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Issue No. 152 13 September 2002  
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
 The CFMEU Race Debate #1
 The CFMEU Race Debate #2
 Keeping it Clean
 Sue the Leaders?
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

One Year On: Ansett Crash Still Hurts


Half the 16,000 dumped Ansett workers have yet to find alternative fulltime employment 12 months after the airline collapsed.

That sobering estimation was provided by one-time Ansett employee, David Lupton, as he chronicled the human cost of Federal Government�s decision to cling onto millions of dollars of his former workmates entitlements.

"Over 50 percent of our people still either don't have a job or are getting by on casual or part-time earnings," he said in an emotional address to Labor Council.

"A lot of people are finding it difficult to survive and I know of six families that have broken up in the past four months because of the financial pressure.

"We still have people, one year on, who have received none of their entitlements although they went without wage increases for two years to fund them."

Lupton said he was disgusted by the "meanness" of a Government that continued to slug the traveling public $10 a ticket under the guise of helping redundant workers but refused to hand the money over to people in desperate circumstances.

He pointed out that the architect of the anti-worker Workplace Relations Act, Peter Reith, had quit Parliament with a $2.4 million payout, and that former Ansett boss, Gary Toomey, had walked away from the disaster with a $3.4 million sweetener.

He characterised former workmates as Australians and trade unionists who had worked hard throughout their lives and accused the Howard Government of "doing nothing for us at all".

To commemorate the first year of Ansett's demise and the long-running picket which won legislated minimum standards for Australians tipped out of their jobs, TWU members will hold a barbecue and picnic at Mutch Park, Pagewood, this Saturday.

The TWU is inviting anyone who supports the Ansett workers' battle to attend.

Workers Urged to Attend Creditors Meeting

Meanwhile, unions are urging former employees to attend the third Ansett creditors meeting in Melbourne later this month.

ACTU secretary Greg Combet said unions would push approval of a program of further payments of accrued entitlements owed to employees who still have $370 million outstanding.

The creditors meeting will be held at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre on Semptember 25. It will hear a report from administrators on the progress of asset sales.


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