Jonathan Singer

  • Budget extends forced labour programs

    The federal government's budget has increased the push to impose compulsory work on the unemployed in return for dole payments. The government is to enforce "mutual obligation" — the obligation on the jobless to work for

  • Sacked TAFE teachers' case begins

    Sacked TAFE teachers' case beginsMELBOURNE — On May 17 and June 1, the Equal Opportunity Tribunal will begin to hear Alison Thorne and Barbara Morgan's cases against their sacking by the Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE

  • Reith's 'second wave' attacks revealed

    Federal industrial relations minister Peter Reith on May 6 detailed proposed "second wave" changes to industrial relations law that will further reduce workers' ability to organise industrial action and control their unions and

  • Metalworkers spearhead KCTU campaign

    In the second week of the campaign by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) against mass retrenchments and pay cuts, members of the Korean Metal Workers Federation (KMWF) have played the key role in industrial action.

  • May Day: 'The movement is worth more'

    For more than 100 years, workers and socialists around the world have seen May Day — May 1 — as the international day of working-class demonstration and action.

  • An obnoxious policy

    The two April 11 NSW Sunday papers carried the same screaming headline: "Invaded". What was the force and intent of this invasion? At last count, 59 people, sailing in a rusty tugboat, had apparently run aground in northern NSW.

  • Study reveals little progress for low paid

    In March, the Australian Council of Trade Unions presented its case for a third "living wage" increase to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC). The ACTU called for the award wages of workers earning from the

  • The new 'new middle class' — not!

    The new 'new middle class' — not!Federal ALP backbencher Mark Latham announced in a February 23 Australian Financial Review article that "wired workers" are "a constituency social democrats have long dreamt about. Now the

  • Crew strikes against BHP cutback

    Crew strikes against BHP cutbackSYDNEY — Maritime Union of Australia members aboard BHP's Iron Flinders struck on February 25 against the company's decision to withdraw its ships from the trans-Tasman route. The workers

  • Democratic Socialists launch NSW campaign

    Democratic Socialists launch NSW campaignSYDNEY — The Democratic Socialists launched their election campaign for Sydney seats in the March 27 state election with two well-attended functions on February 26. At the Parramatta

  • Unemployment spirals in WA

    PERTH — After more than a year of deepening recession in WA, the official unemployment rate has climbed from a low point of 5.5 per cent to 9.3 last month. But there is no end in sight to the spiral of rising unemployment.