Workers Online, an internet "newspaper" for workers in Australia, is being posted every Friday from February 19 at <labor.net.au/workers/magazine> by the NSW Labor Council.
Industrial news articles, features, interviews and columns are planned to provide a reference source for union members and others who want a more balanced presentation of the news. It is hoped that the publication costs will be covered by advertising revenue.
The NSWLC believes that the increasingly hostile mainstream media too often ignore or distort the trade union perspective and that the internet is a way to get out the unions' message.
An estimated 20% of Australian workers have home access to the internet, and many more have access through their workplace. In this context, the NSWLC sees the internet as an increasingly important part of union activity. It says: "Workers Online has the potential to become an important media voice sympathetic to working people in the public debates increasingly shaping their lives".
The NSWLC also hopes the paper will create a presence for unions and a platform for recruitment in some of the poorly unionised "emerging" workplaces.
Readers of Workers Online will come onto the LaborNet site, which links them to all the major unions. The newspaper will be e-mailed direct to subscribers. Anyone wanting to be placed on the mailing list should e-mail <laborlib@labor.net.au>.
NSWLC affiliates, and union officials and delegates, are also being encouraged to print out hard copies of the newspaper and distribute them to workers who do not have internet access.