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Not So Happy Campers
It's a crude political truism: it's better to be inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in. At least for those on the inside.
Interview: Pulling the Pin
Victorian union leader Dean Mighell outlines the thinking behind his decision to quit the ALP and join the Greens.
International: At the Crossroads
From Germany, to Britain, to South Africa, Canada and the USA it seems union members are turning on their political partners � and talking about divorce.
Unions: A Case Of Lost Identity
Victorian Trades Hall secretary Leigh Hubbard warns that more unions could leave the ALP if the current policy review hits the wrong note.
History: Rocking the Foundations
There was not just one model of what a political wing of the labour movement should be, Don Rawson writes.
Industrial: Rocky Road
Thirteen hundred Rockhampton workers are putting cars and houses on the line in an effort to beat off bully-boy tactics from Kerry Packer-owned Consolidated Meat Group.
Economics: Cracking a Coldie
As Australian icons fall around him, Neale Towart charts the rise and fall of the Great Aussie Esky.
Poetry: The Right Was Wrong
A glimpse of history shows that waterfront workers deserve the high moral ground.
Satire: Heffernan�s Evidence Conclusive: Proves He's An Idiot
The evidence released by Senator Bill Heffernan to substantiate his allegations against Justice Kirby have proved conclusively that the senator is an idiot.
Review: Upstairs, Downstairs
Robert Altman's latest movie Gosford Park is hard yakka no matter what side of the class system you sit on.
 Giant Rat Fights Cole Commission
Dodgy Bosses To Get Life
Unions Back Rugby World Cup
Queue Jumper Abbott In Cash Grab
Refugees Face Bank Imbalance
Guards Act to Plug Leaks
Rabbit Fence Leads Reconciliation to Classroom
Spy Bill Under Fire
Council Takes Up Discrimination Challenge
Power Workers To Decide Own Fate
Thumbs Up for Super Deal
G-G Warned Off State Schools
Fee Pressure Builds on Beattie
Nobel Committee 'Subordinates' Union Rights
Columbians Level Death Charges
Call To Blockade Burmese Junta
Indonesian Threat To Unions
Activist Notebook
The Soapbox
Dealing with Prejudice
Former Liberal senator Chris Puplick did not pull any punches launching a new guide for union reps dealing with discrimination issues. The Locker Room
The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall
Phil Doyle tries to get sport off the front pages and back where it belongs ... Postcard
Greetings From Lao
In the first in a new series, Union Aid Abroad's Phillip Hazelton, reports from Lao, where he is establishing a vocational training centre. Cole-Watch
Go West
The Building Industry Royal Commission caravan has rolled into Perth. Week in Review
Top of the Pops
Johnny Howard and his Masters of Deception kept the beat during a week in which secrecy took over from blatant fibbing as the dark art or choice, leaving the national Hit Parade looking something like this �
Letter to Howard #1
Letter to Howard #2
Letter to Howard #3
Jump Before You're Pushed
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News
Dodgy Bosses To Get Life
Unions are calling for lifetime bans from government work for any employer or director whose company has gone bust owing workers entitlements.
The Labor Council will ask the Carr Government to toughen up its tendering rules, to stop the tactic that is routine in the construction and contract cleaning industries.
Labor Council secretary John Robertson says it's common practice for a company to go into voluntary liquidation owing payroll tax, workers compensation and leave entitlements.
The owners and directors of the companies then simply apply for a new ABN and go out and bid for more government work.
"The practice is not only leaving workers out of pocket, it is penalising companies that do make proper provision for entitlements and have to compete with the shonks," Robertson says.
"The government needs to take away the incentive of winding up a company and leaving workers to carry the can. Banning directors for life from bidding for government work would certainly achieve that."
The issue will be raised by unions at the May ALP State Conference.
Chain of Rorts
Meanwhile, the CFMEU has highlighted the need for building contractors to take responsibility for the practices of firms they sub-contract to perform government work.
CFMEU state secretary Andrew Ferguson says one of the companies engaged at Concord Hospital had been found to have 20 of its 40 workers engaged under a sham sub-contract agreement.
On the same site 10 illegal Chinese immigrants were being paid below the award with no provision for tax or workers compensation. The company subsequently went bust.
"These companies are being engaged by principal contractors because their prices are cheap," Ferguson says.
Labor Council has called on the Carr Government to make it a condition of all government contracts that the principal not engage sub contractors that breach award or statutory obligations. When they do, the contractor should be liable for any outstanding sums.
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Issue 129 contents
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