E D I T O R I A L

Chickens Come Home
For anyone who believes in karma, the events of the summer show how bad Australia's is right now.

F E A T U R E S

Unions: Winning the Heartland
John Robertson unveils new research on attitudes to refugees and argues it's time for unions to mount their own propaganda war.

Interview: Swan's Song
Federal ALP front-bencher Wayne Swan expands on his ideas for rebuilding the Party in the wake of the Tampa election.

Corporate: Lessons from Enron
Jim Marr looks at the shock-waves the collapse of a US corporate heavy-weight are having around the globe.

Politics: What We Did Last Summer
We look back over a summer when it all went pear-shaped. Some events, at home and abroad, look set to have ongoing ramifications.

History: Solidarity in Song
Mark Gregory looks back on the annals of labour songs and offers some hints for those planning a tilt at the Labor Council's worker anthem comp.

International: A Tale of Two Cities
New York and Port Alegre are poles apart – but they both played host to important conferences on the future of globalisation over the summer.

Poetry: Nobody Told Me
Labour academic David Peetz commits the Prime Minister's current woes to verse.

Review: Labor and the Rings
Tolkien’s epic tale provides a timely reminder that that there are forces of good and evil in the world – and that they are not necessarily where we expect to find them, writes Michael Gadiel.

Satire: Rafter Named Bermudan Of The Year For Tax Purposes
Australian of the Year Pat Rafter was last night also named Bermudan of the Year, in a simple ceremony held in Bermuda's Parliament.

N E W S

Unions' Commit to Battle for Hearts

Carr on Notice - Expectations Up

Mad Monk Sides With Angels … Briefly

Maritime Union Acts on Spy Scandal

May Day Play-Off for Workers' Anthem

Burmese Links Shroud Winter Olympics

New Phone Venture One.Tel In Drag

Two Million Face Rights Downgrade

Enron Collapse Hits Share-Owner Agenda

Corrrigan Snaps Up Rail Bargain

Kinko Clowns With Workers' Rights

MPs Face Security Checks

Telstra's Tragic Delays Of Its Own Making

Burrow Puts Case to World Economic Forum

Shangri La Protests Hit Melbourne

Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Chinks in the Armour
The ACTU's Michael Crosby argues that Mark Latham's attack on the Labor for Refugees movement is the betrayal of Party values.

The Locker Room
Off-side in Korea?
With the World Cup set to kick off in a matter of months, South Korea's treatment of unions is under the microscope.

Week in Review
Cloak and Dagger
In the first of what will be a regular column, we place the week's labour news into a nutshell.

L E T T E R S

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May Day Play-Off for Workers' Anthem

The NSW Labor Council's Australian music website Wobbly Radio is offering $5,000 to the performer who can produce a 'Solidarity Forever' for the 21st Century.

The prize is open to all genres from folk to rock to hip hop - only criteria is the song has to have something to do with workers, unions and/or collectivity

Labor Council secretary John Robertson says the contest is all part of the Labor Council's commitment to Australian music - and it's desire to improve the quality of the rally war-cry.

"Even our biggest fans have grown tired of the old chants like 'the workers untied., will never be defeated'", Robertson says.

"What we need is a new sound to capture the hearts of a new generation of workers."

The May Day Committee has backed the contest and will host the finals play-off at their annual May Day Toast, to be held on Wednesday May 1 at the Metro.

For more details go to Wobbly radio - http://www.wobblyradio.com.au

Unions Rock at Big Day Out

Once again the Union movement made it presence know at the annual music festival the Big Day Out. This year was the 10th Big Day Out and the biggest year yet for the Unions NSW stall.

The stall, which was staffed by officials from the Labor Council, CFMEU, LHMU, Musicians Union, CPSU and the TWU, recruited over 115 young people to unions. This was a marked improvement on last year at which over 60 people signed up.

Apart from informing people about the rights at work and the benefits of being active in their workplaces people were also invited to write a message to John Howard and their Boss on a Giant Postcard. The Postcard, which measured 10x3 meters, was filled up by mid-afternoon. The majority of the messages on the postcard condemned Howard's inhumane treatment of Refugees and also about the injustice of junior rates of pay.

Wobbly Radio also made a splash at the festival launching its Worker Song Competition and handing out several thousand "Wobbly Radio" temporary tattoos.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005