Episode description

Alison Pennington is a Senior Economist at The Australia Institute's Centre for Future Work. She has a Masters of Political Economy from the University of Sydney and she rules.

After a week of changes to the JobKeeper and JobSeeker payments, the government's "mini-budget" announcement, a torrent of shitty "deficit politics" and some ominous talk about industrial relations reform, Alison talks to me about the state of play for Australian workers right now. We discuss the possibilities of reimagining the entire welfare system in this country right now, why debt doesn't matter, why working from home might really suck for workers' rights and what the future of the trade union movement might look like.

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Join me online in conversation with Melissa Davey discussing her book The Case of George Pell on Tuesday August 18th

@ak_pennington

The Australia Institute's Centre for Future Work

The Follow the Money podcast

Alison's report for the CfFW: Collective Bargaining “Reform”: What Does Business Want? And What Would Actually Fix the System?

ARTICLE: In the Middle of a Pandemic, the Australian State is Pummelling Workers  by Alison Pennington

ARTICLE: Woolworths to cut 1,350 jobs and admits it owes at least $90m more to underpaid workers

ARTICLE: JobSeeker cut to push 370,000 into poverty, including 80,000 children by The Australia Institute

ARTICLE: Jobless opt for dole as business struggle to find workers despite unemployment surge ($) 

Cause of the Week: Living Incomes For Everyone Australia (LIFE) (facebook.com/LifeAustralia, on YouTube)