E D I T O R I A L

Why I'm Marching
If you haven�t guessed already, I'm no Labor apparatchik. In fact my entry into politics was through the old Nuclear Disarmament Party.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: The Wedge Buster
Labor's immigration spokeswoman Julia Gillard talks about her job of developing policy to blunt Howard's wedge.

History: Fighting for Peace
Was the first Palm Sunday parade a celebration or a protest, asks Neale Towart.

Unions: Rattling the Gates
When Pacific Power workers traveled from Newcastle to Macquarie Street this week life-long loyalties were on the line, as Jim Marr reports.

International: Facing Retribution
Serious fears are growing for the safety of Zimbabwean trade unionists after the tainted election defeat of their former leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Technology: How Korean Workers Used The Web
Electrical power industry workers in Korea are relying on the internet, and mobile phones, to successfully organise a militant nation-wide anti-privatisation strike.

Industrial: Working Futures
Can an assortment of economists, lawyers, historians, industrial relations specialists, unionists, journalists, sociologists and psychologists help us develop a decent future for work and social relations in Australia?

Review: Rumble, Young Man, Rumble
To compress the full and exhilarating life of The Greatest to film-length is no easy task but Ali makes a reasonable fist of the job writes Noel Hester.

Satire: GG Survival Doomed: Fox-Lew In Charge Of Rescue Bid
The hopes of embattled Governor-General Dr Peter Hollingworth took a battering last night, after he learnt that the rescue bid for his survival is being headed up by Lindsay Fox and Solomon Lew.

Poetry: PSST
From Sue Robinson to Michael Kirby, some things in politics are constant...only the names have been changed to defame the innocent.

N E W S

Girl's Maiming Sparks Entry Plea

More Time Off for Babies

Workers Break Bank Cartel

State Law Push For Virgin Sites

Outrage at Privatisation by Decree

Woomera - Flames, Razors, Rope and Despair

Bus Drivers Block ALP Funds

Crean Gets on Front Foot

Nurses, Teachers On The Money

Asset-Stripping Sparks Walk-Out

Opposition Grows Over Howard's Freedom Attack

Heffernan Prompts �Right of Reply� Demands

Della Dumps Dunny Blues

Smith Flies Into Turbulence

Guards Force Drinks Break

Levy Struck to Support Rockhampton Meatworkers

ACTU Assists former Ansett Staff

Activist News

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
The War on Terror - Impunity for Abuses?
Federal Labor MP Duncan Kerr argues that governments are using the fears of the post-Septmeber 11 environment for thier own ends.

The Locker Room
Oh, The Humanity!
So, sports people are human after all. Now there�s a headline.

Week in Review
Tomorrow, The World
Jim Marr picks over the entrails of a week in which world domination, or at least hegemony over that part of it in which the principal operates, is a recurring theme.

L E T T E R S

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Facing Retribution

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The peak trade union body in Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trades Unions (ZCTU), was forced to abandon a meeting this week after Robert Mugabe's police threatened to smash up the meeting with armed riot police.

There are real fears for the leadership of the union movement who have provided most of the organising muscle for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai is a former ZCTU leader.

Shortly after Robert Mugabe declared himself re-elected this week a ZCTU spokesman told officials at the Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trades Unions that, "at the moment we are okay, but everybody here is afraid of what will happen now."

The ZCTU had called the meeting to analyse the tainted weekend presidential election and consider the possibility of protesting the voting procedures by organizing a wave of strikes.

Late last night a member of the ZCTU executive contacted the ICFTU to inform them of the police threats.

" Everybody is terrified," a spokesperson for the ZCTU informed the ICFTU after the trade union meeting - scheduled for 3pm Thursday - was banned by the local police force.

In the hours before the meeting, the ZCTU was issued with a notice to the effect that police representatives would be present to monitor the proceedings.

When the ZCTU leadership refused, the police warned that if the meeting went ahead behind closed doors, it risked being broken up by armed riot forces.

Earlier this week the ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder wrote to the ILO's Director General Juan Somavia, appealing for an assurance of the safety of trade unionists in Zimbabwe, "in response to widespread and deep fears expressed for their safety as well as for victimisation while discharging their duties."

After hearing of the police threats against the ZCTU on Thursday the ICFTU's Guy Ryder again expressed his grave concern at the continually deteriorating situation.

"The prevention of a trade union meeting is a blatant violation of the ILO conventions, the tyranny of the Zimbabwean regime is unacceptable," Guy Ryder said.

" The harassment and intimidation that marred the electoral campaign is showing no signs of abating, the international community must take decisive action immediately."

The ICFTU will continue to closely monitor the situation and will raise the issue with the ILO Director General, Juan Somavia, if the Zimbabwean government continues to refuse trade unions the freedom to assemble and discuss matter of concern to workers.

   For the latest Zimbabwe news visit Labourstart

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005