Workers Online : Issue No. 71, 15 September 2000


Issue No 71		15 September 2000

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

Features
Interview: Surviving The Firestorm
After several years as the focus of some brutal politics Carmen Lawrence is back on the ALP front bench. She talks to Workers Online about her new portfolio, unions and the ALP and mud slinging in politics.

History: Unions, Sport and Community
Remember when sport was a fun way to relax after arduous labour? The fight for the eight-hour work day was based around a slogan that said, in part, eight hours work, eight hours play. The play was unpaid and unsung, but enjoyable.

Politics: Global Failures
Sharan Burrow told the World Economic Forum this week that the union movement acknowledges the benefits of globalisation but it's time to address the failures.

International: Mobile Workers
A global IT labour shortage is throwing up challenges for both the developed and developing world. Gerd Rohde, from the Geneva-based Union Network International, is working to strike a balance.

Unions: Stuffed or Stoned?
In a recent dispute at the South Blackwater Coal Mine in Central Queensland CFMEU members resisted the introduction of random drug testing in the absence of a better strategy to test impairment and not just lifestyle.

Review: A Perfect Circle- Mer de Noms
Peter Zangari believes the music world has moved on from the simplistic chords of Nirvana and Soundgarden and the grunge scene has been obliterated. But like most other things, especially music, it re-invents itself.

Satire: Silly 2000
Editors demand something happen: �We�ve got 300 Olympic pages to fill and everyone is training�.

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News

Aussie Post - Olympic Scrooge

Protesting Posties Blast Bosses in Swank Hotel
Hundreds of Australia Post workers looking for a modest Olympic Allowance rallied outside the posh Westin Hotel in Sydney's CBD yesterday where their senior managers had holed up for a luxurious Olympics fortnight.
[ Full Story » ]

Mario Carries Torch For Workers
On Tuesday, Mario Barrios, CFMEU delegate during the construction of Stadium Australia, capped off his involvement with the building of the Olympics by becoming an official torch bearer.
[ Full Story » ]

Union Flag Flies High At Olympic Park
As this article goes on-line the oversized sports carnival that is the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games will have begun and deep within the bizarre fantasy world that is Sydney Olympic Park the union flag flies high with Unions 2000.
[ Full Story » ]

International Passport for IT Workers
IT workers will have their trade union membership recognized while working overseas, via a new trade union passport launched by the Union Network International.
[ Full Story » ]

Homecarers Strike Another Blow Against Outsourcing
Outsourcing services looked even less of a viable option to reduce wages and conditions when Victorian homecarers - members of the ASU - won a class action against the Greater Dandenong Council this week.
[ Full Story » ]

Alliances The Legacy of S11 Say Protestors
While violent scenes dominated the media coverage of the World Economic Forum union participants say the involvement of large numbers of young people and the forging of new alliances will be the enduring legacy of s.11
[ Full Story » ]

Violence Rife Against Union Activists
At least 140 trade unionists were assassinated, disappeared, or committed suicide after they were threatened, because they had the temerity to stand up for workers' rights against the state or unscrupulous employers, according to a survey published this week.
[ Full Story » ]

Call Centre Workers Compo Call Answered
Industrial deafness is an incurable disease. It not only occurs in the traditionally noisy industries such as construction, it is also prevalent in the new technology industries such as call centres.
[ Full Story » ]

Better Pay, Big Screens and Ice Cream for Bus 2000 Drivers
Bus 2000 drivers were sharing a room with up to 7 other drivers and receiving little more than a bottle of drink and an apple to sustain them after a twelve hour shift the Transport Workers Union found earlier this week.
[ Full Story » ]

'Appalling' Detention Centres Behind Riots
The Sydney-based Asylum Seekers Centre, says incidents such as the recent riot at Woomera are the result of the appalling condition of immigrant detention centres and their poor management and administration practices.
[ Full Story » ]

Election of Burmese Official A Slap In The Face
The rewarding of Burma by giving one of its senior diplomats the Chair of a major United Nations Committee sends the pariah regime a signal that the UN is not concerned about the country's persistent use of slave labour says an international union body.
[ Full Story » ]

Listen To The Young

Welcome To The Greatest Union Show On Earth

For overseas visitors the Sydney Olympic Games will be the experience of a lifetime. It will be much more than just the opportunity to be a spectator to excellence in a multitude of sports. It will be a chance to meet, mix with and share experiences with Australians during a showcase global carnival.

And at every point of their stay visitors will be looked after by trade union members and be witness to our constructive, creative and central contribution to Australian sporting and cultural life.

Unionised air crew will fly our visitors here and on arrival TWU baggage handlers will sort their bags. Unionised taxi drivers will take them to their hotels where LHMU members will shower them with hospitality. They will be transported to Olympic venues by unionised public transport workers to enjoy facilities built by trade union construction workers. Here they will be entertained by MEAA artists and even be served ice creams and confectionary by newly unionised teenager vendors.

Everywhere and at every moment there will be evidence for the world to see that Australian unions are far from a spent force and that working people make this country tick.

Despite reservations about the wisdom of so many resources being allocated to such a mega sporting event in what is a relatively small country, at the end of the day union members got on with the job and delivered.

It is they and not the rorting Gospers or dubious Samaranchs that deserve the credit for producing such an enormous occasion. They have every right to stand as proud as any winner on the podium for their contribution to the games.

Workers Online will be taking a two week break during the Workers Olympics. We know our place - we won't compete for your attention during two weeks of saturation sport! We'll be back again on 6 October.

Noel Hester
Editor