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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
Child Carers Get $18 Living Wage
More than 13,000 child care workers in NSW will finally get the $18 Living Wage increase after agreement was reached in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.
"Our members were angry that at a time when child care employers are floating their companies on the stock exchange, and making millons of dollars out of these floats, the big child care chains were seeking to deny simple access to the state wage increases of $18," LHMU Child Care Union NSW President, Trevor De Costa, said.
"People whose faces appear regularly in the high society picture pages are making big dollars out of child care, and have the hide to try and pay our people poverty pay rates of around $12 an hour," Trevor De Costa said.
Child care employers went to the Commission in August seeking to stop child care workers from receiving an increase through the State Wage mechanism, which almost every other low-waged worker in the State receives.
Big Time Investors Pay Poverty Wages
"Big time investors - with strong connections to the Liberal Party - are making millions out of child care while they pay their workers poverty wages.
"Sallyanne Atkinson, Andrew Peacock, Jeff Kennett, Michael Kroger are among a legion of new paper millionaires associated with the Liberal Party who are cashing in on the stock exchange floats of child care centres.
"Every day we read of child care chains spending big to gobble up more and more centres - while millions are spent here very little of it trickles down to the workers in these centres," Trevor De Costa said.
Next Pay Period
The decision handed down in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission will see child care workers paid the Living Wage increase in their next pay period and have this increase backdated to August 28, 2002.
Angry That Employers Still Want To Fight Living Wage
"While we are happy that this increase has now come through for our members we are angry that the employers have indicated they are prepared to fight any future Living Wage increase," Trevor De Costa said.
"The LHMU Child Care Union is looking at running a special case, along with the NSW Labor Council, in the Industrial Relations Commission, to avoid a repeat of this situation.
"Other workers get these pay increases almost automatically.
"More child care workers need to join their union, organise together, to tell obstinate employers that they should show more respect for their workers - especially if they have marketing plans in place to deliver millions of dollars into their own pockets out of this important industry."
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Issue 157 contents
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