Warning: This episode includes a story about workplace deaths and suicide. History has been changed by building power, and there’s power in drawing upon the lessons of history. This podcast discusses power, what it is, why it’s important to analyse and understand it, and how to build it. In this episode, our host Emeritus Professor Ed Davis is joined by Michele O’Neil  (President, Australian Council of Trade Unions), Michael Kaine (National Secretary, Transport Workers Union), Nadine Flood (former National Secretary, Community and Pubic Sector Union) and Tom McDonald (former National Secr ..read more

Warning: This episode includes a story about workplace deaths and suicide. History has been changed by building power, and there’s power in drawing upon the lessons of history. This podcast discusses power, what it is, why it’s important to analyse and understand it, and how to build it. In this episode, our host Emeritus Professor Ed Davis is joined by Michele O’Neil  (President, Australian Council of Trade Unions), Michael Kaine (National Secretary, Transport Workers Union), Nadine Flood (former National Secretary, Community and Pubic Sector Union) and Tom McDonald (former National Secr ..read more

In the face of unprecedented global economic and political crisis in the 1980s, Australia was the only country on earth that radically built its social safety net. At a time when the world was gripped by the hitherto unknown phenomenon of rampant and simultaneously high unemployment, high inflation and high-interest rates, the very idea of the welfare state was under attack globally with the emergence of a new sinister ideology known as ‘neoliberalism’. Against the tide and despite the odds, Australian unions forged once-in-a-lifetime reforms to capitalism. How was this possible and how was it ..read more

Mindful Militants with Lisa Fitzpatrick, Doug Cameron and Tom McDonald discusses the role of militant tactics in pioneering social change. Throughout history militant peoples’ action has been pivotal to creating a fairer society. But militancy that is not underpinned by principles and grounded in smart strategy is doomed to lead the workers to defeat. Our panel unpacks militancy, the difference between good and bad tactics, and the role that values-driven leadership and culture plays in successful action. We explore what different forms of militant action has achieved for nurses and midwi ..read more

Before 1983 no woman had ever been elected to the Executive of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). In 1995, Jennie George became the first woman ACTU President and was followed by Sharan Burrow, Ged Kearney and Michelle O’Neil. In Episode 3 Strategy for Success, Sally McManus and Bill Kelty, the current and former ACTU secretaries, joined union elder Tom McDonald and our host Emeritus Professor Ed Davis to discuss how to design and execute winning campaigns. They discussed how strategy is the art of building power and tactics the stepping-stones to success. In this bonus episode Wom ..read more

Episode 3 Strategy for Success discusses how to design and execute a winning strategy. In this episode, our host Emeritus Professor Ed Davis is joined by Sally McManus (Secretary, Australian Council of Trade Unions), Bill Kelty AC (former Secretary, Australian Council of Trade Unions) and Tom McDonald AM (former National Secretary, Building Workers Industrial Union and ACTU Vice President). Working people confront a power imbalance in our society and to overcome injustice, says Sally McManus, activists need to learn to be very good at strategy. This episode is rich in stories and learning ..read more

To realise the goal of a fairer society by developing a counter-strategy to neoliberalism, we first need to analyse neoliberalism and be able to explain it to working people. Episode 2 Neoliberalism and a New Deal unpacks the strategy of neoliberalism to wind back workers’ rights and living standards and weaken our democracy. It also discusses how the CoVid19 pandemic has dramatically exposed the failings of neoliberalism and looks to the future by discussing what a new deal for working people should look like.  In this episode, our host Emeritus Professor Ed Davis is joined by Shara ..read more

Episode 1 Hearts and Minds discusses values, their place and role in driving change, how to counter right-wing populists and shock jocks, and how to win the support of working people for the cause of building a fairer Australia. Values are not only the bedrock of progressive movements but are also an anchor for every activist that sees you through the tough times by providing a framework for decisions and actions. We can counter right-wing populists and win the hearts of minds of working people to support the cause of building a fairer Australia when we frame our message and tell sto ..read more