Movements_Campaigns - Labour_Worker's rights - The Commons Social Change Library

A large group of men on strike sitting on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in front of one of the opera house sails. Some are wearing hard hats

How Workers Defeated Anti-Strike Laws in the 1970s

Read an excerpt from the book, Without Bosses: Radical Trade Unionism in the 1970s, about workers retaining the right to strike.

Women Fighting Back in the Depression Years

Read about the role that women played in unemployed movements during the Depression Years in Australia in this book excerpt by Janey Stone.

an old black and white photo of a procession of people walking along a street outside a hotel with text on their roof that reads Royal Hotel

Beer Strikes: A History of Hotel Boycotts in Australia, 1900-1920

Watch this video presentation about beer strikes and the history of hotel / pub boycotts in Australia in the early 1900s.

workers sitting on steps outside Opera House

The 1972 Sydney Opera House Work-In

Learn about the Sydney Opera House ‘work-in’ carried out by construction workers who expelled management & continued work under workers’ control.

a group of men in work clothes covered in coal dust wearing hard hats with miners lamps on the hats

The Nymboida Coal Mine Takeover, NSW, 1975–1979

How workers at the Nymboida coal mine in NSW resisted mass sackings by taking over and running the mine themselves in 1975. firstly through an occupation and then via union ownership.

Lines of Resistance: What can the Old Left offer today’s creatives?

Lines of Resistance: A Symposium on Media, Arts & Activism that profiles research on the role of media and visual arts in activist movements.

Change Makers (Text on orange background)

Changemaker chat with Randi Weingarten: Teachers and Education reform

Teachers’ union activist Randi Weingarten discusses her experiences of social change and educational reform.

ChangeMaker Chat with Ernie Cortes: Community Organising

A chat with one of the biggest names in US community organizing, Ernie Cortes, including history, Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) & Saul Alinksy.

ChangeMaker Chat with Ed Miliband: Political Parties as Agents of Change

Ed Miliband, leader of the United Kingdom Labour Party, describes how political parties can be agents for major change.

ChangeMaker Chat with Jane McAlevey: Winning Change Through Organising

A chat with Jane McAlevey, United States social movement organiser and trainer, about organising for workers’ rights.

Black and white photograph of a sign that reads: 'GURINDJI Mining Lease and Cattle Station'.

Australian Aboriginal workers strike for fair wages and equality, 1946-1949

Indigenous pastoral workers in the Kimberley region of Western Australia struck for equal wages and full civil rights in the late 1940s.

Indigenous Gurindji win Land Rights in Australia (Wave Hill Walk Off) 1966-1975

The Gurindji of Wave Hill Station (Northern Territory) protested by a walkout against low wages, leading to the land rights movement.

The flag of the Torres Strait Islands. It features a white Dhari (traditional headdress), with a five-pointed white star beneath it. The background is dark blue, with green stripes at the top and bottom of the flag.

Torres Strait soldiers stage stay at home strikes, 1943

Torres Strait Islander soldiers strike to end discrimination in the army during World War Two.

Torres Strait Islanders hold maritime strike against pearling industry, 1936

Torres Strait Islanders refused work in the Native Affairs pearling fleet due to racial discrimination and held a maritime strike in 1936.

Developing Strategic Campaigns: An ITF Manual for Trade Union Activists, Educators and Organisers

This manual will help workers to identify clear campaign goals and objectives, develop strategies and tactics, and create unifying public messages and timelines for campaigns.

White text on a blue and pink background states 'Championing Transgender and Gender Diverse People in the Workplace'

Supporting Transgender and Gender Diverse People in the Workplace

A resource to help non-profit organisations make their workplaces more inclusive and supportive of transgender and gender diverse people.

Man standing on top of iron fence waving flag outside a building.

Stories of Unemployed Activism from Radical Melbourne: 1906-1982

Introduction Four stories about actions – demonstrations, pickets, eviction resistance and occupations – that the unemployed people of Melbourne carried out from 1906 to 1982. These stories come from the Radical Melbourne 1 & 2 books by Jeff and Jill Sparrow, published by Vulgar Press in 2001 and 2004. The books feature dozens of stories […]

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