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Issue No. 165 20 December 2002  
E D I T O R I A L

Terror Australis
When the historians get down to chronicling 2002 their analysis will read simply: the Bali bombing brought the new era of terror home to Australians and heightened our feelings of insecurity and fear at our ill-defined place in the world.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Taking Stock
Labor Council secretary John Robertson reflects on 2002 and outlines the challenges for the year to come.

Bad Boss: Pushing the Envelope
Ongoing and resolute commitment to principles advanced by Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott have seen Australia Post make history as the first recipient of the Tony Award, recognising Australia's worst employer.

Unions: The Year That Was
From Cole�s witch-hunt to funky union tunes, Peter Lewis reviews the biggest stories from the world of work in 2002.

Republic: Still Fighting
Three years since the constitutional referendum, and despite constant reports of its impending demise, the Australian Republican Movement is still around and active

International: Global Ties, Global Binds
Labourstart's Eric Lee files his annual wrap-up of the year from an international perspective.

Politics: Turning Green
Union support for the ALP is no longer a given, with trade unionists turning to the Greens, as Jim Marr reports.

Technology: Unions Online 2002
Social Change Online's Mark McGrath looks at what worked best for unions online in 2002.

Industrial: The Past Is Before Us
Neale Towart argues that 2003 will be a year where traditional industrial campaigns come back into fashion.

Economics: Market Insecurity
Sydney University�s Frank Stilwell looks back at 2002 from a political economist�s perspective.

Review: Shooting for Sanity
Michael Moore's new movie Bowling for Columbine looks at America's love affair with guns, writes Mark Hebblewhite

Poetry: The PM's Christmas Message
Workers Online has secretly obtained an advance copy of the text of the Address to the Nation that the Prime Minister plans to make. We reproduce the text below.

Culture: Zanger's Sounds of Summer
If 2001-02 was the summer of political and musical terror then this summer 2002-03 is where irreverent Aussie music runs rife.

N E W S

 Abbott Gears For Grocon Stoush

 Delo Brushes Taubmans Pay Off

 Restaurateur Takes Knife to Wages Protection

 Legal Double Whammy to End Year

 We�re Dreaming of a Sweat-Free Christmas

 Star Organiser Takes Off

 Abbott's Xmas Message: Go To Jail

 Nurses Perform Wage Surgery

 Woolies Discount Spirit of Christmas

 New Collapses Prove Entitlements Farce

 Suncorp Ballot Draws Fire

 Unions On Big Day Out

 UN Migrant Worker Charter Welcomed

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Tread Carefully - Very Carefully
Nick Housten argues that structural weaknesses could keep federal Labor in Opposition for many years to come.

The Locker Room
A Year Of Two Halves
It was one of those years. It started with a lot of sport and it ended with a lot of sport. Noel Hester and Peter Moss check the runes and dish out the gongs in this year�s Workers Online Sports Awards.

Bosswatch
Footloose Capital
It was a year where the corporate world finally came close to consuming itself with bloated salaries, off the wall options and a string of mega-collapses

Predictions
Into the Beyond
Every year we ask our readers to gaze into the crystal ball. While history shows the view is mirky, we�ve don it again.

L E T T E R S
 Refugee Review
 Representative Representatives
 Men Only?
 Dry Argument
 Vale: Phil Berrigan
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

Suncorp Ballot Draws Fire


The Finance Sector Union is considering a legal challenge to Suncorp�s ballot for a non-union enterprise agreement at GIO amidst allegations of voter irregularities.

Suncorp claims 65 percent of 1307 GIO and Suncorp staff approved the proposal; but no scrutineers were allowed to check the process and the result was held back for more than 15 hours before the outcome was announced.

"Allegations surrounding the conduct of the ballot need to be investigated," FSA national secretary Tony Beck says.

"If the law says that this has been a fair and open ballot, we will accept the result, but we owe it to our members who have complained about the process to check out these serious allegations."

Beck says there appear to be irregularities in this ballot that could amount to vote rorting with some employees being on the voter role more than once, others complaining of the non-delivery of voter packs and up to 250 non-GIO staff being given a vote.

The apparent irregularities were discovered after the union began investigating reports of a "dirty tricks campaign" by the company which included blocking union email, threatening legal action to remove the current agreement if staff voted "no" to the company's proposal and denying properly accredited officials right of entry to GIO to check suspected award breaches.


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