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Half of NSW essential workers ‘put at risk’ of getting Covid-19 at work – report

The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) NSW & ACT branch published a report, An Emergency for Essential Workers, on August 5, 2021. The report was based on a survey of members of the AMWU in NSW on the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak and the lockdown that began in June. The survey focused on workplaceContinue reading “Half of NSW essential workers ‘put at risk’ of getting Covid-19 at work – report”

Ireland’s Covid response reinforces tax-haven model

I contributed the chapter below on Ireland’s economic response to the Covid-19 pandemic to the ‘Transform! Europe’ dossier, Economic Anti-Crisis Measures of EU Member States After the Outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020 (pp88-99), published in July 2021. Note the chapter was completed in December 2020, so all dates refer to 2020. Transform! Europe is theContinue reading “Ireland’s Covid response reinforces tax-haven model”

American Antitrust Revolution

Read part one of this two-part series here: Is Biden prepared to break up Big Tech? Since the late 1970s the US courts have pared back the meaning of the country’s underpinning antitrust laws – the Sherman Act of 1890 and the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 – to look solely at the question ofContinue reading “American Antitrust Revolution”

Is Biden really prepared to break up Big Tech?

The international media treated US President Joe Biden’s Executive Order on ‘Promoting Competition in the American Economy’, issued on July 9, as a declaration of war on Big Tech’s Big Four – Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple. Typical headlines went heavy on the war metaphor, including Biden “declares war on anti-competitive practices”, “turns up theContinue reading “Is Biden really prepared to break up Big Tech?”

Banks are treating suspicious reports as a ‘permission slip’ to look the other way on money-laundering

One of the key revelations of the FinCEN files is that the world’s biggest banks are facilitating global money-laundering by treating suspicious transaction reports as a “permission slip”. Once the bank has reported the suspicious transaction to the financial intelligence unit, the bank simply continues dealing with the suspicious customer, believing it cannot be heldContinue reading “Banks are treating suspicious reports as a ‘permission slip’ to look the other way on money-laundering”

Australian government enacts major attack on casual workers

The Industrial Relations (IR) Omnibus Bill was adopted in the Australian Senate on Thursday 18 March, 2021 by 35 votes to 33, with the support of One Nation and Centre Alliance Senator Stirling Griff. The Coalition government failed to gain the support of the Senate crossbench for three out of five areas of proposed reformContinue reading “Australian government enacts major attack on casual workers”