E D I T O R I A L

The Hijacking of May Day
Unionists watching the shambolic and violent affair that was the M1 protest could be forgiven for wondering what has become of the traditional workers' day?

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Youth Group
Federal Labor's youngest frontbencher, Nicola Roxon, on how the ALP can win back the hearts and minds of the young.

History: Back To The Future
As building unions put old animosity aside, Neale Towart looks at the history of the 'demarc' - and the steps taken to avoid them.

Industrial: On the Street
Jim Marr looks at the human cost of Treasurer Peter Costello's refusal to fund a pay rise for community workers.

Unions: The New Deal
Adam Kerslake outlines the importance of the ground-breaking pact between unions in the building and civil construction industries.

Legal: The Police State Road
Rowan Cahill argues that the Howard Government's new anti-terror laws carries echoes of a more sinister past.

Women: What Women Want
When 300 ALP women from around Australia converged on Canberra for the National Labor Women�s Conference they had more than quotas on thier minds, Alison Peters reports.

Politics: Street Party
Paul Howes looks at how May Day was celebrated around the Globe by those involved in trade unions and those who are not.

International: The Costs of War
Ariel Sharon is facing growing pressure from Israeli unions over the conduct of his war on Palestine, reports Andrew Casey.

Review: Songs of Solidarity
It had rock, grunge, pop and rap. The May Day union anthem song contest had everything, including an element of surprise thanks to competition winner Swarmy G.

Satire: Bono Satisfies World Hunger for Preachy Rockstars
U2�s lead singer Bono has launched a daring solo mission to end the world�s hunger for rock stars who use their high profiles to crap on self-righteously about charitable causes.

Poetry: Woomera
Divide and rule, that age old tactic...the lips of defence personnel inexcusably sewn to dehumanise an imaginary threat, the lives of asylum seekers incomprehensively dehumanised so as to defend a threatening image.

N E W S

Yarra Seamen Take Border Stand

War on Terror Targets Unions

Year Zero for Building Unions

Kinkos Copies Anti-Union Script

Nike Told to Shoosh on Sweatshops

Rapper Wins Wobbly Anthem Prize

Technicians Take Aim At Canon

Unions Target Labour Hire Bidding War

Rally Targets Tight-Arse Costello

Councils To Be Audited On Language Allowance

Scope For Payback In Privacy Limitations

Heavyweight Push For Medibank Private To Stay Public

What About Dad? - TWU

East Timor MPs Question Timor Gap Plan

Artists' Union Bans Voice For Peace

Activist Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Maurie on May Day
PSA supremo Maurie O'Sullivan had them in the palms of his hands when he delivered the traditional May Day Toast.

The Locker Room
Impractical Punting
Most of life is six to five against. That is, unless you know a Packer or a Waterhouse. Phil Doyle expands.

Bosswatch
Show Me The Money!
It may be May Day - but life in the banking industry has never been sweeter - unless you're in the gambling caper.

Week in Review
Two Bob Each Way
The double standards of modern life have left Jim Marr scratching his head.

Tool Shed
Border Insurgent
Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson has blockaded himself into the Tool Shed this week for opening Australia's borders up to flag of convenience ships with Third World crews.

L E T T E R S

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War on Terror Targets Unions

Malaysian labour activist Irene Xavier says proposals, providing for detention without trial and the strip-searching of children, were �uncannily similar� to the first steps her country took in dismantling democracy.

"The arguments for your anti-terrorism bill are almost identical to those put up for our Internal Security Act. When it was passed in the 1960s we were told it would target terrorists and have no consequences for law abiding people. They used the same emotional arguments about dangerous people to get it passed.

"As everybody knows, the people being detained without trial today are not terrorists, they are labour activists and members of opposition political parties."

Xavier and Mabel Au are in Australia at the tail end of an international speaking tour aimed at having Malaysia's Internal Security Act overturned.

In Malaysia, roll-over provisions similar to those in the Howard bill, have been used to imprison people without trial for 20 years. Australian-educated labour activist, Tian Chua, is facing his third year of incarceration, without charge or trial.

Labor Council will lobby federal politicians in a bid to have legislation, which would have allowed for the indefinite detention of protestors during the '98 waterfront dispute, rejected.

Building Trades Group secretary, Tony Pappas, labelled its implications "bloody frightening".

"It will remove our basic rights and civil liberties," he said.

"Those mass demonstrations at Victoria Docks would have been caught squarely within the definition of this Act. It's extraordinary to think, if it happened under this legislation, we could have been punished by life imprisonment."

Pappas is especially worried that the legislation will enter parliament without widespread understanding of its scope. The media, he said, had virtually ignored its implications, despite strong warnings from consititutional lawyers and civil rights advocates.

Pappas urged unionists to "get off their rings" and start lobbying politicians, especially Labor and Green MPs.

He labelled the anti-terrorism bill the "most draconian" legislation ever introduced to an Australian Parliament.

Labor Council spokeswoman Alison Peters said the unfortunate implications for Malaysians was that Prime Minister Mathatir Mohammed would use Australian, Indian, British and US anti-terror legislation to justify retention of his country's Internal Security Act.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005