Masterclass for Activists

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 Secretary, Building Workers Industrial Union and ACTU Vice President).

Listeners are also in for another treat from Chloe and Jason Roweth, whose songs of struggle have inspired activists across the generations. In this episode they perform The Green Ban Fusiliers (words by Denis Kevans to the traditional tune McAlpine’s Fusiliers. Find out more about the Roweths’ music here.

This podcast series has been produced by Deliberately Engaging in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals to build the capabilities of civil society and give people a greater voice. Learn more about the UN Goals and our podcasts here.

The series has been made possible by the support of the Committee to Defend Trade Unions Rights, Tony and Nina Bleasdale, our discussants, and musicians.

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 learnings that will better enable activists to design and implement successful campaigns.

Strategy has been described as “the art of creating power” and comes into play when values and interests collide.  Union elder Tom McDonald kicks off the conversation by exploring the significance of the ideas of Sun Tzu, the legendary Chinese general, strategist and philosopher from 500 BCE, who famously said that “tactics without strategy” is the “noise before the defeat” but that “strategy without tactics” was the “quickest route to defeat.”

Our panel discuss some of the great moments in forging a fairer Australia, and dive into the winning strategy and tactics used in the fight for equal pay for community sector workers and the epic battle for superannuation for all Australian workers.

Listeners are also in for another treat from Chloe and Jason Roweth, whose songs of struggle have inspired activists across the generations. In this episode they perform Don’t Be Too Polite Girls (Words by Glen Tomasetti to the traditional tune of Flash Jack from Gundagai). Find out more about the Roweths’ music here.

This podcast series has been produced by Deliberately Engaging in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals to build the capabilities of civil society and give people a greater voice. Learn more about the UN Goals and our podcasts here.

The series has been made possible by the support of the Committee to Defend Trade Unions Rights, Tony and Nina Bleasdale, our discussants and musicians, and the ACTU.  

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 done? In this compelling episode, labour movement legends Bill Kelty, Anna Booth and Tom McDonald join Emeritus Professor Ed Davis to share this remarkable story – a story that is rich in lessons for activists today as they continue the fight to win the future for working people.

Australia’s social safety net is the envy of the world: the highest minimum wage rates in the world, the most efficient healthcare system in the world that delivers standards of care few countries can match, and the only compulsory employer-funded universal superannuation system in the world. These towering pillars of our safety net were won through an Accord between the ACTU and the ALP; the most comprehensive agreement ever negotiated anywhere in the world between trade unions and a political party. In this episode, the discussants explain the Accord’s strategy and reflect its great achievements and disappointments, its enduring legacy and its lessons for activists today. A copy of the Accord can be found here.

Listeners are in for another treat from Chloe and Jason Roweth, whose songs of struggle have inspired activists across the generations. In this episode, they perform ‘Which Side Are You On’ (Words by Florence Reece to a traditional tune). Find out more about the Roweths’ music here.

This podcast series has been produced by Deliberately Engaging in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals to build the capabilities of civil society and give people a greater voice. Learn more about the UN Goals and our podcasts here.

The series has been made possible by the support of the Committee to Defend Trade Unions Rights, Tony and Nina Bleasdale, and our discussants and musicians.

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 midwives and building and manufacturing workers.

All three speakers conclude that militancy must be shaped by principles and values, be used for a just cause, and be smart and strategic as well as tough.

This episode also stars Chloe and Jason Roweth performing Norman Brown (words by Dorothy Hewitt set to traditional music). Find out more about the Roweths’ music here.

This podcast series has been produced by Deliberately Engaging in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals to build the capabilities of civil society and give people a greater voice. Discover our podcasts here.

This podcast has been made possible by the support of the Committee to Defend Trade Unions Rights, Tony and Nina Bleasdale, our discussants and musicians, and the ACTU. 

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 Women Leading the ACTU we share more of our conversation from Episode 3 and hear about what it took to win equal representation for women on the ACTU Executive. While, as Sally says, there remains more to be done in improving women’s representation in leadership across the union movement, the achievement of equal male and female representation on the ACTU Executive, won more than two decades ago, demonstrates the power of values, strategy and tactics in making change for the better.

This episode also stars Chloe and Jason Roweth performing Don’t Be Too Polite Girls (words by Glen Tomasetti to the traditional tune of Flash Jack from Gundagai). Find out more about the Roweths’ music here.

Learn more about many of the great struggles of the Australian labour and women’s movements and what it took to win in Dare to Dream, the memoirs of Tom and Audrey McDonald, whose inspiration is behind the creation of this Masterclass series.

This podcast series has been produced by Deliberately Engaging in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals to build the capabilities of civil society and give people a greater voice. Discover our podcasts here.

This podcast has been made possible by the support of the Committee to Defend Trade Unions Rights, Tony and Nina Bleasdale, our discussants and musicians, and the ACTU. 

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 Sharan Burrow (General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation), Dave Noonan (National Secretary, Construction Division CFMEU) and union elder Tom McDonald (former National Secretary, Building Workers Industrial Union).

Sharan Burrow refers listeners to the Communique of the Centenary Conference (2019) of the International Labor Organisation. You can view the Communique here.

Listeners will also hear Chloe and Jason Roweth perform music that has inspired activists across the generations. You can find out more about the Roweth's music here.

This podcast has been produced by Deliberately Engaging in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals to build the capabilities of civil society and give people a greater voice. Learn more here.

This series has been made possible by the support Professor Davis, the Committee to Defend Trade Unions Rights, Tony and Nina Bleasdale, Chloe and Jason Roweth, Sally McManus and all our guests who appear during the series.

The Swaggies Have All Waltzed Matilda Away (Words and Music by Alistair Hulett).

#ActivistMasterclass

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 stories that draw out our values of solidarity, social justice and fairness.

In this episode, our host Emeritus Professor Ed Davis is joined by Sally McManus (Secretary, Australian Council of Trade Unions), Jo Schofield (National President, United Workers Union) and revered union elder Tom McDonald (former National Secretary, Building Workers Industrial Union).

Listeners will also hear Chloe and Jason Roweth perform music that had inspired activists across the generations. Find out more about the Roweth's music here.

This podcast has been produced by Deliberately Engaging in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals to build the capabilities of civil society and give people a greater voice. Learn more here.

This podcast series has been made possible by the support Professor Davis, the Committee to Defend Trade Unions Rights, Tony and Nina Bleasdale, Chloe and Jason Roweth, Sally McManus and all our guests who appear during the series.

The Ballad of 1891 (Words by Helen Palmer, Music by Doreen Bridges). 

#ActivistMasterclass