E D I T O R I A L

Marked Territory
If the mountain of pre-publicity is indicative of its content, the Latham Diaries will read a little bit like a sausage cookbook; full of grisley details about the makings of something we would rather take on face value.

F E A T U R E S

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.

N E W S

Flexibility - Bush Rates Slashed

Seamen Marooned on Tassie

Families Win Refuge in Tamworth

Catholics Nail Andrews' Heresy

IR Changes a Beach

Drama Queen Applies Gloss

Peace a Security Threat

OEA Flicks Fraud Case

Auto Workers Drive Union Win

Bush Adds Insult to Injuries

Job Vandals Cash In

Lib Heads Witch Hunt

Sydney Water Damned

Super Blue Warms Up

Activist's What's On!

C O L U M N S

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.

L E T T E R S

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Job Vandals Cash In

Donald McGauchie, Prime Minister John Howard's hand-picked non-executive chairman, had his package tripled to $497,000.

Telstra's senior executives snared $25.2 million in the last financial year, compared with $13.2 million in the year to June, 2004.

Former chief executive, Ziggy Switkowski, led the pack with $6.7 million, including retirement benefits.

The company's largesse was revealed in its annual report, delivered at 5pm, last Friday. Analysts say the timing was used to defeat most media deadlines and ensure minimum public scrutiny.

It came as CPSU official, Stephen Jones, accused the telco and the federal government of sitting on plans to rip 14,000 jobs out of Australia.

Many, Jones said, would go from regional centres. He named Toowoomba, Cairns, Maroochydore, Townsville, Moe, Bendigo, Geelong, Woolongong, Grafton Bathurst, Murray Bridge and Belmont as centres in the firing line.

Telstra sources say the 14,000 figure was specifically mentioned at a meeting of senior managers.

However, the company and Canberra, have denied all knowledge of the plan.

Jones challenged them to release a 104-page cost reduction document, authored by new chief operations officer, Greg Winn.

Winn is one of three new American bosses imported by compatriot, Sol Trujillo, to shake the telco up.

The chief executive developed a reputation for job shedding and aggressive opposition to regulation at stints with US and French telecommunications companies.

"Trujillo has got form," Jones said.

Last week, the government blocked Senate debate to force through legislation allowing it to fully privatise Australia's biggest company.

"The real shareholders in Telstra are the men and women of Australia and they have a right to know what the real cost of privatisation will be to their communities," Jones said.

"The government acted with unholy haste in denying them access to that information."

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