E D I T O R I A L

Our Historical Mission
It has often been argued that unions would cease to exist when employers civilised workplaces. Our historical mission would have been fulfilled and we could pack up and spend out time enjoying the equitable society that would be the fruit of our victory.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Something Smells
The Postal Union's Jim Metcher lifts the lid on the very strange goings-on in Australia Post

Cole-Watch: Credibility Crisis
Counsels Assisting the Cole Royal Commission face a humiliating public back down in an effort to bring some balance to proceedings, reports Jim Marr.

Unions: Union Cities
Labor Council's Adam Kerslake has returned from the USA with some new ideas on community unionism

Industrial: Lib Men Gang Up Against Working Mums
Working women are in danger of missing out on an adequately funded paid maternity leave scheme, if recent bleatings are acted upon says ACTU President Sharan Burrow.

History: Eureka!
Neale Towart finds an alternative to Baden-Powell�s imperialist scouting movement, where the youth of Australia was fed such radical ideas as solidarity, collective action, equal rights and internationalism.

East Timor: Don�t Rob Their Future
After 24 years of often brutal Indonesian occupation East Timor on 20 May 2002 finally achieved their independence, writes HT Lee.

Review: Black Chicks Say It All
Dorothy can be whatever colour she wants to be and black chicks can talk about anything, writes Tara de Boehmler

Poetry: Self Regulation
While President George W Bush,leader of the heart of unregulated capitalism, has responded to the recent spate of corporate cowboydom by whipping out a swathe of new corporate controls, Australia's Prime Minister has responded with a feathered touch.

N E W S

Cole to Hear of Criminal Takeover Conspiracy

Mad Monk Stamp on Aussie Post

Calls To End Woodlawn Logjam

ANZ Fined Over Freedom Of Speech Breach

Hotels Eat Up Living Wage

Qantas Union's Gorilla Tactics

Shearers Black Ban Their Hall Of Fame

Democrats Fire Shot for Workers

Teachers Walk Out At Aust College of Technology

Rail Operators Off Track

Airport Security Worker Spat At And Assaulted

CBA Workers Say Enough Is Enough

Union Made Songs For Masses

Doco Dishes Dirt On Howard�s Gas Wrangle

Activist Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Cole Comfort
The election of a federal coalition government in 1996 marked the advent of an aggressively anti union agenda that continues to be played out to this day, writes Paul Davies

The Locker Room
Salary Crap
Phil Doyle goes wading through the hypocrisy and hubris, and discovers where the smell is coming from.

Postcard
All At Sea
It�s on again - the coastal battle between the maritime unions, the government and the shipowners, reports Zoe Reynolds.

Week in Review
The Dogs of War
The battle drums were a-rattling across this wide, brown land and Jim Marr was getting a bit tetchy

Bosswatch
Speak No Evil
The majority of Australian firms stay silent on options they offer their executives as John Howard continues to stonewall corporate law reform.

L E T T E R S

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All At Sea

Since the re-election of the Howard Government last year another three Australian ships have been sunk, with loss of all jobs. This time it's the bulk carrier Wallarah, centre of a community protest in Newcastle this Sunday. This ship has been reflagged in Tonga, the same registry that gained international disrepute this year over gun running in the Middle East, people smuggling in Europe and terrorism in the USA. Yes, the Tongan flag has come under scrutiny of the FBI in its chase to hunt down the Flag of Convenience fleet used by Osama bin Laden to ship armaments and terrorists worldwide. And yet an Australian ship has not only been sold off and flagged in Tonga, it has got a coastal permit from the Federal Government to stay on the coast and ship wheat to Adelaide.

This is just not a battle with the shipowners; it's a battle with the Howard Government, which has been actively backing behind the move to replace Australian crewed ships with ships of shame.

Take the Federal Court action set to commence on Tuesday. The Herald reported some months back that the Minister for Workplace Relations Tony Abbott had been on the backs of CSL Australia to sue the unions over the Yarra dispute for some time. Last month that's exactly what they did. CSL has all three maritime unions in the Federal Court in Sydney seeking injunctions against any further union action which may pester the CSL Flag of Convenience fleet now back trading on the coast.

The CSL ships in question are the Pacific (alias Torrens) and the Stadacona (alias Yarra), centre of the Port Pirie protest in May and ongoing protests in recent weeks. The Yarra sailed out of Australian waters and the Australian crew were repatriated. But within days it was back under another name flying the Bahamas flag and crewed with Ukranians on much lower wages. Soon after Adelaide Brighton Cement announced it would pull out of the ACTU/Commission brokered talks aimed at getting an Australian flagged ship back on the coast. Then came the announcement CSL would sue under the Trade Practices Act (45D and E) to prevent any further protests against their ships in Australian ports. Individual unionists have also been named, including ACTU President Sharon Burrow.

Meanwhile union lawyers are doing some manoeuvrings of their own, with the aim of showing that the permit system which allows ships flying the Bahama and Tongan flags are in breach of regulations under the Migration Act, the Customs Act and the Navigation Act. And a similar attempt to reflag the last Australian container ship the OCCL Australia has been successfully stymied in the Industrial Relations Commission. As well the union is still waiting on the full bench ruling on its push to have the Bahamas flagged CSL Pacific operating on the Australian coast roped in under the Australian award. Tony Abbott intervened in that case too - on the side of foreign shipowners.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005