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Issue No. 230 23 July 2004  
E D I T O R I A L

Kill the Lawyers
What�s left of the HR Nichols Society must be popping the champagne this week, with a NSW court ruling that sees the triumph of their 20-year battle to kill industrial relations and replace it with a �rule of law�.

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

 Vandals Hit Sweat Shoppers

 Blow For Union Busters

 Poll Rocks Election Boat

 It�s Official: Eggs Come Second

 Tetra Packs Private Dick

 Workers Demand Act of Contrition

 Wollongong�s $4000 Hamberger

 Company Pays for Casual Affair

 Shame Ships Hide Sausage

 First Test for Death Law

 Convenience Store Detains Student

 Bashed Youth Workers Walk

 Un-Fairfax Leads Paper Chase

 Nile On The Death Law

 ACCC Lays Down Council Code

 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
 End Poverty
 The Agony Of The Refugee
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

Un-Fairfax Leads Paper Chase


Readers of the Sydney Morning Herald, the Financial Review and the could be set to miss out following a move by Fairfax management to threaten long-term job security and pull the award safety net from under printing and distribution staff.

"It appears that there is an epidemic of greed moving through our industry," says Mark West from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU). "The result is that people may not be able to get the Sydney Morning Herald or the Financial Review."

"If you want to phone up and complain you may be one of the half a million Sydney households that hasn't received their White Pages yet as a result of the ongoing dispute at McPherson's Printing, who print the White Pages."

"There is no need for people waiting for their White Pages to have to use the new Telstra pay as you go directory assistance. You can get that for free by dialling 1223."

A picket line has been set up at McPherson's Printing Chullora, where the company is trying to cut printers paypackets by up to $200 a week.

Picket lines could also be a feature at the nearby Fairfax printing plant following stop work meetings being held by the 330 workers employed at Fairfax's Chullora facility to consider a response to the newspaper company's decision to push for the removal of the award safety net.

Fairfax is also pushing for the introduction of entitlements by company policy - allowing the company to unilaterally remove entitlements according to the whims of company policy.

"The workers have been attempting in good faith to negotiate an agreement for more than four months," says Matthew Lowe, secretary of the AMWU Printing Division. "The dispute goes to the heart of the right for workers to have long term job security."

"Management has refused to negotiate. Instead preferring to pay lawyers than speak with their own employees."


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