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  Issue No 45 Official Organ of LaborNet 10 March 2000  

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News

Telstra, Banks Whack Rural Australia


Unions are forging broader community alliances as major moves by Telstra and the Commonwealth Bank this week raised the spectre of further job losses in regional areas.

The Transport Workers Union has scheduled a series of community forums across the state, inviting community, religious, political and trade union representatives to coordinate local action.

The TWU is focussing on the increasing disparity in incomes, services and economic growth and prosperity between rural and metropolitan areas and is inviting other trade unions to get involved in the campaigns.

The first forum is set for Bathurst on March 19, to be followed by Albury (April 16), Dubbo (May 21), Wagga Wagga (June 18), Goulburn (July 16), Wollongong (August 20), Newcastle (September 17), Tamworth (October 22), Grafton (November 19) and Port Macquarie (December 17).

CBA Merger to Shut Hundreds of Banks

The Finance Sector Union has warned that hundreds of country towns will be left without local services if the proposed merger with the Colonial Group is approved.

While the Commonwealth Bank today flagged a 'no forced redundancy' policy for workers in rural regions, the FSU fears service levels will be inevitable casualties of the merger.

"Access to banking, insurance and superannuation is essential for all Australian communities yet that access is currently determined entirely by the market place on a profit-making basis," FSU state secretary Geoff Derrick says.

"If the Federal Treasurer approves this takeover it will trigger a corporate feeding frenzy in the finance sector with the other big banks moving on regional players."

The FSU has called on the Federal Treasurer to block the merger on public interest grounds and ban any other takeovers until comprehensive Community Service Obligations are put in place

Telstra Staff Cut 60 Per Cent Since Privatisation

Meanwhile, the announcement by Telstra that it wants to shed a further 16,000 workers to maintain its massive profit levels has been condemned.

Communications union state secretary Jim Metcher says the cuts would bring the total workforce down to just 36,000 - down from the 90,000 staff who worked for the company before the federal government commenced privatisation.

Metcher says the drop in staff numbers have been matched by a drop in service levels - particularly in rural areas.

And he says staff who complain about the falling staff levels and service standards are being "targeted and silenced".

"We need a public inquiry to call the Howard Government and Telstra to account for the services it is delivering to rural areas," Metcher says.


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*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 45 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: Working Women
Nareen Young talks about how services are being delivered to our most vulnerable workers - and what unions need to do to make them their own.
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*  Unions: Into the New Frontier
IT professionals are part of the new workforce that unions need to win over - and while they are often contractors, they're workers too.
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*  History: Handling The Ladies
1943 - women were filling the gap in the workforce left by the diggers abroad and Australian managers needed some advice on how to deal with these strange creatures.
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*  Technology: Building The Hypermacho Man
In a stinging critque of the �Wired� culture, Melanie Stewart Miller argues digital cultural is creating a new super-Man.
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*  International: The Long March Home
Trade union women round the world used International Women�s Day to launch the World March of Women Against Poverty and Violence.
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*  Satire: Kerosene Dilution Racket
The nursing home industry has been rocked by a new scandal with the revelation that some unscrupulous proprietors have been diluting their patients� kerosene baths with illicit liquids.
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*  Review: Power and the Back Bar
In an upcoming book, Julia Gillard argues the ALP retains a male culture that is fast losing step with contemporary society.
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News
»  Services Threatened Over Olympic Bonus
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»  Games Edict: Dance for Free
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»  Revealed: Secret State Transit Corporatisation Plans
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»  Women Demand Better Pay from Faye
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»  Telstra, Banks Whack Rural Australia
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»  Casuals Inquiry Still On Union Agenda
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»  Shaw, Sams Pay Tribute to John Whelan
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»  Teachers� Website Mysteriously Blocked
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»  Cash Bonus for Bilingual Workers
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»  Women Demand Better Pay from Faye
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»  Shareholders Push Global Action
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»  Fair Wear Conquers Schools
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»  TWU Calls on Workers to Steer Clear of Woolworths
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»  Push to Strike Out Parrish Directors
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Columns
»  The Soapbox
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»  Sport
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»  Trades Hall
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»  Tool Shed
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Letters to the editor
»  TV Show Seeks Bankrupt Worker
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»  Crosby Spot On
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»  Confused About Workplace Rights
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»  Global Campaign Against Yahoo!
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»  Teachers Row
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