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Why is union membership falling?

By James Vassilopoulos It should come as little surprise that union membership has fallen yet again. The percentage of workers who are in unions has been declining for more than 20 years now. In August 1996, 31% of the work force were in unions,

Write on: letters to the editor

Downer a downer on human rights? Amnesty international is concerned by the Australian government's reluctance to agree to a human rights clause in a trade agreement with the European Union. Almost 100 counties have already agreed to the clause

Resistance sets down plans

Resistance sets down plans By Lana Halpin BRISBANE — Robby Hartono, from the People's Democratic Party of Indonesia, spoke at a Resistance branch meeting on February 8, discussing the different conditions that Australian and Indonesian

Strip mine in Tarkine

Strip mine in Tarkine By Ben Courtice HOBART — A mining lease has been granted for five hectares of land in the Tarkine wilderness in Tasmania's north-west, fulfilling environmentalists' predictions that the Tarkine road would open up the area

The 'youth crime wave' myth

By Emma Webb and Shane McArthur "Law and order" has become a key issue in the lead up to the SA state elections, just as it did in previous elections in WA, NSW and Queensland. Liberal and Labor have taken a bipartisan line, promising to get tough

Government bungles Austudy means test

Government bungles Austudy means test By Marina Cameron Changes to Austudy passed through the Senate last December have been estimated to have lowered or cancelled the payments of 60,000 students (a third of those who received the allowance last

Environment movement opposes freehold leases

An alliance of Australian environment organisations has warned governments and industry leaders that extensive environmental damage across Australia's rangelands would follow the freeholding of pastoral leases, in addition to extinguishing native

South African police open fire on residents

By Norm Dixon Television viewers around the world on February 6 may have thought they had accidentally tuned into a program of archival footage from South Africa's apartheid days: florid, bull-necked cops hidden behind menacing yellow armoured

Bhopal shows the poor a bleak future

The Bhopal case seems to portend a bleak future for poor communities. In a "free trade" world order, multinational corporations can do whatever feels good for them, and after they've had their way with a community, they wash their hands and move

Call to boycott Kakadu

Call to boycott Kakadu Lex Martin DARWIN — The Northern Territory government is currently pressuring the federal government to approve a second uranium mine at Jabiluka within Kakadu National Park. There are also plans to develop a third mine

Log of claims on Viking

Log of claims on Viking By Nick Markin SYDNEY — On February 14, members of the National Union of Workers served a log of claims on the Viking Office Products warehouse in Rydalmere. The main claim is for a guarantee that all NUW members will be

What's the point?

By Dot Tumney When it comes to developmental biology and politics, Lysenko stuffed up the environmental determinists, and Hitler's lot rendered genetics untouchable. Hence the nature/genetics nurture/environment debates have been a circus of cycles