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Issue No. 231 30 July 2004  
E D I T O R I A L

Bright Sparks
Australia is facing a major crisis that could affect all of us in the decades to come, a shortage of skilled apprentices, tomorrow�s tradespeople who are the backbone of the economy.

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

 Goons, Scabs in Desert Showdown

 High Jump for Hardies

 Task Force in Hiding

 Court Cans Radio Bully

 Trade Deal Muddies Water

 Union Saves Kevin�s Bacon

 CFMEU Bowls Howard Model

 Mildura Bans Toxic Avenger

 Breakthrough Saves 87 Positions

 Two Million Jobs Traded

 Death Halts Sydney Tunnel

 Trainees Score $200,000

 Apprentice Crisis Worsens

 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
 Left Holding The Baby
 Tom On Alienation
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

Mildura Bans Toxic Avenger


Sunraysia�s �clean green� image is being threatened by plans for a toxic waste dump.

Unions have put in place Green Bans in an effort to stop the hazardous waste store being built at Nowingi, south of Mildura.

"We're putting the 'unity' back in 'community'," says Mallee Murray Trades & Labour Council (MMTLC) Secretary Allison Smith. "This is a completely community driven campaign."

"They're talking about 5-17 trucks a day carting hazardous waste. Every community between the Sunraysia and Melbourne is at risk."

Smith says the community is "horrified" at the prospect of toxic heavy metals being dumped in their backyard, threatening a $1 billion plus agriculture export industry and tourism, the areas two major job creators.

"Even Mr Bracks is a tourist here each summer,' says Smith. "We will not back down over this."

"This is set to destroy local industry and Mildura will become a ghost town."

Regional trades and labour councils across Victoria and the Victorian Trades Hall Council have backed the move by the Murray Mallee Trades and Labour Council.

Truck and train drivers and building and electrical workers have black-banned work on the proposed dump and will picket the Victorian Government's preferred site for the facility in the state's northwest which is also opposed by Victoria's largest local government area, the Mildura Rural City Council.

Veteran Mildura community and union activist Ken Carr, who was behind green bans on pipelines across Port Phillip Bay in the 1960s, believes green bans can overturn the decision.

Local trade unionists will be joining community leaders in taking their case to Melbourne in the near future.


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