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Shit Sandwich
It took a few well-chosen comments by the sole Howard Government minister with a grasp on reality - or at least a penchant for a bit of takeaway - to blow Peter Costello�s Federal Budget to pieces.
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.
 Costello Whacks Women
Abbott Picks Fight with Nurses
Simon Slams Big End
Hands-Off Howard Loses Seamen
Safety Net Slips Disabled
Clerks Put Boot In
Bank Hold-Ups Expose Compo Failings
Low Paid Dirty on Lawyer
WIN Tactics a Big Turn Off
ABC Jobs On Line
Della�s Dallying Could Cost Miners
Ministers of Misinformation Scoop Orwells
Death Squads Strike
Currawong Cottages Waiting for You
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.
Ron The Tool
In Defence of Tom
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News
WIN Tactics a Big Turn Off
Workers at WIN-TV have called for a viewer boycott of their station as they struggle to force their Bahamas-based boss to deliver a decent wage deal.
The workers, members of the CPSU, are asking all rural workers and their families to join the National 'Switch off WIN' Day on Friday, May 23.
WIN is the largest regional television broadcaster in Australia with a potential audience to over 5 million people across Australia. WIN have offices in Wollongong, Dubbo, Orange, Griffith, Canberra, Wagga Wagga, Cairns, Townsville, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Rockhampton, Ballarat, Albury, Mildura, Shepparton, Gippsland, Launceston, and Mt Gambier.
Its workers are employed on minimum conditions of the Television Industry Award, delivering inadequate wages and conditions, including redundancy entitlements.
They have been trying to reach a new agreement that would deliver a fair pay increase, on-call allowances, redundancy provisions and recognition of multi-skilling.
CPSU state secretary Stephen Jones says the negotiations have been made difficult because WIN's owner, Bruce Gordon, prefers to live in the Bahamas and refuses to talk with his employees.
""Unfortunately, it seems that the only way the owner will hear us from his luxury resort home in the Bahamas, is if we change the channel," Jones says.
For more details of the campaign, or to receive a copy of the Community Pledge email Leah Piper at mailto:[email protected].
For more information go to www.cpsu.org/wintv
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Issue 178 contents
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