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Issue No. 126 01 March 2002  
E D I T O R I A L

I Don�t Like Sprouts
I've always thought brussel sprouts tasted like reconstituted vomit, so the latest smart-arse advertising campaign for the Clearview pension fund doesn�t really wash with me.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Clean Hands
Susan Ryan was Labor's first female Minister, today she represents the trustees responsible for our super funds, where the move to socially responsible investment is happening, albeit slowly.

Corporate: Out of Asia
The decision by America�s biggest employee pension fund to pull out of a number of Asian countries because of their poor labour rights and civil liberties standards has sent shock waves through the region.

Unions: Tears, Real And Crocodile, At The Ansett Wake
It�s ended in heartbreak but the campaign to keep Ansett flying should really be remembered for the courage, determination and decency of the airline�s devoted staff writes Noel Hester.

Economics: Labour�s Capital: Individual Or Collective?
More Australians own shares than ever before, asks Frank Stilwell, but is it the best way to share the wealth?

History: Mardi Gras: The Biggest Labour Festival?
The struggle for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender workers has been part of the wider struggle for workers rights, in Australia and internationally.

International: Driving A Hard Bargain
Public sector workers in Korea are using the last twelve months before local and national elections � and the up-coming soccer World Cup � as bargaining chips in their campaign against privatisation of public utilities.

Review: In Bed With a Sub-Machine Gun
In this extract from his new book, Night Train to Granada, GB Harrision travels from Drepression era Newcastle to Spain under Franco's heel.

Satire: Whitlam Forgives Kerr: "At Least He Didn't Dismiss A Rape Victim"
Gough Whitlam claimed today that the man who dismissed him is no longer Australia�s worst Governor-General. �Sure he dismissed me, but at least he never dismissed a child rape victim like Governor-General Hollingworth,� said Whitlam.

Poetry: Dear Mother
Thanks to the generosity of the Defence Signals Directorate, Workers Online has obtained intercepts of recent communications between Australia and London. A transcript is below:

N E W S

 Unions Stats Snow Job

 BHP Strike Over Super Control

 Some Light Reflects Off Ansett

 Net Porn Highlights Privacy Lag

 Mad Monk To Float Down Oxford Street

 Burma the Next Chernobyl

 Govt Breaches Its Own Guidelines

 Sartor Policies Irk Council Workers

 Service Fee Push Hots Up in Qld

 Casino Workers Show Their Hands

 Hotel Bosses Have Full House But Cry Poor

 Airport Screeners Win Training Rights

 CFMEU Korean Activist Honoured

 Support For Fijian Union Battle

 Beer Cold and Prawns Peeled

 Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Grumpy Old Men (And Bettina)
Scratch the surface of most conservative commentators and you'll find a lapsed Leftie, Paul Norton argues.

The Locker Room
Black and White
The Australian way of playing rugby union, cricket and the development of our own game, Australian Rules, were profoundly influenced by a forgotten man.

Week in Review
Gridlocked
Jim Marr loooks at a week when trains, planes and ships of shame all threatened to come to a grinding halt.

L E T T E R S
 More on Harry Bridges
 Well Done, Splitter
 Repeating History
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

Govt Breaches Its Own Guidelines


The MUA is demanding revocation of the CSL Pacific�s permit to work the Australian coast after a crew member was hospitalised and an official investigation launched.

MUA Shipping co-ordinator Sean Chaffer says government's own guidelines provide for the permit of any ship under investigation by the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau to be revoked.

"The question," Mr Chafer says, "is why government is in breach of its own guidelines."

The CSL Pacific is at the heart of a dispute over the replacement of Australian crews, by guest labour, on ships exclusively on the Australian coast.

Shipping is the only domestic industry in the country where government actively encourages the importation of guest workers. It is achieved by shippers exploiting the government's single and continual voyage permit system to use cheap, often substandard foreign vessels to carry cargo on the coast.

Unions complain this system is blatantly unfair to Australian workers, reducing employment opportunities whilst paving the way for lowered safety, environmental and wage standards.

Last year CSL used the permit system to reflag and rename the Australian registered and crewed River Torrens and bring it back to the coast as the CSL Pacific. Now maritime unions are in dispute with CSL over plans to do the same with the Australian crewed and flagged CSL Yarra. The matter goes back to the Federal Court in April.


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