Work and the Meaning of Life
The high-profile case of Kamal El-Masiri takes the debate over the intersection of work and family onto an altogether higher plane.
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.
Muslims Snubbed in Discrimination Laws
Workplace Racism Rife Post S11
Mad Monk’s World In Turmoil
Qantas Directors Bust Wages Freeze
Deregistration on Cole Agenda
Aussie Wharfies Save Farmers
Victorian Libs Block Pay Rise
Dad’s the Word For Steelworkers
Funeral Workers Dig in Their Heels
Unions Expose Truth Of McDonalds’ People Promise
Gay and Lesbians Workers To Meet
VTHC Urges Compassion For Colombian Refugees
New Zealand Workers Win Paid Parental Leave
WorkCover Inspectors Off the Road
Mine Guards Shoot Own Workers
Unions On Call For Working Young
Activists Notebook
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.
Who Is Farmhand?
Direct Voting Rights
Iraq is a Gobalisation Issue Too
Letter to George Dubya
WTO and Schools
Casual Thought
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News
Dad’s the Word For Steelworkers
A group of steel workers in Victoria have won a landmark victory as the AWU plans to roll out paid paternity leave to 2000 workplaces as part of their Campaign 2003.
The move comes as staff at car giant Holden have more than doubled their maternity leave entitlements.
The workers at the North Laverton Straightening Company celebrated winning two weeks paid paternity leave after walking off the job for two days.
"I think that it is a sign of things to come, there's a lot of dads and young men in the workforce who are keen to get paid paternity leave," says Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten.
Maternity leave entitlements for staff at Holden have increased from six to 14 weeks effective from September 23. Any female employee at Holden who has worked for the company for at least two years is now entitled to receive the 14 weeks' paid leave. Women already on paid maternity leave will also be able to take the full 14 weeks.
Garry Hingle from the Australian Manufacturers Workers' Union said 14 weeks' leave "is indeed a benchmark but there are still more steps to go".
Other car manufacturing companies such as Toyota, Mitsubishi and Ford only offer six weeks' paid maternity leave.
In a previously non-traditional area of work, Holden employs 725 female employees, who make up nine per cent of its workforce Australia-wide.
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Issue 156 contents
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