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Issue No. 176 02 May 2003  
E D I T O R I A L

Solidarity Forever
Another May Day, another year gone, another year to look back on our history and celebrate the past and talk about how we can make our movement strong again.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Staying Alive
CPSU national secretary Adrian O'Connell talks about the fight to keep the public service - and the union movement - alive.

Bad Boss: The Ultimate Piss Off
Wollongong workers on poverty-level wages are losing up to $5000 for taking toilet breaks, according to the union representing staff at a Stellar call centre.

Industrial: Last Drinks
Jim Marr looks at the human cost of the decision to close Sydney�s Carlton United Brewery

National Focus: Around the States
If Tampa told us that John Howard circa 2003 is the same spotted rabid dog from 1987, this week�s assault on Medicare confirms it reports Noel Hester in this national round up.

Politics: Radical Surgery
Workers are vitally interested in Medicare, not least because they traded away wage rises to get it. Now, Jim Marr writes, the Coalition Government is tearing apart the 20-year-old social contract on which it was founded.

Education: The Price of Missing Out
University students and their families will pay more for their education following the May Budget, writes Tony Brown.

Legal: If At First You Don't Succeed
Love is wonderful the second time around, goes the famous torch song. But is the same true for legislation? Asks Ashley Crossland

History: Massive Attack
Labour historian Dr Lucy Taksa remembers the general strike of 1917 to put the recent anti-war marches into perspective

Culture: What's Right
Neale Towart looks at a new book that looks at the failings of the Left, while reasserting the liberal project

Review: If He Should Fall
Jim Marr caught Irish folk-rock-punk legend Shane MacGowan at Sydney�s Metro Theatre. He was surprised but not disappointed.

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.

Satire: IMF Ensures Iraq Institutes Market Based Looting
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to monitor the Iraqi economy to ensure that the reintroduction of looting into the economy conforms with free-market theory.

N E W S

 Mystery Men Behind Pan Bungle

 Charities Brace for Medicare Backlash

 Court Throws Out Cole Prosecutions

 Child Actor Dodges Broken Voice

 Rio Tinto: $40 Million for Boss, Eviction for Workers

 Child Care for Oldies Too

 Winning Poster Shouts at Freeloaders

 May Day Tragedy Claims Union Lives

 Westfield Cleaners to Down Mops

 Question Marks Over Nursing Home

 Burn Payout Highlights Compo Fears

 Costa Blows Whistle on Canberra Raid

 Hoops Bet on National Body

 Tear Us Down, Buttercup

 Activist Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
What May Day Means to Me
Reader Marlene McAlear penned this tribue to May Day and worker solidarity.

Solidarity
The Toast
Labor Council secretary John Robertson's toast to the annual May Day dinner in Sydney.

The Locker Room
The Numbers Game
In life there is lies, damned lies and sporting statistics, says Phil Doyle - but who�s counting.

Postcard
Brukman Evicted
ZNet's Marie Trigona reports from the streets of Argentina in the rundown to last week's presidential election.

Bosswatch
The Costs of Excess
Some tall business poppies had their heads lopped this week as the laws of economic gravity applied their always chaotic theory.

L E T T E R S
 Is Labor History?
 Bob Gould Sprays Gerard Henderson
 War and Peace
 A Strange Light
 A Little History
 Does It Have To Be?
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

Activist Notebook


The Tertiary Education Alliance invites you to a public forum on Tertiary Education.

Town Hall Education forum

The Tertiary Education Alliance invites you to a public forum on Tertiary Education.

Jenny Macklin, Shadow Minister for Education

Natasha Stott Despoja, Education spokesperson for The Australian Democrats

Kerry Nettle, Education spokesperson for The Greens

Thursday May 8th 5.30pm @ Sydney Town Hall

The Tertiary Education Alliance calls on students, staff and parents to come together the week before the Federal Budget to respond to the Howard government's planned attacks on education

***************

Farewell function for Quentin Bryce - recently appointed Queensland Governor.

hosted by BPW Ryde Hunters Hill and the Hon. Dr. Meredith Burgmann

When: 5.30pm to 7.30pm Wednesday 28th May, 2003

Where: Jubilee Room, Parliament House, Macquarie St, Sydney

Cost: $25

Bookings with Payment to BPW Ryde Hunters Hill, PO Box 481, Gladesville, 1675 by 23rd May

Enquiries to Val Buswell on 9719 8257

**************

POLITICAL ECONOMY CONFERENCE

Friday 9 May, 2003

'Education in Political Economy'

Darlington Centre, University of Sydney

Political economy challenges orthodox economics at many levels: in the realm of theory, in economic policy and in the broader understanding of community issues.

This conference will bring together people who are concerned with political economic education:

in Universities

in the media

in schools

in trade unions

in community organisations

Thursday 8 May at 5pmClive Hamilton talks on his new book

'Growth Fetish'

Merewether Lecture Theatre 2, Sydney Uni

For more information, or to register your interest please contact [email protected]

*****************

Juanita Nielsen Memorial Lecture

Wednesday 21 May 2003

6.15 pm for 6.30 pm start

Jubilee Room, Parliament House

Macquarie St, Sydney

Guest Speaker: Maree O'Halloran

President, NSW Teachers Federation

Maree O'Halloran will deliver this year's Juanita Nielsen Memorial Lecture, focusing on Aboriginal education. Maree is a strong campaigner for social justice and an advocate for public education.

Introduction: Dr Rae Francis, Australian historian

Rae will speak about the significance of the Green Bans era and Juanita's contribution.

Chair: Soraya Kassim, community development worker

Juanita Nielsen, publisher of the independent paper Now and active campaigner against high-rise development in Kings Cross, disappeared in July 1975. Her murderers were never brought to justice. The investigation was reopened last year. The circumstances of her disappearance remain unresolved but it is commonly believed that she was murdered because of her stand for the environment and the rights of low income residents.

Organised by Greens MP Lee Rhiannon

RSVP - (02) 9239 3551

or [email protected]


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