E D I T O R I A L

Brand Spanking
Some of the biggest names in corporate Australia are copping a spanking right now – and while the troubles are of their own making the fall-out may have broader consequences.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Generation Next
The Australian Services Union's Luke Foley is one of a group of thirty-somethings taking the reins of the union movement.

Legal: We’re All Terrorists Now
The Government’s hastily cobbled security laws are so all-encompassing that jamming the boss’s fax could see you eating porridge in Long Bay for the rest of your life, reports Noel Hester.

Unions: Holding the Baby
The concept of Carers’ Responsibilities doesn’t appear to have penetrated the ageing walls of the Australian Retailers Federation, reports Jim Marr.

International: Taking It To The Streets
In the past few days 22 million workers have taken to the streets in two countries over the global push to cut workers rights, as Andrew Casey reports.

History: Off the Wall
Creative campaign posters provide a colourful archive of worker struggles from the past, writes Neale Towart.

Economics: Financing International Development
John Langmore details the significance of the first International Conference on Financing Development held in Mexico in March.

Satire: Queen Mum's Life Tragically Cut Short
The world has been numbed by grief and shock, after Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother unexpectedly died last night at the tender age of 101.

Review: Return of The People’s Parliament
The last two weeks has seen the return of the most democratic program on the television, Big Brother. Cultural theoritian Mark Morey reports.

Poetry: Silent Night
Our resident bard, David Peetz, turns his hand to the Senate Inquiry into a Certain Maritime Incident.

N E W S

Tobacco Giant's New Smoking Gun

Evidence Proves McJobs A Reality

Workers Die Waiting For Justice

Abbot Sparks Nuclear Reaction

Sick As A Dog Or Pissed As A Parrot?

Workers’ Anthem – Hip Hop or Grunge?

DOCS Crisis – At Risk Kids Slipping Through Net

Call Centre Workers Stiffed - Survey

Broadcast Blues at SBS

South Coast Medical Centre in Della’s Sights

Sydney Take-Off For Security Campaign

Israel On Dangerous Ground

Technicians Take Aim At Canon

Intel Faces Email Censure Challenge

Megawati Reopens Marsinah Case

Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
The Politics of Unfair Dismissal
Shadow Minister for Workplace Relations Robert McClelland finally nails down the Labor line on the Abbott sackings laws.

The Locker Room
Tipping the Scales
Jim Marr argues that policing of the ten-metre rule is creating havoc for footy tipsters.

Bosswatch
Stand and Deliver
It might be tough for some - but for shareholders and executives, life is just dandy.

Week in Review
Stretching the Truth
The political porkie still reigns supreme on the big stage but, good news in the form of a warning, some tall tales from the past are unravelling with embarrassing consequences…

L E T T E R S

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Evidence Proves McJobs A Reality

The NSW Labor Council says the research, commissioned by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, underlines why the federal government needs to develop a universal approach to paid maternity leave.

The AISF study found that employers were most likely to offer family friendly work practices to employers with high skill levels or in whom employers had invested in the form of training.

In contrast, employers with the lowest levels of education, job tenure and organisation-provided training are least likely to have access to family-friendly work practices.

Labor Council secretary John Robertson says the findings show the working experience is very different for high-skilled and unskilled workers.

"This is proof of the so-called McJobs syndrome; while gold-collar workers are enjoying more flexible work practices, service sector workers are locked into highly rigid, impersonal structures.

Unions Welcome Federal Report

Meanwhile, the ACTU has welcomed the Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner's options paper on maternity as a first step towards ending discrimination against most Australian women workers.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow says the report by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Prue Goward was a welcome move forward and called on the Federal Government to take action to develop an appropriate system to benefit all working women.

"We welcome the fact that this leading Government agency is no longer talking about if Australian women should have maternity leave, but rather how it can be implemented," Burrow says.

"It is unfair and discriminatory that less than one-third of Australia's working women have access to paid maternity leave, and most receive less than 12 weeks, with the average being far less."

A new study by the Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training (ACIRRT) at Sydney University found only 6.7 percent of current enterprise agreements contained paid maternity leave provisions. Just 3.4 percent of private sector enterprise agreements and only 0.7 percent of AWA individual contracts provided paid maternity leave.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005