E D I T O R I A L

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.

F E A T U R E S

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.

N E W S

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

C O L U M N S

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.

L E T T E R S

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Labour Hire Veil Lifted

The NSW Industrial Relations Commission this week found it had jurisdiction to intervene in a dispute involving a labour hire worker and the host employer who had laid him off over a dispute with another worker out of working hours.

The ruling, by Commissioner Tabbaa, is a major step forward for labour hire workers, whose rights have been uncertain as they were thought to be legally employed by a third party.

The case was run by the Shop Assistants Union (SDA) on behalf of Fakatou Heitonga, who was placed on GlaxoSmithKline's Ermington plant by the labour hire firm, Forstaff.

After an incident involving another staff member after a company volleyball practice session, Heitonga was told he would not be offered any further hours.

The SDA took action in the IRC seeking a finding that an industrial dispute existed between the company and the union. For this to occur the union had to show that the host employer decisions had an industrial impact on the worker.

In making her finding, Commissioner Tabbaa noted that clarification of the status of labour hire workers and 'Host Employers' was necessary as it was a growing area of employment.

She rejected argument from the company that the commercial relationship between Forstaff and the company removed any legal obligations with Heitonga.

Instead, she found that due to the control exercised by the company over Heitonga, that an industrial dispute could exist and the matter could be arbitrated by the Commission.

She has given the parties 21days confer before moving on to a formal hearing of the matter.

The Wild West

NSW Labor Council secretary John Robertson says the decision represents a major breakthrough in the push to civilise the labour hire industry.

"At the moment the industry is something of the Wild West of industrial relations, with labour hire workers put in workplaces and told they have no legal rights," Robertson says.

He says the decision would also compliment the current push to regulate the labour hire industry and ensure employers did not use labour hire to undercut the award system.

With employers likely to appeal the decision, Robertson signaled that the Labor Council would intervene in any future proceedings.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005