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End of Ignorance
The tragic events in Bali have touched all Australians, brought the human face of terrorism into our lives and created a few brief moments of political bi-partisanship.
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.
 No Night Shift for Sunset Workers
Workmates Back Kamal�s Right to Pray
Unions Target Corporate AGMs
Nurses Short-Changed On Parking
Abbott Makes Grab for Broken Hill
Unions Get Ready to Wobble
Brogden Flags Assault On Injured Workers
�Build a Life� Gathers Steam
The West Gets with the Best
Child Carers Get $18 Living Wage
Victorian Workers Rally for Kingham
Woolies in Redundancy Fight
Unions Call for Peace
Clown Nearly Shuts Darwin Hospital
Teachers Eye Historic ATSIC Alliance
Support Grows for US Waterfront Workers
Work Stress Kills The Healthy
Unions Back Sinn Fein Mandate
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.
Talking Frankly
Memo to Junior
Defence Signals
Pandora's Box on Prayer?
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News
Abbott Makes Grab for Broken Hill
An attempt to shatter decades of industrial harmony in Broken Hill has come unstuck after the independent umpire dismissed a move to force workers to accept cuts to their pay and conditions.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott has sided with Broken Hill bosses in trying to force local workers onto federal agreements, which would see some workers lose as much as $120 a week.
Workers lost hundreds of dollars as the local Chamber of Commerce, led by Sydney based lawyer Chris McCardle, made a ham-fisted attempt to avoid paying the $18 pay rise for workers on NSW Awards.
The full bench of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission awarded against McCardle and the Chamber of Commerce, describing their case as "very weak". The Chamber had claimed that they should be able to avoid their obligations to meet the pay rise due to "economic incapacity".
"The Chamber of Commerce has been devaluing and dividing the town,' says Barrier Industrial Council organiser, Ed Butcher, who was scathing of the bullying tactics employed by Chris McCardle from KPMG Legal. "He inflamed the dispute more than trying to resolve it."
"He was out here saying 'I'm here to save Broken Hill', and 'I'm here to save a dying town'," says Butcher, who believes that Broken Hill is very much alive.
In a further blow to the bush National Party leader George Souris supported the Broken Hill Chamber of Commerce and local businesses "hoping their employees will take pay cuts".
"Whilst we're glad the case is over and it has been a victory, we're also disappointed that we had to go to the lengths we did," says Barrier Industrial Council president Brett Campbell.
Tony Abbott is supporting an appeal against the decision by the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW to grant workers covered by the Broken Hill Commerce and Industry Consent Award the $18 pay rise from October 1.
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Issue 157 contents
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