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Issue No. 331 03 November 2006  
 
F E A T U R E S

Interview: Common Ground
Nature Conservation Council director Cate Faehrmann on the fight against global warming and how unions and greens can learn from each other.

Industrial: A Low Act
The Low Paid. The Fair Pay Commission knows who pays them. We can do something about it as they will not.

Unions: The Number of the Least
Forget 666 - 457 is looming as the scariest number for Aussie workers and their families, Jim Marr writes.

Politics: The Smoking Gun
Hayek's henchman, Raplph Harris, goes to free market heaven, writes Evan Jones

Economics: Microcredit, Compulsory Superannuation and Inequality
They are supposed to ensure the wealth of well-being of individuals. Whats wrong with that? asks Neale Towart

Environment: Low Voltage
Nuclear Power and Prime Ministerial pronouncements are seriously short of a few volts, wrties Neal Towart

History: The Art of Social Justice
Tom Martin was a terrific cartoonist and part of a great tradition in labour movement history and culture, swrties Neale Towart.

Review: Work�s Unhealthy Appetite
It pays the bills � usually � but going to work should come with a warning, wrties Jackie Woods.

Culture: A Forgotten Poet
There is little information on the public record about the radical working class poet Ernest Antony, writes Rowan Cahill.

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L A T E S T   N E W S

Lies, Damned Lies and the Shirkin' Gherkin
Australians will be kept in the dark about how AWAs undercut John Howard's promise to protect minimum employment conditions, the Office of the Employment Advocate has decided.

Advocate, Peter McIlwain, stunned Senate Estimates this week when he said his office would no longer make that information available to legislators. [full story]

Guests Share Backpay Bonanza
Forty-two ripped off guest workers are sharing a $745,000 backpay windfall, thanks to aggressive AMWU campaigning.

The public exposure of Hunan Industrial Equipment Installation and Melbourne-based Aprint was slammed by Immigration Minister Amanada Vanstone as a political stunt, but one of her government's agencies confirmed this week it had led to massive pay outs. [full story]

Win, Win for Filipinos
Unions have saved three Filippino welders from deportation and won them $200 a week wage increases for good measure.

The three men faced deportation, under federal government guest labour rules, after they blew the whistle on exploitation at labour hire company, Dartbridge Engineering, and joined a union. [full story]

Honey, They Shrunk Our Pay
The AMWU has released a Cheat's Guide to Section 457 visas, demonstrating how the federal government allows Australia's worst employers to rip off Third World tradespeople.

The simple step-by-step move is taken straight from the Dartbridge Welding playbook and shows how a theoretical wage of $41,000 a year can be turned into take home income of less than $17,000.  [full story]

No Sex Thanks, We're Asian
Union claims that guest workers are being screwed in Australia have been undermined by evidence to a Senate Estimates committee.

Quite the opposite, according to a contract imposed on Chinese welder, Zhihong Fu, who is required to refrain from becoming pregnant, or impregnating anyone else, during his four years in Australia. [full story]

Green Jobs to Beat Climate Change
NSW can take the lead on climate change by embracing solar heating in all public buildings and commissioning local firms to meet demand, under a plan being promoted by Unions NSW.

Unions NSW secretary John Robertson says the combination of environment targets and government purchasing policies would create massive job and export opportunities for NSW companies. [full story]

ALSO MAKING NEWS

 Godfrey Hirst Carpets Workers

 They're Going Out The Door

 Medibank Staff Go Under Knife

 Thompson Slams Door on Delo

 Merchant Bankers Pull Entitlements Stroke

 Green the New Black

 Councils Fight Off Shoring

 Acitivists Notebook

email workers to a friend latest breaking news from labornet
But wait, there's more! The PSA's 'cheap and nasty' shot on Peter Debnam's job cuts.

E D I T O R I A L
Howard has ridden shotgun for the Bush Regime, denying the problem and whining about disproportionate cost to Australia, ignoring that the leadership the Australian people want will come at a price.

The Queen of Comedy

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Robbo Goes Green
John Robertson's speech to the Walk Against Warming

Parliament
The Westie Wing
Ian West takes a look at a former public institution and its contribution to NSW.


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