E D I T O R I A L

A Dry Argument
It�s interesting to watch the way the mainstream media has handled the devastating drought that has laid waste much of rural New South Wales.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Life After Keating
Labor's foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd looks at the world and wonders what might have been ...

Industrial: That Friday Feeling
Anthony Stavropoulos has been working six days a week for the last eight years and now he wants his weekends back. �Remember that Friday feeling?� he asks. �You just don�t get that anymore.�

Bad Boss: Begging to Work
They may put themselves about as the Saints of the Fourth Estate, but bosses at the Big Issue Magazine have been nominated by their own vendors for this month�s Tony award.

Organising: Project Pilbara
Sydney University�s Bradon Ellem reports on how unions are bouncing back in Rio territory

Unions: Off the Rails
The Federal Government is attempting to turn NSW Railways into a political football with a proposal that threatens the safety of freight and passenger trains in NSW and life in our rail Towns, writes Phil Doyle.

International: Brazil Turns Left
Union stalwarts throughout the American hemisphere are cheering the election of Lula � the peanut seller and shoeshine boy, turned union leader - who has been elected as the first working-class President of Brazil.

Environment: Brown Wash
Stuart Rosewarn argues the Johannesburg Sunmmit was a gripping showcase of Australia�s lack of a strategic vision.

History Special: Learning from the Past
Ray Markey looks at union membership growth in the 1880s & 1900s to argue that today�s unions must engage to grow.

Corporate: Will the Bullying Backfire?
Job insecurity, unemployment, a growing gap between rich and poor, massive global poverty and environmental danger are the big issues for the protests at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Sydney.

Technology: Danger Lurks For The Passive
If unions fail to exploit opportunities on the web to gain members, other organisations are likely to fill the void and provide services to workers on the internet.

History: In Labour�s Image
Neale Towart looks at a long-overdue initiative to around NSW through the eyes of the workers.

Politics: Without Power Or Glory
South Coast contributor Rowan Cahill gives his take on the Cunningham by-election result.

History Special: A 'Cosy Relationship'
Barbara Webster looks at Rockhampton between 1916 � 1957 to debunk the �dependence� theory of trade union growth.

Culture: Blood Stains the Wattle
Former Queensland Treasurer Keith De Lacey has turned up in print with a rollicking tale of life during the famous Mt Isa strike of the 60s.

Satire: Iraq Pre-empts Pre-emptive Strike
Saddam Hussein has launched a pre-emptive strike on the United States to prevent it from pre-emptively striking Iraq first.

Poetry: The Executive Pay Cut
Executives accepting pay freezes, or even pay cuts? This outrageous proposal has been put on the table by some capitalists themselves, and taken up by our bard.

Review: Time Out
When a family man invents a new life after losing his steady job, Tara de Boehmler watches his charade escalate until there is no turning back.

N E W S

African Immigration Scam Widens

Unions in New Economy Breakthrough

Water Workers Told to Stay Home

Rural Campaign Against Rail Carve-Up

Seven's Deadly Sin: Email Access Denied

Vic Election: It�s Bracks �v- Jeff junior

Aboriginal Health Workers Denied Minimum Wage

Zookeepers Settle But Pay Stink Continues

Nurses Gear Up for Aged Care Action

Stoppage Over Rubbish Protection

Nurses Care For Themselves Too

New Roster Undermines WA Prison Security

Strike Rocks Israel

ICFTU: Japan No Workers� Paradise

STOP PRESS: Libs Plan $70m Arts Heist

Activist Notebook

C O L U M N S

Month In Review
War and Pieces of Work
The Bali Tragedy dominated the news this month, leaving many questioning the motive and wondering if this is fallout from Australia�s unquestioning support of George Dubya�s �War On Terror�.

The Soapbox
Beware of Greeks Bearing Historical Allusions
Roland Stephens argues that the current popular line that the USA is a modern day version of the Roman Empire is flawed.

The Locker Room
Over The Fence Is Out
Phil Doyle warms up for another season of hard hitting and fast bowling in the park, making the rules up as he goes along.

Indigenous
The Sea of Hands
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation are five years old. Spokeswoman Dameeli Coates addressed labor Council to mark the event.

Postcard
Tokyo Youth Call
Tokyo unions are relying on young organisers to infiltrate workplaces as part of a major organising campaign, which focuses on non-unionised companies, reports Mary Yaager.

Bosswatch
Still Crazy After All These Years
With new research suggests CEO carry similar personality traits to psycho-paths, the AGM season is proving that there�s little room for logic in our nation�s board rooms.

L E T T E R S

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Strike Rocks Israel

Collapsing wages, increasing unemployment and growing poverty among both Israelis and Palestinians has forced a national strike in the middle of a war.

The strike has had a deep impact because of the continuing economic struggle the nation faces with a dramatically slowing economy, largely created by the Palestinian intifada.

Sections of Israeli society who normally do not take part in strikes joined in willingly this time.

While the public sector workers are about to return to work - after a late night deal on Thursday - those employed by local authorities are vowing to continue the pay and welfare strike.

This extraordinary strike was just one of the triggers for the collapse of the Sharon government with one of his Minister admitting that the strikers had a case - and the coalition partners having a blue over Budget spending.

The Labour Party finally walked out of the coalition government in protest over an Israeli Budget continuing to prop up the militant Jewish settlers living in the Palestinian Authority lands, rather than spending money on social welfare to help the poor living inside Israel proper.

But the elections, which were forced by the collapse of the government, may deliver a new regime which is even further to the Right - more concerned about fighting the Palestinians than fixing the economy.

And this will be especially so if Bush starts to bomb Baghdad before the January elections are held in Israel ....and in turn Hussein starts to reign down mayhem on Jerusalem.

The key will be whether the Labour Party and the major party to its Left - Meretz - can turn the attention of the Israeli public to the economic issue of increasing poverty among both Israelis and Palestinians.

The party's of the Left and Centre - along with the Histadrut trade union movement - need to convince the voters that a democratic government, elected on the platform of defeating poverty by delivering jobs and bread to both Israelis and Palestinains - can also deliver security and peace.

.

The Treasury revealed this week that the Israeli economy has just entered its third year of a recession with nearly 30,000 manufacturing jobs lost in two years and more than one million Israelis trying to eke out a living below the poverty line.

The number of people not earning enough to pay income tax went up by an unprecedented 2.8 percent this year, and now includes 43.1 percent of the working population.

Meanwhile real wages have dropped sharply - the latest data showing that in the first seven months of this year the values of the monthly pay packet is 4.5 percent less.

Wages in the private sector, though higher than in the public sector, were eroded far faster. In the first seven months of 2002, the average wage in the private sector fell 4.7 percent in real terms compared to an erosion of 3.7 percent in the public sector.

The erosion of wages was one of the key factors behind the month-long strike involving workers in government offices, local municipal workers (such as garbage collection) and some nationalized industries.

While real wages are dropping the Sharon government was making it easier for employers to import cheap labour from Asia to work in factories, on farms and in the hospitality industry.

Prime Minister Sharon - who is a big landowner - employers a huge number of Asian migrant workers on his farms.

And the incentives are obvious. The Sharon government has created a legal structure which means the cost of employing migrant labour is nearly 40% lower than employing an Israeli and 30% lower than employing someone from the Palestinian territories.

The election should be fought on who is making profits out of this cheap labour and how decent wages can be provided for both Israelis and Palestinians by changing the rules to favour workers and the poor - not the friends of the Right, the employers.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005