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Issue No. 149 23 August 2002  
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
 Shit Sheets
 Susan's Soccer Outrage
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

Mad Monk Stamp on Aussie Post


A push to impose a hard line industrial relations agenda within Australia Post is behind the current flow of outrageous revelations about shonky management practices.

After a week when Australia Post was attacked for imposing toilet paper quotas and sending workers to lecherous doctors, Postal Union state secretary Jim Metcher revealed a drastic shift in management's attitude over the past 12 months.

The week the CEPU filed an official complaint with the Health Complaints Commission on behalf of six female postal workers who were sent to Australia Post doctors after making workers compensation claims.

The woman say they were told to remove their clothes when being examined for wrist and neck complaints.

They were also told to give their Medicare cards, meaning taxpayers were subsidising Australia Post medical examinations.

Metcher told Workers Online that after cooperating with profound reform in the organistion, workers were no being subjected to the worst elements of the Tony Abbot 'Bad Boss' ethos.

In recent weeks unions have exposed Australia Post over:

- refusing to allow call centre staff to have photos on their desks

- discriminating against left-handed mail sorters

- forcing overweight workers to take sick leave

"It all adds up to management that views workers with hostility," Metcher says. "We will continue to be in their face until they accept the role of the union within Australia Post."


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