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

WHAT YOU CAN DO

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Psycho Teller

The man with the big ears and brave comb-over may still look like a suburban bank teller, but he's gone a long way towards destroying the career that gave him an entr�e' into the world of international finance. In a decade at the top of the Commonwealth Bank Murray has stripped staff, closed branches and hiked up customer fees transforming the People's Bank into just another bastard institution.

He was at it again this week, delivering the old one-two that has given banks the image they endure today: for shareholders a $2.65 billion profit; for the general public 1,000 fewer workers to serve them. He didn't even bother to tell the workforce they would be taking another three per cent blow until the fair accompli went live. For Dave, the workers - and the public for that matter - can go to hell. As Anthony La Plagia's inspired character in 'The Bank' says: "our shareholders are our society".

And for those with shares, job cuts are good news and so the share price rose after Murray delivered the killer blow. It's the way of modern banking; profits and market value are all. Customers are an inefficiency that should be discouraged by fees. As for staff, they are an unsustainable input. It makes you wonder why these institutions still carry the name 'bank' - aren't they just a floating pool of capital?

In announcing the job cuts, Murray made big play of the fact that the bank was ending executive share option schemes. But like so much of so-called 'corporate reform', you have to wonder if the horse has bolted given Old Comb Over himself is already sitting on $80 million worth of the little inducements to maximise short term profits. After all if I won Lotto 80 times I'd probably stop buying tickets too!

Instead, executive salary packages will be pumped up even further, with Murray's current mix of $1.45 base and $450K bonus heading north. Compare that to the average teller's salary of $32K and you wonder why it's the tellers and not the managers facing the axe. Yet still Murray has the gall to claim "excellent staff is CBA's one sustainable competitive advantage" - so why get rid of them, David?

The Comb Over has transformed into the psycho teller from hell. He earns the equivalent of 63 tellers. He's closed 870 branches since taking over the top job in 1991. Before this week he'd cut around 19,000 of their jobs. Makes you wonder what sort of time he had behind the counter. Was it one customer too many with the bags of two cent pieces? What was it that made him snap and seek the ultimate revenge. His life has now become a one man mission to wipe out the occupation that he so hated. This week he went close to delivering the killer blow.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005