E D I T O R I A L

Abbott’s Rules
Tony Abbott is at it again, with a wicked plan to cut research funding to universities that do not put their workers onto individual contracts.

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.

N E W S

Report Derails Freight Plans

Journo Embarrasses Cole

CASA a Safety Threat

Howard Shafts Battlers

Sparks Fly at Sydney Uni

Unions Target March 14 For Peace

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

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.

L E T T E R S

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More Talk Needed on War

Thanks to NSW Labor Council for Organising a meeting of unionists to discuss the anti-war campaign. But where was the serious discussion about what unionists and the power of unions could actually acheive?

I found the feature speaker dry and dispassionate and frankly out of touch with the understanding of a large layer of workers. As one of the inspirational workplace delegates pointed out, people in her workplace went to the February 16 rally because they wanted to do something. Anther delegate showed that workers are not timid when he explained that one member called for the peak union bodies to organise a general strike. Most workers are looking for some leadership, and certainly more than a badge wearing exercise, to express their opposition to this war.

There was no time allowed for open discussion and the formal proceedings failed to indicate that unions in other states have discussed and endorsed strike action against the war. Delegates at the meeting also missed hearing the news that a 300 strong Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union delegates meeting in Sydney, 2 days prior, had voted to stop work if bombing begins. They also didn't get the report that the National Tertiary Eduction Union state division has unequivocally opposed war on Iraq and encouraged campus-based branches to stopwork if bombing starts. Macquarie University and University of Technology branches have already passed such motions. It wasn't even mentioned that the ACTU's Sharon Burrow threatened industrial action against the war in a recent speech.

Where were the fantastic exchanges about international union activity? The US unions who have established Labor Against the War, the British rail workers who have refused to carry military equipment? The French and Italian unions that are supporting industrial action? If we are serious about stopping the brutal and inhumane attack on Iraq we need to encourage the most powerful sector of society, organised workers, to take action that is felt in the hip pocket of the corporate and political elite.

Melanie Sjoberg, NSWPSA Delegate and Women's Councillor

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005