Bill Mason

  • Hospitality workers win on penalty rates

    Hospitality workers will keep their penalty rates for after-hours, weekend and holiday work following a landmark decision by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission on March 27. The AIR dismissed an application by the

  • Power workers may sue

    BRISBANE — Power workers at Queensland's four major electricity stations have threatened to sue Liberal deputy premier Joan Sheldon over remarks she made blaming possible union "sabotage" for the power breakdowns which caused

  • Power price cuts for business only

    Power price cuts for business onlyBRISBANE — In a bid to limit outrage from business at losses from the power cuts which hit Queensland from February 23, the Borbidge Coalition government is to bring forward a 5% cut in

  • Blackouts hit Queensland government

    BRISBANE — The Queensland Coalition's electoral stocks plummeted even further in the week beginning February 23, as rolling power blackouts hit Brisbane and regional centres around the state. The blackouts followed unprecedented

  • 'Black Friday' for Queensland government

    BRISBANE — The fate of the Queensland Coalition government hangs in the balance in the aftermath of "Black Friday", February 13, when three senior National Party ministers were sacked or resigned because of allegations of rorting of

  • 'I can't turn away'

    'I can't turn away'On February 11, Brisbane activists heard MUA Southern Queensland branch organiser Jeff Langdon speak at the Resistance Centre on the union's strategy in its dispute with the National Farmers Federation. The

  • Bludgers in Grass Castles launched

    BRISBANE — The controversial pamphlet, Bludgers in Grass Castles: Native title and the unpaid debts of the pastoral industry, was launched here on February 7 at the Resistance Centre. The pamphlet, by ecologist Martin Taylor, has

  • Telstra workers resist forced transfers

    Telstra workers resist forced transfersBRISBANE — One hundred and fifty Telstra workers attended a protest meeting on January 30 after the company announced a plan to centralise its faults-recording network in Melbourne, forcing

  • 'Slave labour', say youth

    'Slave labour', say youthBRISBANE — The Howard government's move to extend the compulsory work for the dole scheme is akin to conscription and slave labour, according to a group of young people interviewed in the January 29

  • FMLN calls for solidarity

    BRISBANE — At its 5th national convention in San Salvador last December, El Salvador's revolutionary opposition party, the FMLN, launched a "political offensive to win the hearts and minds of the people". According to Ricardo

  • TWU defends delegates under attack

    BRISBANE — The Queensland branch of the Transport Workers Union is challenging a court threat to two union delegates who have been charged under the federal Workplace Relations Act of alleged breaches of "freedom of association".

  • Queensland Labor compromises with racism

    BRISBANE — Queensland ALP leader Peter Beattie has urged the Labor Party not to adopt a "heart-on-the-sleeve" approach to the native title issue at the party's national conference in Hobart, as Premier Rob Borbidge gears up for an