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The Costs of War
John Howard's chickens will come home to roost in the next week when Peter Costello delivers a dog of a federal budget.
Interview: Squaring Off
NSW Industrial Relations Minister John Della Bosca looks beyond last year's WorkCover dispute to rebuild relations between the wings of the labour movement.
Industrial: Heroes Betrayed
Seafaring veterans joining the protest against the CSL Yarra sell-out this week were fighting for their heritage, reports Jim Marr
History: At The Coalface
An oral history of working life on the NSW coalfields has been brought to life by ABC Radio.
International: Wobblies With Chinese Characters?
Workers in China's industrial heartland have started killing their bosses as a form of labour protest., writes Andrew Casey
Politics: Dancing with Trotsky
John Passant re-reads an old political favourite and argues that as fascism in Europe grows the Left must learn the lessons of history.
Economics: You Are What You Eat
Something's eating at Neale Towart, all those Aussie food brands in foreign hands.
Poetry: Alexander's Bragtime Band
When the foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, announced this week that �Australia, internationally, has never been better regarded,� the leaders of the world sagely nodded their heads.
Satire: Stott Despoja Celebrates Engagement With Minor Party
Australian Democrats leader Natasha Stott Despoja says she will celebrate her engagement to public relations consultant Ian Smith in typical Democrat style, with a minor party.
Review: Painting Paradise
NSW Upper House MLC Ian West meets Currawong's artist in residence Sophie Haythornthwaite.
 Gun-Runners Threaten Aussie Coast
Kings Cross Date For Commissioner Cole
Sunbeam Irons Out Sydney Grand Mother
Low-Paid Gridlock Melbourne
NSW Libs Open to Abbott Takeover
Ten Points for IT Workers
Low Paid Target Rose Bay Toff
Terror Bill Needs More Work, ACTU
Wage Clerks Duck For Cover
Burma Release Fails to Blunt Campaign
East Timorese MPs oppose Timor Sea Arrangement
Airport Screeners Face Men in Jocks
Black Label Roots For Hessian
Back Chat for Child Laws
Barking The Wrong Way In NSW
Unions Push into Regional Queensland
Activists Notebook
The Soapbox
Live a Little!
MEAA state secretary Michel Hryce tells Young Labor the party needs to get funky. The Locker Room
Something To Chew On...
Peter Filandia gave sports commentators something to chew on with the recent revelations regarding his activities with the old choppers, writes Phil Doyle. Postcard
Slow Train Coming
Union Aid Abroad's Phil Hazelton sends another missive from South-East Asia where union money is helping the people of Lao. Bosswatch
A Share of the Action
Big half-yearly results for the banks, a kick-along for a bomb-maker and a debate about executive options at the 'Woodstock for Capitalists'. Week in Review
Too Much Telly
That little box in the corner takes top billing as the cypher through which the comings and goings of an eventful week are best relayed, as Jim Marr finds out � Tool Shed
The Speculator
Labor frontbencher Mark Latham has taken out a controlling stake in this week's Tool Shed with his whacky idea that Labor should be underwriting speculation on the stock exchange.
Heaps and Heaps of Hate Mail
No Choice
Who Rules Australia?
No Wrap for Song Comp
Abbott's Contempt
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News
Low-Paid Gridlock Melbourne
Melbourne�s �invisible workers� gridlocked the CBD this morning for nearly two hours to protest the Living Wage case decision handed down by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.
While the union movement has generally accepted the $18 a week increase - the largest ever handed down by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission - it has riled LHMU members around the country.
For a little over two hours some of the lowest paid workers in the city occupied one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in the CBD - the corner of Collins and Exhibition streets.
That's just down the road from the snobby Melbourne Club for millionaires, and Nauru House, where the Living Wage Case decision was handed down.
LHMU national secretary, Jeff Lawrence, says today's action is the first in a national campaign for low waged workers to get decent pay and conditions.
"The LHMU will call on the ACTU executive to institute a review of the union movement's approach to the annual Living Wage Case - so as to involve more and more workers in their campaigns for low-waged working families," Lawrence says
Ken Jackson, a car park attendant, thought the Melbourne morning protest by LHMU members was fantastic. "It showed what car park attendants, cleaners and security workers can do if they stand together," Jackson says.
Courageous Decision
But ACTU President Sharan Burrow says the full bench of the Commission had shown some courage in the face of the meanness of the Howard Government.
"Award workers have not won the lottery but $18 a week will make a difference for many low paid people," Burrow says.
"The challenge now for Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott is to make good on the Government's promise of further support for working families."
The ACTU had sought a $25 a week increase on all award rates. The Federal Government unsuccessfully argued for only $10 a week restricted to employees earning less that $507 a week.
The NSW Labor Council and other peak state union bodies are preparing cases to flow the decision on to state-based awards.
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Issue 135 contents
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