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A Capital Idea?
The trade union�s hierarchy will travel to Melbourne to celebrate the ACTU�s 75th Anniversary next week; a journey that says much about where our peak body has come from and even more about where it should go now.
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.
 Scourers Face Q-Fever Risk
New Vehicle for Entitlements
It�s War on Bullies!
Drivers Pack Down For World Cup
Howard Shrugs off Spanish Shame
Hunted Teacher Tells of Colombian Terror
Cole Bias Appeal Still On Cards
Extra Care To Beat Terrorist Threat
Strains Increase for Aged Care
Trades Hall Welcomes Bracks IR
Rail Campaign Gathers Steam
Workers Win Computer Games
Wine Workers Front Bosses
Regional Job Loss Fear At Unis
Canberra Get In On Outworkers ACT
Hounding of East Timorese �Shameful�
WTO Staff Begin Pay Revolt
Activists Notebook
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.
Big Issue - Begging To Differ
WTO Fallout
Internet Surveillance Research
Offensive Clowns
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News
Howard Shrugs off Spanish Shame
A Flag of Convenience Ship of Shame spewing oil along the Spanish Coast has placed the dangers of the Howard Government�s maritime policy under the spotlight.
The Maritime Union of Australia, fighting Coalition encouragement for Ships of Shame, warns Australia is susceptible to the sort of ecological disaster threatening Spanish wildlife and fishing communities.
"This latest disaster shows the Federal Government is asking for trouble," says MUA shipping campaign co-ordinator Sean Chaffer. "We've had a series of near misses around our coast and next time we may not be so lucky.
Two months ago a 50,000 tonne Filipino bulk oil carrier ran aground on a pristine section of coral reef in the Torres Strait. In July, the oil and coal carrier, Doric Chariot and the ANL Excellence, both ran aground off the Australian coast.
Ships of Shame, flagged in tax havens like the Bahamas to evade labour, safety and tax requirements, have been implicated in terrorist threats as well as major pollution scares. Osama Bin Laden used flag of convenience vessels to attack US interests in Africa.
Often registration is only a matter of swapping faxes, without requirement for any inspection of the vessel or its owners. This documentation can be purely fictional as exposed by a British journalist who registered a non-existent vessel under the name of a known terrorist as a Cambodian flag of convenience trader, earlier this year.
Howard and Transport Minister John Anderson have authorised the wholesale arrival of these ships in Australian waters at the expense of hundreds of Australian maritime jobs.
One hundred kilometres of Spanish coastline has already been saturated in crude oil since the midweek breakup of the Greek-owned, Prestige, a typical Ship of Shame registered in the tax haven of the Bahamas.
Fear and panic was spreading amongst traditional fishing and mussel gathering communities as oil covered birds and marine life washed ashore.
Flag of Convenience shipping is tied up with the oil companies price-driven reliance on older, single hulled transporters.
Big oil companies, including Shell, BP and ExxonMobil charter ships of a similar age to the Prestige, according to statistics compiled by a London shipbroker and the British Guardian newspaper. Older ships are considerably cheaper to hire than modern ones.
This week's Flag of Convenience crisis is the latest in a long list of environmental catastrophes at sea. Some of the worst have been ...
- the Sea Empress spilling 72,000 tonnes of crude oil and 480 tonnes of heavy fuel oil across 200 km of Welsh coastline in 1996
- the Braer releasing 85,000 tonnes of crude off the Shetland Islands in 1993. Fishing for prawns and mussels was subsequently banned for years
- more than 200km of Spanish coast being affect when Greek tanker, Aegean Sea, lost 74,000 tonnes of crude in 1992
- the 1991 explosion of the ABT Summer, spilling 260,000 tonnes of crude, much of it onto Angolan shores
- 2000km of Alaskan coastline being affected by the 1989 spill of 37,000 tonnes of oil from the Exxon Valdez. Clean-up operations cost more than $30 million.
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Issue 162 contents
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