E D I T O R I A L

Double Jeopardy
As more examples of the human misery that is WorkChoices comes to light, the Howard Government is constructing a devious defence strategy that further erodes the independence of the public service.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Australia�s Most Wanted
The ACCC is the latest state agency to turn its guns on the construction union. National official, Dave Noonan, discusses the implications.

Industrial: The Fox and the Contractor
With new laws looming for �independent contractors�, Foxtel subbies have had the carpet pulled from under their feet, writes Nathan Brown.

Unions: Industrial Wasteland
A group of inner-Sydney veterans appear to be working to strip their families of retirement incomes. Jim Marr records their desperation.

International: Two Bob's Worth
German and British workers are participating in business decisions while WorkChoices locks Australians out of the conversation, writes Anthony Forsyth.

Economics: National Interest
John Howard claimed that interest rates would always be lower under a Coalition government than under Labor, Neale Towart crunchess the numbers.

Environment: The Real Dinosaur
Economic ignorance remains at the top and the critics are oblivious says Sol Power

History: Only In Spain?
The experiences of self management during the Civil War have been the one positive factor to come from that tragic event, and the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation thrives today.

Review: Clerk Off
Nathan Brown draws solace from some fellow social misfits.

N E W S

All Work and No Pay

Peking Ducks Safety Regs

MPs Face Super Clean-Out

Gas Man Won't Say What's Cooking

Crane Boss Lifts Her Profile

World Bank Hollers for Marshalls

Pork Choices

Medibank Sale Looking Crook

Radio Rentals Off Air

Finger Man Gives For Sale Sign

Libs: Lay Off Our Oppressor

Cleaners Mop Up a Big One

15 Percent All Round - Super!

Activist's What's On!

C O L U M N S

Legends
Westie Wing
MLC Ian West ventures beyond Macquarie St and into the desert of the eco rats.

The Soapbox
Testing Times
Former RLPA secretary and Newcastle Knights prop, Tony Butterfield, fires up over dawn raids.

Obituary
Dare to Win
The union movement has lost an inspirational leader of working men and women, writes Jeana Vithoulkas

Fiction
Tommy's Apprentice
Chapter Two - Tommy�s Tale.

L E T T E R S

WHAT YOU CAN DO

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Finger Man Gives For Sale Sign

In May, Jin Woog Kim had all five fingers from one hand ripped off in an unsafe machine at Rexma, a plastics factory in the Sydney suburb of Revesby.

After the accident his employer, who had been paying him a flat rate of $10 an hour with no sick or holiday pay, overtime or superannuation, reported him to the Immigration Department as an illegal immigrant.

CFMEU state secretary Andrew Ferguson said the union - which was contacted by Mr Kim two weeks ago - had already won him a $13,000 workers compensation payment and was working on a lump sum payment for the loss of use of his dominant hand, as well as a claim for underpayment of wages and non-payment of entitlements.

"The boss has just advertised the factory for sale. He's doing a cut and run, he'll have the company go bust so he doesn't have to pay," Ferguson said.

According to the CFMEU, a number of illegal workers have been employed by Rexma under appalling conditions and threatened with deportation if they complain.

The use of illegal immigrants as cheap labour is a growing trend, with employers able to dispose of them at will by having them arrested and deported, Ferguson said.

Yet the federal government hasn't responded to extensive lobbying by the CFMEU to introduce effective penalties against these employers, he said.

Under current law, employers must admit knowingly employing an illegal immigrant before facing prosecution. They never do.

"Under this liberal government, not one employer has been punished for exploiting illegal workers," he said.

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Last Modified: 08 Sep 2006