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Issue No. 227 02 July 2004  
E D I T O R I A L

A Place To Call Home
These days the Great Australian Dream is closer to a fantasy, where the chances of owning to your own home depend on either inheriting property or winning lottery.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Power and the Passion
ALP's star recruit Peter Garrett shares his views on unions, forests and being the Member for Wedding Cake Island

Unions: Tackling the Heavy Hitters
Tony Butterfield became a State of Origin gladiator at the unlikely age of 33. Even that, Jim Marr reports, couldn�t prepare him for the knock-down, drag-em-out world of modern IR.

Industrial: Seeing the Forest For The Wood
Proposals to flog off NSW�s forests have raised eyebrows and temperatures amongst some of the key players reports Phil Doyle.

Housing: Home Truths
CFMEU national secretary John Sutton argues for a radical solution to the housing affordability crisis.

International: Boycott Busters
International unions have issued a new list of corporations breaching ILO sanctions to do business in Burma.

Economics: Ideology and Free Trade
The absurdities of neoclassical economic assumptions has never stood in the way of their being trotted out to justify profiteering and attacks on the rights of citizens. The AUSFTA is the latest rort we are supposed to swallow, writes Neale Towart.

History: Long Shadow of a Forgotten Man
Interest in JC Watson's short time as Labor's first Prime Minister should not detract from his more substantial role as Party leader, writes Mark Hearn

Review: Chewing the Fat
As debate rages in Australia about Fast Food advertising, Julianne Taverner takes a look at a side of the industry that Ronald McDonald won�t tell you about in Supersize Me.

Poetry: Dear John
Workers Online reader Rob Mullen shares some personal correspondence with our glorious leader.

N E W S

 NRMA Reverses Over Turnbull

 Privatisation Kills

 Crikey: Irwin Feeds Staff AWAs

 Nurses Telegraph Fight Back

 "Sexiest Man" Plays it Safe

 Eureka: Bug Swats Hadgkiss

 Macdonald Ponders Asbestos Blue

 Latham Gets Late Mail

 Murdoch Faces Discrimination Rap

 Boss Goes Postal

 Oberon Survives Bomb Threat

 Howard Out On CD

 Telstra Hangs Up On Staff

 Activists What�s On!

C O L U M N S

Politics
The Westie Wing
As the NSW Labor Government sells its first budget deficit in nine years, the real concern for the union movement is the devil in the detail, especially when it comes to procurement agreements, writes Ian West.

The Soapbox
Rubber Bullets
Labor's IR spokesman Craig Emerson launches a few characteristic salvos across the Parliamentary chamber

The Locker Room
Tears After Bedtime
Phil Doyle says that it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye

Postcard
Postcard from Vietnam
APHEDA's Hoang Thi Le Hang reports from the north of Vietnam on a project being fund by Australian unionists.,

L E T T E R S
 Letter From America
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News

Murdoch Faces Discrimination Rap


News Ltd�s anti-union agenda has cost a long-serving employee thousands of dollars, according to evidence before the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commission.

Sub editor John Lawler's long running case against the Rupert Murdoch-owned Mercury, in Hobart, has finally arrived before the state's anti-discrimation authority.

The MEAA is alleging its Mercury delegate has been denied a deserved grade increase for more than two years, a position supported by senior colleagues on the paper, and mainland-based professionals.

It is 15 years since the Mercury last gave Lawler a merit-based increase in earnings.

MEAA Tasmanian secretary, Andrew Muthy, said the case was placed before the anti-discrimination commission after News Ltd changed its reasons for denying Lawler a grade rise during dispute resolution procedures.

"It is our contention, supported by evidence from industry professionals inside and outside the Mercury, that John should clearly be graded at a higher level," Muthy said.

"There is no valid reason to reject the request for an upgrade he made more than two years ago. We are saying it is because he is the face of the union at the Mercury."

Lawler has been involved in a number of disputes with Mercury management and co-ordinated stoppages there, during the journalists' last round of enterprise bargaining negotiations.

Muthy confirmed that several Hobart colleagues had agreed to put their names to statements supporting that contention.

"News Ltd is widely regarded as a strongly anti-union employer," Muthy said. "The survival of effective unionism rests on our ability to protect our delegates and that's what this case is about."


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