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  Issue No 117 Official Organ of LaborNet 26 October 2001  

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News

Unions Call for Air Price Floor


A union leader has called for the re-regulation of the aviation industry, with minimum prices imposed to prevent the discount wars that led to the demise of Ansett and now threaten to undermine wages and conditions within Qantas.

The call from the Australian Service Union's Michael Want follows news that his members in Ansett call centres had been the first victims of compulsory redundancy since the airline's collapse.

Want directly blamed the price wars, where carriers were offering unsustainable prices to attract market share, as a major contributor to the current crisis in the industry.

"We need a central body setting a minimum level under which prices should not be allowed to fall," Want says. "It would at least bring back some sanity to the industry."

"This would protect both workers and the public from market-driven collapses of essential services like airlines."

Qantas Unions Face Pay Freeze

Meanwhile, Qantas has released one million bargain basement domestic fares the same week it has told staff times are so tough that the will have to cop a wages freeze.

Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon briefed more than a dozen unions with members in Qantas this week, placing up front the airline offer of a wages freeze, with bonus across the airline if profit targets are met.

The offer is the opening gambit in enterprise negotiations that will heat up immediately after the federal election, with the protected bargaining period already commenced.

Apart form the wages freeze, key areas of union concerns include Qantas' plan for establishing a low cost carrier with inferior wages and conditions and an expansion of their foreign bases in Auckland and Bangkok.


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*    All the latest on the Ansett campaign

*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 117 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: Brothers In Arms
Labour historian Marilyn Dodkin explains how she exposed ASIO ties with Labor Council's Cold War leadership.
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*  Politics: Defending the Faith
Launching 'Brothers', Premier Bob Carr gave his own take on the allegations that union leaders worked with security agencies during the Cold War.
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*  History: Surviving the Split
In this extract from 'Brothers' Marilyn Dodkin, looks at the manouverings around the establishment of the DLP.
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*  International: Viral Attack
Postal unions in the USA are mobilizing to protect their members from the widening repercussions of an apparent bio-terrorist attack.
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*  Unions: A Living Wage
The ACTU this week unveiled its claim for the 2002 Living Wage Case. Here's what they'll be arguing.
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*  Campaign Diary: Week Three: Wave Them Goodbye
In a week when our boys and girls went off to war, Labor fought a desperate battle to fight the election on the home front.
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*  Human Rights: Colombia's 'Dirty War' Against Unions
It might be tough being an organiser in Australia under the Howard Government, but spare a thought for Colombian trade unionists.
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*  Review: Red Rag Unfurls
Ian Syson is an upfront, knockabout bloke. He heads up a new, small, independent publishing outfit called Red Rag Publications.
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*  Satire: New Hope for Labor: Mackerras Tips Liberal Win
The electoral hopes of the Labor party have revived dramatically, after the perennially unreliable analyst Malcolm Mackerras forecast a huge victory for the Liberals.
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News
»  Unions Call for Air Price Floor
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»  With Friends Like the Banks, Who Needs Kiwis?
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»  Living Wage Claim For GST Rises
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»  New Compo Showdown Looms
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»  NIDA Tax Rorts Embarrass Howard
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»  First Case Under NSW�s New Pay Equity Principle
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»  Veil of Silence on Public Sector Outsourcing
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»  False Start for Race Day
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»  Union Proxy Campaign Gets A Boost
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»  Nauru Guards Claim Back-Pay
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»  Unions Await Final Triumph
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»  PM Claims No Aged Care Nursing Home Crisis!
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»  Eighty Woolies Cleaners About To Lose Jobs
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»  CFMEU Gets Disabled Athlete A Start
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»  Malaysian Solidarity Action in Sydney
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»  Activists Notebook
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Columns
»  The Soapbox
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»  The Locker Room
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»  Trades Hall
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»  Tool Shed
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Letters to the editor
»  Super Risks
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»  The Great Orwell Debate Continues ...
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»  In Defence of Nader
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