The Coalition's plan to introduce a national building code for the construction industry will do nothing to create secure jobs, and is simply an ideological stunt, the ACTU said today.
Media reports today quote Liberal workplace relations spokesman Eric Abetz as saying that the Coalition will consider a national version of Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu's construction code if it wins office.
ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver said that any attempt to copy Ted Baillieu's flawed code - which bans companies who have struck legal agreements with unions from tendering for government contracts - would be an attack on workers' rights and an attempt to intimidate businesses.
"This is simply an attempt to introduce Workchoices by stealth by intimidating companies into implementing a right-wing ideological agenda," Mr Oliver said.
"In Victoria, businesses who have entered into legal agreements with their workers are being told they cannot bid for Government contracts.
This includes companies who simply agreed that they will employ a certain amount of apprentices on sites."
"This is a major infringement of the right for workers to be represented by a union, and for employers to make their own decisions about how to run their business."
"In Victoria it will reduce competition for major building contracts and will deliver no benefit for taxpayers."
"If the Liberals will do this in the construction industry, then workers have to ask which other industries will be targeted if they win Government?"
"This is a return to the Howard Government's policy of using government money to try and bully businesses into changing the industrial relations policies."
"Australian workers want to see policies that address their concerns about insecure work and work/life balance, not attacks on their rights."
"Workers should be concerned that despite Tony Abbott's attempts to avoid debate on his IR policies, every detail that emerges shows the Coalition is still the same party that introduced Workchoices."
Monday, March 04, 2013
Greece: Factory Occupation
In this video, the representatives of the workers of Viomihaniki Metalleftiki (Greece) talk about their attempt to take over the factory and run it as a cooperative of workers.
After 3 days of intense mobilization, the factory of Vio.Me. has started production under workers' control earlier today! It is the first experiment in industrial self-management in crisis-striken Greece, and the workers of Vio.Me. are confident this is going to be only the first in a series of such endeavours.
Sunday, March 03, 2013
21 Century: The Revenge of History
The Revenge of History: The Battle for the 21st Century
by Seumas Milne
One of Britain’s foremost political writers confronts ten years of murderous delusion.
In 2001, Tony Blair declared that those who opposed the war on terror had been ‘proved wrong’ – along with critics of unfettered corporate power and free market capitalism.
Ten years later, the critics have been comprehensively vindicated and the champions of the New World Order proved catastrophically wrong. The evidence on hand includes the disastrous occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq and the failure of an economic model that has brought the Western World to its knees.
The Revenge of History is a powerful corrective to the discredited dominant account of the first decade of the twenty-first century. As Seumas Milne shows in a panoramic narrative that reaches from 9/11 to beyond the Arab uprisings, crisis and war have turned the orthodoxies of a generation on their head.
The neoliberal market, hailed as the only economic option, crashed with devastating consequences; calamitous western military interventions demonstrated the limits of US global power; the rise of China challenged both; while Latin America has embraced social and economic alternatives that were said no longer to exist.
In a culture dominated by eager apologists of power, Milne has consistently written against the grain. This book offers a compelling perspective on the convulsions that have brought us to today’s crisis and the shape of the emerging politics of the future – and an indictment of a global and corporate empire in decline.
by Seumas Milne
In 2001, Tony Blair declared that those who opposed the war on terror had been ‘proved wrong’ – along with critics of unfettered corporate power and free market capitalism.
Ten years later, the critics have been comprehensively vindicated and the champions of the New World Order proved catastrophically wrong. The evidence on hand includes the disastrous occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq and the failure of an economic model that has brought the Western World to its knees.
The Revenge of History is a powerful corrective to the discredited dominant account of the first decade of the twenty-first century. As Seumas Milne shows in a panoramic narrative that reaches from 9/11 to beyond the Arab uprisings, crisis and war have turned the orthodoxies of a generation on their head.
The neoliberal market, hailed as the only economic option, crashed with devastating consequences; calamitous western military interventions demonstrated the limits of US global power; the rise of China challenged both; while Latin America has embraced social and economic alternatives that were said no longer to exist.
In a culture dominated by eager apologists of power, Milne has consistently written against the grain. This book offers a compelling perspective on the convulsions that have brought us to today’s crisis and the shape of the emerging politics of the future – and an indictment of a global and corporate empire in decline.
TAFE Community Alliance
No matter who you are TAFE is open to everyone.
TAFE gives everyone a second chance, the opportunity to learn skills for employment and an opportunity to contribute to the community.
If you are uncertain about your career or need more education and training; TAFE has always been there - affordable, accessible - providing great quality education and professional specialist student support. There is a TAFE College in every community across NSW.
Who we are
The TAFE Community Alliance is an advocacy and strategy group that recognises the central role of the public VET provider in the building of social, cultural and economic capacity of communities across NSW. The Alliance will campaign to maintain TAFE's central role in vocational education and training.
What we do
The TAFE Community Alliance is campaigning for TAFE. It is open to teachers, educational staff, community members, industry members and others. Our immediate plans include:
TAFE Community Alliance
TAFE gives everyone a second chance, the opportunity to learn skills for employment and an opportunity to contribute to the community.
If you are uncertain about your career or need more education and training; TAFE has always been there - affordable, accessible - providing great quality education and professional specialist student support. There is a TAFE College in every community across NSW.
Who we are
The TAFE Community Alliance is an advocacy and strategy group that recognises the central role of the public VET provider in the building of social, cultural and economic capacity of communities across NSW. The Alliance will campaign to maintain TAFE's central role in vocational education and training.
What we do
The TAFE Community Alliance is campaigning for TAFE. It is open to teachers, educational staff, community members, industry members and others. Our immediate plans include:
- developing a list of interested community members to communicate with creating awareness of the effects of the competitive training market and loss of funding for TAFE
- collecting signatures on the petition (download). the document is double sided, the back repeating the statement for the petition in a more readable format.
- working with other groups interested in pursuing this campaign, including community groups, professional associations, industry groups, unions and political parties
- providing research and background information to inform members
- providing case studies of TAFE's role in changing lives and the community
- communicating with media and social networks
- holding a forum
TAFE Community Alliance
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