Author: petros

Walked down Clarendon Street in South Melbourne.

Passed an auction. Numbers in the air, something about 2.5 millions.

Walked a few meters, met a homeless woman, gave her the coins I had in my wallet.

She thanked me for it, and we both were happy for a moment.

Well, a new attempt to capture what I find in this town.

Here what I found last fortnight in Elwood by the bay:

If you want to help, join https://www.kidsoffnauru.com/ !

Whether there were 150,000 as the unions hoped, or 100,000 as there were in May – I cannot say. I only arrived at the end, when the rally finished at the Flinders Street Station.

Anyway, I agree with the motto: Australia needs a pay rise!

Morrison is warning about the anarchy when the rules get changed, which is laughable for two reasons, at least. First, he should look after his own chaos before coming to conclusions about the wider world. Secondly, and more important: Australia has one of the strictest rules regulating the unions and workplace bargaining. The low wage increases are certainly welcome by the business who have no need to negotiate.

Other countries have much more union-friendly rules, and the sky is not falling in there either. Why should it be in Australia?

My old home, Germany, has union representatives on all boards of bigger companies. This helps workers, can prevent closing down, and sometimes simply protects businesses against their own short-sighted decisions. After all, Germany still has a sizable manufacturing sector.

The rally today brought together many people who had at times more than one thought in common, and it could be fun too, as the band playing rock under the clock and the girls’ power they showed off.