trade unions

Pakistan: Labour Qaumi Movement — Organizing at the margins of the 21st century workforce

Umair Rasheed traces the evolution of one of Pakistan’s most successful textile labour unions through radical action against the united onslaught of state and capital.

Germany: Nationwide strike reveals class and environmental dimensions

Karel Ludenhoff — The increased willingness to strike in both the public and private sectors is not surprising given that an enormous wage theft is taking place in Germany. Yet we can observe elements in these trade-union-led actions that go beyond the merely economic sphere, especially in the common ground concerning union and climate struggles.

Neoliberalism, trade unions and the left with Sam Gindin

World of work: Deep, systemic crisis signals the union form may have outlived its usefulness

By Dale T McKinley

June 26, 2021 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — There can be little argument that the world of work in South Africa, and indeed globally, is in the throes of a deep, systemic crisis, made all the worse by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. However, if we allow ourselves, we can see the current and coming period as heralding a different kind of transition, one of possibility.

New Zealand: A strategic vision for unions under Ardern's Labour-led government

The House That Jack Built: Jack Mundey, Green Bans Hero

The House That Jack Built: Jack Mundey, Green Bans Hero
By James Colman
NewSouth Publishing, 2016, 356 pages Reviewed by Phil Shannon Pavlovian hostility to construction industry unions and venom-flecked hatred of the environment movement is far from a new development amongst conservative commentators, notes James Colman (Sydney architect, urban planner and university lecturer) in his book, The House That Jack Built, on Jack Mundey, the 1970s New South Wales State Secretary of the Builders Labourers’ Federation (BLF) who originated the world’s first ‘green bans’ to save working class housing, historic buildings and urban bushland from the developers’ bulldozer.

Migrant labour, exploitation and 'free' markets

Technology, labour and welfare in the 21st century

By Mike Treen, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal

Precarious employment and the role of trade unions in post-socialist Central Europe

Taxis drivers in Budapest protest against Uber. By Tibor Meszmann September 29, 2016 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Left East — Since the outbreak of the global economic crisis in 2008, precarious employment has increasingly become the focus of attention for socially responsive international organizations and critical scholars and activists. Precarious employment has found its place at the centre of employment and social policy debates.

Bargaining over corporate investment: innovation or trap?

By Sam Gindin and Herman Rosenfeld September 7, 2016 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Socialist Project — Ever since the sit-down strikes of the 1930s, the cycle of ‘Big Three’ auto bargaining has been a major economic and political event, an indicator of the progress of the class struggle in North America. If such interest has sagged of late, it charged back into the news with the aggressive declaration of Unifor's president, Jerry Dias, that winning new investments for Canada is at the top of the union's agenda in its current bargaining round with General Motors (GM), Ford and Chrysler. Dias followed up this challenge to management's right to unilaterally decide investments with the audacious warning that if these U.S.-based corporations don't deliver on bringing a fair share of investments to Canada, they can expect a strike.

Strike strategy today

A glimpse of what could be: The NSW BLF, the most radical and innovative union the world has ever seen

NSW Builders Labourers Federation Union secretary Jack Mundey is arrested during the ‘green bans’ at The Rocks in 1973 which saved the historic buildings of Sydney's birthplace By John Tully Fifty years ago, a group of dedicated left-wing activists wrested control of the NSW Builders Labourers’ Federation (BLF) from the corrupt gangster types who had used it to feather their own nests. The militants, who included Jack Mundey, Joe Owens and Bob Pringle, rebuilt the union into a radically democratic, socially progressive and environmentally-aware organisation the likes of which Australia—and the world—had never seen. Today, we live in dark times for trade unionism. Only around 7% of workers in private industry are organised and unionists face ruthless attacks by the bosses and the state. The achievements of the NSW BLF, however, give us a glimpse of the liberating potential of the working class and are a beacon for the future.