F E A T U R E S

Interview: Taking Stock
Labor Council secretary John Robertson reflects on 2002 and outlines the challenges for the year to come.

Bad Boss: Pushing the Envelope
Ongoing and resolute commitment to principles advanced by Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott have seen Australia Post make history as the first recipient of the Tony Award, recognising Australia's worst employer.

Unions: The Year That Was
From Cole�s witch-hunt to funky union tunes, Peter Lewis reviews the biggest stories from the world of work in 2002.

Republic: Still Fighting
Three years since the constitutional referendum, and despite constant reports of its impending demise, the Australian Republican Movement is still around and active

International: Global Ties, Global Binds
Labourstart's Eric Lee files his annual wrap-up of the year from an international perspective.

Politics: Turning Green
Union support for the ALP is no longer a given, with trade unionists turning to the Greens, as Jim Marr reports.

Technology: Unions Online 2002
Social Change Online's Mark McGrath looks at what worked best for unions online in 2002.

Industrial: The Past Is Before Us
Neale Towart argues that 2003 will be a year where traditional industrial campaigns come back into fashion.

Economics: Market Insecurity
Sydney University�s Frank Stilwell looks back at 2002 from a political economist�s perspective.

Review: Shooting for Sanity
Michael Moore's new movie Bowling for Columbine looks at America's love affair with guns, writes Mark Hebblewhite

Poetry: The PM's Christmas Message
Workers Online has secretly obtained an advance copy of the text of the Address to the Nation that the Prime Minister plans to make. We reproduce the text below.

Culture: Zanger's Sounds of Summer
If 2001-02 was the summer of political and musical terror then this summer 2002-03 is where irreverent Aussie music runs rife.

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Tread Carefully - Very Carefully
Nick Housten argues that structural weaknesses could keep federal Labor in Opposition for many years to come.

The Locker Room
A Year Of Two Halves
It was one of those years. It started with a lot of sport and it ended with a lot of sport. Noel Hester and Peter Moss check the runes and dish out the gongs in this year�s Workers Online Sports Awards.

Bosswatch
Footloose Capital
It was a year where the corporate world finally came close to consuming itself with bloated salaries, off the wall options and a string of mega-collapses

Predictions
Into the Beyond
Every year we ask our readers to gaze into the crystal ball. While history shows the view is mirky, we�ve don it again.

E D I T O R I A L

Terror Australis
When the historians get down to chronicling 2002 their analysis will read simply: the Bali bombing brought the new era of terror home to Australians and heightened our feelings of insecurity and fear at our ill-defined place in the world.

N E W S

Abbott Gears For Grocon Stoush

Delo Brushes Taubmans Pay Off

Restaurateur Takes Knife to Wages Protection

Legal Double Whammy to End Year

We�re Dreaming of a Sweat-Free Christmas

Star Organiser Takes Off

Abbott's Xmas Message: Go To Jail

Nurses Perform Wage Surgery

Woolies Discount Spirit of Christmas

New Collapses Prove Entitlements Farce

Suncorp Ballot Draws Fire

Unions On Big Day Out

UN Migrant Worker Charter Welcomed

L E T T E R S

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The Past Is Before Us

*************

Gazing into the reverse crystal ball we can see that the past is before us in industrial relations. Labour Review in 2002 covered many IR issues, and some of those that will, I think, be major fronts on union action and negotiation over the next twelve months are reviewed here.

Working hours will remain a major campaign issue for unions. ACIRRT ran a special conference on this in August and the SMH had a survey on the issue this week. Enterprise agreements clauses reviewed in the ADAM Report (ACIRRT) continue to feature variations on the theme, with the bargaining power of the parties reflected in the flexibility gained favouring the employer or the employees. Union based agreements have better outcomes. The ACTU ran a test case this year which resulted in pretty much a nothing decision, but unions will continue to work on this issue, as it affects family, health, safety and well-being. The construction industry campaigns for a 36 hour week seem to be leading the way. The Christmas card from APHEDA this year with the Six Hour Day Banner from 1907 (part of the Trades Hall Collection) shows how far we have come over 100 years!!!

Paid maternity leave was in the February issue of Labour Review and in the last week the Federal Government's advisor on women's issues, Prue Goward has made a recommendation on how a national system to allow paid leave for all women should be implemented. Debate will continue on the merits of Goward's approach, equity issues and the importance of income maintenance for all women and families.

Turbulence will no doubt continue in workers' compensation systems, with the NSW system settling in, but moves afoot for national insurance schemes, and demands for uniformity across the states. A comprehensive approach is needed that will help ensure workers' are not left financially in a hole having to cope with illness and/or injury. A more rigorous approach to occupational health and safety standards would also help here. The demand for reasonable hours covers this area too, with those working long shifts without proper rests more prone to accidents at work.

Uniformity in industrial laws is being pushed at the federal level, and also the use of corporations law in the industrial relations field. This is part of Tony Abbott's ongoing policy of reducing worker rights. The value of separate state based laws to push the boundaries of workers rights is not lost on unions. The re-election of the Bracks government in Victoria bodes well for the re-establishment of a decent system in that state.

Privacy issues, genetic testing, drug and alcohol testing and psychological testing are interrelated and governments and unions are still coming to grips with changes that advances in science and technology have made in these areas. How can unions help workers protect their privacy and avoid discrimination and stigmatisation that new testing procedures may allow?

The regulation of the labour hire industry will be a constant. The NSW government has steadfastly refused to act, despite a comprehensive report on the issue. The question of who is the employer remains at the heart of many OHS and industrial relations issues. With more of the workforce each year working outside what are termed "typical employment" arrangements, unions will be pushing governments to tighten up here. Unions themselves will also be developing new ways of organising to "catch" workers who do not fall into standard occupational categories.

Organising will remain the key for unions as they strive to rebuild and gain members in new industries and occupations. Unions have been looking at the community-based approaches that some US unions are using, and also at how they can use broad social issues to reconnect with members, potential members and their families.

Privatisation in the form of Public Private Partnerships or whatever they are called this week continues to rear its ugly head and unions need to maintain a watching brief on this process as governments use it to reduce their costs which generally means reducing the workforce and reducing conditions and wages. The British experience shows the folly of this concept, but it hasn't stopped Egan and Carr in NSW in their attempts to import the idea.

Entitlements, including maternity leave, long service leave and redundancy payments were the focus of a recent one day conference at Sydney University. This week former Ansett Transport Workers wished for a Merry Christmas outside John Howard's place, highlighting the unresolved nature of the issues. Joellen Riley has suggested that corporation laws may actually assist unions in this area, when it comes to actually getting entitlements out of failed companies, or from companies who undergo restructuring to avoid entitlements, but broader schemes are needed and the AMWU/AWU have been agitating on the issue. Getting a truly comprehensive national scheme is a larger task. Schemes modelled around national superannuation may be a possibility, or a tax based system along the lines of a truly universal Medicare may be more equitable and sustainable.

Sustainability and ethical investments have been focussed on by some union based superannuation funds, and unions will be looking for the truth behind the so-called "Good Reputations Index" and triple bottom line reporting over the next 12 months. An ethical and sustainable corporation cannot claim to be such when they ignore the wishes of employees, and treat them with contempt as soon as the bottom line they really care about (the size of the black numbers in their accounts) are threatened. Bosswatch will take on the issues.

Labour Review will continue to monitor research, decisions ands actions in these and other fields affecting workers rights.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005