After a huge amount of political pressure from the Victorian government, the Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) agreed to postpone its August 21 tram and train strike, and Metro Rail and Yarra Trams agreed to return to the negotiating table.
Had the strike gone ahead it would have been the first such strike in 18 years.
RTBU members were clearly fed up with their respective train and tram companies, with 98% of railway workers and 99.4% of tram workers who returned ballots voting for industrial action.
1066
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced Thursday that he will step down and call snap elections for September 20, after facing strong resistance from within his own SYRIZA party.
鈥淚 will ask the Greek people if they think we have made achievements,鈥 said the prime minister. 鈥淵ou will decide how we will recuperate the Greek economy, with your vote you will decide the future of Greece.鈥
Did you hear the one about how Vegemite was going to be banned in some alcohol-free remote communities because it was being used to make homebrew?
This wasn鈥檛 satire, this was a widely reported story in the mainstream press. It ticked all the right boxes for successful click bait, but there was just one problem: it was bullshit. The source for these claims? The Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion.
The future of the federal government鈥檚 anti-union, kangaroo court 鈥 the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption 鈥 is in doubt, following media revelations that the commissioner, retired High Court Justice John Dyson Heydon, accepted an invitation 鈥 not once, but twice 鈥 to speak at a Liberal Party fundraiser while serving on the body. The commission first sat on April 9 last year and media reports say Heydon received the invitation to speak via email just one day later, on April 10. He was approached again in March.
Marines join protesting German workers in Berlin during the November 1918 revolution.
The German Left & the Weimar Republic
By Ben Fowkes
Haymarket Books, 2015
399 pages, US$28.
Socialist historian Ben Fowkes has given us a unique and vivid text documentary of the German workers鈥 movement during the tumultuous years of its greatest influence 鈥 from November 1918 to its defeat by Nazism 15 years later.
When it comes to elections in Venezuela, there are at least three things you can usually count on. The upcoming December 6 elections for the National Assembly are no different 鈥 even if the result is far from certain.
The first is that much is at stake.
In a country where the poor majority has sought to advance radical change through popular mobilisations and votes, every election since Hugo Chavez鈥檚 successful 1998 bid for president has been transformed into a referendum on the future of the country鈥檚 鈥淏olivarian revolution鈥.
The federal Coalition鈥檚 plan to repeal a section of a 16-year-old environmental law can only be for one reason 鈥 to support mining companies at the expense of communities and the environment.
Attorney General George Brandis announced on August 19the government planned to repeal section 487 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act) which gives the community the right to enforce Australia鈥檚 environmental laws and hold decision makers and corporations to account.
African American singer-songwriter Janelle Monae, who is seeking to use her popularity to speak out against police brutality and racism, had her comments in support of the #BlackLivesMatter movement cut from a performance on the NBC's Today show on August 14.
Kumanjayi Langdon, 59, from Yuendumu in Central Australia, died of heart failure in Darwin Police Watch House on May 21 鈥 鈥渙n a concrete bench with two strangers鈥 鈥 three hours after being taken into custody following a paperless arrest 鈥渇or drinking in a regulated place鈥.
At the inquest into Langdon鈥檚 death, Northern Territory Coroner Greg Cavenagh found he died from natural causes but should have been able to die in freedom, with his family and friends.
"In my view Kumanjayi Langdon had the right to die as a free man," Cavanagh said.
Son of Nun
Son of Nun
Firebrand Records
www.firebrandrecords.com
For Baltimore-based rapper Son of Nun, the forming of Ryan Harvey and Tom Morello's new rebel music record label Firebrand Records offered an opportunity to redeem his rhymes.
Born Kevin James, the 37-year-old emcee took a lengthy hiatus from hip hop until Harvey, who he met through activist circles years back, approached him to become part of his experiment.
There were huge protests against the Trans-Pacific Partnership held across New Zealand on August 15. About 10,000 protesters marched in Auckland, 5000 in Wellington, 4000 in Christchurch and thousands more in other parts of the country.
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