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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Melbourne Cup Strike Threat

This comes as hospitality workers in Victoria are considering a campaign of snap strikes in pubs, clubs and the Crown Casino on major race days - to show their anger with the Victorian Government's decision to back down on workplace smoking laws.

Tabcorp workers attended the company's Annual General Meeting in Melbourne to highlight the impact of cost cutting on their livelihoods and the outrageous increases in executive salaries.

Tabcorp's Telephone Betting call centre Workers have had their shifts cut by 25% over the last 12 months due to the introduction of Interactive Voice Response and Natural Voice Recognition technologies as part of a cost cutting exercise. The technologies are hugely unpopular with punters.

Complete Dummies

The workers attending the AGM were joined by a life sized papier-mache horse complete with a dummy jockey to reinforce their message to shareholders: "Don't be treated like dummies, don't to be taken for a ride by Tabcorp".

Inside the meeting several ASU members asked questions about the unpopular telephone voice recognition technology, the remuneration opackages for chief executives, especially Tabcorp Boss Michael Slatter.

One ASU member asked if shareholders want a 10-cent dividend or 30 cents added to the share price if it meant destroying the livelihoods of workers who have been loyal employees for 20 years or more.

Questioners also pointed to an average increase of 13% for Board members and 25.04% increase for senior executives.

"What message does the Board think this sends to the hundreds of casual wagering staff struggling by on under $20,000 per annum who have received an average increase in wages of 75 cents per hour and at the same time seeing hours of work and service levels reduced?" asked an ASU Member at the AGM. "Do the Board members consider themselves to be working 13.03% harder?"

An industry source said that the Tabcorp Board were quite upset with call centre management over executive salaries being publicly highlighted.

ASU officials later met with Tabcorp management with talks scheduled to continue. Depending on the outcome of these talks, ASU members will now turn their attention to the Sparing Racing Carnival, and decide whether a campaign of industrial action is needed to bring Tabcorp to the table.

Hospitality Staff Say Smoke Must Go

Meanwhile The LHMU said its 6000 Victorian hospitality members are fed up with smoky venues, and issued a warning about possible Spring Racing Carnival industrial action.

"Our people are still contemplating it on the Derby, the Melbourne Cup and Oaks Day," says LHMU Hotel Union's Victorian Secretary, Brian Daley Brian Daley said.

"They are angry that a Labor government seems to be more interested in the healthy bottom lines of their employers rather than a healthy life for the workers. In the end this is clearly going to be poor economics by this government."

"The evidence on smoking shows their will be greater drainage on public spending on health and hospitals by taxpayers, from this policy," Brian Daley said.

"The best thing would be for the AHA to sit down with the workers and their union and plan an orderly strategy to deliver a healthy and a profitable hotel workplace."

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005