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Straw Men
Somewhere between Bangalore and Surrey Hills a story about off shoring of Australian jobs got confused this week; unleashing a round of hand-wringing that speaks volumes about the political and commercial potency of this issue.
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.
Activists Notebook
Money Walks Over Jobs
Classifieds the New IR Attack Dog
States Keep Stakes in IR Blueprint
Meatworkers Boned by WorkChoices
Tune Up for Radio Rentals
Democracy Overboard in Bass Strait
Unionist Targeted for Deportation
Taxpayers Taken to the Cleaners
Staff Sunk By Float
AWB Sets New Low
Heinemann Pushes the Envelope
Giant Catastrophe for Crew
Workers Lose Right to Choose Lawyers
Skill Vouchers A Dud, AMWU
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.
Honest John, Would You Like Lies With That
The Unpromised Land
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Evatt Foundation
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News
Skill Vouchers A Dud, AMWU
John Howard's voucher-based skills initiative will undermine qualifications and apprenticeships to provide employers with short-term fixes, according to the AMWU.
AMWU national president Julius Roe said the $837 million, to be spent over five years, would go nowhere near making up billion cuts to TAFE and university funding, Canberra had presided over.
"Australia is the only country in the OECD which has cut real spending on education and training in the last decade," Roe said. "The average, across other developed countries, has been a real increase of more than 30 percent.
"This package, less than $200 million a year, goes nowhere near making up the shortfall cause by the Howard cuts."
The program is based on vouchers, worth up to $3000, for Australians aged over 25 who haven't completed Year 12 education.
Workers can use the vouchers to cover courses and training programs.
Roe said they were really about undermining TAFEs and genuine qualifications.
"We don't need to destroy the apprenticeship system to tackle skills shortages," he says.
"There are far more people applying for trade apprenticeships than there are available places. The key is to increase the number of places available and to increase completion rates.'
Roe said the "miserable" amount of money provided would not go near meeting that goal.
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Issue 328 contents
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