
Issue No 10		23 April 1999

Letters to the Editor

Not So Wild About Bragg

Some years ago I went to a Billy Bragg concert in Canberra. Comrade Bragg told us about the virtues of the Hawke Government. I booed him.

Comrade Bragg told us the ALP's wage cutting Accord was better than what the Tories would deliver.

I booed him again for his conservatism.

In fact, in Australia, it was the Tories (aka) the ALP who did deliver. The trade union leadership capitulated and gave us wagecuts and destruction of our conditions.

In addition, the trade union bureaucrats conspired to destroy any idea of militancy to defend wages and conditions.

15 years ago the right (the liberals plus the right of the then ALP) manouevered to destroy the one union that had a comittment to challenging the bosses' 'right' to profit. By legislating federally, and in NSW, Victoria and the ACT against the BLF, the only union which kept alive the idea of defending wages and conditions.

All power to the working class.

John Passant

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Issue 10 contents

Interview: Latham: Leading With The Chin
Labor's heretical voice talks about trade unions and how they'll survive in the land of the Third Way.

Unions: Nursing the Numbers
Active members are the key to recruitment for one of the state's strongest unions, the NSW Nurses Association. We talk to some of the star recruiters.

History: A Sense of Community
Historian Greg Patmore looks at labour-community coalitions in the Lithgow Valley between 1900 and 1932.

International: Labor Council Official to Dili Front Line
Labor Council�s Chris Christodoulou will be one of the first foreign unionists to head to East Timor in the leadup to independence.

Review: When Billy Met Lindsay
What happens when a British political popster meets with an Australian political thinker?

Legal: CyberPorn in the Workplace
A new protocol in the NSW public service is setting the benchmark for acceptable use of the internet.

» Vizard Offers Unions Cheap Computers, But Is It a Pup?

» Y2K Crashes Bank Holidays

» Carr Says Thank You To Union Movement

» Crew Saved by Message in a Bottle

» Unions to take on Qantas Over Foreign Jobs

» No Training on Coat-Hanger Sparks Job Fears

» Council's Hypocrisy Sparks Green Ban Call

» Shoddy Editor Sparks May Day Confusion

» STOP PRESS: Employers Bid to Scrap ANZAC Day Fails. For Now

» Guest Report

» Sport

» Trades Hall

» Piers Watch

» Not So Wild About Bragg

» Faction Talk Must Be Broader

» A Bouquet from the Bush

» Help a Student Pass!

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