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The Perfect Storm
The mayhem and misery engulfing New Orleans and its surrounds is more than a human tragedy of mammoth proportions, it is the product of a convergence of events that could shift our worldview every bit as much as the attacks on September 11, 2001.
Interview: Polar Eclipse
Academic David McKnight challenges some sacred cows in his new book "Beyond Left and Right".
Industrial: Wrong Turn
Radical labour reform is on the horizon but some workers, like Sydney bus driver Yvonne Carson, have seen it all before, writes Jim Marr.
Unions: Star Support
It wasn't just families who backed workers' rights at The Last Weekend, but a bunch of musicians who set the tone, writes Chrissy Layton.
Workplace: Checked Out
Glenda Kwek asks you to consider the plight of the retail worker, and shares some of her experiences
Economics: Sold Out
The Future Fund and industrial relations reform are favourite projects of the PM and the Treasurer. Both are speculations on the future and the only guarantee with them is that you will be worse off, writes Neale Towart.
Politics: Green Banned
The impact of new building industry laws won�t be confined to one industry, writes CFMEU national secretary John Sutton.
History: Potted History
Lithgow is a place with a proud history as a union town. The origins of broader community solidarity lie in the early industrial development of the town and the development of unions. The Lithgow Pottery dispute of 1890 was a key event.
International: Curtain Call
The curtains have opened for East Timor�s young theatre performers, thanks to a Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA project.
Review: Little Fish
At last! An Aussie film with substance, suspense and a serious dose of reality, writes Lucy Muirhead
Poetry: Slug A Worker
In a shock development, the Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, gave a ringing endorsement to the poetry pages of Workers Online, writes resident bard David Peetz.
Telstra Cuts Off Sick Mum
CFMEU Pulls $3M Bank Job
Life Imitates Ad
Equal Pay Unlawful
AWA Threatens Kids
Howard�s Porky Exposed
STOP PRESS: Bank Pinged
Thongs Flap Into IR War
Dad Sacked Over Safety Fears
News Leader in Advertising Stink
PM�s Spin Hit for Six
Daffy Ducks Dud Deal
Canada Shamed
Combet Stars At Rooty Hill
Vanstone Backs Ciggie Salaries for Detainees
Flicking the Super Switch
Activists What's On!
The Soapbox
Families First
New Senator Stephen Fielding turned a few heads with his Maiden Speech to Parliament. The Locker Room
The New World Order
Phil Doyle declares himself unavailable for the fifth and deciding test. Parliament
The Westie Wing
Our favourite MP, Ian West, reports from the NSW Government's Safety Summit Postcard
On The Bus
A bright orange bus travelling the state has become the focus of the campaign against federal IR changes. Nathan Brown was on board.
Telstra Trauma
Telstra�s Calling
What Poor People?
The Day
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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
Vanstone Backs Ciggie Salaries for Detainees
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has backed paying asylum seekers in cigarettes for work in detention centres.
Vanstone said the system, which has asylum seekers on worse conditions than convicted criminals, allowed detainees to make a "real contribution."
"Allowing people to do something productive is a necessary response to the common human need to remain active - it's a good thing," she said.
Detainees are being paid as low as $1 an hour to work in areas such as catering.
This can be cashed out in cigarettes and phone cards.
Unions NSW deputy assistant secretary Chris Christodoulou says detainees seem to be treated worse than prisoners.
"In NSW we have a set of standards for prison labour and a monitoring committee that ensures everything is above board," he said.
Christodoulou said the arrangement may be in breach of the government's own Migration Act.
The act bans "unlawful citizens" from undertaking work for "reward or otherwise".
Unions and refugee groups are calling for a full review of working conditions within detention centres.
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Issue 280 contents
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