E D I T O R I A L

The Unmaking of History
The new millennium has got off to an ominous start. The fireworks, circuses and self-congratulation of 2000 were a thing of the past and we were left with the task of redefining ourselves in a new era.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Braveheart
Labor Council secretary John Robertson looks back on a turbulent year and forward to a dynamic 2002.

International: Global Year in Review
Labourstart's Eric Lee gives his take on a year where the world changed forever.

Unions: A Year at the Barricades
2001 was a year when workers were forced to fight for what they once took for granted.

Technology: Unions Online 2001
Social Change Online's Mark McGrath looks at the advances unions made in web development in 2001.

Republic: Terror Australis
ARM national director James Terrie asks where to now for the Republic?

Economics: 2001: Annus Horribilis
Frank Stilwell looks back at a troubled year and looks forward to the challenges for the labour movement.

Campaign Diary: Melanie and Me
Strewth's Steve Cannane went into the viper's nest on election night and emerged with an ordinary feeling.

Politics: Tony Moore's Final Word
Wide boys, spivs, spin doctors and hereditary idiots have hijacked a once great Australian institution.

Review: You Are the Weakest Program
Cultural theoritician Mark Morey deconstructs the televisual subplots of our collective consciousness.

Legal: The New McCarthyism
The “war on terrorism” declared in the wake of the American events of September 11 dramatically threatens Australian democratic life.

N E W S

Unions Take Lead in Refugee Rethink

Workers Christmas Wish List

Sparkie Snares Organiser of the Year Title

Bosswatch Gets International Attention

Summer Of Carnage on Building Sites

Bank Workers Get Serious in 2002

Qantas's Warfare Agenda Exposed

Cabin Crew Stand Up for Themselves

Win for Medibank Workers

City Council's Tactics Rival Worst in the World

Dynamic New Start for Musos

Unions in the Mosh Pit

Scholarship Opportunity

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Into the Crystal Ball
What will happen in 2002? We asked some of the players in the world of industrial relations to look into the crystal ball.

The Locker Room
The 2002 Workers Online Sports Awards
There may have been no Olympics, but there were some stellar performances in 2001, from madass bad boys to terminated talents, these are the big ones.

Trades Hall
Neale Towart's Labour (Year in) Review
Sporting a Costa crew-cut, a new look Neale looks back on some issues of 2001 that look likely to the centres of debate for unions in 2002.

Tool Shed
Tool of the Year? You're Standing In It
After a year when Australians brought out the worst in themselves, we all stand condemned for a stint in the Tool Shed.

L E T T E R S

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News

Summer Of Carnage on Building Sites

By Anita Ceravolo

Six major accidents -including two fatalities, have occurred on Sydney construction sites so far this summer.

The Christmas rush to finish work has meant the safetey of building workers and the public has been compromised.

It's not hard to understand why this is happening. Many senior building company managers receive a Christmas bonus if their jobs are completed before the industry summer shutdown.

On Thursday Macquarie St Parramatta had to be closed off, when scaffolding collapsed onto the street. Fortunately, there were no injuries today.

The Parramatta job had been shut down by the CFMEU for three weeks in the last month, but it still wasn't enough to convince the boss to adhere to the unions safety concerns.

The CFMEU has called on the Royal Commission into the building industry to look at the issue of workplace safety. The commissions refusal to do so only illustrates its class prejudice and unwillingness to find fault with building employers.

How many more building workers have to die or be maimed before the royal commission agrees to look at the real problems affecting the industry?

Another Immigration Raid in Sydney

Meanwhile, the Department of Immigration (DIMA) this week raided the Crown International building site in Station Street Homebush and detained four illegal immigrants, nationals of Korea, China and Indonesia.

CFMEU State Secretary Andrew Ferguson has called on the Federal Government to do more to protect Australian workers from unscrupulous employers exploiting illegals and driving legitimate companies out of business.

"The Royal Commission into the building industry needs to look at the massive problem of illegals working construction in Sydney. Rather then persecuting the CFMEU, the Royal Commission could find a global solution to an epidemic that is undercutting safety standards and destroying Australian jobs.

There are hundreds of building workers in Sydney who are unemployed and who will have a miserable Christmas because of this problem.

The Royal Commission for example could recommend actually punishing employers profiting from this trade in human life. The Federal Government seems incapable of cracking down on shonky bosses, we need the Royal Commission to recommend doing something more than deport the victims."

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