Workers Online : Issue No. 75, 27 October 2000


Issue No 75		27 October 2000

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

Features
Interview: Civilized Capital
The FNV's Harrie Lindelauff explains to Peter Lewis how a friendly government and moderate employers make for a different sort of workplace in Holland.

Politics: Where Too Much Politics Is Barely Enough
With daily newspapers providing polling and analysis, television, cable, radio and Internet providing 24 hour coverage over a year long campaign -- there's more than enough politics for even the most voracious American political junkie reports Michael Gadiel.

International: US Cleaners on Hunger Strike
A number of US cleaners have this week gone on a hunger strike to back a union campaign for higher wages.

Economics: The Pass The Risk Trick
Derivatives, often seen as the currency of casino capitalism, are the fastest growing, largest and potentially most volatile aspect of capitalist economies. Economist Dick Brian sees behind this image an even deeper danger.

Health: Depressing Workplaces
New technologies and the impact of globalisation have sparked more stress and bouts of depression for workers, while causing a growing burden for social security systems, a new ILO report says.

Unions: Costello's Con
The low paid are bearing the brunt of the GST with inflation at a 10 year high argues the ACTU's Greg Combet.

Satire: Bush campaign an in-joke, admit advisors
TEXAS, Thursday: Following Bush's disastrous performance in the first Presidential debate it has been revealed that his bid for president is actually the result of a in-joke about how stupid the American people are.

Heath Goes for Gold

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News

Cutting Corners At The ABC.

ACTU Calls For Compo For Costello's Inflation Spike
ACTU Secretary Greg Combet says unions will push for a pay rise for low paid workers to ensure that living standards are maintained in the face of GST price increases, record petrol prices and rising interest rates.
[ Full Story » ]

Despair At Our ABC
ABC staff say the national broadcaster is being deeply harmed by the current management policies of the Managing Director, Jonathon Shier, and his management.
[ Full Story » ]

Outlaw Banks Strike Again
"The National Bank has no conscience and makes Ned Kelly look like Cinderella," the Federal Member for Lowe, John Murphy MP said today as the National Australia Bank in Drummoyne closed its doors.
[ Full Story » ]

Church Leader Confesses: We're Not Always Good Employers
Australia's Uniting Church, which employs more people than BHP, has acknowledged that the church has not always been a good employer.
[ Full Story » ]

Building Workers Win $150 A Week Pay Rise
Australia's main construction union, the CFMEU is hailing a major industrial win as a new wages standard for the building industry.
[ Full Story » ]

MUA Prosecutes Patrick
Productivity gains at Patrick have come at a cost - crippling injuries to workers says the MUA.
[ Full Story » ]

WA Secrecy Laws Gag Union Members
The National Council of one of Australia's largest unions, the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers' Union (LHMU), has condemned the secrecy of WA's industrial laws.
[ Full Story » ]

LHMU Seek $1 An Hour Rise
The 150,000 member Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU) has called on the ACTU to seek an extra $1.00 per hour, or $38 per week, for lower paid workers in the Living Wage Case.
[ Full Story » ]

Picket Protects Broadway Squats
The CFMEU together with SHAC Sydney Housing Action Collective have successfully stopped the South Sydney Council from evicting a group of 25 squatters from vacant property on Broadway.
[ Full Story » ]

APHEDA Appeal For Palestinian Medical Relief
APHEDA - Union Aid Abroad has combined with a six other Australian aid agencies to launch an Appeal to support emergency, relief and rehabilitation services for hospitals and clinics across the Palestinian Territories.
[ Full Story » ]

World Bank, IMF To Consult Unions
The leadership of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have welcomed proposals to improve consultations with trade unions.
[ Full Story » ]

Festering Joy
Scottish pipers and 200 well wishers and family members were on hand in Moss Vale on Monday as 63 Joy Mining Machinery workers began their return to work.
[ Full Story » ]

Heath Our Hero Wins Two Gold
Heath Francis, the 19-year-old from Booral who is the patron of the Labor Council's YouthSafe Committee, blitzed the field and won his place in the history books last weekend.
[ Full Story » ]

No Back Down By SRA

Bullying Again

There Is Another Way!

With inflation hitting a ten year high this week workers have strong claims for a decent pay rise in the next Living Wage claim to be launched next week.

Of course we have the usual government bleatings that workers have already been compensated for the GST with tax cuts. Every week the payslips of the low paid expose that for the gobshite it is.

As Greg Combet points out this week a worker on $25,000 per year only received a $12.50 tax cut - a mere blimp on the petrol bowser as fuel prices climb.

This year the Living Wage campaign has the potential to be more than the top down affair it has been in the past. Unions will have time to get out to members and fully consult and debate the merits of the claim and the direction of the campaign. As in everything we do it should be a chance to organise and build.

This week's announcement of cuts in the ABC news and current affairs budget and more importantly the style and direction of the new management are causes for concern for those who value a strong public broadcaster. (That obviously leaves out the Liberal Party.)

It's not only union members who are voicing concerns about the experience in public broadcasting (or lack of it) and vision (or lack of it) from the new Managing Director. A Murdoch scribe painted one of the most devastating portraits possible to do in two hundred words when reporting yesterday's meeting between Jonathon Shier and staff.

Looking at the ongoing pillage by the banks, the decimation of the ABC, the sleaze oozing from the Federal Government's 'star performers', the climate of malice, mediocrity and fear promoted by our Federal Government can be disheartening.

But there is another way! In this week's Workers Online Peter Lewis reports how the Labour movement in European states are pushing the edges of the political debate and that enlightened policy need not be at odds with economic growth.

Noel Hester
Editor