Abbott's Rule of Law
Tony Abbott has had a bit to say about the Rule of Law in recent times; how respect for the law should be at the centre of industrial relations and that anyone who flouts it is a national traitor.
Interview: Party Girl
Former ACTU president Jennie George on women in politics, life in Canberra and the ALP-union relationship.
Unions: Touch One, Touch All
The tribes of the union movement gathered outside the Cole Commission this week to repay the CFMEU for its generosity.
Industrial: Condition Critical
Nurses have taken their claim for financial recognition from the hospital ward to the courts, Jim Marr reports
International: Innocence Lost
There are nearly 250 million child labourers in the world, and every one has a story. As the ILO launches the first World Day Against Child Labour, here are just three.
History: Strange Bedfellows
Women�s first successes in adult suffrage came without much campaigning, and was in fact supported by Mormons, in defence of polygamy.
Organising: Just Say No
How would you react if you had to run a "no vote" campaign to oppose a non-union agreement issued by a company whose 3000 strong workforce was spread over 3500 kilometres. React quickly and expect to travel is Will Tracey's advice.
Review: Choosing Life Beneath The Clouds
Ivan Sen's Beneath Clouds is a road movie of the highest order, in which the destination becomes secondary to the choosing of a path.
Poetry: Did We Make a Big Mistake
It's one hundred years ago this week that Australia gave women the vote, and jumped early onto a bandwagon than would roll across democracies world-wide.
Building Workers Gagged By Commission
Labour Hire Veil Lifted
Unionists Hit HP Fire Wall
Combet Drives Car Industry Summit
Green Ban Protects Aussie Timber Jobs
Unions Launch Gucci Boycott
Della Picks Up Manslaughter Baton
Jockeys Crisis Worsens
Billions Of Reasons For Reasonable Hours
Swans in Dark as Lights Go Out
Workplace Wishes Walked All Over
Airport Security Flies High
Canucks Boycott Starbucks
Campaign Steps Up To Stop Child Labor
Activists Notebook
The Soapbox
The Conviction Unionist
In his speech to the National Press Club, ACTU secretary Greg Combet expands on his breed of unionism and charts the resurgence in the movement.
The Dressing Room
Give Greg a New Look!
We have converted the Tool Shed into a Dressing Room to give you the opportunity to give ACTU secretary Greg Combet a make over. The Locker Room
The Other Les Murray
Those pesky colonials have been making life difficult for the natural order of things again, reports Phil Doyle. Week in Review
Quelle Horreur
Jim Marr drags himself away from a four-yearly fascination with people of one name � Raul, Rivaldo and co � to discover fouls are still being committed on the international stage. Bosswatch
The Great CEO Swindle
Breath-taking figures from the USA show the extent to which executives are taing a bigger and bigger slice of the corporate pie.
Luke and Learn
Due Credit
Tom's Foolery
More Latham
More Tom
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Letters to the Editor
Luke and Learn
Luke Foley's argument for allowing affiliated union members to vote in preselections has much to recommend it. This used to be the case in the ALP. But if we are to adopt such a system we need to review how it worked previously. Accusations that it was manipulated by union officials were rife, particulary in the case of the AWU.
Only a limited number of union members took the opportunity to participate in preselections. Only 63,000 party members and unionists voted in the 1931 NSW Lang Labor Senate preselection for example, when membership in ALP-affiliated unions was claimed to be around 217,000.
Nevertheless this is still a much higher level of participation in the ALP than today, and puts complaints about the dictatorial Lang machine into some context. Labor preselection candidates would campaign on street corners for unionists' votes. My PhD on Jack Lang's 1930-32 government has more details on ALP preselections in the early 1930s.
Geoff Robinson
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Issue 140 contents
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