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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Workers Die Waiting For Justice

CFMEU Mining Division president Tony Maher revealed the deaths during an emotional plea for Government to stop �grandstanding� over unfair dismissals and address injustices �threatening families and tearing apart whole communities�.

The CFMEU wants legislation to stop multi-nationals with deep pockets side-stepping laws that everyone else is bound by.

"The scales of justice are being titlted out of the reach of ordinary Australians when big companies are allowed to use their economic power to see off people with just cases," Maher said.

He was speaking after hundreds of mineworkers, construction workers and their supporters rallied outside Rio Tinto's AGM this week, protesting further delays in reinstating 206 Hunter Valley and central Queensland mineworkers who have won three separate cases against the company, since their 1998 sackings.

In the course of those judgements, Rio Tinto was found to have operated blacklists and destroyed documents relevant to the proceedings.

The company, which has appealed every verdict, has so far spent more than $10 million in keeping the workers away from their jobs at the Blair Athol, Hunter Valley No 1 and Mt Thorley mines. During one case, alone, it had a high-powered legal team operating for 60 days.

After the rally, addressed by ACTU secretary Greg Combet and attended by supportive Labor MPs including Kirsten Livermore, Kelly Hoare, Kerry Hickey and shadow Resources Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, protesters used proxies to enter the belly of the beast.

Sacked workers, former workmates, their wives, union officials and MPs urged Rio Tinto to face up to its responsibilities.

Speakers gave the lie to company claims there were no jobs to return to, revealing hundreds of contractors on higher rates than miners, were keeping the operations ticking over.

Men and women told of how the dismissals and resulting divisions had damaged previously tight-knit communities.

Maher said his union had spent "a fortune" chasing Rio Tinto around the legal block and there had to come a time when even the biggest company bowed to the rule of law.

"The law must be changed," Maher said. "Three times these people have been proven right but the company is allowed to keep on appealing at the expense of Australian families and mining communities.

"It's unfair, it's crazy and, because of the human cost, it's bloody disgraceful."

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005