E D I T O R I A L

The Road to Bangalore
A funny thing is happening as the major corporations plan their latest heist on the Australian public – the off shoring of an estimated two million white collar jobs to low cost countries like India.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Cowboys and Indians
Finance Sector Union national secretary Paul Schroder is standing between the big banks and a bucket of money.

Industrial: Seven Deadly Sins
Chris Christodoulou gives seven reasons why WorkChoices is bad for business

Unions: The IT Factor
The future of Australian IT looks grim as big companies lead the rush to India and China, writes Jackie Woods.

Politics: Bargain Basement
Simple principles of democracy underpin the ACTU's collective bargaining proposal, insists ACTU Secrteary Greg Combet.

Environment: An Inconvenient Hoax
Al Gore may be warning of climate breakdown, but what hope the truth when he's up against such a well-oiled machine? asks Paul Sheridan

Corporate: Two Sides
Bilateral trade agreements are a good idea – just ask the US multinationals. The rest of us should strongly disagree says Pat Ranald

International: Unfair Dismissals
Nearly 10,000 workers were fired for their trade union activities in 2005, an annual trade union survey shows.

History: A Stitch in Time
Neale Towart takes some lessons from female textile workers while considering the case for recognition ballots.

Review: The Wind that Shakes the Barley
A film charting the turmoil of the Irish war for independence against British occupation during the 1920s might seem an odd choice for top honours at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006.

N E W S

OWS Blesses Tassie Plunder

Feds Knew About Wage Slashing

Data Farmers' Bitter Harvest

Umpire Delivers to Posties

It's a Goal - Compass Out-Pointed

Childcare Giant Goes Union

Meat Head Jumps The Queue

AWAs – Thanks a Million

Vets’ Fight On

TB Threat From FoC Ship

Hamberger in Cancer Blue

AMWU Challenges Forced Deportation

Let’s Dance – Andrews Get Hot

Legal Centres Under Threat

Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

Parliament
The Westie Wing
Ian West takes a walk around the backyard with the Prime Minister…

The Soapbox
Rise Up
Hugo Chavez's explosive address to the United Nations

Culture
The Fear Factor
A new analysis of the history of fear takes us from the war on terror all the way to the modern workplace.

L E T T E R S

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Data Farmers' Bitter Harvest

As the backlash against off-shoring of jobs to India gathers steam, a report by Britain's Channel 4 'Dispatches' program exposes major security breaches in centres Australian banks are targeting as cheap labour bases.

The report, the product of a 12-month investigation, films an Indian middleman offering hundreds and thousands of "hot leads", with full banking and financial profiles of UK customers.

The report backs concerns raised by Australian unions that lax privacy laws will compromise the data of Australia customers if IT processing work is sent to India.

Opposition leader Kim Beazley weighed into the campaign, endorsing the union call for 'right to know' laws that would require businesses sending details overseas to disclose this to their customers.

"When businesses seek savings by off shoring jobs to overseas data processing centres, it's only reasonable that their Australian customers are told," Beazley says.

"That way, consumers can stay in control of their personal data, and make informed choices about which businesses they want to deal with. "

Sharing the Spirit

Meanwhile, shareholders in Australia's major banks are being asked to sponsor resolutions that would force the off-shoring of jobs to India to be abandoned.

The Finance Sector Union has placed in major newspapers around Australia Monday calling on shareholder to back resolutions to be put to upcoming Annual General Meetings of Westpac, ANZ, NAB and St George.

The resolutions call on the boards of these banks, who are all looking to send significant numbers of jobs offshore to India, to reconsider this strategy in the interests of the company share price.

Each resolution required the signatures of 100 shareholders to be placed on the AGM agenda. It was then up to shareholders to vote on the issue.

FSU national secretary Paul Schroder says that investors who care about share value would back the resolution.

"We know that the public is opposed to Australian jobs being sent off-shore and that customers of these banks don't want their personal information sent to countries with inferior privacy protections.

"The concern of staff and shareholders is that in taking short term cost-cutting options these banks may actually undermine confidence in their ability to securely manage their customers accounts."

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Last Modified: 06 Oct 2006