Former ACTU President to launch new book

23 May 2001

The former ACTU president and endorsed ALP candidate for the seat of Throsby, Jennie George, will today (Wednesday 23 May) launch a new book called Labour and Community: Historical Essays edited by Associate Professor Ray Markey of the Department of Economics.

Published by University of Wollongong Press, the book is a selection of revised papers from the 1999 Labour and Community National Labour History Conference in Wollongong.

Contributors include Janis Bailey (on resistance to 3rd wave legislation in WA), Leanne Blackley (on working class self help organisations in the Illawarra), Kurt Iveson (on protest at Parliament House), Damien Cahill (on the right's political discourse), Julia Martinez (on Asian labour organisation in Darwin).

Professor Markey said the book represented a major new departure for labour history, in Australia
and internationally, in exploring the various dimensions of working class community.

"The previous neglect of community in labour history is surprising since it has long been acknowledged as an important basis for labour organisation, and the decline in trade unionism and Labor's political support base in recent years may be attributed partially to the decline in working class community itself," he said.

Media please note:
Time: 4pm, Wednesday 23 May 2001
Place: Wollongong Unishop, University of Wollongong
Contact: Associate Professor Ray Markey, phone 4267 4434.