E D I T O R I A L

The Sirens' Song
There is nothing for trade unionists to celebrate from Labor�s loss in the Cunningham by-election.

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

Email Use Sparks Pay Claim

Melbourne Cup Strike Threat

10,000 Rally in Support of Kingham

Negligent Bosses Labelled �Serial Killers�

Ambulance Officers Win $6 Million Back-Pay

Strike Pay to Bali Appeal

Boral Bosses Bag Bulk Bucks

Bid to Block New ACCC Chief

Cuts Equals Profits for ANZ

First Takers for 36-Hour Week

IT Outsourcing Agencies Called To Account

Pay to Work Spreads to Hornsby

Howard Opens Waters to Rogue Ship

Work a Suicide Factor

Unis Drop RDO Assault

Boxes of Books for Good Causes

Activist 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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The Sirens' Song

Local trade unionists, who were instrumental in the victory of a Green candidate in possession of a pure platform, will ultimately achieve little more than a warm inner glow from bashing the ALP hierarchy.

Sure, the Cunningham vote represents a protest against the excesses of machine politics; but it should be seen as no more than that: taking a seat from the ALP will do nothing to promote the labour movement's long-term interests.

The problem with the Greens is that to build their base they must inevitably weaken Labor's - with the only long-term winner being the Howard Government.

Whatever their problems with pre-selection, policy or Party personalities, unions should not withdraw from the ALP; rather it makes the need to engage all the more compelling.

If they don't like the way the party is currently run, unions should get their members active in branches and influence policy from the grass roots; while exercising their institutional influence in a more constructive manner than just bolstering the numbers of their factional masters.

That said, the ALP has a responsibility to select genuine community candidates and develop policy that promotes union values first and then wins over the public; rather than just reacting to the latest poll.

Although the political wing often maddens us with its conservatism and self-focus, unions have a responsibility to its members to work for the election of the party it created more than 100 years ago.

Cunningham is a wake-up call for both wings of the labour movement - the political wing is vulnerable without the support of the industrial wing; but so too does the industrial wing need a political voice.

In reality the Greens will never deliver the unions' agenda because they will never attain power; and by taking seats away from Labor they will only make that agenda more desperate.

In Homer's Odyssey, the crew are on their long journey home when they encounter the Sirens, beautiful maidens who lure sailors to their deaths with an irresistible song.

Odysseus fills his crew's ears with wax to save them from temptation, while he ties himself to the mast so he can hear their tune without being led astray.

Like the Sirens, the Greens' Gong song is sweet, but it will not help us get home. We need to show the discipline to tie ourselves to the mast and sail past their promises and back on a course that delivers real benefits for union members.

Peter Lewis

Editor.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005