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Issue No. 276 | 12 August 2005 |
The Power of One
Interview: On Holiday Unions: One Day Longer Industrial: Never Mind the Bollocks Politics: Spun Out Economics: If the Grog Don't Get You .... History: Taking a Stand International: The Split Legal: Pushing the Friendship Poetry: Simple Subtractions Review: Sydney Trashed
Sick Days Get Hadgkiss Sniffing Fun Guy Skips Work, Docks Staff Nurse Launches Neighbourhood Alert Feds: Inconsistency �Not Inconsistent� PacNat Troops Won't Be Railroaded
Parliament The Soapbox The Locker Room International Postcard
Govt Has No Case Logon to IR Ears and Minds Howard on the Couch Which Bank? Kevin the Tool Man Tom On Safety
Labor Council of NSW |
Letters to the Editor Ears and Minds
The article 'Andrews provokes showdown' reveals the tactics of the government very clearly. Stall, deny, and wait for the big guns of the taxpayer funded ad campaign to come to the rescue of a government caught with its rhetorical pants down! However the labour movement needs to do more than simply point out that the government are liars. People know this and don't expect anything more from this government. We need to shake up the debate in this country at the most basic levels. Just what is it about Howard/Costello's 'golden economy' that requires real wages to be cut? If the economy is so good, why are they banking on workers working longer hours as a way to increase productivity? How do we know that increased productivity (if it occurs which it won't from these changes) won't be trousered by CEOs and shareholders, the way productivity increases have been trousered over the last decade? There are many more questions and points to be made about the federal government's jihad against working families, and if the labour movement doesn't raise them, no one else will. I think people are ready for an honest debate about the state of the economy, and are ready to hear different voices arguing for different options than the ones we have been listening to for so long. So far the labour movement has the ear of people. People are listening because they know the government are liars and they are worried about the future. But we have to do more than simply spell out how bad this will be for working families. We need to start spelling out alternative pathways to a better, more secure, more sustainable economic and social future for every-body. Linda Carruthers NSW
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