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Issue No. 132 19 April 2002  
E D I T O R I A L

Brand Spanking
Some of the biggest names in corporate Australia are copping a spanking right now � and while the troubles are of their own making the fall-out may have broader consequences.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Generation Next
The Australian Services Union's Luke Foley is one of a group of thirty-somethings taking the reins of the union movement.

Legal: We�re All Terrorists Now
The Government�s hastily cobbled security laws are so all-encompassing that jamming the boss�s fax could see you eating porridge in Long Bay for the rest of your life, reports Noel Hester.

Unions: Holding the Baby
The concept of Carers� Responsibilities doesn�t appear to have penetrated the ageing walls of the Australian Retailers Federation, reports Jim Marr.

International: Taking It To The Streets
In the past few days 22 million workers have taken to the streets in two countries over the global push to cut workers rights, as Andrew Casey reports.

History: Off the Wall
Creative campaign posters provide a colourful archive of worker struggles from the past, writes Neale Towart.

Economics: Financing International Development
John Langmore details the significance of the first International Conference on Financing Development held in Mexico in March.

Satire: Queen Mum's Life Tragically Cut Short
The world has been numbed by grief and shock, after Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother unexpectedly died last night at the tender age of 101.

Review: Return of The People�s Parliament
The last two weeks has seen the return of the most democratic program on the television, Big Brother. Cultural theoritian Mark Morey reports.

Poetry: Silent Night
Our resident bard, David Peetz, turns his hand to the Senate Inquiry into a Certain Maritime Incident.

N E W S

 Tobacco Giant's New Smoking Gun

 Evidence Proves McJobs A Reality

 Workers Die Waiting For Justice

 Abbot Sparks Nuclear Reaction

 Sick As A Dog Or Pissed As A Parrot?

 Workers� Anthem � Hip Hop or Grunge?

 DOCS Crisis � At Risk Kids Slipping Through Net

 Call Centre Workers Stiffed - Survey

 Broadcast Blues at SBS

 South Coast Medical Centre in Della�s Sights

 Sydney Take-Off For Security Campaign

 Israel On Dangerous Ground

 Technicians Take Aim At Canon

 Intel Faces Email Censure Challenge

 Megawati Reopens Marsinah Case

 Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
The Politics of Unfair Dismissal
Shadow Minister for Workplace Relations Robert McClelland finally nails down the Labor line on the Abbott sackings laws.

The Locker Room
Tipping the Scales
Jim Marr argues that policing of the ten-metre rule is creating havoc for footy tipsters.

Bosswatch
Stand and Deliver
It might be tough for some - but for shareholders and executives, life is just dandy.

Week in Review
Stretching the Truth
The political porkie still reigns supreme on the big stage but, good news in the form of a warning, some tall tales from the past are unravelling with embarrassing consequences�

L E T T E R S
 Free Trade??
 Where's the Silver Tail?
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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Tool Shed

Frank Makes History


National Australia Bank chief executive Frank Cicutto has become the first Tool ever to spend two consecutive weeks in the Shed after sparking an international incident by accusing Scots of being incapable of handling their money.

Fresh from being ravaged by the Australian markets, media and general public for his under whelming Positioning for Growth statement, he has now earned the ire of the entire Scottish nation by accusing them of having been in "permanent recession" for the last 200 years. At the risk of following Frank down the path of racial stereotyping, this is akin to telling Australians that they can't hold their piss.

Cicutto's offending comments were made last week, in his capacity as chief of Clydesdale Bank - a wholly owned NAB subsidiary and another outlet slated for some of the PfG pain with 500 jobs to go. In response to a question by a banking analyst about why NAB was not pursuing growth in Scotland, he said: "Scotland has been in permanent recession for close enough for 200 years and if you look at the opportunities in Scotland, they're significantly inferior to the opportunities in Yorkshire."

To say the comments set the cat amongst the pigeons, is an under-statement. John Downie, the head of the Scottish Federation of Small Business, condemned the remarks as "frankly insulting" and warned of a backlash among Clydesdale's business customers. A Scottish Executive spokesman rebutted the claims in a record-breaking 35 seconds, while Andrew Wilson, the SNP economy spokesman, dismissed the outburst as "neither accurate nor helpful".

Meanwhile, Scotland's Enterprise Minister Wendy Alexander, speaking at the Scottish Trades Union Congress annual meeting hit back railing against 'pesky Aussie putdowns'. She then drew on the phrase "Gnomes of Zurich" used by the late Labour Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, when he blamed financial speculators in the Swiss city for the sterling crises which dogged the UK in the 1960s. "There was a certain gnome, not of Zurich but a gnome of Melbourne, who as we say here in Scotland got a bit stuck in yesterday," she told delegates. "And so rather than saying Scotland doesn't give a four X I thought I would start by setting the record straight."

Similar barbs were fired across the nation. The Scotsman newspaper got stuck in through its editorial: "Frank Cicutto . . . has got his facts, as well as much of his assessment, upside down." Meanwhile, the Scottish union movement said the comments smacked of arrogance in the extreme. UNIFI finance sector union general secretary Jim Caldwell said: "This is a man who is presiding over a business that lost billions [of dollars] in America, which has resulted in worldwide job losses, including a considerable number in Scotland."

By week's end, Cicutto had been forced to make an apology to the entire Scottish people, claiming his 'light-hearted' comments had been taken out of context. "I have the highest regard for the country and its people and I am sorry if my attempts at a light-hearted comment caused offence," he grovelled.

All of which at least served to divert Frank from the disastrous response to PfG, with the business sector dismissing the glossy McKinsey strategy as fluff, the unions continuing to scrutinise the job cuts and the media putting Cicutto's long-term tenure under the spotlight. As one scribe put it: "Analysts in Australia have recently warned that Mr Cicutto is one mistake away from getting sacked, though it remains to be seen whether insulting an entire nation qualifies as a fatal gaffe." Indeed.



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