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

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The Fifth Column

Dear Sir,

A recent letter to the editor �Detained Australians Denied Rights� in the Illawarra Mercury by Mr. Michael Organ , the Member for Cunningham , certainly tickled my interest as to the ill thought out plans of Mice and Men.

I personally have been advocating the separation of the Union movement and the ALP , as being mutually beneficial , and the Illawarra is one depressed Industrial area which has been and still is a perfect example of this necessity. The continued disenfranchisement of this electorate through Branch Stacking and rorting , even after the loss of Cunningham to the Greens displays an arrogance of the people unheard of since the pre-French Revolution period.

Sadly when a commitment is given half-heartedly the altruistically motivated intentions usually end up as a �Dogs Dinner� , the election of the Greens in the seat of Cunningham has given rise to this eventuation and in consideration as to the obvious disinterest as to the unemployment problems experienced by Australians , in contrast to the interest shown in a self confessed supporter of foreign interests, and recently manifested through the aforementioned letter to the editor.

So while I am in complete understanding as to the need for the lesson consequently and severely , but still palpably taught but unlearned to the ALP in the seat of Cunningham ,and with the current economic pain suffered by all the residents of the Illawarra region , the preoccupation as to the well being of those who would do further harm to all Australians as indicated in the letter 'Detained Australians Denied rights' , must give cause for this electorate to now consider the appropriateness of their method of retribution upon the branch stackers or rorters within the ALP?

The continued branch stacking by the intellectual derelicts currently littering the ALP and Trade Union landscape may ensure a power base for these self promoting pigs in the short term , but objective history will as always eventually prevail as the truth.

It is this leadership by men of straw which has ensured the perpetuation of the Howard myth , this is slowly ebbing into state politics as people like Bob Carr now in his political twilight years reveals the true persona.

Adam Smith , articulated this philosophy very succinctly :

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages."

Tom Collins

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