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Issue No. 153 20 September 2002  
E D I T O R I A L

Less Is More
Sometimes working in the union movement, weeks flow into each other and what should be a series of discreet campaigns begins to feel like one long struggle.

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.

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

Satire: Iraq Pre-empts Pre-emptive Strike
Saddam Hussein has launched a pre-emptive strike on the United States to prevent it from pre-emptively striking Iraq first.

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

 Retailers Lift Veil on Outworkers

 Is Cole Bad For Your Health?

 Super Fund Leads Options Assault

 Libs Flag Forced Job Cuts

 Pressure Grows for Refugee Debate

 Vale: Jack Ferguson

 Cyber Campaigns Byte Bosses

 Abbott�s Mates Apply the Hilton Slipper

 Sydney Airport Wins On Casuals

 Bushfire Recovery Rights Recognised

 Millionaire Pleads Poverty

 Combet Talks Up Global Ties

 Premier Oil Pulls Out of Burma

 Harry Bridges Comes to Town

 Pub Trivia With YUM

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.

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

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�

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
 War Talk
 Why We Are a Terrorism Target
 Radio Doco on 1973 Ford Strike
 An Atmospheric Piece
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

Super Fund Leads Options Assault


A leading industry superannuation fund will use its financial muscle to pressure 200 leading Australian companies to scrap executive options packages.

CBUS, the Construction and Building Industry Super Fund which holds $1.5 billion in Australian equities, has announced it will vote against the packages in the coming round of company Annual General Meetings.

Chairman and former federal treasurer, Ralph Willis, confirmed he had written to Australia's 200 biggest companies informing them CBUS votes would be cast against the practice.

Willis said the issuing of stock options "encouraged executive to focus on short-term share price rather than long-term growth.

"Furthermore, the combination of the generosity of these options and the failure to expense them in company accounts has meant that profits have been overstated - in some instances quite considerably."

CBUS has flagged its intention to oppose all existing options packages and to "closely examining" other forms of bonuses.

Willis said the policy was unanimously endorsed by industry and worker representatives on his board.

Some companies, including the Commonwealth Bank and Qantas, have already suspended future options programs but leading market players such as News Corp have thumbed their noses at investor concerns.

Labor Council secretary John Robertson welcomed the CBUS stand and called on other industry super funds to adopt similar policies.


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