Featuring the latest in activist campaigns and struggles against oppression fighting for a better world with anti-capitalist analysis on current affairs and international politics. 

Newsreports

NSW floods a sign of what is to come in a warming world. Global insurance industry torn between spiralling payouts for 'natural' disasters and unsustainable premium rises versus continuing to insure and invest in fossil fuels, pointing to potential splits in the ruling class over the question of climate policy.

Green Left Radio presenters Jacob and Zane speak about Jacob's appearance on the latest episode of QandA on ABC. Jacob asked guest panelist Thomas Pikkety about how a wealth tax (which Pikkety advocates) could be implemented against the wishes of the wealthy.

Interviews and Discussion

Jacob & Zane speak with Adele Welsh and Jackie Kriz from the Geelong Women Unionists Network (GWUN). Kriz and Welsh outline how the current movement confronting the rampant sexism and harassment in Federal parliament is a sort of "me too moment" for Australia.

GWUN was the main force behind the 4000 strong March4Justice in Geelong which followed a sold out screening of 'women of steel' it organised for International Womens Day, and will continue mobilising. Kriz notes that in the context of the federal government implementing free childcare during the pandemic, the longstanding demand for free childcare is suddenly winnable. Kriz and Welsh speak of the importance of socialists being part of the womens movement and bringing a class analysis to the table, and talk to the importance of winning economic equality for women as  a key part of combating harassment and sexism. You can listen to the individual interview here.

Jacob and Zane speak with Josh Cullinan, secretary of the retail and fast food workers union (RAFFWU). Cullinan describes the measures in the stripped back industrial rights omnibus bill passed in the federal parliament last week. The bill means that for the first time there is a clear legal definition of what a casual worker is, and that this definition is effectively just that the employer employed the worker as a casual at the start of their role.

It allows employers to keep employees categorised as casuals ad finitum, even though they are effectively being employed as permanent / full time workers who should thus be entitled to sick pay, holiday pay, redundancy pay and other provisions. Part of the sinister nature of the bill is that it retrospectively extinguishes billions of dollars worth of backpay claims by casuals who were falsely categorised as casuals when they were actually full time/ permanent employees. Cullinan talks about the failure of the ACTU and its demobilisation of unionists over the past year and explores how RAFFWU is helping cohere a fighting wing of the labour movement which gives voice and agency to casual workers. You can listen to the individual interview here.