January 11, 2023

Episode 117: Sunak’s anti-strike laws have Australian flavour, Republican supreme court could strip right to strike,Brazil’s far right storm their capital

1 hour 10 minutes

Van Badham and Ben Davison take a look at some of the big issues facing working people in the UK and the USA and find that there's an Australian flavour in conservative moves to strip worker's of rights.

In the UK Rishi Sunak is trying to ban effective strikes and force people to cross picket lines with a law that one of his own MP's has called "shameful". The "protecting essential services" approach is one that is already law in Australia and has been used to stop industrial actions from train strikes to the release of exam results. With industrial action at low levels and wages going backwards its clear why Sunak wants an even more heavy handed version of these laws.

Over in the USA the Supreme Court is hearing a case that may rip up nearly 60 years of precedent to make individual workers and their unions liable for losses incurred by a boss during industrial action. This would in effect make every strike a huge financial risk as opposed to an immediate small cost for a longer term gain. Its an approach the Liberals tried in Australia with the ABCC regime in construction (now abolished).

Unions everywhere are standing up against these attacks and you can join your union at australianunions.org.au/wow

In Brazil the far right play book has entered its final chapter, an attempted coup. Van runs through why the coup attempt against Lula happened, how Trumpists and billionaires have incited it and why Lula was able to restore order and democracy so quickly.

You can catch Van and Ben LIVE at the Adelaide Fringe https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/the-week-on-wednesday-live-with-van-badham-ben-davison-live-podcast-af2023

And support the podcast reaching even more people by becoming a Cadre, Extend the Reach or Buck a week supporter at www.buymeacoffee.com/WeekOnWednesday

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By Ben Davison