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  Issue No 102 Official Organ of LaborNet 13 July 2001  

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Letters to the Editor

Crocodile Tears


Dear Sir,

Poverty is inherent in the structure of present society. This has been known for over a century. Unemployment, casual work, long hours which reduce the amount of work available serve a purpose to employers. They reduce the price of labour and conditions at the point of production and employment.

Crocodile tears, blaming wage earners with limited social facilities, poor students and the inability to obtain work is a canard that has been practiced since the nineteenth century.

If the employers and those that represent them politically could not have unemployment, they would invent it. Adding insult to injury they demand that people work where they are required so to do at low wages and have their freedom of choice revoked.

A fundamental human right. My wartime generation fought to remove these injustices over half a century ago. They did not come down with the last shower of rain and are well aware what Mr Abbott and his false statement are all about. All this is a rehash of an old chestnut.

Yours sincerely.

Mr I Ferguson


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*   Issue 102 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: Jolly Green Giant
Senator Bob Brown on the upcoming federal poll, balances of power and what the Greens can teach the trade union movement.
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*  Workplace: Call Centre Takeover
Theresa Davison brings us this real-life story from the coal face of the call centre industry.
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*  E-Change: 1.2 Community � The Ultimate Network
Peter Lewis and Michael Gadiel look at the potential for network technologies to reconnect communities.
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*  International: Child's Play
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA has recently entered a new alliance with the Child Labour Schools Company to support a project for child labourers in India.
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*  History: Flowers to the Rebels Faded
With the departure of our own Wobbly, a look at the development of the Wobblies in Australia and their view of Labor politicians and the work ethic seems timely.
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*  East Timor: A Dirty Little War
In this extract from his new book, John Martinkus recounts the scenes in Dili immediately following the independence ballot.
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*  Satire: Telstra Share Failure Ends City-Bush Divide: Everybody Screwed Equally
Communications Minister Richard Alston today claimed that the government had fulfilled its promise to ensure that the bush was not disproportionately disadvantaged by Telstra's privatisation.
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*  Review: Cheesy Management
Currently climbing Australian best-seller lists is the 'life-changing' motivational book 'Who Moved My Cheese?' Rowan Cahill has a nibble but doesn't like the taste.
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News
»  Search for a Dude Begins
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»  Public Money Backs a Stellar Bully
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»  Workers Get First Meal Break In Five Years
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»  Soft Penalty for Video Nasties
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»  Negligent Employers Should Pay
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»  Brit Cleaners Serve It Up to Aussie Boss
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»  Rio Tinto Guilty of Hunter Valley Sackings
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»  Rail Workers Strike for their Families' Security
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»  Nurses Seek Urgent Action on Pay
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»  Workers Win Tip Top Delegate Rights
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»  Telstra Halts Latest Privatisation Plans
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»  Requiem for the Banks
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»  Surfers Remember Oil Slick Disaster
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»  Widespread Mail Disruptions on Cards
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»  Minister for Caged Hair Gets Hot Welcome in West
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»  Cleaner Wins Right to Attend Family Reunion
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»  Howard Cuts R&D Spending by 15 Per Cent
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»  Fears Grow Over Shangri-La Protests
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»  Mick Young Play Award
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»  Activist Notebook
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Columns
»  The Soapbox
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»  The Locker Room
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»  Trades Hall
*
»  Tool Shed
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Letters to the editor
»  Strained Relations
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»  Crocodile Tears
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»  Wrong Bias?
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