F E A T U R E S

Interview: Life After Keating
Labor's foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd looks at the world and wonders what might have been ...

Industrial: That Friday Feeling
Anthony Stavropoulos has been working six days a week for the last eight years and now he wants his weekends back. �Remember that Friday feeling?� he asks. �You just don�t get that anymore.�

Bad Boss: Begging to Work
They may put themselves about as the Saints of the Fourth Estate, but bosses at the Big Issue Magazine have been nominated by their own vendors for this month�s Tony award.

Organising: Project Pilbara
Sydney University�s Bradon Ellem reports on how unions are bouncing back in Rio territory

Unions: Off the Rails
The Federal Government is attempting to turn NSW Railways into a political football with a proposal that threatens the safety of freight and passenger trains in NSW and life in our rail Towns, writes Phil Doyle.

International: Brazil Turns Left
Union stalwarts throughout the American hemisphere are cheering the election of Lula � the peanut seller and shoeshine boy, turned union leader - who has been elected as the first working-class President of Brazil.

Environment: Brown Wash
Stuart Rosewarn argues the Johannesburg Sunmmit was a gripping showcase of Australia�s lack of a strategic vision.

History Special: Learning from the Past
Ray Markey looks at union membership growth in the 1880s & 1900s to argue that today�s unions must engage to grow.

Corporate: Will the Bullying Backfire?
Job insecurity, unemployment, a growing gap between rich and poor, massive global poverty and environmental danger are the big issues for the protests at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Sydney.

Technology: Danger Lurks For The Passive
If unions fail to exploit opportunities on the web to gain members, other organisations are likely to fill the void and provide services to workers on the internet.

History: In Labour�s Image
Neale Towart looks at a long-overdue initiative to around NSW through the eyes of the workers.

Politics: Without Power Or Glory
South Coast contributor Rowan Cahill gives his take on the Cunningham by-election result.

History Special: A 'Cosy Relationship'
Barbara Webster looks at Rockhampton between 1916 � 1957 to debunk the �dependence� theory of trade union growth.

Culture: Blood Stains the Wattle
Former Queensland Treasurer Keith De Lacey has turned up in print with a rollicking tale of life during the famous Mt Isa strike of the 60s.

Satire: Iraq Pre-empts Pre-emptive Strike
Saddam Hussein has launched a pre-emptive strike on the United States to prevent it from pre-emptively striking Iraq first.

Poetry: The Executive Pay Cut
Executives accepting pay freezes, or even pay cuts? This outrageous proposal has been put on the table by some capitalists themselves, and taken up by our bard.

Review: Time Out
When a family man invents a new life after losing his steady job, Tara de Boehmler watches his charade escalate until there is no turning back.

C O L U M N S

Month In Review
War and Pieces of Work
The Bali Tragedy dominated the news this month, leaving many questioning the motive and wondering if this is fallout from Australia�s unquestioning support of George Dubya�s �War On Terror�.

The Soapbox
Beware of Greeks Bearing Historical Allusions
Roland Stephens argues that the current popular line that the USA is a modern day version of the Roman Empire is flawed.

The Locker Room
Over The Fence Is Out
Phil Doyle warms up for another season of hard hitting and fast bowling in the park, making the rules up as he goes along.

Indigenous
The Sea of Hands
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation are five years old. Spokeswoman Dameeli Coates addressed labor Council to mark the event.

Postcard
Tokyo Youth Call
Tokyo unions are relying on young organisers to infiltrate workplaces as part of a major organising campaign, which focuses on non-unionised companies, reports Mary Yaager.

Bosswatch
Still Crazy After All These Years
With new research suggests CEO carry similar personality traits to psycho-paths, the AGM season is proving that there�s little room for logic in our nation�s board rooms.

E D I T O R I A L

Why The User Should Pay
Unions have often been the victims of the user-pays ethos � the pointy end of the assault on the State by the Top End of Town that has left our public sector looking like the poor relation to the corporates.

N E W S

Bargaining Fees In the Dock

Deadly �Slave Labour� Racket Exposed

Zoo Workers Buck Indecent Proposal

Cabinet Takes Stick To Abbott's Carrot

Cyber Action Behind Hilton Win

Aussies Back On Board

City Workers To Help Country Cousins

Sour Taste for Wine Workers

Government Grounds Ansett Levy

TAB Workers Winners as Cup Strike Averted

Aussie Post Gets Mail On Sick Leave

Council Backs Community Radio Venture

First Steps to Compo Clean-Up

Workers Out! Conference Opens In Sydney

Aussie Union Rep Power, Yes Please: TUC

New Burma Shame File

Activists Notebook

L E T T E R S

WHAT YOU CAN DO

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The Sea of Hands

***********

I come here today with two hats on. NIYMA to let you know that there are some amazing young black leaders emerging in this country who are ready. Ready to embrace the ideas of a movement of peoples, ready to engage again with those who have always stood by Indigenous Peoples-that is why I am here. We.... Remember it was the unions who supported Vincent Lingiari in his walk off at wave hill all those years ago.

I also come as a member and worker of Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation or as we are more often know as ANTaR Sea of Hands.

5 years ago 2 members of ANTaR stood in this very spot and asked for support for the first Sea of Hands of Parliament House - protesting the Native Title Amendments. Today I've come here to do the same for our 5th Anniversary.

In the last 5 years over 300 000 people have signed the statement in support of Indigenous Rights - each statement representing an individual hand.

This year marks some significant anniversaries in the consciousness of broader Australia about the plight of Indigenous People. It is 5 years since the Bringing them Home Report was launched to a shocked and disbelieving Australia. It is 10 years since Paul Keating delivered his watershed speech at Redfern Park in which he said

"We cannot imagine that the descendants of people whose genius and resilience maintained a culture here through 50 000 years or more, who then survived two centuries of dispossession and abuse, will be denied their place in the modern Australian nation. We cannot imagine that. And with the spirit that is here today I am confident we will succeed in this decade".

In this decade.

We have watched in the last 5 years as the government buries reconciliation and stifles any voice on rights - now is the time to let them know that we have not forgotten.

There has been a refocus on the future for a long term strategy and we are asking you to stay as long term partners.

With the combination of the war on terror, the bali bombing, the refugee assault and a government that has put the first people and the last to people under the same minister we see a heightened sense of us and them being blatently exposed. But as a conservative shift progressively trys to divide and push us to the right we look to the moral courage that you here in NSW particularly have shown.

The agenda is about dividing, our president Phil Glendenning says he knows it's true cos 'Alan Jones is afraid. I know that the unions will not allow us to succumb to that ugly political ploy.

We need you again - we need you to remind your constituency that these difficulties and issues have not been resolved.

That Treaty and Negotiations are firmly on our agenda.

We need you to make submissions to the Senate inquiry into Reconciliation about the governments blind refusal to engage with Indigenous People and implement the recommendations of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.

That is what you CAN do.

I come because I know that Now is the time when we have to show solidarity - In a time where there is a void in leadership at the national level. We want to acknowledge that true moral leadership comes from those who stand up for the rights of their brothers and sister.

True moral leadership comes from those 300 000 people of the Sea of Hands, who not only turn up but embodying the ethos of justice for Indigenous peoples.

True moral leadership comes from the solidarity of the Peoples movement, which started with the unions and has lent its force to organisations like ANTaR.

We come here because we know that this solidarity could not be possible without the ongoing support of the unions who have stood with Indigenous People and their right to determine their future from the beginning.

I know that you will make your presence know, to celebrate the symbol of the continuing Peoples Movement for Indigenous rights on the Saturday.

At this time - it is not only the celebration of ANTaRs Sea of Hands but a celebration of all of us who are fighting to make our contry fair.

   Visit ANTAR

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005