Attorney-General Christian Porter has made it easier for employers to take advantage of the economic crisis brought on by COVID-19, writes Lisbeth Latham.
Lisbeth Latham
While the JobKeeker allowance is significant, the package has a number of major weaknesses, writes Lisbeth Latham.
After explicitly ruling them out, the federal government has now announced it will legislate for wage subsidy packages. Lisbeth Latham takes a critical look at what's on offer.
The Coalition government’s second COVID-19 stimulus package allows workers to draw on their superannuation savings to meet immediate needs. It may sound generous but, as Lisbeth Latham argues, it shifts responsibility onto those already struggling.
The priorities of the federal government’s stimulus package are not only wrong — they will not work. Lisbeth Latham argues the focus must be on protecting incomes.
As COVID-19 spreads globally, and the threat of widespread community transmission becomes more real, it has become clear the new coronavirus poses not only a major health risk but a significant threat to the livelihoods of millions of workers, writes Lisbeth Latham.
The movement against Emmanuel Macron's pension reforms is entering a new phase. Lisbeth Latham takes a look at this historic movement.
Denmark’s Red-Green Alliance or Enhedslisten (United List) announced on July 14 that the governing Social Democrats and Social Liberals parties in Denmark’s parliament had agreed to pass consent-based rape laws, writes Lisbeth Latham.
Thousands of people gathered around Australia on November 15 to hear the results of the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey.
While the survey delivered the result that was hoped for by these crowds, there has been a growing awareness that a majority Yes response in the survey does not necessarily deliver an easy pathway to the legislation that would deliver marriage equality. Instead, a new battle is looming, to win not just the legislation that a clear majority of Australians support, but to defend anti-discrimination protections for LGBTI people.
The results of the non-binding voluntary survey on same-sex marriage will be announced on November 15.
Irrespective of the outcome, we will need to continue to fight not only to achieve marriage equality but to combat the right's bigotry.
The decision by the Australian Football League (AFL) to refuse to allow transgender woman Hannah Mouncey to nominate for the Australian Football League Women (AFLW) draft has drawn widespread criticism as a reflection of the AFL’s lack of real commitment to inclusion.
One of France's largest union confederations, the General Confederation of Workers (CGT), held a strike on October 19 as part of the campaign against the anti-worker and anti-union ordinances adopted by the Emmanuel Macron government.
The mobilisations were far smaller than the previous three days of protests and have further fuelled discussion within the movement over how to overcome divisions and weaknesses and mobilise the widespread latent public opposition to the government's attacks.
Hundreds of thousands of workers, retirees and students joined a third day of strikes and protests across France on October 10. The protests are part of ongoing efforts by unions, left parties and progressive organisations to defeat attacks on workers and the public service by President Emmanuel Macron.
Protests were held in 140 cities and towns and drew 400,000 people into the streets.
At the centre of the day was a strike called by the nine union confederations active in France's public sector.
While the marriage equality campaign is currently focused on maximising a Yes response in the national survey, supporters of marriage equality and of LGBTI rights more generally need to look beyond the horizon of the survey itself.
This is because a majority Yes in the survey will not definitively resolve the question of marriage equality and because there are many other challenges facing the LGBTI community, particularly around legal rights.
France’s Council of Ministers approved five ordinances on September 22 that undermine union power and employment rights within France’s Labour Code, which came into effect the next day.
The government imposed these changes by using undemocratic measures in France’s constitution, which allows it to push new measures into law without passing legislation through parliament.
In the face of this, the movement against the changes continues to build.
About 250,000 people joined 400 protests in cities and towns across France on September 21, the General Confederation of Workers (CGT) said, in the second round of mass protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s anti-worker laws.
This was about half the number of people who mobilised for the first round of protests and strikes on September 12. The protests came the day before a meeting of the Council of Ministers to ratify five ordinances, which will undermine the rights of workers and their unions.
Pages
