E D I T O R I A L

The Heart of the Matter
Senators Steve Fielding and Barnaby Joyce are right to quibble over the futures of Christmas Day, Good Friday and Anzac Day.

F E A T U R E S

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.

N E W S

Carr Fingers Feds

Boeing Scabs Take Flight

Billion Dollar Blow Hards

Door Closes on Foot Soldier

Andrews Ropes In Footy

Gooooood Morning Sydney!

Posties Bite Back

Choice Myth Busted Again

Vale HT

Dumb and DEWR

Combet: Business Can't Be Trusted

Telstra Burns Bush

Detective on Death Site

States of Disunity

A Turbulent Decade

C O L U M N S

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.

L E T T E R S

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Boeing Scabs Take Flight

Reports from Amberley suggest many workers there were not told, or didn't realise, they were being flown into the centre of a dispute over Boeing's refusal to give the Williamtown workers a collective agreement.

"Workers at Boeing Amberley don't wish to be used as political pawns in Boeing's fight against a collective agreement," a spokesperson for the Queensland based employees told Worker's Online.

Less than half of the original 23 strike breakers flown in by Boeing returned for a second week after being escorted to and from work by police during their first week.

Boeing's ads for Aircraft Tradespersons - Avionics And Structures make no mention of individual contracts, and mislead about working conditions, according to John Boyd from the Australian Workers Union.

"What they don't mention is the individual contracts, the 43 hours a week before overtime, or even that overtime is only ever paid at time and a half," he said.

"We'd urge anyone interested in those jobs to call in at the picket line or visit our website at www.williamtown.org.au, and find out the truth."

Boeing has already lost the dispute, according to AWU National secretary Bill Shorten, but they are too arrogant to admit it.

Shorten warned any potential strike breakers that they should remember what happened to the strike breakers in the waterfront dispute, who were abandoned by employers after the victorious MUA members returned to their jobs.

The locked out Williamtown workers are calling for Australians to help them through their dispute by being a part of an Adopt-A-Family scheme being run out of the union's Newcastle office.

Members of the public can sponsor a family of a locked out worker to help them make ends meet during the dispute. Details can be obtained by phoning the AWU Newcastle office on (02) 4967 1155.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005