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Paris, Playboy and empowerment

Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture
By Ariel Levy
Schwartz Publishing, 2005, $29.95

Solidarity activists arrive in Venezuela

Over the first three weeks of November, participants in a 35-strong Australian solidarity brigade to Venezuela have been arriving in Caracas.

The 'battle against rubbish': how Venezuelans are organising to improve their lives

Anyone who has visited this giant city of some 6 million people will know that one of the major social problems here is basura (rubbish). For years, the complaints of the population have mounted, along with the piles of garbage in the streets. Now, the Venezuelan government and the municipal council have launched a drive to tackle the problem.

Iemma oversight on housing

The NSW Council of Social Service (NCOSS) and Homelessness NSW/ACT have criticised the Iemma state government for not doing enough for the homeless, following the government聮s November 14 release of a 10-year plan to tackle the problem.

Venezuelan campesinos march for Chavez

Up to 20,000 people mobilised for a four-hour march through Caracas on November 20. The demonstration, led by campesinos (peasants), was in support of the reelection of revolutionary Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the December 3 election.

Minister overturns ETU agreement

On November 15, 2000 members of the Electrical Trades Union packed Dallas Brooks Hall to discuss an initial response to the federal government聮s denial of a common law agreement between the ETU and National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) that covered 10,000 workers and about 1000 employers.

Socialist unionists say: 'Make Howard history!'

The following are comments by Socialist Alliance trade union activists on some of the key questions facing the union movement.

Unjust laws that have to go

Workplace Relations Act (1996) This law stripped allowable matters in industrial awards back to 20, restricted the right of union officials to enter workplaces and introduced individual contracts (AWAs). Trade Practices Act (1974) Sections

Maritime union campaigns for rights for guest workers

Debate continues over how guest workers and those on 457 visas should be treated. The WA branch of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) passed a resolution at its July state conference that recommends avoiding falling into the federal government and bosses鈥 divide-and-rule trap.

Australia's Guantanamo?

聯A visit by US officials has raised fears on Christmas Island that an immigration detention centre could be turned into a Guantanamo-style prison聰, the November 17 Melbourne Age reported.

Labor returned in Vic election

Victoria鈥檚 Labor premier, Steve Bracks, claimed victory in the state election on the evening of polling day, November 25. Bracks said that the result was a message to the federal government 鈥淭o stop dictating about nuclear reactors, and industrial relations, and start listening to families right around this country鈥. With 75% of the vote counted, the ALP had won almost 44% of the vote, a swing against it of around 4.3%.

French workers' example: 'If you don't have the right, take the left'

Australian unionists have a wealth of experiences to draw on in the fight against the Howard government聮s Work Choices legislation. Lessons can be drawn not just from the historic victories and defeats of the union movement in this country, but also from the experiences of working-class struggles in other countries.