E D I T O R I A L

Unfair and Dismal
As the credibility of the Howard Government sunk under lies and conceit this week, Tony Abbott – for a moment - looked uncharacteristically subdued.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: If Not Now, When?
New Labor Council organiser Adam Kerslake talks about his plans to bring unions back to basics.

Activists: Fighting Back
Jim Marr talks to Keysar Trad, a unionist who's left the security of the Tax Office for a much bigger challenge.

Industrial: Croon And Divide
Fly a kite, obfuscate the issues, divide your opponents and continue to hammer people: the one-card-trick Howard Government’s latest kite is unfair dismissal reports Noel Hester.

Politics: Politics of Extinction
Trade unionism is a spent force; a dinosaur. This alleged truism is often heard these days, in one form or another. Rowan Cahill unpacks the lie.

History: Harry Bridges: International Labour Hero
Zoe Reynolds marks the centenary of the birth of an Australian waterfront worker who went on to lead one of America's largest unions.

International: Rats in the Ranks
The relationship between Britain’s Blair Labour Government and the union movement has hit a new low, as Andrew Casey reports.

Review: Follow The Fence, Find The Truth
Tara de Boehmler reviews a new flick that sheds light on the debate around the Stolen Generation.

Satire: Howard Screws Refugee Kids: G-G Turns Blind Eye
Startling claims that Prime Minister John Howard screwed refugee children prior to the last election, and also during a hunger strike at Woomera, have been dismissed by the Governor-General Peter Hollingworth.

Poetry: Let It Be
When a certain former Minister for Defence visited England recently, he met Sir Paul McCartney. The former Beatle thought there was something strange about him, but he didn't say anything. He decided to just Let It Be.

N E W S

Building Workers' Bid to Win Back Lives

Dog-Tired – Long Hours Leave Beagles Buggered

Home Care Workers Reject Sweat

Building Commission's Costly Spin

Caltex Asked To Explain Price Hikes

Palm Sunday Resurrected for Refugees

Dismissals: Labor Blocks The Lot

Company Collapses: Union Wants Bank Powers

Women Wanted for Wharf

Sanity Returns to the West

Big Brother Raises Hackles

Legal Action to Block Job Exports

New Dawn for Dili Workers

Councils Targeted in Contracting Campaign

CFMEU Constructs Lebanese Bridge

Israeli Aircraft Destroy Most Of Palestinian Union HQ

Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Shorten's Suite
AWU national secretary Bill Shorten outlines his vision for unionism - from the relations with the ALP to its efforts to regain the heartland.

The Locker Room
Bunnies in the Headlights
Despite their triumphant return to the League, Souths story won't be the last example of tradition being trampled, writes Jim Marr.

Week in Review
Tories in Turmoil
With a constitutional crisis and a dangling mandate, it was compelling viewing for the Howard jeer squad.

L E T T E R S

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Unfair and Dismal

The visage of the man who inherited both Peter Reith's portfolio and leadership of the House was beamed around the nation (from the remaining allowed camera) as his leader tried to hold the show together.

For a brief second, you could see the head-kicker in Abbott taking stock: the bovver boy tactics of his predecessor were coming home to haunt him, until the week's scandal ended with the truism: Reith Lied. As if this put the matter to bed.

But if there was a moment of self-reflection that he who lives on the attack might also die on it. He soon got over it.

Between Question Times Abbott was all over the shop, renaming his unfair dismissal legislation in a travesty of the English language, taking swipes at union service fees and goading Labor with tired old clichés that they are in the pockets of the unions.

In all the attacks Abbott has the same tactics: divide, distort and demonise. The vintage Wedge approach that has served the conservatives so well.

And as he rabbits on Building Industry Royal Commission eats into the public purse: $60 million of our money to fire shots at a union, double the amount being spent on the investigation into the nation's largest corporate collapse. But that's about the Top End of Town.

With news that NSW building unions are gearing up for an industry wide campaign to reclaim their leisure time, you can feel the Mad Monk positively salivating.

But before he gets on his high horse he should consider a few questions: like:

- how can you expect unions to individually negotiate more than 1200 agreements that end on the same day without an industry template?

- why shouldn't unions exert influence on the most powerful employers, who make mammoth profits, to ensure unions get a share?

- and fundamentally, why should workers leave it to a government to look after their interests when it is so demonstrably devoid of principles?

While the politicians play to the gallery, trading insults and peddling lies, it is unions who exist in the real world, fighting real battles to improve the lot of their membership.

You can't play politics with workers' lives, it might win you a few cheers from the Tory press, a few corporate dollars, even a few votes; but at the end of the day you'll be exposed as the manipulator you are.

Reith has found this out and his place in history is now assured; the same fate awaits Abbott.

Peter Lewis

Editor

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