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After the Action
After a National Week of Action that has had everything from mass rallies in all capital cities to IR chat rooms opening on the Vogue Magazine website it�s fair to say that the first objective of this campaign � to raise public awareness � has been achieved.
Interview: Battle Stations
Opposition leader Kim Beazley says he's ready to fight for workers right. But come July 1, he'll have to be fighting by different rules.
Unions: The Workers, United
It was a group of rank and filers who took centre stage when workers rallied in Sydney's Town Hall, writes Jim Marr.
Politics: The Lost Weekend
The ALP had a hot date, they had arranged to meet on the Town Hall steps, and Phil Doyle was there.
Industrial: Truth or Dare
Seventeen ivory towered academics upset those who know what is best for us last week.
History: A Class Act
After reading a new book on class in Australia, Neale Towart is left wondering if it is possible to tie the term down.
Economics: The Numbers Game
Political economist Frank Stilwell offers a beginners guide to understanding budgets
International: Blonde Ambition
Sweden can be an inspiration to labour movements the world over, as it has had community unionism for over 100 years, creating a vibrant caring society, rather than a "productive" lean economy.
Training: The Trade Off
Next time you go looking for a skilled tradesman and can�t find one, blame an economist, writes John Sutton.
Review: Bore of the Worlds
An invincible enemy has people turning against one another as they fight for survival � its not just an eerie view of John Howard�s ideal workplace, writes Nathan Brown.
Poetry: The Beaters Medley
In solidarity with the workers of Australia, Sir Paul McCartney (with inspiration from his old friend John Lennon) has joined the Workers Online resident bard David Peetz to pen some hits about the government's proposed industrial relations revolution.
Don't Get Angry, Get Organised
Feds Threaten Hardie Battlers
Beasts of Bourbon Play Dog
Churches on Workplace Mission
Unions Are The New Black
Muster Has Bosses in Fluster
Workers Flood to Protests
Official: Libs Don�t Know Own Laws
Schools Out For Uni Bosses
IR Campaign Taxing Andrews
Air Safety at Risk
Carr Runs Over Lib Laws
Aga Khan Workers Gaoled
Activists Whats On!
The Soapbox
State of the Union
Unions NSW secretary John Robertson lifts the lid on �The Nine Myths of Modern Unionism� The Locker Room
Wrist Action
Phil Doyle trawls the murky depths of tawdry sleaze, and discovers Rugby is behind it all. Culture
To Hew The Coal That Lies Below
Phil Doyle reviews Australia's first coal mining novel, Black Diamonds and Dust. Parliament
The Westie Wing
Our favourite State MP, Ian West, reports from Macquarie Street that the Premier is all the way with a State Commission.
Workers Give In FNQ
Power and the Passion
Mao and Then
The Third Way Hits A Dead End
Unfair For All
What Is To Be Done?
Black Hawk Up
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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
Churches on Workplace Mission
Christian churches are seeking an IR summit with the Prime Minister, concerned his government is riding roughshod over Aussie families.
The National Council of Churches, which includes the leaders of 15 religions, wants a meeting with Prime Minister.
"If this is about Australia remaining competitive as a nation, as Mr Howard has said, then it should not be achieved at the expense of Australian workers and their families," NCCA general secretary, Reverend John Henderson, said.
"The value of each worker is not as a commodity, but as a person, a human being loved by God. Our community has values that are more important than economics."
The council has called on the federal government to "slow down and step back from its apparent haste".
It sought a summit as Melbourne Anglican Bishop, Philip Huggins, labelled the Howard agenda "unfair".
Huggins told an ecumenical service, attended by Victorian church and union leaders, that Howard's rationale for radical change didn't wash.
The Bishop said the Prime Minister was on the record claiming unemployment at a 30-year low and industrial disputation at a 90- year low.
"It is plainly, by his own criteria, a system that is working well," Bishop Huggins said.
Catholic Auxillary Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, Pat Power, last night took part in a union-organised forum on the changes.
Bishop Power said he feared the changes would cost some Australians their jobs.
The developments came a fortnight after a leading Uniting Church figure called elements of the Howard package "immoral".
"People are not commodoties in the service of greater profits and should not be exploited. The Government's decision to strip workers of their rights to challenge unfair dismissals is immoral" the Rev Elaine Poulas said.
Australia's largest christian faiths, the Catholic, Uniting and Anglican churches, are all members of the NCCA.
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Issue 270 contents
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