activists and thinkers Rick Turner and Steve Biko has not been realised. But, they continue to inspire critiques of post-apartheid South Africa.
The Global South is engineering new anti-poverty strategies, leaving traditional left analysts in a quandry.
Reuters/Nacho Doce
Could the surge of worker and popular resistance worldwide provide the global trade union movement with an opportunity to take the lead in developing a broad coalition of social forces?
The Economic Freedom Fighters’ entry into parliament is the most dramatic example of political realignment in South Africa.
Reuters/Skyler Reid
The Marikana massacre of 2012 triggered strikes across South Africa and political realignment. But could this, and the formation of the United Front to rival the ANC, have long-term significance?
The new precariat.
Supermarket via wavebreakmedia via www.shutterstock.com
The chorus chanting ‘America needs a raise!’ will undoubtedly grow as Labor Day approaches. They’re not wrong, but America needs more than that.
Dockworkers in Australia, pictured here alongside other trade union members in a march through central Melbourne, acted in solidarity with South African workers in the 1980s.
Reuters
South Africa’s left wing trade unions may have found an unlikely ally in their objection to the proposed VAT hike. The OECD says there are other options South Africa could consider to raise revenue.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has sought an early appearance at the royal commission.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
In an effort to deal with the political fallout of his union past, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has asked the royal commission into union corruption to bring forward his appearance to July.
Bill Shorten has questions to answer over his time as the head of the AWU, according to Tony Abbott.
AAP/Lukas Coch
From rail strike threats to new anti-strike legislation, the Tory election success looks set to bring tensions to the boil in the coming weeks and months.