
Issue No 35		15 October 1999

News

Labor MPs Asked to Stand Up and Be Counted

Labor Members of Parliament have been asked to actively assist trade union organising drives through their electorate offices under a Transport Workers Union proposal to enhance grassroots activism.

TWU state secretary Tony Sheldon has written to all state and federal Labor MPs asking them to help resist the Federal Government's assault on working people by signing up to a Union Parliamentary partnership.

Under the proposed partnership, MPs and unions would agree to the:

- training of Parliamentary staff in basic industrial relations and employee entitlements.

- the development of organising techniques

- the use of electoral offices to educate and assist local constituents with industrial relations issues.

- the use of electoral offices as a referral service to peak union bodies, participating unions, appropriate community groups and government departments.

Sheldon says the proposal is important in educating Labor representatives in Parliament about the changing priorities and approaches being used by trade unions as they go down the organising path.

Already 18 MPs have signed up to the protocol - although Sheldon says it will be more interesting to see who refuses to help the unions.

The implementation of the TWU plan will be discussed at the Labor Council's next Organising Committee meeting.

Advisory Council to Run Through ALP

Meanwhile, the Premier's new State Labour Advisory Committee will be established through the ALP's Administrative Committee, which will meet in two weeks time.

Labor Council secretary told Labor Council that SLAC, announced at the ALP State Conference will be chaired by the Premier with representatives of government, Labor Council and the Party.

Costa says he'll convene a meeting of union affiliates to discuss the best ways of representing union concerns on the new body.

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Issue 35 contents

Interview: Strategic Responses
NSW Police Association president Mark Burgess has worked in the coal mines and the waterfront - now he�s the public face of NSW police

Republic: Negative Campaigning
If the Republic fails, one of the main complaints which should be leveled against the ARM is its refusal to play dirty.

Unions: Interpreter smooths the way for Kosovar Refugees
�The people really appreciate what Australia has done for them but they still want to go home," said Ariana Biba, a HREA member who has been worked recently as an interpreter assisting newly arrived refugees from Kosovo.

Education: Count Yorga's Evil Plot
NTEU president Carolyn Allport looks at Kemp's brazen attack on univestities and warns the battle is not won yet.

Safety: Death in the Snowy
Beyond the engineering achievements of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, there is the tragic story of those workers killed or seriously injured in the construction of the project.

International: Why Is the WTO So Anti-Labour?
Driving the cost of labour down appears to be the main priority of the World Trade Organisation

History: The Importance of Tradition
Historical documents bring us into closer contact with the past and its concerns as this 1945 extract from the NSW Nurses Association journal, The Lamp, shows.

Review: McLibel - The Mice That Roared
This documentary is the classic tale of the little guys against the system, a battle for the right to dissent.

Satire: Government Privatises Numbers
Prime Minister John Howard released a new policy on numerals yesterday, to bring them in in line with the Liberal Party's plan to privatise �Pretty much everything before we lose office.�

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» Tales from the Gender Battlefield

» It�s Time! Republic Goes Funky

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