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Issue No. 168 28 February 2003  
 
F E A T U R E S

Interview: Agenda 2003
ACTU secretary Greg Combet looks at the year ahead and how a union movement can keep the focus on the workplace at a time of global crisis.

Peace: The Colour Purple
Local communities across Australia are taking stands against war by displaying purple banners. Jim Marr visits one.

Industrial: Long, Hot Summer
As Workers Online took its annual break, the world kept turning � at an increasingly alarming velocity.

Solidarity: Workers Against War
Joann Wypijewski reports on how union locals in the USA are fighting the hounds of war at home.

Security: Howard And The Hoodlums
With all the talk of terror, the Howard Government�s Achilles heel is its tolerance of Flags of Convenience shipping , writes Rowan Cahill

International: Industrial Warfare
Scottish freight train drivers have already acted to disrupt the war effort in the UK with crews of four freight trains carrying war supplies to ports walking off the job, writes Andrew Casey

History: Unions and the Vietnam War
The Vietnam experience steered some unions towards social activism for the first time. Unions are today key players in the anti-war movement, writes Tony Duras.

Review: Eight Miles to Mowtown
Mark Hebblewhites looks at two summer movies that tap into different sounds of American culture - white boy rap and motown blues.

Poetry: Return To Sender
Resident bard Divd Peetz discovers that Elvis has become the latest shock recruit to the peace cause.

Satire: CIA Recruits New Intake of Future Enemies
CIA Director George Tenet announced today that the agency has begun recruiting future enemies for the year 2014.

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L A T E S T   N E W S

Report Derails Freight Plans
A plan to transfer control of the state�s regional freight lines to the Commonwealth would compromise safety, degrade the rail network and cost jobs, according to a damning independent report.

BIS Shrapnel says the proposal to give Canberra control of the track was based on unrealistic costings that would leave NSW taxpayers exposed by up to half a billion dollars. [full story]

Journo Embarrasses Cole
Tony Abbott�s $60 million Building Industry Royal Commission missed a corrupt WorkCover assessor, nailed this week by a television journalist, because it wasn�t looking, according to the CFMEU.

Current affairs program Today Tonight ran footage of the private, licensed, Sydney-based assessor accepting payments from a reporter that would have enabled him to operate a 60-tonne crane on a building site. While he was at it, the reporter also got rigger�s and dogmen�s tickets for $110 each. [full story]

CASA a Safety Threat
Federal aviation watchdog, Civil Aviation Safety Authority, stands accused of putting strike breakers ahead of public safety.

Two groups of airlines workers were scathing about CASA�s �hands-off� approach to industry standards after it refused to censure Virgin or Qantas for taking shortcuts in the face of industrial unrest. [full story]

Howard Shafts Battlers
John Howard won�t move to rein in million dollar executive payouts but will act to restrict wage increases for the lowest paid to $8.40 a week.

Howard made those positions clear this week, drawing fire for his �meanness� from industrial and political labour. [full story]

Sparks Fly at Sydney Uni
Industrial warfare has broken out at Sydney University between its ALP-controlled student council and staff, with strike action planned for this week.

The 13 staff, members of the National Tertiary Education Union, will stop on Tuesday over plans to cut a raft of leave entitlements, including one for menstrual stress. [full story]

Unions Target March 14 For Peace
Workers around NSW are being encouraged to hold workplace meetings and take symbolic action against Australian involvement in a war with Iraq on March 14 as the union drive for peace gathers steam.

Public transport workers will wear badges, building workers will hold stop work meetings and schools will conduct peace assemblies as part of coordinated action under the �Unions Work for Peace� Banner. [full story]

ALSO MAKING NEWS

 Tongans Play Shame Game

 Palestinians Question ICFTU

 Neanderthals Roll Back Safeguards

 Keep Vultures out of Culture

 Bloody Noses for Sticky Beaks

 Warning As Barrier Council Turns 80

 Faint Praise for Labor Education Stand

 Staff Bogged Down

 Activists Notebook

email workers to a friend latest breaking news from labornet
�There is a better way of spending $60 million on employer-employee relationships than taking the stick to one particular union simply because it might suit the political agenda of the day.� - Alan Jones

E D I T O R I A L
If Abbott can withhold public money on the grounds of ugly IR policies; why shouldn�t Labor Governments do the opposite and require decency?

Tory Aid

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Getting On with The Job
Premier Bob Carr chose Trades Hall as the venue to launch Labor's IR policy for the upcoming state election.

Postcard
Justice in Bogota
Sydney lawyer Ian Latham knows how to pick them. He�s gone straight from the Cole Royal Commission to justice Colombian-style.

The Locker Room
Heart Of Darkness
There is a school of thought that there is, in fact, only one World Cup - and it doesn�t involve cricket, writes Phil Doyle.

Politics
Danger Mouse
John Howard's politics have trapped him into supporting an unpopular war. He is in political trouble, Leonie Bronstein argues.


LETTERS to the Editor
 Johnny Goes Marching Off
 Misled Artist
 Penalty Shoot-Out
 More Talk Needed on War

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