E D I T O R I A L

The Legacy of 11/9
From the orgy of righteous indignation that has enveloped the �Free World� this week a more chilling truth is emerging: if the suicide bombers were attacking Liberal-Democracy they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Still Flying
Flight Attendant�s Association international secretary Johanna Brem looks at life in the air since last September�s terrorist attacks.

International: President Gas
NSW Firefighter�s president Darryl Snow sent this missive to his members on the anniversary of a day when 343 of their colleagues died in the line of duty.

Politics: Australia: A Rogue State?
ARM director Greg Barnes argues that September 11 has summoned a new era of isolationism and international lawlessness.

History: Levelling September
Counterpunch�s Peter Linebaugh reminds us that September 11 is the anniversary of another seminal battle: the fight for the English commons

Unions: Welfare Max
Maximus Inc is big, American and controversial. Right now its knocking on the door of Australian welfare delivery and there is every chance the Howard Government will usher it inside, reports Jim Marr.

Bad Boss: Welcome to Telstra!
A Telstra call centre has joined the race for Bad Boss after sacking a pregant woman who had the audacity to need to use the toilet

Health: Fat Albert: The Grim Reaper
Workers Online�s cultural dietician Mark Morey chews the fat over this week�s conference on child obesity

Poetry: A Man From the East And A Man From The West
Resident Bard David Peetz has penned this ode to the sacked Hilton hotel workers

Review: The Sum Of All Fears
Tara de Boehmler checks in to see that America�s cultural cringe is alive, well and sponsored by Marlboro cigarettes

N E W S

�Robbed Generation� Seeks Stolen Wages

One Year On: Ansett Crash Still Hurts

Cole Exposed By Immigration Scam

Car Workers on Howard Hit List

Mystery Windfall for Hilton Workers

Shock: Abbott Backs Workers

Union Billboards Censored

Track Grab Ignores Lessons of Glenbrook

Casual Approach to Air Safety

Bosses Say No Living Wage For NSW Childcarers

Pastry Workers Tell Boss To Get Puffed

Injury Toll Mushrooms

Victorian Zookeepers Down Buckets

Pride and Safety for Workers Out!

Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

Legends
Gough's Plaza
Labor's living legend challenged NSW Labor to lift its game as he attended a renaming of 2KY House to Gough Whitlam Plaza.

The Locker Room
Support The System That Supports You
This system is a certainty, a moral, a good thing and a knocktaker; well, at least according to Phil Doyle

Bosswatch
RIP Chainsaw Al
One of the heroes of corporate downsizing has been cut down but his memory lives on with golden handshakes for leaders of failed businesses still thick on the ground.

Week in Review
Lest We Forget
You can�t help a sneaking suspicion, Jim Marr writes, that George Bush is conscripting the dead of September 11, 2001, to lead his push for another war in the Gulf�

Awards
The Importance of Being Ernie
It was the tenth annual �Ernie� Awards for sexist behaviour and Labor Council�s Alison Peters was amongst the noisy punters

Activists
Workers Out!
Gay and Lesbian trade unionists are organising an international conference to develop a global response to homophobia in the workplace, writes Ryan Heath

L E T T E R S

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The CFMEU Race Debate #2

Dear Sergio

I wish to respond to your diatrabe

I am hoping you will lead by example and resign from your job immediately. You will then be in the same position you wish building workers to be in- unable to pay your mortgage or feed your family.

You see, I know a Korean bloke, a Doctor of Social Inquiry. He is here on a tourist visa and has no work permit- but hey I know that is of no concern to you- he wants to stay in Australia and work. He can do your job and is able to do it for less than half what you are paid. I know it will be a sacrifice for you to resign so this guy can get a start, but hey- you wouldn't wish to be accused of hypocrisy now would you? Please lead by example and resign your job immediately.

I hope you will also apologise publicly for your laughable slur that the CFMEU is a racist union for racist workers. Categorising 100,000 CFMEU members in the construction industry (who are themselves at least 70% of non English speaking background) wouldn't be a sweeping generalisation now, would it? Maybe even a racist sweeping generalisation, given the ethnicities of the workers you are generalising about?

For your information, the Koreans arrested yesterday were brought to this country by organised crime, the Korean triad to be specific. They were used earlier this year to break a strike at Baulkham Hills by other (legal) Korean Australian workers. This is in fact what you are defending;- organised crime syndicates bringing workers into this country to break strikes and undercut unionised workers.

As an academic you of course have impeccable left credentials. Please also consider making yourself available to the nice men from the triad (I could give you their names but the aliases can get confusing) to explain to them how things should be in the world according to Sergio. I will be interested to see how they take your fascinating world view. I suspect they have a different definition of "protection" of Korean workers to you.

You are welcome to come and protest at the CFMEU office. We are situated in Lidcombe. Please come out when you have looked up where Lidcombe is. Just let me know via email when you are coming and I will arrange for some of the Korean Australian workers whose strike was broken by the organised crime gangs to be there, so you can explain your position to them directly. I am sure they will advise you of who exactly was deported yesterday so you don't have to take my racist word for it.

I hope you have the decency to forward on my response to all the anarcho e groups you so helpfully defamed us to.

Oh, and don't forget to resign. This doctor mate of mine is very enthusiastic about starting work in the Humanities faculty at UTS.

Phil Davey

CFMEU Sydney.

PS The real world is sometimes a little more complicated than it appears from the UTS tower building.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005