Interview: In Exile
Burmese's government in exile's Minister for Justice U Thein Oo talks about a struggle for democracy that has become a test of international solidarity.
Politics: A National Disgrace
Labor's IR spokesman Arch Bevis gives his take on the workers entitlements issue and its mismanagement by the Howard Government.
E-Change: 2.2 The Information Organisation
Peter Lewis and Michael Gadiel look at how network technologies will change the way organizations operate in the Information Age.
Media: The Fine Print
Mark Hebblewhite looks at how the major dailies handled the Tri-Star dispute and finds that the story really does depend on the telling.
Human Rights: A People Besieged
Labor MLC Janelle Saffin, an active supporter of the pro-Democracy movement in Burma, sets out the issues behind the ILO sanctions.
International: Postcard From Brazil
The CFMEU�s Phil Davey reports on a rural movement that puts our National Farmers Federation to shame.
History: Indonesia Calling
They needed no resolutions. Soldiers and workers who did not know one another moved together, the black ban started to reach out across the harbour from the noisy, smoke-filled room.
Solidarity: On the Frontline
Australian trade unionists are providing practical help for the Burmese through projects funded by APHEDA-Union Aid Abroad.
Satire: Skase 'Too Ill' to Fly Home for Burial
Spanish authorities have deemed Christopher Skase too ill to return to Australia for his own funeral.
Review: Living Silence
In these extracts from her new book, Christina Fink goes inside Burma to find a world where military repression is slowly crushing a people.
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Revealed: ABC Censors Industrial Reporting
An internal ABC memo has ordered news reporting staff to temper their coverage of industrial relations in the lead-up to the federal election, ignoring disputes that have no direct consumer impact.
[ Full Story » ]
WorkCover Revisited � Public Sector Laws Rammed Through
The Carr Government is ramming through plans to deregulate public sector employment in line with the Howard-Reith model of workplace relations despite direct opposition from unions.
[ Full Story » ]
Bras First in Burma Boycotts
Triumph bras manufactured in Burma have become the target of an internationally-sanctioned campaign against the military dictatorship and its use of slave labour.
[ Full Story » ]
Tri Star Only the Start of Entitlements Push
Workers entitlements have been placed firmly on the political agenda, following the victory this week by TriStar workers in the battle to secure their entitlements in the event of company collapse.
[ Full Story » ]
New Spying Tactics Hit Work Cars
A new form of workplace surveillance has emerged, with tracking devices in work vehicles being used to covertly monitor the movement of workers.
[ Full Story » ]
Howard�s Secret Anti-Worker Plans
A Federal Government plan this week in a leaked Cabinet document could force wage cuts on more than one million employees working in small businesses across Australia.
[ Full Story » ]
Direct Action to Increase Nurses' Worth
The NSW health system faces a season of community and industrial activity � including the closure of beds � as nurses take direct action to improve the numbers in the profession through higher pay rates.
[ Full Story » ]
High Court: Courier Was Employee
The High Court has extended the definition of 'employee' in a landmark decision overturning the NSW Court of Appeal's Vabu ruling that a bicycle courier was a contractor.
[ Full Story » ]
Victory for Academic Freedom
In an important decision handed down on 8 August in the Federal Court, Justice Branson found that the National Tertiary Education Union�s Agreement with the University of Wollongong prohibits the dismissal of an academic staff member without due process.
[ Full Story » ]
Put A Stop To Acoustic Shock
Acoustic shock is an escalating problem in call centers today, with an increasing incidence of loud or high-pitched signals or shrieks occurring over the phone line.
[ Full Story » ]
Builders' Bucks: Payroll Tax Evasion Rife
Payroll tax evasion is rife in the building industry with millions of dollars of state revenue being lost because the Carr Government refuses to tighten the laws, the CFMEU has warned.
[ Full Story » ]
Tassie Workers Brew Up a Storm
Tasmanian brewery workers at Cascade in Hobart and Boags in Launceston have been involved in a range of industrial bans and disputes this week as enterprise negotiations at both workplaces grind to a snails pace.
[ Full Story » ]
HIH Collapse Hits Arts Industry
Unions have called on the State and Federal Governments to come to assistance of a theatre that faces closure because its principal sponsor was the failed insurer HIH.
[ Full Story » ]
Labour for Hire Not Entitlements
Queensland unions, legal firms and university experts will come together to develop strategies to deal with labour hire companies in Queensland.
[ Full Story » ]
Rail Inquiry Into Treatment of Homeless
The NSW Government has initiated an inquiry into the treatment of homeless people on the StateRail network.
[ Full Story » ]
ACTU Awards To Reward Union Excellence
Union pride will take centre stage on a new night of celebration to mark the achievements of the unsung champions of working people.
[ Full Story » ]
Activist Notebook
Action for Western Sahar, refugee rights and an upcoming conference on privatising democracy are all on this week's agenda
[ Full Story » ]
Botsman Goes Crosby
Left Right Out
Belly's Shout
Ode to the New Serfs
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The people of Burma are the victims of injustice. Democratic leaders kept under house arrest or forced into exile, peasants forced to work as slaves on infrastructure projects for the state, minority groups brutally repressed.
But what's so special about Burma? Look at the unionists being slaughtered in Colombia, the repression of the independence movement in West Sahara, the long hard road to restoration in East Timor - there's injustice everywhere. Right?
What makes Burma different is that unprecedented international action has been initiated to right the situation. And unlike your normal international operations, it doesn't involve the use of guns and its been driven by the trade union movement.
Through a concerted campaign over several years, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions has managed to invoke powers rooted in international law that had been dormant since they were framed after the horror of World War One.
After a long, drawn-out process the ICFTU has invoked never before used penal clauses through the International Labour Organisation over the military regime's use of slave labour. It calls on all member nations to review trading with the Burmese regime and cease doing so when this contributes to this ongoing abuse.
If this mechanism works it could provide the foothold for what every labour activist, has been struggling for - a set of minimum standards that binds all the workers of the world, with the only criteria for protection being their humanity.
We all want international solidarity. The point is that the laws are already on the ILO books: child labour, slave labour and the right to organiswe are core labour standards. If they are not respected, there are sanctions.
It's not about sending in UN forces, its about consumers in the developed world - putting pressure on corporations doing business with rogue regimes that don't respect labour standards.
If we are serious of creating meaningful global labour standards and ensuring that global trade is not undermined by the repression of workers we, as a global labour movement, need to make the ILO resolution on Burma bite.
Burma is the first test of our capacity to exercise our collective consumer sovereignty to do this. The ACTU has already identified several companies doing business in Burma - including Triumph Bras, Lonely Plant and Qantas.
If we can't use our networks to bring some pressure to bear on these companies in such a targeted and internationally mandated action, what good is there railing against corporate greed?
If people are looking for a form of constructive global action - this has got to be the first step.
Peter Lewis
Editor
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