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The Hard Yards
Two hundred issues of Australia�s first and only online workers� magazine is due reason to celebrate. It is also a good time to look at what we�ve achieved over the past five years and consider where we need to go.
Interview: No Ifs, No Butts
Rugby League Professionals Association president Tony Butterfield on his battle to deliver a collective agreement for NRL players.
Unions: National Focus
In this month�s national wrap: Noel Hester meets a heavy hitter talking up open source unionism, truckies front the suits at Boral�s AGM, tales of corporate bastardry and Medicare birthday revelry.
Industrial: Fools Gold
Unions have thrashed out a string of protocols with the NSW Labor Government. Some, now, are questioning whether they are worth the cheap, imported paper they are written on, reports Jim Marr.
Bad Boss: Bones of Contention
Byron Bay chicken boners have nominated thier boss for a Tony after seeing their entitlements plucked.
History: The Gong Show
In late September the South Coast Labour Council (SCLC) celebrated 75 unbroken years championing the rights of workers in the coastal Illawarra region 80 kilometres south of Sydney, writes Rowan Cahill.
Politics: The Hawke Legacy
The election of the Hawke Labor government twenty years ago holds some salient lessons for today�s Labor Party, writes Troy Bramston.
International: Sick Nation
As Australia celebrates 20 years of Medicare�s universal health coverage the crisis facing American workers in need of medical care is a useful reminder of what we�ve got � and what we stand, writes Andrew Casey.
Economics: Closed Minds
Philip Mendes looks at the political influence of right-wing think tanks, their financial backing and asks why the left hasn�t been able to get its ideas out there.
Review: Mixing Pop and Politics
He's had relations, with girls from many nations... but Billy Bragg seems to like us Aussies as much or even more than any of the others, writes P�draig Collins.
Poetry: One Size Fits All
There once was a man from the Lodge - Who tried hard, our poems, to dodge... Resident bard David Peetz is back!
Workers Rally For �Joel�s Law�
It�s Official: Courts Weak on Safety
Cole Insider Highlights "Agenda"
"Racism" as Pacific Islanders Rorted
Academics Appeal to International Umpire
Conroy Crashes Boral Bash
Poll Points to Hospital Overload
Aussie Icon Set To Head Overseas
China Gaols Union Activists
Victory in Dili
AWU Rejects Bid to Fleece Shearers
People�s Bank to Hear From People
Unions Put Students in Picture
Memo ALP Members: Think About Unions
New Face in the Hunter
Activists Notebook
Postcard
North By Northwest
Phil Doyle returns from up north, where he survived on nothing but goodwill, good people and a great big orange bus. The Soapbox
The $140 Million Patriot
It would be hard to imagine a steeper slide from hero to zero than the experience of Richard Grasso, the now-deposed head of the New York Stock Exchange. writes Jim Stanford. Media
Bush's Bad News Blues
The Bush Administration is cooking up a new campaign 'to shine light on progress made in Iraq', writes Bill Berkowitz. The Locker Room
A Tale Of One City
Phil Doyle gazes into the crystal ball for signs of life, and finds that somewhere the horses are running in the wrong direction. Culture
With Banners Furled
There is no better account of the glory that was the annual Labour Day marches than that given by Kylie Tennant in Foveaux, her fictional account of life in inner Sydney in 1912, the year she was born. Politics
The Westie Wing
Our favourite Macquarie Street MP, Ian West MLC, reports on the world of NSW politics. Postcard
The Cancun Wash-Up
The dramatic collapse of the World Trade Organisation Ministerial Meeting in Cancun, Mexico, last month has been followed by a deafening quiet from Geneva, Brussels and Washington, writes Peter Murphy.
Child Labour
Advance Australia Where?
God Save Us All
US Seeking Aussie Info
Call The Doctor
Bring Back Gough
Bring Back Social Democracy
Look East, Look West
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Labor Council of NSW
Vic Trades Hall Council
IT Workers Alliance
Bosswatch
Unions on LaborNET
Evatt Foundation
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News
Conroy Crashes Boral Bash
Corporate giant Boral may have gagged shareholder activist drivers at its AGM this week, but it has bought itself a bigger fight with the ALP which has vowed to change the law to prevent its bully boy tactics.
Labor�s Stephen Conroy who is preparing the changes to company law, was at the meeting as big investors backed Boral boss Ken Moss�s motion to deprive shareholders of a voice if they didn�t hold five per cent of the company.
That resolution ended a campaign by TWU members who formed an organisation called Boral Ethical Shareholders to have work safety and executive pay issues addressed at the AGM.
The motions, attracted nearly 20 per cent support, but were never considered after the Moss resolution was passed.
Senator Conroy - the ALP Financial Services spokesman - warned Moss on the floor of the meeting that if he changed the rule allowing 100 shareholders to have a say on the order paper he would respond by moving to change legislation.
Conroy, TWU members and other independent shareholders were supported at the AGM by a truck driver, David Lupton, dressed as a yellow rat. Even
business writers called the Boral response "provocative".
Conroy today charged some of Australia's major institutional investors with turning "a blind eye" as the resources giant "directly attacked" shareholder rights.
He has written to the Investment and Financial Services Association asking it, in the light of recent pronouncements on corporate governance, to clarify their position on Boral's decision to deny 100 shareholders the right to propose resolutions for AGM debate.
"In my view, this is a direct attack on shareholders' rights and runs counter to the spirit of the Corporations Act 2001," Conroy said.
"Accordingly, I plan to move an amendment to the Corporations Act to ensure Boral does not set a precedent for other companies to circumvent the spirit of the Act."
TWU representatives promised they would return for next year's AGM with safety and corporate governance at the top of their agenda. Meanwhile, Workers Online understands more than 100 additional have taken out Boral shares for next year's AGM.
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Issue 200 contents
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