The child labour unions of Latin AmericaIt’s the world’s most vulnerable workforce, but many of Latin America’s fourteen million child workers are joining unions and fighting for better working conditions. Bolivia’s Union of Child and Adolescent Workers represents 15,000 workers aged 8-18.
Unions
Essential: Qantas divides voters, Fair Work Australia the only winner
Voters disapprove of Qantas management’s decision to ground its fleet, but don’t approve of the way anyone in the dispute conducted themselves except the industrial relations regulator, Essential Report has found.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Delegitimising unions
Crikey reads have their say.
Delegitimising unions in the great game of labour v capital
As voters become more estranged from corporations and economic reform, neither labour nor capital is responding effectively to the sentiment.
Essential: meh on the republic, but fired up about Qantas
Voters blame Qantas management for its dispute with unions, today’s Essential Report finds. But support for a republic isn’t going anywhere.
Make or break: manufacturing should be weaned off the public teat
Huge industry subsidies by the taxpayer do little to preserve jobs or the industries themselves, writes Ian Hanke, of Agitate.com.au and the HR Nicholls Society.
Grattan: The dirty war between Julia and Kristina
Has PM Gillard placed NSW Premier in the Sophie’s Choice position that she’s claiming over workplace safety reforms? At the heart of the fight is a debate over the role of unions and the NSW government dependence on them, argues Michelle Grattan.
Old unions, new battlefront
The Australian union movement coughed up more than $30 million to fight John Howard and WorkChoices. It may have scored a victory but the real battlefront lies elsewhere: particularly in sustaining its membership base, writes Mark Davis.
The inner workings of Sharan Burrow
ACTU president Sharan Burrow has just been announced as secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation. How did a female teacher rise up so high in the blokey world of union politics? Ben Schneiders.
Colless: Tony, don’t be afraid of the big bad union
A new media campaign by ACTU called “Don’t Go Back To WorkChoices” is an unfair and untruthful attack on Tony Abbott. The Libsneed to offer a suitable IR alternative since Rudd’s policies are collapsing, writes Malcolm Colless.
Midwives damn AMA-induced amendments to maternity reform
Rather than listening to medical advice on the long-awaited maternity reforms, the government pays attention to a union more focused on protecting incomes than helping prospective mothers, writes Professor Lesley Barclay and Professor Sally Tracy.
The NSW Right is a dead, dead duck
The flaming rage of neutered warlords and right-wing unions about their loss of influence within the NSW ALP will blow itself out, writes NSW ALP Left insider Joe Sammaras.
Trade unions, AFR, out of the loop on jobs
Two stories in The Australian Financial Review and other papers this morning illustrate just how out of touch both the paper and the Australian trade union movement are with the economy.
Crabb: Is the Coalition a bunch of union bigwigs?
The Opposition is like a “crumbly old trade union”, writes Annabel Crabb. The evidence? Tony Abbott declared an industrial dispute on Question Time and threatened to strike.
Australian actors call cut on overseas ads
Actors in the Media Arts and Entertainment Alliance are striking on overseas commercials being shot locally, after the Screen Producers Association of Australia terminated its rates and conditions agreement. Although, as the SPAA wryly noted: “You cannot strike if you are not employed.”
Unions win some lose some at Ruddfest 09
Ruddfest 09 delivered “good outcomes” for unions, with entitlements for workers of collapsed companies. But workplaces will not become more “union friendly”.
VIDEO: Unions at Ruddfest
How are unions involved in the ALP national conference and what are they asking for? ACTU President Sharan Burrow explains in an interview on ABC Radio National.
ACTU bites its tongue, retreats to attic
What trade-off has the ACTU received for biting its tongue about the building industry? So far, just some half hearted words of encouragement about ‘buying Australian’.
News Ltd and the cold shoulder of redundancy
The journalists’ union is taking a hard look at News Limited’s redundancies, writes Christopher Warren.
newspaper death watch 
Globe gives in
The Boston Globe’s largest union has finally agreed to a deal with parent New York Times Co., accepting $10m in pay and benefit cuts. But the paper’s future is still far from assured.
Union had better back big safety claims against Qantas
Did Qantas last June allow a Boeing 767 which had experienced severe turbulence before landing at Cairns continue its journey without completing all of the mandatory inspections required?
Union makes demands on Fair Work’s first day
Not exactly a move to set employers at ease. On the first day of Fair Work Australia, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union started pushing for a pay rise. Industry is concerned, says Ewin Hannan.
Globe and Times Co reach tentative agreement
After months of negotiation, the Boston Newspaper Guild has agreed to a contract settlement to keep the paper running. But not without compromises and significant wage cuts.
