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Looking for the Light
As Labor searches for its Light on the Hill at last a senior Labor figure has come out and said it: the main game for the ALP should not be about shedding union involvement but making the movement – and that involvement - stronger.
Interview: Packing a Punch
Former Hawke and Keating Minister Gary Punch injects some sanity into the debate over unions and the ALP
Bad Boss: Basher Takes Back Passage
A new contender for our Bad Boss has emerged as 140 Stegbar workers confront a boofhead with bad attitude, writes Jim Marr
Unions: Five Star Shafting
What is twenty three years of unbroken, fulltime service worth? Eight weeks, according to Tony Abbott, the Federal Government and the cheapskates who run Sydney’s posh Hilton Hotel.
Economics: TINA – Rest In Peace
Sydney University’s Frank Stilwell argues that the ‘There is No Alternative’ school of economics should be consigned to the dustbin of history
International: Against Bush's "War on Terrorism"
Washington has become the first State Labor Council in the U.S. to call on the AFL-CIO to seek repeal of the USA Patriot Act and oppose the Bush Administration, reports Fred Hyde.
Environment: Saving the World
After a ten-day talkfest, are we any closer to saving the world, asks Nick Lucchinelli
History: A Radical Scribe
John Shields loks at the life of Lloyd Ross' brother, Edgar, and his work as a journalist and activist in Broken Hill
Poetry: With A Little Help From My Friend
Even oil giant BP Australasia came out and supported the Kyoto Protocol - but that was not enough for our beloved Prime Minister.
Satire: Colonel Gaddafi Promotes Himself to General
After years of ribbing by his Axis of Evil peers, General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran and General Than Shwe of Burma, Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi has finally promoted himself to General.
Review: Workplace Dictatorship
Award-winning journalist Barbara Ehrenreich went undercover in low-wage America to see how people live on six bucks an hour. And what did she find? They can’t.
 Cole Comfort: I’m Not Biased
Grassroots Drives Safety Campaign
Deloittes Curry Favour on Sub-Continent
Ansett Workers Short-Changed
Rail Workers Buck Individual Contract Wage Bribe
Carr to Drive Hilton Deal?
Bush Regenerators Weed Out Dodgy Deal
Insurers in Redfern Rort
Hairdresser Wins Fight For Wage Justice
Cabin Crews Argue for ‘Safety in Numbers’
‘Slave Labour’ In Insurance Industry
Westie Fires Up Over Durries
Beattie Plods into Risky Territory
Sydney to Host Social Forum
Activists Notebook
The Soapbox
Ian West on Suncorp Metway
NSW MLC Ian West lifts the lid on moves to impose 'start before you start' clauses in the insurance industry The Locker Room
Terrible Terry and the Nice Guy from Fitzroy
As the debate over the new coach hots up, Phil Doyle believes that all is not as it seems on the good ship Swan. Week in Review
War on Terror
Next Wednesday, September 11, marks the anniversary of one of the most brutal acts of terrorism in modern history. Jim Marr’s picking it will pass by virtually un-noticed Bosswatch
Broken Trust
The corporate world is holding back the waves of accountability with a crackdown on trusts rubbished and resistance to a new plan to increase corporate disclosure. Women
All In the Family?
Labor Council’s Alison Peters went looking for a family friendly workplace and got caught in a cheesy smokescreen.
Collex Decision is Terrible
Charity Begins At Home
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News
Deloittes Curry Favour on Sub-Continent
Could Australia’s largest company be outsourcing work to Indian call centres in a bid to beat increasing unionisation of the IT sector?
CPSU officials are tight-lipped about the prospect as they continue to seek security for threatened Deloittes staff, whose employer contracts principally to Telstra.
More than 100 IT consultants grabbed the union option after being threatened with 50 percent salary cuts last week. Their decisions paid immediate dividends when the AIRC green-lighted an interim award and over-ruled Deloittes', cop the cuts or quit, ultimatum.
The story, though, has another dimension with increasingly loud industry whispers that the company is considering a sub-contintenal option.
Essentially, a group of multi-national IT contractors, principally Deloittes, IBM GSA and EDS, have found themselves deep in the turbulent flow of federal government's outsourcing shambles.
They leapt at the pot of gold held out by the Howard Government when it decided, for primarily ideological reasons, to push IT oursourcing.
Classically, they entered an entity like Telstra or the ATO and hassled for its IT work; cherry-picked key employees; dumped others and walked away with substantial profits from taxpayers or consumers.
By and large, however, they conspicuously failed to deliver the promised savings to host entities who, once bitten, were much more aggressive in negotiating second-round contracts.
To maintain their earns, the multi-nationals now face the prospect of substantial internal costs cutting, thus the Deloittes move to slash workers incomes by up to 50 percent with a two week, take-it or leave-it, deadline.
With IT workers deciding on collective action to protect their positions, the next logical step is to flick Aussie workers in favour of those from countries which are largely tax and labour law free.
It would make economic sense and dovetail with labour market competition espoused by Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott and his Foreign Affairs off-sider Alexander Downer.
Politically, insiders say, Telstra couldn't make that move. By flicking key elements of its operation off to the disguise of sub-contractors, however, pundits believe they might be able to achieve the desired result.
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Issue 151 contents
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