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Joining The Dots
ACTU secretary Greg Combet�s call for unions to develop a clear set of values to organise around on a broader social canvass is an important next step in the process of renewal.
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.
 Combet Calls On Unions to Muscle Up
HR Honours Death List Author
Hotel Workers Trump Living Wage
Abbott Brushes Security Concerns
Rebates Thorn in Medicare Side
Bosses Infected With SARS Hysteria
Entitlements: Bargaining Chip Ploy Fails
Nelson Plan Faces Higher Hurdle
Public To Pay For Patrick Closure
Airline Ratbags Bigger Than Texas
Credibility Crisis for World Bank
Acid on Billion Dollar Banks
CSIRO Budget Fears
Activists Notebook
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.
The Workers Press
Massive Attack
Teamwork Tom
Solidarity
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News
Entitlements: Bargaining Chip Ploy Fails
Local body workers have derailed a Sydney City bid to use their accrued entitlements as a bargaining chip in a row with South Sydney over high-yielding rental properties.
Sydney City had put millions of dollars of workers' money at risk by citing a perceived flaw in state government proclamations designed to protect staff affected by council amalgamations. It claimed that it wasn't responsible for taking over sick entitlements or anything covered by a contract of employment.
Months of negotiations and worksite agitation was brought to a close with agreement that will protect around $9 million worth of entitlement accrued by more than 400 former Leichhardt and South Sydney employees.
MEU legal officer Ben Kruse say the bargaining chip theory was the only explanation for Sydney City's "unjustified grab".
"There is no other explanation. The legal arguments it eventually put forward were extremely weak. There were no flaws in the proclamations," he told Workers Online.
"Sydney City Council's action was outrageous and a cynical attempt to use workers as bargaining chips."
The MEU's success follows hard on the heels of the AWU securing all the entitlements of members at Pan Pharmaceuticals, shut for six moths by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
That company paid over more than $1 million to NEST, an entitlements trust fund established by unions, this week.
Entitlements protection has been a major issue since the failure of several companies cost workers of millions of dollars worth of accrued benefits. Despite repeated promises, the Federal Government has not legislated to ensure the safety of all entitlements.
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Issue 177 contents
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