How have workers shaped technological change through collective action? In the latest post on my substack I look at the Tailoresses Strike of 1882 as an example of worker agency amid industrial and technological transformation (link in the comments).

This Christmas, why not give your friends, comrades, and loved ones the greatest gift of all: union history! Share the gift of historical knowledge why you still can with the book Prof. Frank Bongiorno called "easily the best single-volume Australian general union history we have seen." #skystorians

If only there was a way to deliver quality universal health coverage without waiting for the false promise of a superintelligent robot "army".

One day, not too long from now, future historians are going to look back on the day when people decided to give Elon Musk a trillion dollars and wonder just what the hell was wrong with us. #AI #tech #histsci

Absolutely floored by this review of my book "No Power Greater" by Frank Bongiorno. Frank is one of the finest historians this country has produced, and someone whose work I respect deeply. And the book is, of course, available at all good book stores (and possibly some bad ones)

📚Our last Book+Author event for the year is coming up on October 30! Liam Byrne will be in conversation with Professor Sean Scalmer about his book 'No Power Greater: A history of union action in Australia' at the intimate Bard's Apothecary in the Melbourne CBD. ➡️ Book now: tinyurl.com/4zas4ws4

A thoughtful and generous review of my book, "No Power Greater", by John Howe. Lovely to read the critical reflections of such a renowned expert in labour law on the work - and always appreciate appeals for a sequel!

Have we reached peak #AI inanity? "Pope Leo XIV said a proposal to create an AI-version of him so people could have a virtual audience with the pope pretty much horrified him."

I am not usually excited about podcasts but I love the concept of this one (helps that I am currently obsessed with revolutions, particularly the French one). Ep 1 was great!

Meet the Revolutionaries and Ratbags who shaped the world as we know it! Was hugely fun to co-host this new history podcast with Francis Leach looking at some of history's great rebels and revolutionaries, and to discuss what this history means for us today

Who has done most to undermine the social license of #AI? Large corporations (enabled by tech bro multinationals btw) who saw the new technology as a way to displace workers, undermine established working conditions, and cut down on wages. @firesky.tv #EconSky #histtech

An interesting piece on #AI and the history of tech adoption. It has frustrated me greatly recently to hear a farrago of tech boosters lecturing the rest of us that "history shows" tech will inevitably improve our quality of life, if we just let it run its course.

Sometimes it takes an act of extraordinary courage to expose and bring down those who rule through fear and intimidation. I hope @nteunion.bsky.social member Liz Allen's brave and harrowing testimony today is the start of such a process - at ANU and other universities. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

Solidarity to Macquarie University friends, colleagues and students rallying against job cuts that damage staff and student wellbeing and the fabric of the university. 12.00 in the central courtyard. Get along if you can!

Strong rally by @nteunion.bsky.social members and students at Macquarie Uni against corporatised uni management’s brutal proposed job cuts. ✊✊✊💜💜💜

A lovely review of my book on union history, "No Power Greater", in The Age/Sydney Morning Herald today, I look forward to writing the sequel as requested, in about 50 or so years.

"Byrne is absolutely going to have to write the next volume." - my book on union history, "No Power Greater" received this lovely review in The Age/SMH today. I am looking forward to writing the sequel ... in about 40 years time. www.theage.com.au/culture/book...

Why doesn't #AI have a social licence?

Oh few, that's a relief, no need to worry about the effects of #AI because Sam Altman's own deep and comprehensive knowledge of economic and industrial history assures him that in two generations the "magic of capitalism" means that everything will be just fine. Thanks Sam!

Exciting news! Apparently demand for my new book, "No Power Greater" has been high enough that the publisher has had to print more copies. Thanks to everyone who has supported the book so far, and if you haven't gotten your copy yet, it is available in good bookstores and online!

Lovely to chat union history and my new book, "No Power Greater", with @louissdevine.bsky.social on his Ideas Matter pod

I recently spoke about my book on union history, "No Power Greater", at the Per Capita John Cain Lunch. Per Capita have uploaded the talk as a podcast for anyone interested in unionism, social change, and how worker action (in its full diversity) has made change percapita.org.au/our_podcasts...

We stand in solidarity with Equity who say thousands of performers have been “Digitally Scanned On Set Without Their Informed Consent”. This shows why we urgently need regulation that protects workers from having their likeness exploited or used to train AI. meaa.io/40n2ZYj

Why doesn't #AI have a social license? One part (not the whole part) is the substantial amount of time, energy, and resources being dedicated by some within the tech sector to developing AI for mass labour displacement, with no care or regard to what happens to working people as a result.

Congratulations to the many union members who have put university governance on the agenda. We're not finished, but this is a significant development. @nteunion.bsky.social stands for good governance at our universities. Join today at www.nteu.au/join. ✊

The wonderful ANMF Victoria have published this short piece of mine on the writing of union history and my new book "No Power Greater"- all about unionism's humanising mission, and capturing the voices of those too often left out of the movement's history @anmffederal.bsky.social

Just published, open access, in the Alternative Law Journal: 'Productivity and the four-day work week' I consider whether adopting a four-day work week in Australian labour law could boost labour productivity, drawing on existing trials in Australia and internationally. doi.org/10.1177/1037...

Spotted today - my new history of the union movement "No Power Greater" is #9 of the bestselling non-fiction books at Readings Emporium!

Thank you so much to everyone who came to launch No Power Greater in Melbourne! The amount of support was overwhelming. We filled more than 160 seats on both levels of Solidarity Hall, and Readings sold out all copies on the night!

All the comrades are reading this and you should, too. Bloody love @liamj47.bsky.social. Superb historian, great writer, top notch human being.

Next on the to read pile. No Power Greater by Liam Byrne. @liamj47.bsky.social #union #auspol #history

I'm super excited to announce that @anmffederal.bsky.social ANMF Federal Secretary Annie Butler will be part of the special panel to launch my new book on union history: "No Power Greater: A History of Union Action in Australia" on Thu 29 May! RSVPs essential (link in comment)

"No Power Greater: A History of Union Action in Australia" is officially on the shelves of bookstores across Australia! Filled with exciting and inspiring stories of collective action by working people and the struggle for economic equality - hope you enjoy it!

"Working people created their own organisations to assert their fundamental humanity by using collective power to elevate the value and conditions of their toil." This argument is at the heart of my new book: "No Power Greater: A History of Union Action in Australia".

This is such important research by Dr Natalie Sheard on #AI enabled discrimination in job seeking - vital to think about how new tech is impeding access to the labour market and perpetuating exclusions (link to article in comments)

Together, we have organised for over 100 years of positive change for our professions, our communities and our members. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) is all of us - the collective voice of more than 345,000 nurses, midwives and care workers across the country. #solidarity

"Liam, how long until your book on union history is on sale?" www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydpm...

I am launching my new book on union history, "No Power Greater: A History of Union Action in Australia" in just over two weeks! Special announcement on speakers will be sent to everyone who has RSVP'd tomorrow (I will post the RSVP link in the comments). Hoping to see everyone there!

My book, "No Power Greater: A History of Union Action in Australia", will be available in stores in just under a week - from Wednesday 14 May.

Peter Dutton DOES NOT want people to see this

Congratulations Liam!

OMG YOU ALL HAVE TO BUY THIS BOOK

Some kind words about my book "No Power Greater" by Professor Marilyn Lake, one of Australia's foremost historians. The book is out in just over two weeks! #auspol

Exciting news! I will be holding a Melbourne launch for my new history of the Australian union movement "No Power Greater: A History of Union Action" on Thursday 29 May, 6.30pm at Trades Hall, Carlton. RSVPs essential: lnkd.in/giZ2_Rrm

Exciting news! I will be holding a Melbourne launch for my new history of the Australian union movement "No Power Greater: A History of Union Action" on Thursday 29 May, 6.30pm at Trades Hall, Carlton. RSVPs essential: lnkd.in/giZ2_Rrm

What an interesting article description - the framers didn't "anticipate the tyranny of the minority" because they were imposing it.

Last year @emmashortis.bsky.social and I wrote in the Conversation that "The Republican Party remains in the grip of Trump because he is the most effective avatar of a brand of racial revanchism with deep roots in the United States." Here we see this playing out in real time

Wow, great, Meta's #AI strategy is so advanced we are going to get the same product nobody wanted previously but with magnified social risks, awesome!

This is a very fine work of class-based sociology - public discussion of class is so often abstract and steeped in assumption, stereotype, and ideology. Always appreciate seeing deep thinking on these issues (even if I don't agree completely with the conclusions)

I didn't realise it was the centenary of Laurie's birth today - a remarkable unionist who shaped modern Australia. Laurie spent a lifetime of leadership with the AMWU and then the ACTU; among other things theorising union responses to automation in the 1970s @australianunions.bsky.social