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Peter Lewis - Media Officer

• Workers Online
• Major Events

	Peter Lewis
	Media Adviser

Workers Online

Media Officer, Peter Lewis, reconfigured his work in 1999 to return to his journalist roots, editing the successful Workers Online. The weekly online magazine became a focus for Labor Council's public activities, creating a flurry of activity that flowed through to affiliates.

Workers Online gained extensive mainstream media coverage, breaking new stories, airing interviews with prominent figures like Mark Latham, Lindsay Tanner and, controversially, Peter Reith, and pursuing conservative commentator Piers Akerman.

The success was recognised when Workers Online was shortlisted for a prestigious Walkely Award for online journalism.

Between issues of Workers Online, Peter co-ordinated my day to day media comment on a wide range of issues - from job security, industrial reforms, the performance of the Carr Government and specific disputes as they arose. He also liaised with an expanding number of journalists taking an active interest in union affairs which was indicated by the fact we had to book two tables for reporters at the 1999 Executive Dinner !

Major Events

Peter also played central roles in planning some of Labor Council's major events for the year, where he worked with affiliates to put the principles of organising into practice. These included the successful rally against the Second Wave whether real workers addressed the crowd, rather than the normal union officials. Peter also put his belief in the role of music in activism into practice, hiring a brass band for a rally in support of the Oakdale miners, a surf band for the Second Wave Rally and a dance club DJ for the `Big Lunch Break'.

Working with Industrial Officer, Michael Gadiel, Peter developed Labor Council's long-term information technology strategy and played a lead role in critiquing the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU's) deal with Virtual Communities. In 2000 Peter will concentrate on developing LaborNET into a general purpose portal for officials and members and revamp Workers Online to ensure it remains at the cutting edge of Internet publishing.

© Unions NSW 2001.
Unions NSW
Level 3, 4-10 Goulburn St,
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9881 5999 Fax: (02) 9261 3505

URL: http://council.labor.net.au/annual_reports/1999/annrep_1999-Peter.html
Last Modified: Wednesday, 08-Nov-2006 16:29:41 EST

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