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Issue No. 172 28 March 2003  
E D I T O R I A L

Vale: Rule of Law
As the US attack on Iraq continues, the Howard Government fires a $60 million shot at the CFMEU and bemused onlookers begin to wonder what the �Law� means any more.

F E A T U R E S

Poetry: If I Were a Rich Man
Through a distortion in the time-space continuum, we have found a recording showing how people a few years into the future will deal with health care.

Interview: League of Nations
ICFTU general secretary Guy Ryder on the war, core labour standards and why Australia is an international pariah.

Industrial: 20/20 Hindsight
A retrospective analysis of the Accord is needed to help develop future strategies. Is it worth trying again? And if so, what would need to be different?

Organising: On The Buses
A new rank and file leadership team is standing up for the harried bus driver in the run-up to the NSW State Election

Unions: National Focus
A gaze around the country reveals some inspiring and innovative organising initiatives, a fruitful connection with young workers in South Australia and some typically robust industrial campaigns reports Noel Hester.

History: The Banner Room
On the eve of it�s refurbishment, Jim Marr ventures into one of Trades Hall�s best kept secrets; the room that houses relics of labour�s halcyon days.

International: The Slaughter Continues
Chilling new statistics from Colombia's main trade union confederation CUT: nine trade unionists assassinated in the first two months of this year.

Legal: A Legal Case For War?
Aaron Magner looks at the legal implications of the crusade of the Coalition of the Willing

Culture: Singing For The People
When there�s a struggle for social justice, when a war is brewing or rights are being eroded, the first ones to pen, paper and protest are often the folkwriters.

Review: The Hours
On the eve of International Women�s Day Tara de Boehmler follows the tale of three women who would rather choose death than a life devoid of personal choice.

Poetry: I Wanna Bomb Saddam
Scarier than Star Wars, the latest weapon to be deployed in the battle for Iraq is the Singing Dubya.

Satire: Diuretic Makes Warne's Excuses Look Thin
Australian cricketer Shane Warne today admitted that he was still feeling the after effects of the diuretic he tested positive to.

N E W S

 Cole�s Bad Medicine

 Unions Condemn Protest Violence

 Hospitals Pick Sweatshops Over Chain Gangs

 New Faces Part of Labor �Rejuvenation�

 Cobar Draws Line in Sand

 Test Case � UK 26, Australia 0

 Uncle Sam and the Union Busters

 Calling All Artists � May Day Poster Comp

 Nipping Surveillance in the Bud

 Bus Drivers Back Childcare

 Forced Labour Prevails Despite Sanctions

 Union Gains On Display

 Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Workers Friend
Shock jock Alan Jones snubbed his Liberal mates to bucket the Cole Royal Commission and launch Jim Marr's book

The Locker Room
Boer Bore Boring
In the face of oppression Phil Doyle falls asleep in front of the TV

Guest Report
Dead Labor
The Hawke and Keating legacy is John Howard, Leonie Bronstein argues.

Seduction
Hands Off, Tony
John Della Bosca argues the NSW Industrial Relations System gives his State a competitive advantage.

Bosswatch
Groundhog Day
Another year, another round of corporate excess. Bosswatch returns from its summer slumber to find the same old dogs up to the same tricks.

L E T T E R S
 Statement on Labor's Response to War
 Tom's Tantie
 Shameless Extremists
 Barbarians at the Gate
 More War Comment
 Back-Slapping Bob
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News

Unions Condemn Protest Violence


NSW Unions are calling on the mainstream peace movement to distance itself from the organisers of Wednesday�s violent high school walk out and insisting on no repeat performances.

The NSW Labor Council last night endorsed a resolution moved by key left-wing unions calling on the Walk Against the War Coalition to take steps to ensure a similar event is not held.

Labor Council delegates will take the resolution to Monday's night's meeting of the Walk Against the War Coalition, where Labor Council, the Greens, community peace groups and the organisers of Wednesday's rally the National Union of Students have voting rights.

Also in the coalition are fringe Trotsky-ist groups the Democratic Socialist Party and the International Socialist Organisation, who were responsible for calling on youngsters to ignore a call from the National Union of Students to end the rally at Hyde Park.

Instead they led a rump of protestors on a rampage of the City, culminating in the stand-off outside the Prime Minister's office. They are planning to call two more such rallies in the next fortnight.

According to onlookers at the rally there was a lack of marshalls and general organization, calculated to create the sort of mayhem that has undermined the message of those genuinely supportive of peaceful solutions to conflict.

"The reality is that Wednesday's rally has put the peace movement back months - if John Howard wasn't paying these people, then he should be." Labor Council secretary John Robertson says. "We are a mainstream movement, not a group of extremists."

"Its important that the mainstream peace movement takes a stand against these fringe elements."

The next endorsed march is the Palm Sunday Peace March on April 12 to be coordinated by all the major religious denominations.

Flotilla for Peace

Meanwhile the Maritime Union of Australia has organised a floating protest on Sydney Harbour for Saturday April 5.

The MUA has organised thee ferries and a number of other crafts to float outside the Prime Minister's Kirribilli residence.

Peace supporters are invited to join the protest at 1pm, boarding the ferries at 1pm.

The ACTU is backing a variety of unionists who have taken anti-war protests into their workplaces. Victorian nurses, builders, labourers and seafarers were amongst those who added their voices to the campaign last week.

"Mr Howard has made no compelling case for the invasion of a country that poses no direct threat to Australia. Nor has he produced any evidence linking recent terrorist attacks with the regime of Saddam Hussein," ACTU secretary, Greg Combet, said.

Mr Combet said the Prime Minister had failed to address a number of key concerns troubling millions of Australians opposed to the war.

It was a theme taken up by CFMEU NSW secretary, Andrew Ferguson, when he addressed last Sunday's 50,000 strong anti-war rally in Sydney's Domain. Ferguson told the crowd there would be no lasting Middle East peace until justice was delivered to the Palestinians.


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