De retour au pouvoir en 2022, les travaillistes font adopter une loi mettant en place une politique environnementale. L'alignement sur l'accord de Paris et la création d'une agence fédérale de transition énergétique étaient des revendications du congrès syndical de l'ACTU de 2021. Si les syndicats soutiennent le dispositif de transition, des divisions subsistent. Les divergences reflètent l'ambiguïté de la politique qui vise à réduire les émissions domestiques mais pas les exportations de combustibles fossiles, pourtant majoritaires dans la production énergétique.
This paper considers the extent to which the anti-globalisation or global social justice movement could contribute to a revival of trade unions. After an account of the early theoretical corpus that emerged at the turn of the 21st Century and which argued for the need for a revitalisation of trade union politics, it identifies the ways in which the new protest movements represent a challenge for the trade unions and the lessons they might learn in facing up to this challenge. Four fault lines are outlined in relation to key areas of concern: political alternatives; participatory democracy; organic cohesion and inclusion; the renewal of activism. It finally focuses on the Australian context, which lets us conclude on a note of scepticism.
This article considers the extent to which the anti-globalisation movement might contribute to a revival of labour politics. The starting point is an awareness that the trade unions and the anti-globalists do not necessarily see eye to eye so that any assumption that they can readily join forces becomes problematical. Four fault lines are identified in relation to key areas of concern: i) political alternatives; ii) participatory democracy; iii) organic cohesion and inclusion; and iv) the renewal of activism. The article focuses on the case of France - regarded as something of an archetype of social movement unionism - and on its interface with the ETUC in the process of European integration. It is pointed out that while - in the view of the author - the anti-globalisation movement does indeed offer a potential source and impetus for a revitalisation of labour politics, this is no tame option but one requiring a carefully thought out strategy on the part of the trade unions and the social movements. The article concludes, accordingly, on a note of scepticism about the way in which the international trade union bodies have so far approached these issues, stressing the risk that the trade unions could find themselves between a rock and a hard place.
L'impact sanitaire du Covid-19 en Australie a été plus limité qu'ailleurs. La maîtrise de la pandémie a permis une reprise anticipée de l'économie, même si les conséquences sur l'emploi et l'économie ont été dans un premier temps considérables, mais inégales. Une subvention à l'emploi a été introduite en réponse à la pression des acteurs sociaux, et, étonnamment, le gouvernement a encouragé le recours au dialogue social pour faciliter la mise en œuvre d'une réforme des relations professionnelles. Toutefois, les autres aspects du programme gouvernemental risquent fort de compromettre cette dynamique de dialogue.
New Caledonia has been a French colony since 1853 – now a sui generis overseas 'collectivity' – and is currently engaged in a process of 'decolonization' following the signature of the Accord de Nouméa on the 5th of May 1998 (cf. point 4 of the preamble). This process of decolonization, as we argue in this article, is counteracted by a political strategy, which we will refer to as the "politics of a common destiny". This strategy aims at creating a feeling of citizenship by fostering reconciliation between peoples and communities living in New Caledonia. To achieve this, history is reinterpreted and reinvented by emphasizing togetherness and shared destiny. By way of illustration, two examples are examined: first, the celebration of the citizenship; second, Mathieu Kassovitz's movie L'ordre et la morale [Rebellion in English]. Next, acknowledging that this strategy goes beyond symbolism and spreads through the political economy of New Caledonia, we examine how, in a background of social inequalities, the Kanak People's labour struggle becomes subsumed in a vast program of Social Dialogue that is part of the overall framework of social partnership.
This presentation has two objectives. The first is to acknowledge that New Caledonia is absent from the English speaking literature in the field of employment relations. To rectify this, we will present an account of the major features of the industrial relations system and address the major issues of the day. Second, we will turn to the politics of the indigenous Kanak people's labour activism. The presentation is informed by two periods of field research, in July 2011 and 2014, including interviews with trade union leaders and a content analysis of data provided by government agencies, as well as on-going participant observation of the Kanak people's struggle for sovereignty (Graff 2012). New Caledonia has a rich labour history and a strong labour movement which can to a large extent be explained by the prevalence of its mining industry. Besides, there is a militant indigenous movement which for historical reasons intersects with and is channelled through organised labour. In the overall background of the colonial politics of reconciliation – the political platform for a 'Common Destiny' – which engulfs employment relations and social dialogue, we will reveal that key issues arising, such as inequalities and employment, often have a political content and, as a consequence, that contention becomes politicised across the racial and social divides of New Caledonia.
This seminar aims at critically examining the nature and determinants of labour voices in the French Pacific Territories, i.e. New Caledonia and Polynesia. Although under the same colonial ruler, both regions have shaped their own path to autonomy in quite distinctive ways, between independence and dependencies and in the management of economic, geo-political and ethnic interdependences. We will thus insist on the need to provide a 'contextualised comparison': 'The Curse of Wealth' (New Caledonia) and 'The Cage of Beauty' (Polynesia). We will also discuss the complex duality of colonial and anti-colonial voices within the labour movement and further, in labour politics. The seminar will finally focus on New Caledonia, including the legal and socio-political forces and narratives at play in the lead-up to next year 2014 referendum on the roadmap to decolonization. This is a highly contested terrain in a context where French Authorities have been engaging in a far ranging program of reconciliation and social partnership – the 'Common Destiny'. Special attention to industrial relations is particularly relevant for two reasons: first, historically, the split of Indigenous activists from the mainstream union gave the impetus to the formation of the Kanak People liberation movement; second, the issue of independence is quite a divisive issue between Indigenous and French led unions, in a context where industrial relations find themselves engulfed in the frame of social partnership.
Le Code du travail de 2019 crée un précédent : pour la première fois sous le régime communiste, il autorise une représentation collective des travailleurs, indépendante du syndicalisme officiel. Cette disposition reflète la prise en compte du contexte endémique du conflit industriel, marqué des grèves sauvages, illégales, en l'absence de représentation effective des syndicats. Alors que la législation permet désormais l'établissement d'organisations représentatives au plan local, à pied égal en droit, nous discutons les contraintes qui pèsent sur leur développement futur.