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Beyond The Law
Despite the all-engulfing gloom emenating from our political wing right now, 2004 comes to an end on a strangely upbeat note for the trade union movement.
Interview: The King of Comedy
John Robertson looks back on a year when his comic genius was finally realised.
Unions: Ten Simple Rules
Accepted wisdom has unions all but retired as serious players in the Australian game. A glance through the major industrial stories of 2004, however, suggests improved footwork, and a commitment to boxing clever, might herald a comeback, writes Jim Marr.
Politics: Rampant Indivdualism
CFMEU National Secretary John Sutton gives his take on a year when the political debate took a turn to the Right.
International: Global Struggle
Labourstart's Eric Lee looks back on a year when the struggles for labour increasingly crossed international lines.
Economics: Cashing in the Year
Look back in sorrow or look back in anger? By any standards 2004 has been a hell of a year, writes Frank Stilwell.
History: Grass Roots
Worker solidarity in Australia in the first century of invasion can give us inspiration and clues for our upcoming battles, writes Neale Towart.
Review: Cultural Realities
In 2004 popular culture shifted from reality television to reality movies, and swapped last year's light-weight subject matter for the slightly more substantial, writes Tara de Boehmler.
Poetry: Y-U-C-K
Workers Online resident bard David Peetz takes inspiration from The Village People for his latest prose.
Unions Make Hardie Pay
Hadgkiss Gives Mourners Grief
Mum Gets "Hopson�s" Choice
AWAs Crash on Broken Hill
No Fun in the Sack
Tax Office Draws Blood
Origin Prop a Union Hit
Good Guy Wears Black
Security Crisis at Sydney Airport
Biscuit Bosses Crumble
Ardmona Urged to Can Racism
Bomber Predicts Big Bang
Stolen Wages Cut
Tomorrow the World�
Bosses Sack WorkCover
Activists What's On!
Predictions
The Crystal Ball
Workers Online consults a raft of leading psychics to find out what readers can look forward to in 2005. The Soapbox
Scrooge Was Right
Christmas has been cancelled this year, writes our US correspondent Brooklyn Phil. The Locker Room
The Workers Online Sports Awards
Continuing a tradition that dates back to the Twentieth Century, Phil Doyle dishes out the gongs for all things great and small in the world of sport during 2004. Parliament
The Westie Wing
Our favoutrite MP looks for a positive spin on the year at NSW Parliament
Costa�s Hike Unfare
Temporary Arrangements
The Price Of Tea In China
Goodthink
Cry For Me, Argentina
Ho Bloody Ho
Amen
Right Is Wrong
Business As Usual
All In The Family
Swing Left Wishful Thinking
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Labor Council of NSW
Vic Trades Hall Council
IT Workers Alliance
Bosswatch
Unions on LaborNET
Evatt Foundation
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News
Bomber Predicts Big Bang
It�s only a matter of time before al-Qaeda uses ships packed with fertiliser as �floating bombs� in Australian ports, former Defence Minister, Kim Beazley, warns.
Beazley accused the Howard Government of playing politics with the country's security.
He told Parliament ships carrying up to 10,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were entering Australian ports without adequate security checks.
Al-Queda has used the explosive in at least four previous attacks, including the 1993 strike on the World Trade Centre and on three African embassies.
Beazley said intelligence showed terrorist organisations had increased interest in the Asia-Pacific region and were crewing flag-of-convenience vessels.
Beazley believes the way to stop the risk of such an attack is to ban the use of single voyage permits that allow foreign-crewed flag-of-convenience ships to travel between Australian ports.
The Howard Government outlawed the control of domestic shipping by Australian crewed and registered vessels in an attempt to weaken maritime unions.
Single voyage permits flag of convenience ships with low-paid foreign crews to undercut Australian vessels.
One recent Monrovian-registered vessel to visit Australia, the Henry Oldendorf, carried 10,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, and was crewed by Egyptians, Turks, Ghanaians, Moldavians, Indonesians, Indians and Philippinos.
Beazley pleaded with the government to give up 'past hatreds' and put security ahead of politics.
He said America had never permitted dangerous cargoes to be transported around its coast by flag of convenience ships.
Beazley told Parliament a ship carrying only 2300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate had exploded in an American port in the 1940's killing over 200 people.
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Issue 250 contents
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