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Issue No. 154 27 September 2002  
E D I T O R I A L

War On The Collective
While Saddam Hussein is the primary target of George W Bush�s ham-fisted crusade to destroy a noun, the United Nations is also under its heaviest attack in its 57 years.

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

 Unions Join Anti-War Chorus

 ACM Fails Port Hedland Report

 Abbott Adds Fuel to Bias Case

 Murray�s Millions Dwarfs Workers Wages

 Rogue MP Faces Grassroots Backlash

 Harry Bridges Speaks from the Grave

 Councils Deny Multi-Lingual Workers

 US Rabbi Fights Lowy Malls

 Ansett Ticket Levy Not Reaching Workers

 Something Stinks at the Zoo

 Virgin in Delegate Situation

 Pampas Workers Baste Boss

 International Shame for Aussie IR

 Sydney Trade Talks Face Backlash

 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.

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
 The Shame (Sham) of the Democratic Party
 Weapons of Destruction
 Tears From Tom
 Good Hearts
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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CONSUMERISM AND COUNTER-CONSUMERISM

Wednesday 9 October, 6-9pm

University of Technology Sydney, Broadway Campus, Building 3 (Bon Marche, cnr of Harris + Broadway), Floor 5, Room 510

Disabled Access. Refreshments available. Entry by donation ($10/$5). Enquiries: James Goodman, 95142714.

Panel: Tim Connor (NikeWatch), Peter Lewis (BossWatch), Julia Murray (FairWear), Vicki Sentas (Midnight Star Social Centre), chair, David McKnight (Research initiative on International Activism)

Thomas Frank is the author of 'One Market under God: Extreme Capitalism, Market Populism, and the End of Economic Democracy' and 'The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism'. He is a founding editor of 'The Baffler', a magazine of cultural criticism (thebaffler.com).

Hosted by the Research Initiative in International Activism (international.activism.uts.edu.au) and the Transforming Cultures Research Group (transforming.cultures.uts.edu.au) with the support of the Australian Centre for Public Communication (acpc.uts.edu.au), Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (acij.uts.edu.au), and the Sydney Social Forum (www.sydneysocialforum.org)

****************]

UTS Social Inquiry Graduate Program Launch

Friday 11 October 2002, 5.00-6.00pm

Panel Discussion - 'Ideas in Social Change'

Tom Morton - ABC Background Briefing, Broadcaster and Author

Lynette Thorstensen - NSW Government Premiers Department,

Director, Social Development and the Environment Program

Damien Spry - Amnesty International, Media and Public Relations Coordinator

Leah Godfrey - Western Sydney Community Forum, Executive Officer

UTS Gallery - Building 6, Level 4

Harris Street, UTS City Campus

Refreshments provided. Disabled access.

RSVP Essential by 8 October 2002

Ph: 02 9514 2729 or email: [email protected]

The launch will be immediately followed by the Faculty of Humanities and Social

Sciences Postgraduate Information Evening 6.00pm, Building 1 (Tower), Room 406.

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Social Sciences As Never Before, by Colin Menzies

09/26/2002, Sydney Morning Herald, Copyright of John Fairfax Group Pty Ltd

With a plethora of postgraduate courses available at Australian universities it's hard to find one that's truly innovative. The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), claims to have implemented a unique social-science curriculum with its social-inquiry courses. This year saw the introduction of a graduate certificate in social inquiry, which combines practical social research training with theoretical bases centring on sociology, politics, cultural studies and political economy. In 2003, UTS plans to introduce a postgraduate diploma and master of arts in social inquiry. The MA can be undertaken as coursework or a research degree.

Dr James Goodman, a UTS lecturer and course co-ordinator for social inquiry, says the bulk of current graduate certificate students are seeking social-research skills. "It's not just teaching people concepts and theories, but actually there's a big practice component," he says. "At least half of the courses are practice-centred." The courses are also unusual in the extent of their interdisciplinarity which, he says, differs from what other universities do in this area. Goodman says many of the inquiries UTS has received for next year's masters degree by coursework have come from people who don't feel confident enough to do a masters by research. "They want to strengthen their research skills through the course as a stepping stone to further research," he says.

One person considering the move to a masters degree is Teri Calder, who's now in the second semester of a part-time graduate certificate in social action and globalisation at UTS. She was accepted into the course on the strength of her years of experience in social action, as well as a previously gained diploma of journalism. Calder worked for Greenpeace for six years and now works part-time for Jubilee Australia, a non-government organisation (NGO) campaigning to cancel the debts of the world's 52 poorest countries. Calder says many NGOs aren't handling globalisation effectively. "One of the reasons I wanted to do the course was to get a better understanding of how global governance conditions work and be able to critique them in an intelligent way," she says.

Calder sees the UTS course as an effective way to arm people for the challenges of a rapidly changing world. "I think that global deregulation, privatisation and the so-called free-trade corporate agenda are concentrating power and wealth into fewer and fewer hands. There's a need to critique and revise that structure." A postgraduate information day will be held at the Gallery at UTS's city campus on October 11 during which the new courses will be launched. More information on 9514 2300

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Rally For Truth

A rally to draw attention to the truth about refugees and the threatened war on Iraq will be held Saturday 26 October.

The Rally will commence at 12pm from Town Hall, in Sydney.

Unionists are encouraged to attend the event which has already been endorsed by NSW Labor Council, the FSU, the AWMU, the CFMEU, Labor for Refugees, Children Out of Detention, Jews for Ethnic Tolerance, Refugee Action Committee, Free the Refugees Campaign and the Palm Sunday Committee.


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