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Contract With Australia
If WorkChoices is the legislative expression of the Howard Government�s ideological hatred of unions, the Independent Contractors Act is the product of an altogether more dangerous form of ideological zealotry.
Interview: Out of the Bedroom
Reverend Jim Wallis is leading a crusade to take the moral debate into the public arena.
Industrial: Cloak and Dagger
The Howard Government has begun a series of workshops to sell its WorkChoice vsision. Sean Ambrose sneaked through the doors for Workers Online.
Unions: Lockout!
Jim Comerford�s eyewitness account of the 15-month Lockout of 10,000 New South Wales miners in1929-1930 records the inside story of Australia�s most bloody and bitter industrial conflict
Legal: The Fantasy of Choice
Professor Ron McCallum argues the WorkChoices laws are built on a fundamental fiction.
Politics: Labor Pains
Labor has dealt itself out of the crucial workplace relations debate by failing to articulate a credible policy alternative to Howard�s new WorkChoices legislation, argues Mark Heearn and Grant Michelson
Economics: Economics and the Public Purpose
Evan Jones pays tribute to John Kenneth Galbraith, a big man who never stopped arguing that economics should serve the public good, not create public squalor.
Corporate: House of Horrors
Anthony Keenan takes a tour of Sydney�s notorious, Asbestos House, courtesy of Gideon Haig.
History: Clash Of Cultures
Neale Towart with a new take on Mayday through the words of a punk icon
International: Childs Play
An ILO report into Child Labour shows some progress is being made to curb this gobal scurge .
Culture: Folk You Mate!
Phil Doyle dodges Morris Dancers to find signs of Working Life at the National Folk Festival in Canberra over the Easter Weekend.
Review: Last Holeproof Hero
Finally, a superhero who has worked out how to wear his underpants. Nathan Brown ogles V for Vendetta
 Andrews Axes Safety
Plant Fission for Cost Savings
Spotless Bosses Blame Howard
Aussie Bushman Pronounced Dead
Who's Smirking Now?
Yellow Bosses See Red
Amber Light on Howard's Way
Secret Police Spook Mum
Wally Pollies Set for Cracker
Qantas to Parachute In Pilots
Unmask the Puppeteers, Union Demands
Cleaners Mop Up
Cane Toads Hop Into Johnny
King of Onkaparinga Cries Poor
Activist's What's On!
The Soapbox
Albo's Meltdown
Labor's environment spokesman Antony Albanese argues that Chrernobyl is one reason why the ALP should stand firm on nuclear. The Locker Room
A Sort Of Homecoming
Phil Doyle plays to the whistle. Parliament
The Westie Wing
Our favourite MP, Ian West reports from Macquarie Street on some strange collective acction.
Restaurant a Rip Off
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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
Secret Police Spook Mum
The Federal Government's Building Industry Commission threatened a single mum with prison in a bid to get her to rat on workmates who protested over safety standards.
Brodene Wardley, a crane driver and safety rep at Roche Mining, near Hamilton, was sent a warning she would be gaoled if she did not front the Australian Building and Construction Industry Commission and answer questions about a day and a half safety stoppage.
Workers at the Western Victorian site took action when a bus taking them to the mine almost into a train.
Only last week, Melbourne media was reporting a death, and injuries, after a train and truck collided at a level crossing in the state.
Wardley said she could not speak about details of the hearing or the incident but said the process had been intimidating.
"For me it was a very scary thing, I couldn't understand why I was being called up," the mother of three said.
Workers in the construction industry can be gaoled for six months for not turning up to hearings, not providing all relevant information, or speaking about commission hearings to anyone but their lawyer.
"I'm just a working mum, I'm not political, I'm just doing a job on site which I was elected to do ... to take care to the OHS aspects of the job."
Wardley said though she would "absolutely" not back down over speaking up about safety, the Howard Government's laws intimidated people out of OHS roles.
"Someone needs to do it or someone's going to die," she said.
One person is killed every week on average in the construction industry.
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Issue 305 contents
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