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Issue No. 215 02 April 2004  
 
F E A T U R E S

Interview: Terror Australis
The Howard Government has just discovered the nation's ports are a terrorist target. The International Transport Federation's Dean Summers has been warning them for years.

Unions: Graeme Beard's Second Dig
Hidden in the Australian Workers Union Sydney office is a mild-mannered industrial officer who once strutted the international cricket stage, writes Jim Marr.

Industrial: The Hell of Troy
On the basis of a couple of hours in the witness box, Building Industry Royal Commissioner Terence Cole described Troy Stratti as "credible". Six men who, together, have known the company director for the best part of 50 years beg to differ.

Organising: Miners Strike Gold
Traditional unions are rediscovering the power of grassroots organising. Paddy Gorman reports from the coal face.

Economics: The Accepted Wisdom
Evan Jones argues that economic policy making has been narrowed and rendered mechanistic and antiseptic.

History: Vicious Old Lady
Despite its Liberal leanings, the Sydney Morning Herald has never been shy of bashing unions, writes Neale Towart.

International: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Thailand must end its crackdown on Burmese fleeing rights abuses in their military-ruled homeland, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

Review: War Unfogged
Want to go to war but not sure where to start? Look no further than Errol Morris' latest doco-drama for the definitive 11-step lesson plan, writes Tara de Boehmler.

Poetry: TAFE
A TAFE student struggling under the weight of fees shares his wordly wisdom

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L A T E S T   N E W S

Gong Points Death Bone at Iemma
The gruesome death of a concrete renderer in a Port Kembla trench has bolstered claims Illawarra workers are at risk because the NSW Government denies the region its own medical retrieval unit.

South Coast Labor Council secretary, Arthur Rorris, highlighted three recent accidents to urge the Government to base a medical retrieval unit, similar to those operating out of Sydney, Newcastle, Tamworth and Lismore, at Wollongong Hospital. [full story]

Strip � Howard�s Order to Shoppies
Westco Jeans used Coalition Government�s award stripping to force female workers into skimpy t-shirts emblazoned with one message to customers � "Stop Pretending You Don�t Want Me".

Senior manager, Andrew Hart, told staff around Australia that resistance would be futile. [full story]

Workers Victory - We�re Legal!
Our loyal readers have won the legal right to receive Workers Online emails on their office computers under ground-breaking privacy laws announced by the Carr Government this week.

Following a four-year campaign by unions, NSW will become the first state in Australia to prohibit employers filtering union emails through office servers. [full story]

Compo Family Exiled to Peru
An injured tiler has been forced to send his wife and kids to Peru after doctors slashed his workers comp claim by two thirds.

After 20 years in the building game construction worker Max Masias was forced out of the industry on medical advice while compo doctors hacked his entitlement from $23,700 to $4800. [full story]

Patrick Faces Million Dollar Fines
Straddle cranes at the centre of Federal Government�s War on the Wharves have been black listed by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.

Government�s partner in the 1998 assault on maritime workers, Parick Stevedores, faces millions in potential fines after being found guilty of five breaches of OH&S laws. [full story]

Water Quality in Budget Back-Wash
Workers in Sydney Water fear they will lose the resources to keep Sydney�s water safe and beaches clean, with dozens of workers fearing they will be casualties of Tuesday�s mini-budget.

The Australian Services Union says workers have been told to turn their attention away from monitoring the quality of water around sewage outfalls because environmental protection was �no longer core business�. [full story]

ALSO MAKING NEWS

 Feds Dodge Death

 Hard Men Melt Away

 Three Cheers for 36-Hour Week

 Dili Death "Down to Dollars"

 Builder Pleads Guilty

 Maternity Plan: Hard Labor?

 Life � Cambodia�s Grand Raffle

 Thumbs Up for Union Code

 Activists What�s On!

email workers to a friend latest breaking news from labornet
Electrician Rick Petrou and wife Robyn have three good reasons to celebrate the flexibility of new 36-hour week arrangements in the construction industry

E D I T O R I A L
Tweak a few levers and a deficit appears, tweak them back in 12 months and things will be rosy again. Governments do it all the time.

TOOL SHIRT

C O L U M N S

Postcard
A Voice for Peace
Palestinian trade union leader calls on militants to lay down their arms while the ICFTU protests harassment of Palestinian union leader.

The Soapbox
The Double Standard Bearers
Nicholas Way argues that when it comes to collective action, the Howard Government has different views depending on whether you are a unionist or a small business.

The Locker Room
The Fine Print
While the result mightn�t be everything, it does make the back of the newspaper more interesting, as Phil Doyle reports.

Politics
The Westie Wing
Ian West crunches the numbers in Macquarie Street and finds virtue in deficit.


LETTERS to the Editor
 War And Peace
 Getting Away With Murder
 Terrorism

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