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Issue No. 195 12 September 2003  
E D I T O R I A L

Coalition of the Swilling
As the world stopped to mark the second anniversary of the September 11 attacks and its horrendous human toll, attempts at writing new rules for global trade were hitting their own immovable object

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Crowded Lives
Labor frontbencher Lindsay Tanner talks us through his new book on the importance of relationships and why politics is letting the people down.

Activists: Life With Brian
Work by men like Brian Fitzpatrick is exposing new Australians to old truths. Jim Marr reports

Industrial: National Focus
A showdown looms in Cancun, Qantas gets bolshie, casual and lazy in its response to aviation challenges, and long festering disputes fester on in Victoria and Tasmania reports Noel Hester in this national wrap.

Unions: If These Walls Could Talk
Trades Hall is preparing for a major facelift but first, Jim Marr reports, it must bid farewell to the colourful bunch who have populated its dusty corridors in recent years.

Economics: Beating the Bastards
Frank Stilwell looks at some of the proposals for building a fairer finance sector.

Media: Three Corners
So its come to this. Four Corners, one of the world's longest running television programs is now under pressure from an ABC Executive that is less cultural visionary than feral abacus.

History: The Brisbane Line
Percy Spender was Menzies' foreign minister, but, Neale Towart asks, was he also prepared to serve as Prime Minister in a Japanese controlled Australia?

Trade: The Dumping Problem
Oxfam-CAA helps set the scene for this month's World Trade Organisation in Cancun.

Review: Frankie's Way
In The Night We Called It A Day Frank Sinatra learns 'sorry' Down Under is a loaded word and refusal to say it when due will lose fans in important places, writes Tara de Boehmler.

N E W S

 Teachers Attack National Stitch-Up

 Safety Off The Rails

 Lion King Delivers for Kids

 Five Grand Extra for Unionists

 Telstra Gets Curry for Take Aways

 WTO Trips on Cancun Hurdle

 Workers Kicking Goals

 Dial NRMA for Stuff-Up

 This Is Your Operator Freaking

 Millionaire Takes Candy from Carers

 Working Women Get New Voice

 Community Burns Rubber Giant

 Grass Roots Campaign Beats Bush

 Unions-Council Strike �Clean Hands� Partnership

 Call For Campaign To Save Bush Trains

 Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Staking Our Territory
ACTU secretary Greg Combet argued for a fairer Australia in his keynote address to last month's ACTU Congress.

The Locker Room
Seasonally Agisted
Spring is a season when a person�s thoughts turn to�horse racing. Phil Doyle reports on the fate of nags and folk heroes.

Housing
Beyond the Block
We are wild about the people who live in The Block but not too interested in those who are on the streets outside, writes Michael Rafferty.

Politics
The Westie Wing
Workers friend Ian West MLC, reports form the Bearpit about a project to raise awareness about trade unionism amongst young people.

Postcard
The Awkward Squad
Paul Smith meets one of the new generation of British union leaders who is taking the ball up to the Blair spin team.

L E T T E R S
 Life Wasn�t Meant To Be Frankie
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

Dial NRMA for Stuff-Up


NRMA vehicle inspectors and patrol officers were forced into this week�s 24-hour strike when management cut off their mobile phones.

The motorists' organisation, with CEO Tony Stewart in his first week at the wheel, spat the dummy on the eve of the stoppage disconnecting the phones of all seven workplace representatives.

"The last thing our members wanted to do was stop work but the NRMA left us with no alternative," AMWU assistant secretary, John Parkin, said.

"They've been disaggregated and now they want to disaggregate our super. It's not that we're opposed to them splitting it off, it's just that we don't know what it will mean.

"We have asked them for expert advice, we have asked for all the figures. It might be a good thing and it might not be. We don't know and they won't tell us."

The NRMA, having swallowed up a number of companies since demutualisation, is trying to split the super scheme of patrol officers and vehicle inspectors away from that of other group employees.

When it refused to allow AMWU members a paid meeting to discuss the issue, they responded by getting together at the Auburn RLS and voting to stop work for only the second time in the past decade.

Even so, AMWU officials say, right up to the last minute they thought they could thrash out a settlement that would have left NSW motorists with inspection services and roadside help.

But the company's decision to take members of the negotiating committee off the air put paid to that.

Parkin says the negotiators are still trying to get information from management, and independent advice, and can't rule out the possibility of future stoppages.

"Unfortunately, the NRMA still won't give us the accurate information we need to understand the implications. They won't come clean," Parkin said.


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