Issue No 57 | 09 June 2000 | |
NewsDemocrats Come Through on Third Wave
The Australian Democrats this week answered the call of thousands of workers by rejecting Peter Reith's plan to outlaw industry-wide bargaining.
The decision, announced the same day 20,000 Sydney workers rallied outside their offices, marks another rebuff for Reith's deregulatory industrial relations agenda. They heard testimony from workers in the finance, transport and entertainment industries, as well as building workers, about the impact of the Reith proposals. While Reith argued the laws were necessary to quell a militant campaign in the Victorian building and manufacturing industries, the wider impact of the laws is believed to have swayed the Democrats. ACTU President Sharan Burrow welcomed the Democrats decision as a victory for fair-minded Australia and the defeat of biased laws from a biased Minister. "Working women and men will thank the Democrats and the Labor Party for blocking these laws," Burrow says. "They have again ensured that working Australians will not be subjected to Mr Reith's partisan and ideological agenda." Burrow commended the Democrats for ensuring that working people were given a fair hearing over their concerns, despite the tight timetable for the inquiry process. "Democrats have listened to working people and acted to protect their interest. We thank them for that," she said. Labor industrial relations spokesman Arch Bevis says the Bill joins the growing list of Reith's failed industrial relations laws. "On his current batting average you'd have to question whether he deserves his place in the side," Bevis says.
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Interview: Cocky Labor On the eve of State Conference, Country Labor convenor Tony Kelly outlines how Labor is stealing the ground from under the National Party's feet. Economics: Millenium Work Ethics - A New Social Partnership? The future of work in the twenty-first century will be both provocative and challenging, according to Professor Russell Lansbury. Politics: Extracting the Digit Labor's federal communications spokesman Stehpen Smith outlines the Party's position on the controversial datacasting legislation currently before Parliament. History: Hot Off the Press Check out what's in the latest issue of Labour History - A Journal of Labour and Social History, International: The East Timor of Africa Nobel laureate Jose Ramos Horta will this week tell a Sydney audience of the parallels between East Timor and the nation described as the last colony in Africa - the Western Sahara. Environment: MUA Snail Men Honoured Brisbane wharfies Lehi Munday and Mal Monro look an unlikely Watson and Sherlock double, but their keen detective work has helped win the Southern Queensland MUA Branch two national environment awards. Satire: Howard Says 'Sorry' In a startling apology to the Aboriginal community, Prime Minister John Howard said last night he was deeply sorry that he turned up to the Corroboree 2000 celebrations. Review: Front Stage and Pulp Fiction The Waterfront War has made the transition from industrial showdown to cultural icon. Now it's inspiring artists.
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