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Issue No. 192 22 August 2003  
 
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.

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L A T E S T   N E W S

Kids Win From Building Stoush
CFMEU industrial action has secured $815,000 for North Sydney Council to spend on childcare and other community facilities.

Mayor Genia McCaffrey attended a meeting of building worker delegates this week to thank them for blocking a challenge to community levies flagged by upmarket developer, Platino Properties. [full story]

Airline Bombs Staff
Qantas has drawn the cone of silence over a flash new office block as it prepares for a knock-em-down, drag-em-out scrap with thousands of employees.

The company has put a six-month hold on its multi-million dollar development at Coward St, Botany, as it embarks on another round of cuts, marked by job losses, casualisation and the use of US-trained scabs. [full story]

Socialists Give Banks a Kicking
Latest superannuation figures undermine Government moves to cut banks and financial planners into workers� retirement nest eggs.

As the Howard administration tries to undermine industry super funds by the back door, the latest performance analysis shows trade union-backed industry funds wiping the floor with with private enterprise competitors. [full story]

Workers Bag Leave Entitlements
Long service leave and other employment rights would become the property of workers rather than their boss, under ground-breaking policy adopted at this week�s ACTU Congress.

Delegates endorsed a platform that recognises portability of entitlements as an objective of all enterprise agreements, meaning workers could pool leave over a number of different jobs. [full story]

Bosses Keep the Merc
The men who robbed Metro Shelf workers of millions of dollars spirited luxury cars, including a Mercedes Benz and landcruisers, away from their waterfront mansion in the hours before the company went belly-up, Federal Parliament has learned.

Barton MP, Robert McClelland, told the House of a complex web of asset protection schemes put in place by Sydney businessmen Paul, Craig and Jason Caughlan before they claimed their companies could not pay $9 million owed to 300 employees. [full story]

Canberra Off The Rails
Angry pensioners will back an RTBU Campaign to restore rail passenger services to Canberra after State Rail management axed the important rail link.

State Rail, in contravention of its EBA, failed to consult with workers before making the decision. Management also thumbed their noses at a proposal by rail workers that would have seen the service continue.  [full story]

ALSO MAKING NEWS

 Australia in Terrorists� Sights

 Labor Pledges Taskforce Fight

 Unions Go Back To School

 Yumaro Shows The Way To Go

 Rheem Taps into Lock Out Pattern

 100 Stranded in Bass Strait

 Call Centre Workers Cash In

 If It Looks Like A Duck...

 Stellar Dials an Ernie

 Activists Notebook

email workers to a friend latest breaking news from labornet
Ground Zero - Workers take to the stage at the Melbourne Convention Centre where the ACTU held its triennial Congress this week.

E D I T O R I A L
Beneath it all is the realisation that the modern world doesn�t owe the trade union movement a future, and indeed, the trends of global capital are actively working against it by making the flow of capital so footloose and amoral.

Family Values II

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.


LETTERS to the Editor
 Misplaced Trust
 A Harsh Lesson
 Axe The Max
 India On A Dollar A Day

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