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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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News

Tobacco Giant's New Smoking Gun


A worker who complained about smoking in her workplace has been sacked from a call centre operated for cigarette giant British American Tobacco.

Less than a week after being lacerated by a High Court judge for its corporate behaviour, the NSW Labor Council is demanding WorkCover action against the cigarette manufacturer.

Teresa Loyzaga, single mother of two young boys, insists she was sacked after complaining about smoking in a workplace contracted to call centre operator, Adecco.

"I don't like smoking but they told us when we started it was a smoking workplace and, at first, I accepted that," she told Workers Online. "I just wanted to be moved from the small enclosed room, which was full of smoke, to a desk in the outside corridor where it wasn't so bad.

"The smoke was aggravating my throat and chest. Eventually, I had to go to a specialist in Randwick and he sent a letter to the company saying I should be moved for my health.

"But they have a policy of drawing seating positions from a hat every three months and I kept drawing a desk in the enclosed area.

"I had smoker friends willing to give up their seats so I could work in the corridor but management wouldn't allow it."

Loyzaga said that after tendering the ENT specialist's letter, she got her marching orders.

"My jaw dropped, I said 'hey I'm a single Mum, you can't just fire me on the spot - what about my kids?"

That plea, she reported, won her a one week reprieve. Adecco told her they had looked for alternative jobs and, apart from a one-day placement, had nothing available.

Loyzaga, an immigrant from the Phillipines, hadn't been in the country long enough to qualify for any Centrelink support. By the time she started training as a bank teller, this week, she had run through the family's savings.

She has lodged an unfair dismissal claim and filed separate Occupational Health and Safety complaints through Labor Council and the ASU.

Labor Council OH&S specialist, Mary Yaager, is seeking a WorkCover investigation of the Pagewood call centre that employs around 100 workers.

FOOTNOTE: Adecco Group Asia Pacific chief executive officer Ray Roe said Loyzaga had been offered and refused five alternate positions in non-smoking call centres elsewhere in Sydney.

He said the British American Tobacco call centre in Pagewood was a known smoking environment.

``We ask the people who want to work there to sign a waiver acknowledging they know it is a smoking environment,'' Roe said.


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