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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.
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.
 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
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.
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News
Legal Centres Under Threat
The Federal government is threatening to cut funding to community legal centres over alleged political bias against its new IR laws.
But any move to disallow law reform advocacy or community legal education programs would undermine the centres' valuable work rights programs, says Julie Bishop, director of the National Association of Community Legal Centres.
Bishop is yet to hear directly from Attorney-General Philip Ruddock over plans for a new funding formula to prohibit 'political' activity, but in recent media grandstanding, Ruddock has accused community legal centres for spending too much time attacking WorkChoices and other government policies on welfare and terrorism.
Any advocacy or education campaign run by community legal centres is based firmly on clients' experiences, says Bishop.
"Community legal centres nationally have had an influx of clients with concerns about the WorkChoices legislation. People are just scared, they don't know how it's going to affect them," she says.
"Some of our centres have experts in employment law and part of our role is to explain exactly what the changes are."
Nationally, community legal centres receive about $22 million a year from the federal government.
"Community legal centres need a lot more money. Cutting out the advocacy and education programs we do is not going to give us the money we need - and will lead to far greater costs to society," says Bishop.
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Issue 327 contents
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