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Interview: Trade Secrets
Federal Labor�s trade spokesman Craig Emerson is on a mission to bring the shady world of trade talks into the open
Industrial: It�s About Overtime, Stupid
An overtime free-for-all is at the heart of Australia�s hours explosion and it's time to look at a cap on hours, reports Noel Hester from the ACTU�s Working Hours Summit.
Unions: Full Steam Ahead
After two weeks of rallies around the state, rural Rail Towns are making a stand for jobs and safety. Jim Marr reports.
Bad Boss: The BBQ Battle Axe
Manly restaurateur, David Diamond, is a shoo-in for this month�s Bad Boss nomination, leaving Workers Online looking for a good employer who can undo some of his damage.
Economics: Different Dimensions of Debt
Professor Frank Stilwell presented the big picture on debt policy at the Evatt Foundation�s Breakfast Seminar
History: Raking the Coals
Labour historians Rae Cooper and Greg Patmore explain why today�s organisers have much to learn from the lessons of the past.
History Special: Wherever the Necessity Exists
Rae Cooper tracks NSW union organising between 1900-1910 to argue that today�s activists should be looking closer to home for inspiration
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.
History Special: A 'Cosy Relationship'
Barbara Webster looks at Rockhampton between 1916 � 1957 to debunk the �dependence� theory of trade union growth.
Politics: Regime Change for Saddam
Labour lawyer Jim Nolan looks at the challenge for the Left in the current geopolitical stand-off in the Middle East.
International: World War
Europe has suddenly come aflame with industrial action, Andrew Casey reports.
Corporate: Industrious Thinking
Neale Towart looks at the influence of German immigration on Australian industry policy in the post-war period.
Review: Jack High
Mick Molloy�s new flick Crackerjack tells the tale of a traditional bowling club struggling to stay afloat in an industry dominated by pokies, pokies and more pokies, writes Tara de Boehmler.
Culture: Duffy�s Song
Former Labor Council official Mark Duffy�s Sydney super band Sundial clocks in a bit of a corker.
Satire: A Nation of Sooks
The Strewth Institute's Tony Moore looks at the spate of defo suits and wonders if Australia has gone soft.
Poetry: Mr Flexibility
One of the key challenges facing unions, as the ACTU celebrates its 75th anniversary, is confronting the problems of increasing working hours and work intensity under the guise of "flexibility". Our resident bard, David Peetz, takes up that theme this week.
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other LaborNET sites |
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Labor Council of NSW
Vic Trades Hall Council
IT Workers Alliance
Bosswatch
Unions on LaborNET
Evatt Foundation
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L A T E S T N E W S |
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We Paid Witnesses Who �Lied�
The Employment Advocate�s war on the CFMEU has been undermined by revelations that taxpayers funded anti-union witnesses who lied to the Federal Court.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott was this week forced to defend the payments to witnesses whose evidence against the union was described by a Federal Court judge as �manufactured�. [full story]
African Immigration Scam Widens
More evidence of widespread immigrations rorts is coming to light as Manly eatery Ribs and Rumps sues for peace with its three South African chefs.
Workers Online has become aware of another three cases involving the alleged underpayment of restaurant workers imported to Australia under controversial Section 457 immigrations visas. [full story]
School Staff Block Parents� Pay
NSW parents will miss out on Bob Carr�s Back to School Allowance if the Education Department doesn�t deliver on a promise to thousands of admin and support staff.
The $50 a pupil bonus will be the first noticeable victim of months of PSA bans and work-to-rules in support of its two-year-old claim for extra staffing in public schools. [full story]
Yarra Operators Dodge Accident Probe
The operators of the newly flagged CSL Yarra are refusing to cooperate with a union investigation into an accident that left a guest-worker in hospital.
A crew member on the controversial bulk carrier Stadacona - formerly the CSL Yarra - was rushed to Royal Brisbane Hospital this week after falling 15 metres into the hold of the ship. [full story]
Financial Windfall in Radio Sale
The financial press is likening the NSW Labor Council to media mogul Kerry Packer after it reaped a 7000 per cent return in four years on its last remaining radio asset.
The Labor Council this week approved the sale of off-band AM radio station 2KM for $2.1 million, in an offer secretary John Robertson described as �too good to refuse�. [full story]
Liza Fights For Her Stud
A Star City dealer and supervisor is fighting for her job - and the right to wear a tongue stud.
Union member Liza Fairburn has taken an unfair dismissal case to the Industrial Relations Commission, after being suspended without pay from October 2, 2002. [full story]
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ALSO MAKING NEWS |
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Vic Anti-Union Campaign Backfires
Car Workers Rev Up For Fight
Coles Myer Breaks Out Of Sweat
Police Sick of Being Kicked Around
Jobless Dumped on Drought Farms
Men Only Scholarships Hit Snag
Vale: Peggy Errey
Activists' Notebook
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The Soapbox
Economic Migrants
A man - a worker - risks death by machine gun to escape what he is told is a 'workers' state'. He flees East Berlin through a tunnel, dug beneath a cemetery. Awards
And the Winner Is �
It�s that time of the year when we honour the best. In the past week, both the IR Writers fraternity and ACTU have got in the act with more to come. The Locker Room
More Post-Colonial Madness
Phil Doyle joins the fools and Englishmen out in the midday sun, and finds that it all comes at a price. Bosswatch
Call Waiting
The Howard Government backs off its plans to privatise the rest of Telstra under market pressure. But it�s nothing like the pressure that former HIH directors are under.
Month In Review
Way Down
As Elvis might have said, if he had had a longer-term perspective �ooh, what a month it was, it really was such a month ��
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