Unite (UK) and the USW to Merge

Reports from LabourStart today highlight the imminent creation of truely international trade union, with Unite, which has 2 million members in the UK and Ireland, and the Unites Steel Workers, which represents 1 million workers in the USA, Canada and the Carribean, announcing their plans to merge. One cannot help but compare the formidable prospect of a 3 million strong trans-Atlantic union with the sorry state of union fiefdoms in Australia and New Zealand.

Response to Eric Lee: How the Internet Makes Organising Harder

All round web guy for the trade union movement, Eric Lee (www.labourstart.org) has written a blog piece about some of the drawbacks of the internet for organising. You can read the piece here at his blog.

I really respect Eric Lee and like the work he is doing, however, I would like to make the point that while the internet is tactically mixed for the union movement, strategically it is a gain.

Trade Unionism 101

There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth regarding the state of the Unions in Australia over the last 15 odd years. Chances are, if you are visiting this blog, you will not need yet another overview of the great decline in union density and numbers, the Howard Government’s attacks on organised labour with WorkChoices, and the impact of the globalisation of capital. Please don’t get me wrong, there are some quality pieces of analysis covering these events and trends. However, this blog is primarily about the renewal of the Australian trade union movement.