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All The Way With FTA?
Question marks over the bi-lateral Free Trade Agreement with the USA have only begun to scratch the surface.
Interview: Trading in Principle
AMWU national secretary, Doug Cameron, a key figure in the Labor movement, discusses the big issues - from Mark Latham to Pavlov�s Dogs.
Unions: While We Were Away
While Workers Online was washing sand from between its toes and enjoying an Indian summer at the cricket, there was a reality show chugging relentlessly away in the background, Jim Marr reports.
Politics: Follow the Leader
Worker�s Online tool man, Phil Doyle, dives into the ALP�s Darling Harbour love-in and nearly drowns in treacle.
Bad Boss: Safety Recidivist Fingered
The CFMEU has come up with a killer nomination to kick off our 2004 hunt for Australia�s worst employer.
Economics: Casualisation Shrouded In Myths
British academic, Kevin Doogan, sets the record straight on casualisation and warns unionists about the dangers of scoring an own goal
History: Worker Control Harco Style
Drew Cottle and Angela Keys ask if it's worth rememberinng the 1971 Harco work-in.
Review: Other Side Of The Harbour
The 1998 maritime dispute threatened to tear many a family apart but Katherine Thomson's Harbour tells the tale of at least one that it brought back together - albeit reluctantly, writes Tara de Boehmler.
 Rail Safety Back On Track
Commuter Headaches Continue
Ban "Ruthless" Operators - Judge
Telstra Provokes Jobs Fight
Taskforce Ignores Million Dollar Rorts
Musos Tune-Up for Election Rock
Chubby Fingers in Timorese Pockets
Postal Workers Wrap Boss
Aussie Sites Doing the Business
Feds Abandon Aged
TAFE Stands Over Poor Students
Round the World on Aid
Activists Notebook
The Soapbox
Dog Whistlers, Spin Doctor and Us
John Menadue argues the "better angels" of the Australian character are having their wings ripped off by an ever-expanding group dedicating to keeping the public at arms length from our decision-makers. Postcard
Something Fishy In Laos
Phillip Hazelton fishes around in Vientiane, Laos, and looks at the impact of Bird Flu on those relying on feathered friends for survival. Sport
Magic Realism
Phil Doyle discovers that literature and sport may have more in common than you would think Parliament
The Westie Wing
Trickle, flood or drought? Workers friend Ian West, MLC, is wet, wet, wet on the issue of bilateral Free Trade.
Reality TV
TAFE Support
State Of Confusion
Scambuster
History Lesson
Generation Angst
Give Them A Medal
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News
Chubby Fingers in Timorese Pockets
Australia�s LHMU has been called in to help defend Timorese cleaners resisting 25 percent wage cuts demanded by US-based security giant, Chubb.
The fledgling East Timorese labour organisation, KSTL, called on the LHMU after Chubb issued dismissal notices to workers striking against unilaterally-imposed clawbacks that would reduce adult earnings to $US94 a month.
Workers Online understands the LHMU and Chubb have forged a workable relationship in the Australian security industry.
The dispute comes hard on the heels of Australian union involvement in a dispute late last year that saw Australian-owned Timor Aviation Services attempt to slash the earnings of Timorese airport employees.
The KSTL says Chubb, East Timor, slashed the wages of workers cleaning World Bank buildings in Dili from $133 to $94 a month without any negotiation. After eight days of on-the-job resistance workers began a strike on December 3.
Chubb sacked the lot and endeavoured to sign-up replacements on individual contracts.
KSTL leaders have described the company's actions as "illegal", citing its failure to give the required 30-days notice and the right to strike enshrined in the new country's constitution.
Even the World Bank has entered the fray, calling on Chubb to settle the dispute, according to union sources in Australia and East Timor.
The KSTL has launched unjustified dismissal claims in the courts but it could be months before they are heard. The LHMU went into negotiations with Chubb this week.
Unions and aid organisation, APHEDA, meanwhile, are urging supporters to back the East Timorese workers by registering protests at: http://www.apheda.org.au/campaigns/east_timor_strike/protest/index.html
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Issue 208 contents
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