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27 June 2008

Modernise or perish: reinventing Australian unions

Remember the ACTU's "Your Rights at Work" campaign ahead of last year's election? It cost over $10 million and gave the Australian Labor Party a leg-up in the campaign. It was emblematic of how organised labour and political Labor saw themselves as political allies. But now that the ALP's in power, unions could prove an irritation - or even an obstacle. The new dynamics raise questions about whether the relationship can be made more productive - not just politically for Labor, but both economically and socially for the whole country. Can it be done? And with unions facing decline, why bother?


Guests

David Coats
Associate Director of Policy, The Work Foundation (UK)

Further Information

The Work Foundation

Per Capita

Don't get even, get on
John Coats opinion piece, The Australian

Presenter

Peter Mares

Producer

James Panichi

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