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Issue No. 155 04 October 2002  
E D I T O R I A L

Wrong Way, Go Back
The weekend machinations over the structure of the ALP are in danger of missing the fundamental point: Labor�s current malaise is caused not be an excess of core values but through a deficit.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: The Wet One
NSW Opposition industrial relations spokesman Michael Gallacher stakes out his relationship with the union movement.

Bad Boss: Like A Bastard
Virgin Mobile is sexy and funky, right? Well, only if those terms have become synonyms for dictatorial or downright mean.

Unions: Demolition Derby
Tony Abbott likens industrial relations to warfare and, like a good general should, he is about to shift his point of attack � from building sites to car plants, reports Jim Marr.

Corporate: The Bush Doctrine
For the powerful, consumerism equals freedom, and is all the freedom we need, writes James Goodman

Politics: American Jihad
Let�s get real. The origins of modern Islamic terrorist groups are in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Langley, Virginia not Baghdad, argues Noel Hester.

Health: Secret Country
Oral history recordings are an inadequate tool in trying to find out what happened to Aboriginal stockmen and their communities on cattle stations in Northern Australia, writes Neale Towart

Review: Walking On Water
On the 20th anniversary of the first AIDS-related death, Tara de Boehmler witnesses the aftermath of losing a loved one to the illness in Walking On Water.

Culture: TCF
Novelist Anthony Macris captures life on the shop floor in this extract from his upcoming novel, Capital Volume II

Poetry: The UQ Stonewall
The University of Queensland has sought to join the ranks of union-busting companies like Rio Tinto in trying to sack the president of the local union - and made the mistake of thinking they were dealing with an array of acquiescent academics.

N E W S

 Corrigan Fires Shot in Rail Showdown

 Fight Begins For Long Weekends

 Experts to Arrest Drug Test Outbreak

 Jobs Auction Hitting Bank Workers

 Libs Pledge Moderate IR line

 Workers Kick Grand Final Goal

 NSW Screws Down Lid on Funeral Scams

 Hilton Strike Break Plans in Tatters

 Detention Centre Workers Demand Safety Search

 Religious Teachers Win Legal Coverage

 Pressure Builds on Parking Sting

 US Docks Lockout Hits Sea Trade

 Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
I Walk The Line
American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has weighed into the Hilton Hotel dispute with this special message to the workforce.

Postcard
Mekong Daze
Union Aid Abroad's Phil Hazelton fires off a missive from Laos where he is spending a year working with the community.

Month In Review
Bush Whackers
It was a month where the world teetered on the brink of peace, no thanks to the leader of the free world, writes Jim Marr

The Locker Room
The Laws Of Gravity
Phil Doyle goes looking for the fine line that separates sport from an exercise in time-wasting

Bosswatch
Snouts in the Trough
It�s AGM season in the corporate world, and deal after shady deal is being exposed as highfliers treat company accounts like the proverbial honey-pot.

Wobbly
Songs of Solidarity
There has been a proud history of pro-worker tunes dating back to the early days of the 20th century, which will be continued in a new CD, writes Dan Buhagiar.

L E T T E R S
 Jacks and Jills
 Shame on Murray
 Use or Abuse of Long Term Casuals
 Speaking in Tongues
 Casual Days
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

US Docks Lockout Hits Sea Trade


Australian sea trade with the United States is threatened by a massive anti-union lockout by shipping managers, which has closed 29 ports on the US west coast.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow said millions of dollars worth of exports could be jeopardised unless shipping and port authority employers quickly ended the lockout of more than 10,000 workers.

"Australian unions have experienced the kind of extremist and irresponsible actions of shipping and stevedoring employers that are now paralysing trade on the US west coast.

"Unions around the world are alarmed by the behaviour of the employers in the US and are working to support the efforts of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to get the ports working again, particularly to transport perishable goods.

"The US unions have offered to work for free on urgent cargoes, but the shipping and stevedoring employers are refusing to let them in the gates," Burrow says.

Australian unions are sending a delegation to the US this week to support the ILWU.

Officials from the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) of employers are continuing talks on the lockout, which is costing more than $1.5 billion a day.

The PMA has refused to negotiate on the terms of a new employment agreement with the ILWU since May this year.

The extremist tactics of employers in the dispute have been likened to those used by Patricks stevedores in its confrontation with maritime unions in Australia in 1997.

Tokyo/Sydney Axis Against US Port Employers

Australian & Japanese maritime workers join forces to launch campaign against US companies responsible for ILWU lockout

Zenkoku-kowan dockworkers union, the All Japan Seamen's Union, and the MUA have formed a pact against PMA Pacific Maritime Association as the West Coast waterfront war moves to the brink of worldwide industrial dispute.

In a 8-point Statement of Support for the US dockworkers' union (ILWU) signed in Tokyo yesterday, the three unions announced they would "closely liaise with each other and the ILWU to promote an effective campaign and actions in Australian and Japan in support of the ILWU and against eh PMA group of shipping companies."

MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin was this afternoon one of an international delegation meeting with Japanese ship owners in Japan.

The Tokyo pact follows the Newcastle joint declaration of support for the ILWU signed off by mining and maritime unions from the US, New Zealand, Japan and South Africa last month.

Meanwhile the International Transport Workers' Federation has warned that US employers "face international union response" to the docks dispute

The ITF reacted strongly to the news that US employers in the ongoing West Cost ports dispute brought armed guards to a negotiating meeting on Tuesday, forcing the ILWU to walk out of the talks arbitrated by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

The ILWU has accepted ongoing mediation to settle outstanding technology issues at the centre of the breakdown in contract negotiations with the employers. Union members have also volunteered to work all military, perishable and passenger cargo, with the PMA finally allowing workers to finish loading the Maersk Innovator in Oakland, yesterday


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