Workers Online : Issue No. 6, 26 March 1999


Issue No 6		26 March 1999

Features
Interview: Jeff Shaw - Keeping the Peace in NSW
We talk to the Carr Government's best minister about his plans and aspirations for a second term.

Unions: Labor's IR Promises
Read the full ALP Industrial Relations policy. Only on Workers Online!

History: A History of Struggle on the Wharves
As the first anniversary of the Reith-Corrigan assault on the waterfront approaches, we remember that it was only the latest in a long line of attacks on the union.

Review: Rats in the Ranks
This Australian political masterpiece about the battle for power in an inner-city council is well worth going back to.

Campaign Diary: It's Time For a Real Labor Government
A returned Carr Government must use its increased majority to promote a genuine Labor agenda rather than just clinging to power for another four years.

A Shaw Bet Saturday

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News

Young Labor's Election Broadside

'96 Revisited - Ditched Laws May Get Second Run
A returned Carr Government will consider revisiting parts of its 1996 industrial relations reform package rejected by the Upper House in its first term.
[ Full Story » ]

Opposition IR - A Dog�s Breakfast
A rattled Coalition goes to the State Election with two conflicting industrial relations policies.
[ Full Story » ]

Union Plan To Give Mobile Workers Security
A privately-operated fund to provide mobile entitlements like long service leave to workers who change jobs regularly is being developed by the AMWU.
[ Full Story » ]

Mergers Wave To Hit Insurance Industry
Finance sector workers are bracing for a wave of mergers in the insurance industry which they fear will undermine job security and affect their ability to serve the public.
[ Full Story » ]

AAP Pushes To Create Virtual Reporters
Reporters at the national wire service, AAP, have rejected a plan for them to take photos and record audio grabs at news conferences for a new Internet news service.
[ Full Story » ]

Wharfies Help Out Aboriginal Kids
The Maritime Union and P&O Ports have provided Aboriginal children at La Perouse with a new pony club - a 20 foot shipping container.
[ Full Story » ]

ACTU Asks Workers: How�s Life?
The ACTU is surveying workers across the country to get a picture of the changing nature of their working life.
[ Full Story » ]

Bracks Gets Pallas Envoy
ACTU assistant secretary Tim Pallas will be working with Victorian Opposition leader Steve Bracks until after the State election.
[ Full Story » ]

South Coast Labor Council Battle Heads for Court
Unions backing a challenge to the South Coast Labor Council leader Paul Matters are considering legal action to have the ballot overturned.
[ Full Story » ]

I Can Out-amble Howard!

Independent Performers Register

Give Gen X a Job Share

Help a Law Student Pass

Election A No-Brainer For Workers

On the eve of state elections, its customary for newspapers to endorse one of the political parties as being fit to govern.

For Workers Online the choice is predictably simple. Labor has delivered a decent industrial relations framework and worked with the union movement to extend the social safety net in important areas like workplace surveillance and pay equity.

The Coalition has served up a scatty platform; oscillating between the Nationals hardline policy and spokesman Chris Hartcher's silence on the issue.

It's disappointing that industrial relations has been left to the periphery of the campaign, because it is here that the differences between the parties is most stark.

Accordingly, we're publishing the ALP's industrial relations policy in full, so unionists can understand what's been promised. Workers Online believes this policy represents an important first step towards a second term agenda.

This is not to say that the Carr Government has done everything right by the workers; but Workers Online is unequivocal in its belief that it will offer more to working people than its opponents.

After the result is known, we'll be updating this issue to look at its implications, so if you're reading this issue early, make sure you come back!

Postscript: Readers might be interested to hear that the Daily Telegraph and The Australian have endorsed Carr, while the Sydney Morning has continued a 100-year tradition of backing the conservatives on the back of their power privatisation plans.

Peter Lewis
Editor