News

Lisa Macdonald, Sydney Braving heavy rain, around 100 people rallied at Sydney Town Hall on July 15 to demand "Close Guantanamo", "Stop the torture" and "Bring David Hicks home". The action, organised by Sydney's Stop the War Coalition, the

Stuart Martin, Melbourne The workers at Colrain's Derrimut site who have been fighting the imposition of individual contracts (AWAs) won on December 19, despite the company's use of scabs, physical intimidation and the police to attempt to break

Kieran Latty & Susan Price, Sydney The Socialist Alliance will stand three candidates in the March 27 Leichhardt council elections — militant unionist Shane Bentley, Books Not Bombs youth anti-war activist Kylie Moon, and refugees' rights

Rachel Evans As the effects of climate change begin to be felt around the world and with the Howard government pushing for increased uranium mining in Australia, the need for a strong, grassroots environment movement has never been so urgent. The

Mel Hughes, Sydney This year's Queer Collaborations (QC) conference, held at the University of New South Wales on July 3-7, was attended by 250 people, most of them university students. The conference — Australia's largest national forum for

Evil genius I "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a nice way to operate, actually." — US Vice-President Dick Cheney, quoted in USA Today, January 19. Evil genius II "In a well-reported piece

Sandy Whelan In the lead-up to the June 28 union protests against the Work Choices laws, Australia Post issued a number of bulletins warning staff that taking industrial action under the current enterprise agreement was illegal and that

Mick Bull, Melbourne A community assembly was set up on August 4 outside the gates of Amcor Flexibles' factory in the northern suburb of Preston to support union delegates and members victimised by the anti-union packaging giant. The workers belong

PERTH — The Kalamunda Shire council, which covers some of the outer suburbs east of Perth, has written to Stuart Henry, Liberal MHR for the seat of Hasluck, to express its opposition to the location of any nuclear reactor within the shire. This

Sue Bolton, Melbourne Five religious leaders joined Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Brian Boyd and ACTU assistant secretary Chris Walton on June 7 to voice their opposition to the Howard government's new Work Choices laws. Reverend David

GEELONG — Trade unionists in Geelong send a message of solidarity to the 107 Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union members in Western Australia facing fines of up to $28,600 for striking. Geelong CFMEU organiser Shaun Reardan will

Graham Matthews The workers' rights lobby group Unite, which formed in Melbourne in 2003 to "name and shame" dodgy bosses in the retail and fast-food industry, relaunched itself as an unregistered union on May 30. "The fast-food and retail