E D I T O R I A L

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.

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

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

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

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Unions Back Sinn Fein Mandate

A group of Australian national and NSW State union leaders joined 14 NSW State MPs and leaders of the Irish and Aboriginal community in Australia in urging British Prime Minister Tony Blair to respect Sinn F�in's electoral mandate. The statement called on the British Government to reject Unionists demand that Republicans be removed from power sharing in the Six Counties.

The following is the text of the message sent to Blair on 10 October, which was released to the media in Australia, London and Ireland. Copies of the letter were also sent to the British and Irish Embassies and Consulates in Australia:

*******

"Dear Prime Minister Blair,

"With the Peace Process in Ireland facing yet another Unionist-created crisis, as Australian Members of Parliament, Trade Union and Community leaders, we urge you to stand firmly by the power sharing terms of the Good Friday Agreement and the institutions established under it.

"We believe that the present crisis has been deliberately contrived by the Unionist leadership to undermine and destroy political reform and power sharing. We urge your Government to honour all the commitments made in the Good Friday Agreement and not allow the Unionists to exercise a veto on political reform that they have no right to.

"In elections at all levels on both sides of the border in Ireland, Sinn F�in has won a strong mandate. We note that Sinn F�in is the only political party to have elected representatives to the Parliaments in Belfast, Dublin and London. We have no doubt that this electoral success is based on Sinn F�in's Peace Strategy and its commitment to the Good Friday Agreement.

"To exclude Sinn F�in from power sharing would be to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters who supported the party at the ballot box. It would be an offence to the principle of democracy and a repudiation of the political process that so many throughout the world believe holds the key to the peaceful resolution of the centuries long conflict in Ireland.

"Prime Minister Blair, we believe that despite the present difficulties, the historic opportunity to resolve the conflict in Ireland by political means remains if all the parties to the Good Friday Agreement have the will and determination to see it through. We urge your Government to firmly support those in both communities who are genuinely bound by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and who continue to promote a resolution of he conflict through political reforms and the peace process.

"We urge you to reject Unionist pressure to exclude Irish Republicans from power sharing and we urge you not to suspend the democratic institutions established under the Good Friday Agreement."

The statement was signed by the following NSW MPs:0

Hon Meredith Burgmann,President NSW Legislative Council; Hon Tony Kelly, Deputy President NSW Legislative Council; Jim Anderson, MP for Londonderry; Deirdre Grusovin, MP for Heffron; Tony McGrane, MP for Dubbo; Col Markham, MP for Wollongong; Alison Megarrity, MP for Menai; John Mills, MP for Wallsend; Ernie Page, MP for Coogee; Milton Orkopoulos, MP for Swansea; Neville Newell, MP for Tweed; Paul Lynch, MP for Liverpool; Hon Ian West, Member Legislative Council; and Hon Peter Primrose, Member Legislative Council.

Trade Union leaders: National Union leaders - Paddy Crumlin (Maritime Union of Australia), Tony Maher (CFMEU Mining and Energy), John Sutton (CFMEU Construction) and John Maitland (CFMEU National Secretary) were joined by NSW union leaders Russ Collison (Australian Workers Union), Maurie O'Sullivan (Public Service Association) and Luke Foley (Australian Services Union).

Other signatories were: Denis O'Flynn, President Irish National Association of Australia; Kevin Tory, Director of the Trade Union Committee for Aboriginal Rights; Rt Hon Jim Macken (retired Judge); Damian O'Connor, NSW ALP Assistant Secretary; and Paddy Gorman, President Australian Aid for Ireland.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005