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Issue No. 187 18 July 2003  
E D I T O R I A L

Hearts, Minds and Other Body Parts
Thanks to advances in technology, workers are being asked to expose more and more of themselves to their employer: their emails, their genes, even their urine.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: As They Say In The Bible ...
One the movement�s great characters, Public Service Association general secretary Maurie O�Sullivan, is calling it a day. He looks back on his career with Workers Online.

Industrial: Just Doing It
Sportswear giant, Nike, is the first company to sign off on an agreement that purports to protect Australian clothing workers, wherever they labour, writes Jim Marr.

Unions: Breaking Into the Boys Club
For a 23-year-old woman who has never worked in the trade, recruiting young construction apprentices into the union has its challenges, reports Carly Knowles.

Activists: Making the Hard Yards
Mal Cochrane came to the smoke as part of an Aboriginal avalanche that redefined the face of Rugby League. Today, he serves his community through the trade union movement.

Bad Boss: In the Pooh
What do you give a boss who makes his workers labour in raw sewage? A nomination for the Tonys.

Unions: National Focus
In the national wrap Noel Hester finds a Victorian Misso delo who is redistributing lucre from Eddie McGuire into workers� theatre, South Australian unions taking that Let�s Get Real stuff seriously, an American unionist fronts up at a distinguished �meeting of the brains� in Adelaide and a look at the line up for ACTU Congress.

Economics: Pop Will Eat Itself
Dick Bryan wonders if we can be insured against pop economists promising financial nirvana as well as financial market instability.

Technology: Dean for President
Paul Smith looks at how the internet is helping one Democrat candidate to the front of the primary pack

International: Rangoon Rumble
Union Aid Abroad's Marj O'Callaghan looks at Australia's weak response to developments in Burma.

Education: Blackboard Jungle
Lifelong learning shouldn�t mean cutting jobs, but that's exactly what the Carr Government is proposing, argues Tony Brown

Review: From Weakness to Strength
Labor Council crime-fighter Chris Christodoulou catches up with his boyhood hero, the Incredible Hulk

Poetry: Downsized
Resident bard David Peetz pens the song the Industrial Relations Commission needed to hear

N E W S

 Authority Shafts Excessive Mine Hours

 Insurance Quiz: Money or the Baby?

 Monk Lined up with Jihad Masters

 Rat in Ranks, Tubner Warns

 Hard Drug Stance Stoned

 Vote Snooping Bosses Out of House

 Termination Battle Hots Up

 US Actors Back Aussie Comrades

 TAFE Students Called to Arms

 Teachers Caught in Family Feud

 Longer Strikes Spark Picket Code

 Max Sets Athens as Airport Standard

 Indigenous First for Construction

 Call Centre Jobs Diverted From Delhi

 Activist Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Cleaning Up
Rabbi Laurie Coskey from San Diego adds her voice to the global campaign for just for cleaners in Westfield malls.

The Locker Room
The Name In The Game
In an age of the sportsperson as celebrity it seems that names are overtaking the games, writes Phil Doyle.

Postcard
The Beach
Southern Thailand�s terrorist activities: facts or fiction asks HT Lee

L E T T E R S
 Feedback on Feedback
 Sid Einfield Would be Proud
 Tom in the Manger
 Sermon on the Mount
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

Max Sets Athens as Airport Standard


Workers fighting wholesale job cuts at Sydney Airport Corporation have been told their new benchmark for success is Athens.

Unions have called on Tourism Minister Joe Hockey to intervene, fearing Australia's reputation as a safe tourist destination is at stake as SACL chief Max Moore-Wilton pushes on with plans to cut 40 per cent of full time jobs.

A week after the announcement more questions than answers have been provided by airport management.

They have confirmed that 100 maintenance workers will be cut and a third of the operations division, responsible for security within the airport perimeter, will also go.

But the following key questions remain:

- will contract maintenance workers be subjected to the same level of security of ASIO checks as the full-time workers they will replace?

- how will contractors be trained to meet the specialist requirements of the full time staff carrying our critical work such as maintaining runway lighting?

- and what personal stake does Max Moore-Wilton have in the cuts, giving he must reach a $380 million profit target set by Macquarie Bank.

Most bizarrely, a meeting of airport delegates this week was told that Sydney Airport would benchmark itself against Athens and Brisbane Airports.

The CPSU's Larissa Andelman says the choice of these airports shows someone is missing the plot. "Brisbane is a much smaller operation than Sydney, while anyone who has traveled to Greece would question why Sydney would set this as any sort of standard."

Airport unions this week succeeded in forcing SACL to negotiate on the changes after a hearing in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.


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