Issue No 78 | 17 November 2000 | |
NewsReith Uses the Back Door
The usually confrontational Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith turned shy this week when he took a back door to avoid a welcoming committee of Sydney hotel workers and supporters.
Reith used a service lift to access a Work and Family conference organized by his department after more than 200 workers gathered at the entrance of Sydney's Hilton Hotel. Members of the LHMU were joined by building workers who marched of nearby city building sites along with dozens of other affiliates of the NSW Labor Council. Serenading the embattled Minister to the Stevie Wonder hit "I Just Called to Say I Love You", the workers accused the Minister of hypocrisy in handing out awards for family friendly workplaces when his policies have done much to increase pressure on working families. "The only family to benefit out of the Reith industrial relations policies has been the Reiths," Labor Council secretary Michael Costa said. "If all working families had access to a Telecard, I'm sure life would be easier for them too.
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Interview: Doubly Blessed With that unforgettable name, Grace Grace is making her mark as the first female secretary of the Queensland trade union movement. Unions: On The Line Trade unions this week entered a landmark partnership with the call centre industry to improve the quality jobs in this growing sector. History: Conspiracy or Class? The Whitlam Sacking Never trust a man who wears a top hat and tails in Australia, in Summer. Neale Towart considers this and other evidence of conspiracy in the great shonky dismissal. Legal: Return Of The Lock-out Marian Baird reports on the increasing tendency of aggressive employers to use lock-outs to reduce wages and conditions and promote individual agreements. Activists: Waterfront Hero Bows Out John Coombs, the man the government compared to Ned Kelly - villain to the bosses, the big land owners and conservatives, folk hero to working Australians - bows out of the union movement next month. International: Morocco Stonewalls In Western Sahara Morocco has new king but its old game plan of defying world opinion over its occupation of the Western Sahara continues. Review: The Identity-Shifting Pragmatist If New Zealand should have an Australian as its first Labour Prime Minister, then it is only fitting that Australia should have as its first a man who spent much of his formative years across the ditch. Satire: Hackers Infect Microsoft Computers With Mysterious Windows Virus SEATTLE, Thursday: Shame-faced workers at Microsoft admitted today that hackers had succeeded in penetrating their network's defences and had installed a sophisticated virus on the Apple Macintosh machines used across the software giant's operations.
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