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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Intel Faces Email Censure Challenge

The case, now before the California Supreme Court, is seen as crucial by union organisers who want to use e-mail technology to campaign for workers' rights.

While the right to use e-mail as an organising tool seems to be under attack in the USA British workers are set to win important protections against snooping bosses under a new code determining the rights to privacy at work.

In Britain, blanket monitoring of e-mails and internet usage in the office will be banned and hidden cameras can be used without staff consent only in criminal investigations where police have been informed, according to a new code under the Data Protection Act.

Employers in the UK should give staff access to private e-mail and internet accounts, the code states, and not monitor e-mails where there is 'reason to believe' they are personal, even if sent or received on a work computer during office hours.

In the USA Intel won its District Court case against the worker activist on the basis of a legal argument called " trespass the chattels" a doctrine which prohibits others from interfering with personal property.

Intel sued ex-employee Ken Hamdi because over a two-year period he had six times e-mailed employees attacking the company's treatment of its workforce.

Both the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation - a civil liberties organisation working to protect rights in the digital world -have supported Ken Hamdi in an appeal, claiming that his right to free speech was violated.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation argues the 'trespass chattels' victory was an incorrect use of the doctrine because the interference must be intentional, physical contact with someone else's property that results in substantial interference or damage of the property.

The company acknowledged during the case that none of the messages had harmed Intel's computer systems and caused no delays but nevertheless a California District court ruled for the company that e-mails were an "illegal trespass."

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