
Issue No 43		24 February 2000

Tool Shed

Piers First Man In ...

Welcome to the Tool Shed, our new dumping ground for all that is bilious in the media, politics and anywhere else from whence evil derives.

The Tool Shed develops our Deface a Face facility from last year into a fun interactive game. Use our toolbox of pens and spraycans to transform each week's villain into a work of art. Then post it onto our on-line gallery for public display. The best Defacement each week will win one of the few remaining Pierswatch T-shirts.

We'll be inviting you to nominate each week's Tools, as well as giving as your reasons - ensuring the Tool Shed becomes a truly democratic forum for spleen venting. But be warned, we're still unsure about defo law so try to play the issue rather than the person.

***********************

Bye Bye Piers

Regular Workers Online readers will note that the Tool Shed occupies the territory formerly housing PiersWatch.

While the demise of this column may be a cause of distress for some, it is of some relief to the editor, who had to come up with a weekly critique of Piers blatherings.

This was a difficult task to perform because:

(a) Piers doesn't have that much to say

(b) What he does have to say isn't that interesting

So we are officially announcing that Pierswatch is dead, dear reader. long live the Tool Shed.

But before we finally kill him off, we offer you one last chance to interfere with Satan's Beanbag. It was a tough summer for Piers, as his editors turned against his hero, PM John Howard, who had the temerity to make a political decision against News Ltd's commercial interests.

To make it harder, a new Telegraph format meant Piers had to be photographed from the waist up - as if the mug-shot wasn't scary enough. What we are now confronted with each Tuesday and Thursday is a vision splendoured, in unfashionable blue-striped shirts - showing the formidable product of all those long lunches in all their glory. In a new News Ltd trait - a range of columnists photographed with arms folded - just in case you didn't realise how uncompromising they were.

Consequently, we have a new visage for you to doodle with, bearing a greater proportion of the torso to monster. One can only wait for the full body shots so we can view Piers' feet for the first time (he hasn't seen them himself for several decades)

We could go on with a critique of his summer work which included further harassment of Currawong, more cheap shots at Labor Council's women's committee and a self-serving claim that the Daily Telegraph have become the workers friend. We could go on, but that would be against the spirit of burying Pierswatch. The bottom line is he's bored us into submission.

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Issue 43 contents

Interview: Parting Gestures
Outgoing ACTU president Jennie George looks back on her time at the helm and charts some challenges for young women in the union movement.

Unions: While We Were Sleeping
It’s been a long hot summer for Australian workers - from the showdown in the Pilbara to the victorious National Textile workers. We look at the stories Workers Online missed while we were in the banana chair.

Media: Freudian Slips
The coverage of Jennie George’s final days as ACTU President were a case study in the art of psycho-tabloid.

Legal: Cookies’ Fortune
The breakaway union led by a man personally backed by the Prime Minister has been refused registration in a ruling that raises questions over the whole enterprise.

Politics: True Deceivers
In his controversial new book, Andrew Scott argues that Labor's rhetoric has outstripped its achievements.

Review: Rebel With a Cause
A new Michael Moore has emerged at the frontline of subversive television. His technique? Combining organising with silly suits.

Satire: Victorian ALP shock: "Apparently We're in Power!"
A recent survey conducted by the Victorian State ALP has revealed that the party is in government.

International: Right Hand Drive
The rise of the extreme Right in Austria carries some important lessons for our own society.

» Did Taxpayers Fund PM’s Rogue Union?

» Woodlawn: Two Years Is Long Enough

» Bus Drivers Strike Olympic Bonus

» Office Email Access for All

» Test Case for Bank After Hold-Up

» Mad Monk Misses the Mark

» Crosby to Unions: Don't Lose Your Nerve

» The Bald Truth - Unions Hit the Campuses

» Moait Takes Reins as President

» Mardi Gras to Pay Tribute to Jennie

» Pay Equity Cyber Picket on Premier

» Log-In Every Day on LaborNet!

» The Soapbox

» The Locker Room

» Trades Hall

» Tool Shed

» Desperately Seeking Lithgow Ladies

» Just a Suggestion!

» Where is the Nexus?

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