
Issue No 40		19 November 1999

News

Burrow's Plea: Net-Heads Must Take Leadership Role

The woman tipped to be the next ACTU president has called on information technology specialists to "assume a leadership mantle" within their unions.

Sharan Burrow, the only national union secretary to attend the two-day conference, told the 180 delegates from around Australia and the Pacific that "traditional hierarchies are sometimes good, sometimes not so good in the way ideas are debated."

"You must take a leadership role by dint of your knowledge," she said. "You must continue to put up ambit claims around the technology budgets and argue them through your organisations."

Delegates also heard from international Internet activists Marc Belanger and Eric Lee, Labor's federal IT spokeswoman Senator Kate Lundy as well as participating in workshops on issues such as Internet privacy, organsing IT workers and on-line education.

Unions Must Become Information Organisers

Belanger's keynote address was a wake-up call to anyone who thinks all unions have to do to survive in the Information Age is to set up a home page. The creator of Soli-Net argued that the changes we are confronting are so profound that they can not be met with answers - but by asking better questions.

"You can't commit yourself to a prototype today that may not exist tomorrow," he warned. "The Internet as we know it will disappear, it will be the technologies built on the Internet that will change our world."

Belanger called on unionists to become technology organisers; focussing on understanding existing technologies and using them to develop new people organising techniques.

He was backed by ACTU secretary elect Greg Combet, who addressed delegates at a reception hosted by Virtual Communities, stressing the need for unions to "use the technologies in a political way."

Combet said the development of information technology would be a key theme of the ACTU Council meeting in December and committed the ACTU to building up services to affiliates over time.

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  Issue 40 contents

Interview: No Quick Fix
Online pioneer Marc Belanger explains why the Internet, on its own, will not save the union movement.

Unions: Organising With A Mission
Entries are beginning to trickle in for the Labor Council Organiser of the Year. With just two weeks to deadline, we look at the TWU's nominee.

History: Rhyme and Reason
Poems written by workers provide us with an insight into their experiences and also how they felt about their work and working conditions.

Health: The Food Police
Three times a day you take your life in your hands. How? When you sit down to eat a meal.

Politics: East Timor: Defeat or Victory for the Left?
John Passant's "Requiem for the Left" advances some rather extravagant charges regarding the left and East Timor.

International: Kiwi Unions Rebuild from Ground Up
After fifteen years as a right wing laboratory New Zealand is about to change tack. New NZCTU chief Paul Goulter outlines the challenge ahead.

Satire: Australian Democrats Revealed as Student Hoax
The Chaser has obtained an exclusive background report on the extraordinary story which reveals how and why Cheryl Kernot defected from the Democrats.

Review: The Best of the Best
Once again Channel Nine has out done itself with it�s new Ray Martin program �Simply the Best�.

Labour Review: What's New at the Information Centre
View the latest issue of Labour review, our resource for officials and students.

Deface a Face: 25,000 Teachers Can�t Be Wrong!
Angry teachers yesterday voted overwhelmingly for Education minister John Aquilina to take the mantle of this week�s face to deface.

» Contracts Fear as Teachers Sidelined

» Reith Calls on States to Split Entitlement Costs

» Burrow's Plea: Net-Heads Must Take Leadership Role

» Ozemail Downloading Leave Entitlements

» Geeks Claim 400 Per Cent for Millennium Bug Patrol

» Hospital Crisis Looms as Nurses Set Deadline

» Pre-Fab Shelter Wins UN Support in East Timor

» Rail Authorities Back Down on Surveillance.

» Rio Tinto Black List Exposed at Blair Athol

» Needle Stick Fears Spark Industrial Action

» Round One to the Cleaners

» Telstra's Greed Puts Service at Risk

» Tragic Death Leads to Lift in Contractor Safety Standards

» Oldfield in the Pub