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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
China Gaols Union Activists
With Chinese President Hu Jin Tao visiting Australia, workers have called for the release of labour activists Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang.
The two leaders led mass worker rights protests which took place in Liaoyang, China last year, have again been transferred to a new prison, this time to the site of a mass forced labour complex notorious for its brutal regime. The two were sentenced in June to prison terms of 7 and 4 years, respectively for their role in the mass protests.
The notorious Lingyuan Prison was built in 1958 and was developed over subsequent decades into one of China's largest automotive manufacturing bases - "staffed" entirely by unpaid prison labourers. As well as its production facility it also has a power plant and an asbestos mine.
Both men are in extremely poor medical condition as a result of their previous confinement. The transfer to Lingyuan Prison, if not intended as further punishment for their action in support of worker rights, is certain to worsen their already severe medical problems.
"they're so called subversive activity is no more or less than any trade union official would do in their ordinary lives in this country,' says Annie Owens, NSW Secretary of the Australian Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU).
The NSW Labor Council has called on the Chinese authorities now visiting Australia to release the two men and has also called on the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition to raise the matter in meetings with the Chinese president.
Click here to sign the China Labour Bulletin and LabourStart online petition to free Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang
 View entire issue - print all of the articles!
Issue 200 contents
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