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Corporate Class drain on economy, Productivity Commission Reveals

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  Corporate Class drain on economy, Productivity Commission Reveals 09-04-25 The Productivity Commission’s 2025 Bulletin has revealed that the Corporate Class is the most inefficient sector of the economy. While the productivity of most skilled Trades increased their productivity; the “Administration and Support Services Sector” has seen a decline in labour productivity over the same timeframe. The Productivity Commission’s Annual Bulletin (accessible here: https://www.pc.gov.au/ongoing/productivity-insights/bulletins/bulletin-2025/productivity-bulletin-2025.pdf ) reveals that the “Administration and Support Services” industry saw a decline in labour productivity. Meanwhile, Labour productivity in agriculture, construction, transport, and manufacturing increased. The Utilities industry saw labour productivity decline slightly. Despite this decline in corporate productivity, the ABS reveals that the industry saw the fourth largest wage rise in 2024 (see here: https://www...
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Book Review: "The Channels," by Merv Lilley

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  I've just now finished reading Merv Lilley's "The Channels" from cover to cover. Its Merv's semi-autobiographical novel, a story of a working man in the 1950s. The Title of it is a reference both to Channel Country, where Merv's character starts off working variously as a Wool Presser, Cane Cutter, and Miner. It is also reference to the emotional state seafarers used to get into as they approached port. The story is set with the backdrop of the political situation of the time (specifically Menzies Communist Party Dissolution Bill, and his alliance with Bob Santamaria's Catholic Social Studies Movement). The protagonist goes by various names; Jack Long, Longfellow John Long, and embraces the name Jack Lang briefly when someone misheard his name (this is indeed a reference to the NSW Premier of the early 1930s). He is always in the rank of second class: a woolpresser not a shearer, and cane cutter, and a first time seafarer. He sees himself as an equal of ...
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Poem: Ode to Labour History

  1891 – The Squatters get all hearty We take the bait Get repressed by the state But out of it Arose our Party   1911 – we get serious The cane fields salted With Miners, then letters read To the cutters Who win their strike business   1935 – The Weil’s Rears its head The Communists fight While our officials fly But to beat this disease, we find That it is better to be Red than Dead   1955 – Left and Right Unite and Fight Against the scabs within the movement And in wake of the meeting Of these two strangers Our shearers win fair wages         1969 – Freedom’s fight Our Clarrie refused to pay his fines So we stuck to course We struck with force And to the Penal Powers said; “Good Night”   1972 – Clancey gets the arse The New Left expels the Moscow Line And the Green Bans hit full force   1983 – The Accord The strike rate dives Wages not far behind All the ...
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Poem: The Brown Hat

  Toast and cuppa Shower with scrubber Then load the tools at some ungodly hour Look up the day’s site Got time for another bite? And then I don the Brown Hat.   6:30am On the Road by then At least the traffic Is somewhat bearable Stop by the servo Hot Coffee, bravo That’s life in today’s Brown Hat   Briefing time Foreman’s lines On timeframes, And incidents Set out the workplan Try avoid the Boss man For it is I who wears the Brown Hat.   Sun bears down Bakes the ground The Humidity Is 75 Percent Ground is hard FUCK! Get the bar Sweat drips off the brim of my Brown Hat Need a break And gotta hydrate But boss complains about his deadlines He hasn’t a clue He’s in for a blue For that bastard wears the Black Hat   Tools go down Upon Picket Line Assembled neath The closest tree Boss gets the message Shouts us electrolytes As I wave my face with my Brown Hat   8 hours ...
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Poem: A Quality Tradesman

  Many years have passed, Since the days I was a gun But while slower, sleepier more serious I have become   Hire any rouseabout They’ll slash your lawn just fine But the weeds in their wake That’ll take up all your time   But pay the premium For a man who’s done his Trade A clean mower deck you’ll get And routinely sharpened blades   Ah, but the weeds be here Does that rousie know what’s done? General Biosecur- -ity Obligation [1] Could he tell you the names Of any of the WONS? [2] Or is his spare time spent At the end of a Bong?       What’s more, can he ID them? He relies on Photo Apps Rather than leaf; shape, size Margin, type. Flower Perhaps?   Ah but the damage is done They say a single years’ seeds Are really quite a nuisance They equal seven years weeds.   And all this, for one part of The trade. Chainsaws, Chemicals Pests, Diseases, and over a Million dif...
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Poem: Cane Cutter's Baptism in Fire

  Out the door one morn’ Commute appall’n From Birkdale the East Eagleby the beast- ly traffic, worse connections. Get onto site Bougainvillea causing strife So I tuck in, and Get on the knife Two Meters tall an’ 5 Inches Thorns an’ Barely the room for Cane Cutters broom but I will clear that damn thing all right. This is the life Exertive Challenges Rife As I hack and slash Away with Cane Knife When that one is done Slightly bigger one Is upon me So en garde ye Bloody plant. Three mill splinter deployed; Through Twill Cotton Shirt And upon scar tissue, did hurt A bit, but I’m Not digging it out Then clear out the trash It did catch and scratch Everything along that Narrow accessed flat But thank god for long pants, long shirt Gloves, Safety glasses Did save my face, and my arse, And my chest, and, well Better not make this farce       Queensland this is The cane knife; tis A symbol of work Made to swing in the dirt T...
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Attempt to organise Airtasker Fails; Scabs rampant on Platform

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In April 2024, I attempted to Unionise Airtasker. Airtasker is a gig economy platform that engages contractors to bid on customer's jobs advertised on the platform. As a former Airtasker worker, I know how bad the platform is. It is a race to the bottom in terms of wages and conditions. A few years ago (in 2020) I wrote an as yet unpublished essay comparing Airtasker to the infamous "Bull System," of casual labour. As part of this essay, I screenshotted various examples of jobs completed on Airtasker withing about 6 months of each other, demonstrating that Airtasker is is practice a race to the bottom. My investigation into Airtasker's standards exposed a completely unregulated market. Airtasker claims it is complying with its legal obligations, but it is clear to me that that are doing the bare minimum to cover their arses. For example, I uncovered numerous instances of renumeration below the Award Rates of the time.  There was an example of 8 hours "Landscape L...
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