http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/unions/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Multiculturalism-its-as-Aussie-as-a-lamb-roast/ Christmas is long gone, New Year is a distant memory, the tennis is on TV and the summer break that saves the sanity of so many Australians is almost over. As usual in the lead up to Australia Day it’s time debate the health of the nation: where we stand internationally, and the slippery issue of our national identity. I don’t think there are many countries that spend so much time trying to define exactly what they stand for. While navel-gazing isn’t always healthy, one of the reasons for this debate is that we do not feel that our national identity is fixed, or tied to events of the past, but something that is always changing and improving. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Multiculturalism-its-as-Aussie-as-a-lamb-roast/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Multiculturalism-its-as-Aussie-as-a-lamb-roast/#item7580 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 For over 100 years unions have been the anchor for the Australian Labor Party. Without the weight of the two million-strong union membership the party floats away or gets out of touch with ordinary Australians. Political junkies will get a fix this week when the ALP’s national conference kicks off in Sydney. The debates over gay marriage and uranium sales to India will get breathless media coverage. But behind this the union movement will be steadily pursuing a united agenda to push for the rights of working Australians. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/unions-keeping-labor-united-with-workers/ For over 100 years unions have been the anchor for the Australian Labor Party. Without the weight of the two million-strong union membership the party floats away or gets out of touch with ordinary Australians. Political junkies will get a fix this week when the ALP’s national conference kicks off in Sydney. The debates over gay marriage and uranium sales to India will get breathless media coverage. But behind this the union movement will be steadily pursuing a united agenda to push for the rights of working Australians. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/unions-keeping-labor-united-with-workers/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/unions-keeping-labor-united-with-workers/#item7250 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 For over 100 years unions have been the anchor for the Australian Labor Party. Without the weight of the two million-strong union membership the party floats away or gets out of touch with ordinary Australians. Political junkies will get a fix this week when the ALP’s national conference kicks off in Sydney. The debates over gay marriage and uranium sales to India will get breathless media coverage. But behind this the union movement will be steadily pursuing a united agenda to push for the rights of working Australians. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Baiada-is-playing-chicken-with-livelihoods-and-lives/ Until the dramatic events of Friday night, the Baiada Poultry dispute in suburban Melbourne had not had the publicity of Qantas. That’s a shame because the gutsy fight by low-paid Baiada workers is just as important in the fight for fair treatment at work. Media coverage has focused on the clashes between police and workers, but has ignored the basic issues at stake. A couple of hundred low-paid workers have been forced to take legal industrial action because their employer has refused to bargain with them. They are taking collective action in an attempt to stop the spread of insecure work – and ensure that Baiada workers on low wages have some certainty around their jobs and basic rights to sick leave and holiday pay. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Baiada-is-playing-chicken-with-livelihoods-and-lives/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Baiada-is-playing-chicken-with-livelihoods-and-lives/#item7142 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 For over 100 years unions have been the anchor for the Australian Labor Party. Without the weight of the two million-strong union membership the party floats away or gets out of touch with ordinary Australians. Political junkies will get a fix this week when the ALP’s national conference kicks off in Sydney. The debates over gay marriage and uranium sales to India will get breathless media coverage. But behind this the union movement will be steadily pursuing a united agenda to push for the rights of working Australians. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Win-for-community-workers-is-a-win-for-communities/ One hundred and fifty social and community services (SACS) workers yelled and cheered. Some seemed close to tears as they sat in an auditorium at Technology Park in the Sydney suburb of Redfern last Thursday morning. Prime Minister Julia Gillard was standing before them to announce that the federal government would support pay increases demanded in the ASU’s Pay Up campaign. The emotion of the crowd was not surprising. They have been waiting for this result for a very long time. They have campaigned hard, and with the knowledge that the case will benefit not just them but their families and the communities they work for. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Win-for-community-workers-is-a-win-for-communities/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Win-for-community-workers-is-a-win-for-communities/#item7144 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 For over 100 years unions have been the anchor for the Australian Labor Party. Without the weight of the two million-strong union membership the party floats away or gets out of touch with ordinary Australians. Political junkies will get a fix this week when the ALP’s national conference kicks off in Sydney. The debates over gay marriage and uranium sales to India will get breathless media coverage. But behind this the union movement will be steadily pursuing a united agenda to push for the rights of working Australians. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/heres-how-qantas-management-can-win-back-customers/ How would you feel if you were the Qantas CEO and people were telling you loudly that they loved Virgin Australia as you were walking through the airport? For some, Alan Joyce is a hero for taking on the unions, but for others he is a person who should hear firsthand the distress suffered by those Qantas passengers stranded during the shutdown he ordered. Sadly, the debate for many has become centred on a particular individual. The CEO of a company should command wide ranging respect from all the company’s stakeholders. It’s certainly not enough to be loved by your management peers at other companies. They’re only good for giving you a new job if you leave the old one because you have lost the moral authority to succeed in your current position. History will judge Alan Joyce as a CEO, but in the meantime Qantas management must stand collectively in being fully accountable for their recent decisions and for presenting a vision to get Qantas back on track as the great iconic company that it has been. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/heres-how-qantas-management-can-win-back-customers/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/heres-how-qantas-management-can-win-back-customers/#item7103 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 For over 100 years unions have been the anchor for the Australian Labor Party. Without the weight of the two million-strong union membership the party floats away or gets out of touch with ordinary Australians. Political junkies will get a fix this week when the ALP’s national conference kicks off in Sydney. The debates over gay marriage and uranium sales to India will get breathless media coverage. But behind this the union movement will be steadily pursuing a united agenda to push for the rights of working Australians. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/qantas-and-joyce-will-weather-this-specific-storm/ What price forgiveness? Will a free plane ride make you take Qantas back into your heart? Will you once again feel a tickle of pride and fondness as the falsetto notes of ‘I Still Call Australia Home’ rise from those precocious young throats? For most people, the answer will be: “Hell yeah, and I’ll take one of those fluffy kangaroos home for the kids!”. We can’t sustain moral outrage for long, especially in the face of compensation. The Qantas ‘crisis’ is a numbers game from start to finish, and it’s a game they’ll probably win. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/qantas-and-joyce-will-weather-this-specific-storm/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/qantas-and-joyce-will-weather-this-specific-storm/#item7085 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 For over 100 years unions have been the anchor for the Australian Labor Party. Without the weight of the two million-strong union membership the party floats away or gets out of touch with ordinary Australians. Political junkies will get a fix this week when the ALP’s national conference kicks off in Sydney. The debates over gay marriage and uranium sales to India will get breathless media coverage. But behind this the union movement will be steadily pursuing a united agenda to push for the rights of working Australians. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Qantas-standoff-has-cleared-the-air-for-real-reform/ An industrial dispute has two sides – employer and employee. The Qantas dispute had a very important third side – the innocent travelling public. How they see the dispute, and which side they blame, will be important in the backwash. If they blame Qantas, the airline will have problems regaining, let alone improving, its share of the market. If they blame the unions, Qantas will have a strengthened bargaining position. Did Qantas have any alternative to the extraordinary decision to ground the fleet? It was facing continuous scattergun strikes, and the unions involved were not showing any intention to try to come to a compromise. The grounding tactic was clever, in that it forced the government to bring Fair Work Australia into the game, with the result that the guerilla strikes were ended. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Qantas-standoff-has-cleared-the-air-for-real-reform/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Qantas-standoff-has-cleared-the-air-for-real-reform/#item7061 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 For over 100 years unions have been the anchor for the Australian Labor Party. Without the weight of the two million-strong union membership the party floats away or gets out of touch with ordinary Australians. Political junkies will get a fix this week when the ALP’s national conference kicks off in Sydney. The debates over gay marriage and uranium sales to India will get breathless media coverage. But behind this the union movement will be steadily pursuing a united agenda to push for the rights of working Australians. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/hey-sheep-joyce-is-just-a-scapegoat/ Alan Joyce seems to have copped the ire of just about everyone because he was the bloke announcing Saturday’s decision to ground the Qantas fleet.  The decision was understandably unpopular with those stranded travellers who had their plans thrown into disarray – and we can certainly all understand their anger and sympathise with them.  But for every person affected by the 48 hours or so that Qantas wasn’t flying, there will be many more Qantas travellers over the next 21 days who have finally got certainty with the Fair Work Australia decision to disallow industrial action.  Moreover, those thinking of flying in the future will be able to book with Qantas with certainty. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/hey-sheep-joyce-is-just-a-scapegoat/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/hey-sheep-joyce-is-just-a-scapegoat/#item7048 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 For over 100 years unions have been the anchor for the Australian Labor Party. Without the weight of the two million-strong union membership the party floats away or gets out of touch with ordinary Australians. Political junkies will get a fix this week when the ALP’s national conference kicks off in Sydney. The debates over gay marriage and uranium sales to India will get breathless media coverage. But behind this the union movement will be steadily pursuing a united agenda to push for the rights of working Australians. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/If-a-union-did-this-all-hell-would-break-loose/ First Alan, congratulations on your pay rise, and congratulations on Qantas’ profit in the last financial year. But sadly, I can’t congratulate you on your decision to take your bat and ball, and your aeroplanes, and go home. Let me make this clear, you had a lot of options to resolve this dispute, but you picked the nuclear option, the one that caused the most disruption to passengers and the tourism industry. On Saturday you chose to become the CEO that stops the nation, grounding Qantas’ fleet and stranding thousands of people from outback doctors, foreign leaders, and Spring Carnival punters. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/If-a-union-did-this-all-hell-would-break-loose/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/If-a-union-did-this-all-hell-would-break-loose/#item7045 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 For over 100 years unions have been the anchor for the Australian Labor Party. Without the weight of the two million-strong union membership the party floats away or gets out of touch with ordinary Australians. Political junkies will get a fix this week when the ALP’s national conference kicks off in Sydney. The debates over gay marriage and uranium sales to India will get breathless media coverage. But behind this the union movement will be steadily pursuing a united agenda to push for the rights of working Australians. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/tie-me-bloody-kangaroo-down-joyce/ Jesus motherloving Christ. If Alan Joyce is making a late bid for Twat of the Year 2011, then he’s eating daylight on his competitors. On Saturday the Qantas CEO shut down worldwide operations of one of the planet’s biggest airlines, in an over-reaction that made King Lear look pretty chill. Like one of those seasoned chooks you get all ready for roasting, some things come pre-satirised. On Friday, Joyce asked shareholders at Qantas’ annual general meeting to give him a pay rise of 71 per cent, from under $3 million a year to about $5 million. They did. The next day, he shut down their company entirely, because of the “extreme demands” of workers. First prize, Alan. Believe. Where unions have to give 72 hours notice of any action, Joyce gave zero hours. He stranded 68,000 people worldwide, upended the plans of tens of thousands more, and lost an unquantifiable number of future bookings. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/tie-me-bloody-kangaroo-down-joyce/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/tie-me-bloody-kangaroo-down-joyce/#item7039 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 For over 100 years unions have been the anchor for the Australian Labor Party. Without the weight of the two million-strong union membership the party floats away or gets out of touch with ordinary Australians. Political junkies will get a fix this week when the ALP’s national conference kicks off in Sydney. The debates over gay marriage and uranium sales to India will get breathless media coverage. But behind this the union movement will be steadily pursuing a united agenda to push for the rights of working Australians.