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| Issue No 28 |  |
27 August 1999 |
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Piers WatchA Brave New World
It was a week of outrage, threats and missed opportunities for Pierswatch, as the Telegraph again shone the spotlight on its ignorance of all things industrial.
The Outrage Greg Combet's ascension to the ACTU secretary's position received wide and positive coverage this week - except from Piers' sponsors . While most journalists were struggling to come to terms with Combet's stated direction of shifting the focus back to workers, the Daily Telegraph was seeking to trash the concept before they even understood it. It was old-style anti-union propaganda at its best. In a shoddy and hysterical front page story, the Telegraph attempted to make a scandal of the fact that the Finance Sector Union had paid members $20 to attend focus groups. Despite the fact the FSU was conducting research to frame an important campaign on working hours, the Telegraph contrived it into an example of the "growing apathy" in union affairs. The report veered into the comical, asserting (ahem) that the research was being run "by an independent body called ASSIRT". We think they meant the Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training or ACIRRT. But let's not be pedantic. Now for the reality check. Focus groups meetings are called to get a better understanding of members' concerns, needs and attitudes, are standard practise in all major organisations - political and corporate. The Daily Telegraph does it too - although you wonder what sort of scrutiny our old mate Piers gets?!? Indeed, one advertising industry source told Workers Online he was amazed anyone would turn up for less than $50 - which means the real story should have been, union members are so dedicated that they're prepared to turn up to meetings for less than half the market rate! Not that that would make great Telegraph copy ... ********************* Terror Threats After Tuesday's successful rally, a few of the performers were sitting around over a drink and joking that "even the Telegraph will struggle for a negative angle". With no aggro and young speakers from the workplace telling real stories, the rally was free of the usual cliches that give rise to the bully-boy headlines that normally accompany these events. But we laughed too soon. Late afternoon, a Telegraph journalist rang Labor Council seeking comment on allegations that some people had been drinking at the rally. Apparently, out of the 15,000 who attended and behaved so well, half a dozen were seen sucking on twist tops. Pierswatch is not condoning this behaviour - we believe that newspaper editors and senior columnists are the only members of society who should be permitted to drink at lunch-time. But to us, the giveaway was that there was one person who went looking for trouble at the rally - and that was the Daily Telegraph reporter. Unions were trying to do something different - the sort of things the Telegraph has been railing us to do for eons. Yet when we do change - the Telegraph seems unable to change with us. As it transpired, the Telegraph ditched their bucket job - it probably contradicted so fully with police reports, TV news reports and the AAP wire , that they realised how silly they would have appeared if they'd tried this one. But the incident is a reminder to everyone in the labour movement of the power these bunch of big, smelly blokes up in Holt Street possess. ********************* So Where's Wally? And where was Piers through all this? Secluded in unusually tame self-reflection. While his fingerprints are all over the editorial coverage, we must sit tight and await his next salvo with relish ....
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   Interview: Talking TurkeyA full transcript of an important interview with the Minister for Workplace Relations, the Hon Peter Reith. Politics: What Reith told the ILOWorkers Online has recevied a transcript of roving statesman Peter Reith's talk to the ILO in Geneva. This one's not satire. Unions: What the Workers SaidActor Di Smith was one of nine ordinary workers who addressed this week's rally. Here's what she had to say. International: Cancelling the DebtSign this Jubilee 2000 email petition now and tell the world's most powerful leaders to cancel the unpayable debts of the world's poorest countries by the year 2000. Environment: Greens, CFMEU call for Action on Ceiling DustResidents and workers, associated with houses damaged in the freak hail storm that hit Sydney earlier this year, may have been exposed to harmful levels of toxic materials found in the ceiling dust of the damaged buildings History: Eveleigh Railway Workshops celebration Former workers and their families from the historic Eveleigh Railway Workshops in inner-Sydney are holding a picnic reunion and folk music festival on the site this Sunday. Republic: Does the Republic Need a President?It seems inevitable that Australia will eventually become a republic but do we need a president? Satire: Liberals May Need to Sell of More of Telstra'We're running low in key marginals,� says Alston Review: A Kind of ViolenceExtracts from Yosi Berger's new book, telling the real stories behind workpalce safety.
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