The Official Organ of LaborNET
click here to view the latest edition of Workers Online
The Official Organ of LaborNET
Free home delivery
Issue No. 142 28 June 2002  
E D I T O R I A L

Safety First
This week's Safety Summit, called by the Carr Government, is a timely opportunity for the union movement to put occupational health and safety into a contemporary perspective.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Safe as Houses
Labor Council secretary John Robertson outlines the union movement's priorities in the lead-up to this week's Safety Summit.

Safety: Ten Steps to Safety
On the eve of the NSW Safety Summit, Workers Online went looking for the ten biggest workplace health issues and what needs to be done to address them.

History: Staying Alive
Neale Towart winds the clock back to discover that contemporary arguments that regulators should stay out of workplace safety and let the market do its business are nothing new.

Unions: Choose Life
While Commissioner Cole struggles with the concept of unions trying to improve workers� wages, out in the real world, bosses daily thumb their noses at safety authorities, as Jim Marr discovers.

International: Seoul Destroyers
The rise and rise of the Korean national football team in the World Cup competition was more than matched by the rise and rise of the number of imprisoned Korean trade unionists.

Corporate: Crash Landing
Did Ansett workers� productivity really crash Ansett? Jim McDonald weighs up the evidence.

Activists: The Refusenik
At 20, Rotem Mor has spent more time analysing how he will live his life than most people twice his age. A month in prison and another 18 serving in the Israeli army saw to that.

Review: Dumb Nation
Michael Moore's new book, 'Stupid White Men' exposes the rorts behind the Bush presidency with bitter humour, writes Mark Hebblewhite.

Poetry: Helping Out The Rich
From proposals to 'deregulate' (ie raise) university fees, to attempts to restrict workers' right to strike in the name of 'genuine' bargaining the Government's rhetoric about helping out the battlers is wearing just a bit thin.

N E W S

 Redundancy Bonus for Members Only

 Tax Office Backs CFMEU Case

 Lib MP Named in Cole Commission

 Sentencing Guidelines for Safety Breaches

 Revealed: Costello�s Hit List

 Virtual Cold War Over

 Safety Lock-Out Enters Second Week

 Unions Seek Talks With New Airport Owners

 Journos Attacked by NRMA

 Strip Bosses Face Dressing Down

 Beattie Called Into Bargaining Impasse

 Nurses Deliver Largest Ever Petition

 US Braces for its Own Waterfront War

 Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Back to the Future
McKenzie Wark argues that the future of the book relies on the future of a sphere of public debate.

Bosswatch
Chain Reaction
The Big Australian discovers a uranium mine it never knew it had, a corporate fraud sparks a worldwide market plunge and the price of investing ethically.

The Locker Room
Three Colours Blue
After a World Cup that saw post-colonial cultural theorists chanting 'we beat the scum one-nil' on the Terraces of Inchon, it was the natural order of things that prevailed, writes Phil Doyle

Postcard
Poll Positioning
Unions Tasmania secretary Lynne Fitzgerald gives an overview of the State Election called earlier this week.

Week in Review
The Weight of Office
Apart from the Teflon John, power walking at his own pace, would-be leaders everywhere turned in shockers as Jim Marr discovered.

L E T T E R S
 Link Wages to CEO Pay
 Voodoo Unionism
 Good News from the Pilbara
 Go Mark, Go
 Double-Standards
WHAT YOU CAN DO
About Workers Online
Latest Issue
Print Latest Issue
Previous Issues
Advanced Search

other LaborNET sites

Labor Council of NSW
Vic Trades Hall Council
IT Workers Alliance
Bosswatch
Unions on LaborNET
Evatt Foundation


Labor for Refugees

BossWatch



Tool Shed

Dirty Deeds


We've coverted the Tool Shed into a caged wrestling ring this week so we can lock Tony Abbott and Mark Latham in there and watch them slug it out in a fight, hopefully, to the death.

*****************

We love a stoush as much as the next political junkie, but the performance of these two in the past week has crossed the threshold into boorishness. In one corner, we have Tony Abbott plunging Australian industry into chaos with his constant attempts to ferment industrial confrontation for short-term political gain and the Federal Parliament into dysfunctional disarray with his commitment to playing the man not the ball. In the other corner, Mark Latham, playing right into the Tories' hands with a misguided determination to fight fire with fire culminating in the 'arse-licker' line that has left him looking crass and humourless.

Abbott has always been a bovver boy, throwing the mud at opponents with a uncontained zealotry born of an unhappy seminary education. Abbott's idea of political engagement is a head-on confrontation, his idea of shrewd, a sledge-hammer behind the back. As for cooperation - has anyone got a dictionary? The difference is now he has responsibility - as the Government Leader in the House he sets the tone of Parliamentary debate; as Workplace Relations Minister he sets the industrial relations climate for the entire economy.

While Abbott is good at firing missiles, he's currently failing to carry out either responsibility. His handling of his Parliamentary duties has left the Chamber in a state of disrepute that is only compounded by Speaker Neil Andrew's bias in the Chair. His constant jibes at the ALP may make good TV, but it leaves the entire institution discredited in the eyes of the public. Which is classic Tory political tactics - take away faith in politics and social change will never flourish.

But that is nothing compared to the damage he is doing to Australian industry, as Bob Herbet pointed out this week. As union and industry work to come up with a plan for the car industry Abbott is on the sideline lobbing grenades - threatening to withdraw federal funds to the industry if it does not go to war with the AMWU. Meanwhile, he continues chipping away at workers rights, introducing legislation to take away the right to strike and ensure that any worker taking industrial action can be personally sued by the employer. It is partisan, indulgent legislation that will do nothing for industrial harmony.

Abbott finally met his match though when confronted with Kerry O'Brien on the 7.30 Report mid-week. O'Brien asked Abbott the question the union movement has been posing for years: Is there any such thing as an acceptable strike? A justifiable strike? All Abbott could come up with was the strike he himself led at The Bulletin while a member of the MEAA. Like all bullies, it is only from his own vantage point that he can recognise an injustice.

As for Mark Latham; we think we understand what he's trying to achieve, but as usual, he seems to be leading with his chin. Some months ago Latham pronounced the time had come for Labor to muscle up to the Liberals. Ever since he's been given an impression of a canetoad on steroids - ugly and venomous and prone to explode. He's turned his invective on targets as diverse as The Chaser, Tony Staley, John Robertson and even Workers Online (we are "the biggest grubs in the labour movement"). Calling the Prime Minister an 'arse-licker' takes it onto a new plane though and while we agree with the sentiments, we can't help thinking Mark is playing into his opponents hands.

As for his claim that he was merely employing the vernacular of his electorate, many would see this as an insult to the people of Werriwa. Already they have been told they're racist - hence Labor should not take a moral position on asylum seekers. Now they're being told they are uncouth as well...

The liberation theologists have written extensively about the folly of the oppressed using the tactics of their oppressors. In this context, the salvo at Howard is a classic case study. Contrary to Latham's defence, the issue is no longer Howard's performance abroad but the nature of the attack. The impact of his intervention is not that Howard is under added pressure to stand up for the national interest, it's that Latham's own leader is under pressure to rein in his loose cannon. Like a peasant with a stone, he has become the villain - and, thus, the tank is justified in rolling over the top of him.

Australia needs politicians with passion and vision. What we don't need are machismo haters who personalise the contest of ideas. So let the battle begin. We say go for it boys: no holds barred and if we're lucky, all that will be left of you will be a pile of hair, blood, bones and a cache of unexploded bombs. Now that would be a real contribution to the national polity.



Show Us YOUR TOOL!

The most inspiring interpretation of this week's tool get's a souvenir edition of Ship of Tools. Deface the Tool of the Week, click the button above to post your artwork, fill out the form and send your entry in and we'll post the winners next week in the Tool of the Week Gallery.

 
 

Ship of Tools - All the tools in one shed!

View our Gallery of Tools

Nominate a Tool!

Your Name:
Your Email Address:
Your Country: Your State:
The Tool you wish to nominate:
Type why you think this person should be Tool of the Week here:

------

*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 142 contents



email workers to a friend printer-friendly version latest breaking news from labornet


Search All Issues | Latest Issue | Previous Issues | Print Latest Issue

© 1999-2002 Workers Online
Workers Online is a resource for the Labour movement
provided by the Labor Council of NSW
URL: http://workers.labor.net.au/142/d_pierswatch_boys.html
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005

Powered by APT Solutions
Labor Council of NSW Workers Online
LaborNET