499

Nurses, health workers campaign escalates

BY REBECCA MECKELBURG& MARCEL CAMERON BRISBANE — As the ALP state government reels from growing industrial turmoil in public hospitals, Premier Peter Beattie has withdrawn his unprecedented threat to attempt to conduct a secret ballot of

PALESTINE: Arafat calls for democratic elections in the US

BY RAHUL MAHAJAN Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat stunned the world yesterday by demanding that the United States hold democratic elections for a new chief executive before it attempts to continue in its role as broker between

Challengers in NTEU elections

BY JEREMY SMITH All positions in the National Tertiary Education Industry Union are up for election in 2002. In the national elections, president Carolyn Allport, general secretary Grahame McCulloch and national assistant secretary Ted

GREECE: General strike signals radicalisation

BY JAMES VASSILOPOULOS On June 18, Greek workers paralysed the country with a massive general strike against a government attempt to increase the age of retirement and reduce pensions. This militant action underscores the radicalisation that is

Building workers: 'We saved this city'

BY NICK EVERETT SYDNEY — Environmental activists rallied outside the Sydney hearings of the pro-boss royal commission into the building industry on July 5, highlighting the record of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union's

Abbott threatens right to strike

BY SUE BOLTON You have to give federal workplace relations minister Tony Abbott full marks for trying — he's having another crack at getting anti-union laws through parliament. On June 26, Abbott introduced two new workplace relations bills

International students under attack

BY CHRIS ATKINSON DARWIN — NT University's international students are the latest victims of the government and corporate media's racist scaremongering campaign. The pass grade on an English language subject compulsory for international students

Great Lakes Rural Australians for Refugees formed

BY PERRY BROWN & KATHY NEWNAM FORSTER — "This meeting is very encouraging", began Pat Thompson, in her address to the inaugural meeting of the Great Lakes Rural Australians for Refugees group, held in Forster on June 29. Thompson, one of the

SOUTH AFRICA: Municipal workers strike for living wage

BY ROGER RONNIE More than 100,000 municipal workers across South Africa — members of the militant South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) — began a national strike on July 2. Tens of thousands have marched in demonstrations in major

BRITAIN: The media and the Middle East

BY JOHN PILGER  LONDON — In May, the Glasgow University Media Group, distinguished for its pioneering media analysis, published a study on the reporting of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. It ought to be required reading in newsrooms

Labor government to ignore ranks on marina

BY CHRIS LATHAM On June 22, delegates at the Western Australian state conference of the Labor Party passed a motion that opposed the construction of a marina near Coral Bay. The motion recognised the development's "potential to impact severely on

DOCS strike for more staff

BY FRANCES SHEEHAN SYDNEY — Fed up with being asked to perform miracles on the smell of an oily rag, staff at the Department of Community Services (DOCS) have taken industrial action to secure the extra staff and resources needed to protect