E D I T O R I A L

International Relations
Globalisation drags up all sorts of contradictions, none the least the attitude of nation states to international law, as show by events in Australia this week.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Public Defender
The CPSU's Stephen Jones has confronted the Howard Government's IR agenda at close quarters.

Legal: Craig's Story
An inquest in western NSW is a cautionary tale of the use of AWAs, writes Ian Latham

Unions: Wrong Way, Go Back
The WorkChoice legislation sends Australia down the wrong economic road by smashing the instittutions that have made it strong, argues Greg Combet.

Industrial: WhatChoice?
The Howard Government has shown itself to be the master of illusion, writes Dr Anthony Forsyth

Politics: Queue Jumping
The changes to industrial laws, betray a new vision of Australian society, writes James Gallaway.

History: Iron Heel
Conservative governments using laws to take away basic civil rights. It's nothing new, writes Rowan Cahill

Economics: Waging War
When was the last time you heard an Australian politician talk about incomes policy, asks Matt Thistlethwaite

International: Under Pressure
The push for UN intervention in Burma is intensifying, following a report by Vaclav Havel and Bishop Desmond Tutu into slave labour.

Poetry: Billy Negotiates An AWA
More and more people are meeting Billy, the hero of page 15 of the WorkChoices booklet, including our resident bard, David Peetz

Review: A Pertinent Proposition
Nick Cave's "Australian western" touches on some themes still relevant today, Julianne Taverner writes.

N E W S

Senators Back Rorters' Charter

Families Last in WorkChoices

Howard Loses Poll Position

Printers Stamp on Low Paid

Tough Men Back CFMEU

Kiwis Fly into Starbucks

Vale John Ducker

Iemma Drives Hardie Bargain

Memberships on the increase

Uni Union Shown The Door

In a Flap Over Flu

Job Cuts Threaten CBA's Bottom Line

Blackouts as Bosses Cut Deep

Barnaby's Choice

Wal-Mart Exposed

Activist's What's On!

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Men and Women of Australia
What makes a perfect speech? Michael Fullilove has scoured Australian history to find out.

The Locker Room
The Hungry Years
Phil Doyle gets the feeling we’ve been here before

Culture
From Little Things
Paul Kelly's song about the battle for land rights misses one important character, writes Graham Ring

Parliament
The Westie Wing
Ian West takes a look at Public Private Partnerships, and wonders if we should all just drink rum…

L E T T E R S

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Kiwis Fly into Starbucks

Workers walked out of 10 of the multi-national's outlets around Auckland city, last week, after the bosses of the Karangahape Rd store, in trendy Ponsonby, tried to draft in managers to cover the duties of strikers.

"What began as an event to highlight the poor conditions and low pay of minimum wage workers turned into a show of solidarity and strength across the city," said Simon Oosterman of SuperSizeMyPay. Com.

More than 30 workers walked out of Starbucks stores around Auckland to join colleagues from KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonalds in a protest outside the Ponsonby store.

New Zealand workers are organising against the effects of the 1991 Employment Contracts Act which turned their country into a low wage economy, marked by massive emigration and a big dip in productivity levels.

The ECA attacked collective bargaining by promoting individual contracts and tried to sideline trade unions, factors mimicked in John Howard's WorkChoices proposals.

Daniel Gross, co-founder of the Starbucks workers union in New York, praised the actions of the company's Kiwi employees.

"This is a signal that minimum wage workers around the world are fed up with living on the poverty line," Gross said.

"Kiwi Starbucks workers are making a stand for baristas around the world. We get paid what amounts to a poverty wage with no guaranteed hours. Starbucks has record turnovers every year, but none of that money makes it into workers' pockets."

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