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Issue No. 174 11 April 2003  
E D I T O R I A L

Might Does Not Mean Right
So the Americans have removed the dictator Hussein, the right wing press are firing more pot-shots than the Republican Guard and George W. Bush can ride into the sunset having liberated the Middle East. Game over � or is it?

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Picking Up The Peaces
Walk Against the War Coalition convenor Bruce Childs outlines the challenge for the peace movement in the lead up to Palm Sunday.

Unions: The Royal Con
Jim Marr argues the Cole Commission can only be taken seriously by people kept ignorant of the way it actually operated.

National Focus: Around the Grounds
Unions maintain the pressure for peace as the upcoming organising conference takes on added significance, reports Noel Hester.

Economics: The Secret War on Trade
Overseas-based multi-nationals are coming after our film industry, electricity, water, pharmaceutical benefits and even childcare. Or are they? Nobody knows, as Jim Marr reports.

International: United Front
Workers and their unions around the world have possibly never been as united in their commitment to campaign together against the War in Iraq, writes Andrew Casey

History: Confessions of a Badge Collector
Bill Pirie has one of the largest collections of trade union badges in the world. After 20 years the collection now numbers some 6,000 badges.

Politics: Stalin�s Legacy
Fifty years ago last month Josef Stalin died. How could it be that a democratic and socialist revolution produced one of the monsters of the twentieth century, asks Leonie Bronstein.

Review: Such Was Not Ned�s Life
The life of Ned Kelly is what we in the world of journalism term a �ball tearing yarn� so why have writers of the movie adaptation felt so impelled to dress it up with fiction, asks Tara de Boehmler.

Poetry: Osama's Top Recruiter
Through our extensive intelligence networks, we have managed to track down the top recruiter for the global terror network of Osama bin Laden.

Satire: Woolworths CEO Denied Bonus After Company Posts Profit
Woolworths chief executive Roger Corbett was devastated today to report an 18.3% rise in profit under his management over the last year.

N E W S

 Carr: Workers Won It For Me

 Nursing Crisis Bites Elderly

 Judge Puts �Predator� Before Workers

 WA Court Undermines Cole

 Mexican Chain Gangs Win NSW Work

 Della Muscles Up to Abbott

 STOP PRESS - Brewery Goes Flat

 ACCC Urged to Consider Jobs

 Unions Stats Track Armageddon

 Cameron: Feds More Interested in Iraq

 SARS Lays Jobs Low

 Working Hours Benefit Millions

 Journos Urge War Crimes Prosecutions

 Unions Support Displaced in Iraq

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Factional Free-For-All
Chris Christodoulou looks at the fallout from the selection of the new Carr Ministry and what it means to the factional warlords.

The Locker Room
The Best Season Since Last Year
Phil Doyle goes trudging through the mud in search of the heart of the matter beneath the corporate biffo

Culture
Books on Bombs
In times like these, reading inevitably turns to America and war. Chris White wades through Pilger, Chomsky, Eco, Moore and Vidal.

Postcard
Postcard from Harvard
Labor Council's Michael Gadiel was elected to give the valedictory speech to this year's Harvard Trade Union Program.

L E T T E R S
 Taking Stalin's Crimes Seriously
 Unfair Dismissals
 More Angry Trots
 Tom's Tirade
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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Letters to the Editor

Unfair Dismissals


I have read recently your article on unfair dismissal and would like to put the human side of the equation something that is lost in the legal and political envrons.

I have worked for a insurance company for 5 years and been retrenched with a injury that stills causes me problems (a neck injury,migraines,headaches,anxiety and depression brought on by my employers actions) which has been the subject matter of four years worth of workers comp action.

Upto 4 weeks prior to my retrenchment I was in the workers compensation tribunal for lost time which was awarded in my favour my employer then sought a further solicitors advise and then retrenchened me.

Call me cynical but I dont believe in coincidences.

Apparently if i make a unfair dismissal claim and win I will be taxed 30c in the dollar not only on any award made by the court but on the package aswell !!.

So I would be disadvantaged by making a unfair dismissal claim and winning - which seems stupid.

So I now find myself in a situation whereby having a workers compensation injury that my prospects of obtaining work are zip, I have been advised by two employment agencies that inurers would not employ me in view of this.

So here i am damned to continue in the ranks of people consigned to the whims of companys who turn a dollar over by handling workers compensation claims.

My doctor advised that most people are often made worse - health wise - by the actions of these providers and the employers.

Well I can tell you its true !.

I have been advised that I can obtain a section 43 payout for the residual problems with my neck,headaches,anxiety and depression but what horrors await me ?.....

Legal costs that will be in access of the payout ?.

Having to spend more money on treatments to overcome the problems for the next 25 + years ?.

The system presently in place is so biased to the EMPLOYER that employee is stands no chance of any justice or equity, and you tell me who is is least able to bare the cost.

regards

Stephen Coles


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