F E A T U R E S

Interview: Battle Stations
Opposition leader Kim Beazley says he's ready to fight for workers right. But come July 1, he'll have to be fighting by different rules.

Unions: The Workers, United
It was a group of rank and filers who took centre stage when workers rallied in Sydney's Town Hall, writes Jim Marr.

Politics: The Lost Weekend
The ALP had a hot date, they had arranged to meet on the Town Hall steps, and Phil Doyle was there.

Industrial: Truth or Dare
Seventeen ivory towered academics upset those who know what is best for us last week.

History: A Class Act
After reading a new book on class in Australia, Neale Towart is left wondering if it is possible to tie the term down.

Economics: The Numbers Game
Political economist Frank Stilwell offers a beginners guide to understanding budgets

International: Blonde Ambition
Sweden can be an inspiration to labour movements the world over, as it has had community unionism for over 100 years, creating a vibrant caring society, rather than a "productive" lean economy.

Training: The Trade Off
Next time you go looking for a skilled tradesman and can�t find one, blame an economist, writes John Sutton.

Review: Bore of the Worlds
An invincible enemy has people turning against one another as they fight for survival � its not just an eerie view of John Howard�s ideal workplace, writes Nathan Brown.

Poetry: The Beaters Medley
In solidarity with the workers of Australia, Sir Paul McCartney (with inspiration from his old friend John Lennon) has joined the Workers Online resident bard David Peetz to pen some hits about the government's proposed industrial relations revolution.

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
State of the Union
Unions NSW secretary John Robertson lifts the lid on �The Nine Myths of Modern Unionism�

The Locker Room
Wrist Action
Phil Doyle trawls the murky depths of tawdry sleaze, and discovers Rugby is behind it all.

Culture
To Hew The Coal That Lies Below
Phil Doyle reviews Australia's first coal mining novel, Black Diamonds and Dust.

Parliament
The Westie Wing
Our favourite State MP, Ian West, reports from Macquarie Street that the Premier is all the way with a State Commission.

E D I T O R I A L

After the Action
After a National Week of Action that has had everything from mass rallies in all capital cities to IR chat rooms opening on the Vogue Magazine website it�s fair to say that the first objective of this campaign � to raise public awareness � has been achieved.

N E W S

Don't Get Angry, Get Organised

Feds Threaten Hardie Battlers

Beasts of Bourbon Play Dog

Churches on Workplace Mission

Unions Are The New Black

Muster Has Bosses in Fluster

Workers Flood to Protests

Official: Libs Don�t Know Own Laws

Schools Out For Uni Bosses

IR Campaign Taxing Andrews

Air Safety at Risk

Carr Runs Over Lib Laws

Aga Khan Workers Gaoled

Activists Whats On!

L E T T E R S

WHAT YOU CAN DO

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****

I had always thought that foursome was a golfing term, but Shane Warne put an end to all that.

The leg-spinning Lothario has been at it again, putting cricket back on the front page much to every politician's relief.

It's a curious circus, and this column is still yet to grasp which part of getting a cricket ball to grip and turn from leg to off qualifies you as a moral yardstick?

It all seems rather sordid and a bit much to take over the No Name Sultana Crunch of a morning.

Coming as it does on the back of Symonds being thrown out of the team for having a few cleansing ales the night before, and the resultant loss to Bangladesh, the Cricket Australia announcement that this is having no effect on the team is slightly less than disingenuous.

Of course it would have an effect on the team. Otherwise they are just a bunch of one-dimensional drones, and who could support that? Then again, the drone theory does have some supporting evidence - Matthew Hayden for one.

Symonds has shown what fools these wowsers were by catching, bowling and hitting everything that's moved within a two meter radius of him ever since.

The lesson here is that they should all be out on the piss. It's obviously what is needed. These people must show their humanity, or else we'll have another argument for Playstation.

It's obvious that Shane and his fellows have wants and needs like other women, and these should be addressed with like-minded consenting adults in private.

It's also a good idea that you keep the wife informed if you're going off to volunteer your services for the good of humanity in other domestic arrangements.

Otherwise, use what my grandmother called the 'tuppeny contraceptive'. That involved keeping a tuppeny piece between your knees. In more salient terms, tie a knot in it.

Not than anyone is advocating that our national cricketers discover the sin of Onan, but more than a few appear to be a past master at it.

All of this is, of course, taking the shine off the fact that the Old Country appears to be rediscovering a bit of form. No more will Australian crowds jovially offer to throw the ball back in for Eddie Hemmings. This is a side that shows some spine, and this is a good thing for cricket.

Another good thing for cricket is Frank Farina.

Cranky Frankie was finally punted Australian Soccer a bit of an image problem with his taciturn scowl and coming across as something less than pleasant. A punch up with an SBS reporter after the Australia v Iraq show didn't help either. Franks 8-1-1 combination may not have been as effective as we hoped. Let's hope his successor is more animated.

This is important as we are weeks away from the World Cup qualifiers and things appear to be in disarray. We have some brilliant players, the problem is that no one knows who they are. I fear doom is rapidly approaching.

If we qualify for the World Cup the decision to axe Farina will be hailed as a stroke of genius, if we don't then it will be yet another night of the long knives for Australian Soccer.

It may come as a surprise to many readers, but Rugby Union also has a World Cup, and they are well into the qualifiers to see who will be the next Georgia or Namibia at their 2007 bash and barge fest.

The case for the World Cup in a sport that is more equated in this country as the Liberal Party with a football tucked under its arm received a bit of a battering with Italy, Samoa and Fiji looking like the Penrith Emus� fifth grade.

When South Africa strolled through Uruguay to the tune of 140-odd to not very much questions were being asked at head office.

Apparently the International Rugby Board made a motza at the last World

Cup hosted here, which was supposed to be ploughed back into developing the game.

Maybe someone should explain the difference between developing and annihilating to the chaps in tweed coats at the IRB.

Mind you, in the European qualifiers that Rugby powerhouse Andorra is still in the running. Which speaks multitudes for the game's administration.

South Africa v Andorra. Doesn't that get the pulse racing! The quickest bloke at the ground would be the scoreboard attendant.

Anyway, let's bring on the Ashes. This time we may even get a contest, and not between rival tabloids for Shane's exclusive.

Phil Doyle, stepping up to the plate with bases loaded

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005