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Issue No. 190 08 August 2003  
E D I T O R I A L

Border Protection
The High Court�s decision that Australian labour laws should apply to cargo ships plying our shores could be the first shot in the fight back against the excess of corporate globalisation.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: The New Deal
US union leader Amy Dean expands on her agenda to give unions a real political voice

Unions: In the Line of Hire
Unions have lobbied and negotiated in a bid to stem casualisation and insecurity. Now, Jim Marr, writes they are seeking protection through a formal Test Case.

Culture: Too Cool for the Collective?
Young people are amongst the most vulnerable in the workforce. So why aren't they joining the union, asks Carly Knowles

International: The Domino Effect
An internal struggle in the biggest and strongest industrial union in Germany IG Metall has had a devastating wave effect across not just that country, but also the rest of Europe, writes Andrew Casey.

Industrial: A Spanner in the Works
Max Ogden looks at the vexed issue of Works Councils and the differing views within the union movement to them.

National Focus: Gathering of the Tribes
Achieving a fairer society and a better working life for employees from across Australia will be key themes at the ACTU's triennial Congress meeting later this month reports Noel Hester.

History: The Welcome Nazi Tourist
Rowan Cahill looks at the role Australia's conservatives played in supporting facism in the days before World War II.

Bad Boss: Domm, Domm Turn Around
Frank Sartor might have shot through but Robert Domm still calls the IR shots at Sydney City which pretty much explains why the council is this month�s Bad Boss nominee.

Poetry: Just Move On.
Visiting bard Maurie Fairfield brightens up our page with a ditty about little white lies.

Review: Reality Bites
The workers, united, may never be defeated but if recent episodes of Channel 10 drama The Secret Life Of Us are to be believed, this is not necessarily a good thing, writes Tara de Boehmler.

N E W S

 Legal Missile Holes Ships of Shame

 Labour Rights Threaten Trade Deal

 Workers Sharpen Community Clause

 "Puppet" Sparks Appeals

 FiFo, FiFo � Out the Gate We Go

 SRA Chief Off The Rails

 Qantas: Long Lunches on Rocks

 Water Crisis a Mist for Sell-Off

 Aussies Enter Karoshi Zone

 Combet Flies Ansett Plan

 Westfield Workers Seek Clean Start

 Rubber Workers Stretch Bridgestone

 Workers Art in Broken Hill

 Activist Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Fighting Words
Craig Emerson gave what could be the most spirited Labor spray in a decade to the NSW Labor Council this month. Here it is in all its venom.

Education
Out of Their Class
Phil Bradley argues that Australia's education system should not be up for negotiation in the global trade talks.

The Locker Room
The ABC of Sport
Phil Doyle argues that the only way to end the corporate madness that is sport, is to give it all back to the ABC.

Postcard
Locks, Stocks and Barrels
Union Aid Abroad's Peter Jennings updates on the situation in Burma, where the repression of democracy is going from bad to worse.

L E T T E R S
 Workplace Bullying
 Casual TAFE
 Wage Rise
 The Fifth Column
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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Letters to the Editor

Casual TAFE


Add to the list of the casualised workers referred to in Jim Marr's story the 15,400 NSW TAFE Part Time Casual Teachers (PTCs) who outnumber their permanent counterparts 3:1. More than half of us are women.

For teaching the same hours as our permanently employed colleagues, we receive just over half the wage and are flagrantly exploited and intimidated.

We are unemployed for 16 weeeks of each year.

No holiday leave, no parental leave, no carer's leave, no compassionate leave and token minimal sick leave only, for working a specified number of hours per year.

We are the only teachers in the public education system in NSW who do not receive pro rata pay and conditions.

Our case for pro rata pay begins in NSW IRC on 1 September and the NSW Labor Government is going to fight the claim tooth and nail - "no money" and the "economic impact on the state" is the "justification" for attempting to unashamedly maintain TAFE PTCs as the Department's working poor.

(Two teachers for the price of one is an admirable fiscal achievement and one worth hanging on to!)

In consideration of the $800 million windfall from Stamp Duty, an increase in gambling taxes, $450 million per year for the School Student Transport Subsidy, which in a large number of cases sees students transported past public schools to private schools, plus the budget suplus, it is obvious the Carr government's priorities do not include equity of employment conditions.

Bob Carr, the Education Premier who values teachers? Add the word "under" to "values"!

Diane Sykes


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