This week's stories: Boss of the Year...Australians Favour Strong
Action By Someone Else...Advertising Industry Finds Itself Not
Guilty...Golden Circle Wins Prize for Short Fiction...McDonalds Launches
Strategy to Promote World Anti-McDonalds Day...
Employees of one of the world's largest call centre operators have
threatened to go on strike over unpaid wages, unexplained pay
deductions, bullying, and disputes over sick leave.
A former employee is also taking legal action against TeleTech at Moe,
claiming she was sacked for placing calls in queues, after being
harassed for 'taking too many toilet breaks'. The Community and Public
Sector Union says another woman is considering suing the company after
she was sacked for failing to tell the company she was sick. She was in
hospital with pnuemonia. The CPSU also says workers at the centre are
owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages, and some had been harassed
and bullied over sick leave. Others had had deductions taken from their
pay with no explanation. TeleTech have taken over some of the functions
that used to be dealt with by the public service. They can provide a
cheaper service because they pay lower wages and have worse conditions.
TeleTech received government 'assistance' to set up their call centre.
They were also named one of the best employers in Australia by Hewitt
Associates, the Australian Graduate School of Management, the Sydney
Morning Herald and the Age.
(The Age).
68% of people polled in New South Wales and Victoria believe Australia
should support UN military action against Iraq. 34% say they would agree
to their own children joining in this military action.
(The Age).
The Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations says it will
take no action over an ad for a weight loss program which featured an
actor pretending to be a customer of the service. The Federation's
commercial advertising division claimed that the ad's deception might be
"not clear cut", despite featuring an actor claiming to be 'Dianne', a
customer who had lost 36 kilos using the program, and the company
initially claiming she was a genuine customer.
(The Age).
Food labelling is routinely misleading or false, according to an
investigation by 'Choice' magazine. Their findings included a brand of
'banana fruit fingers' with more pear than banana, 'pureed baby foods'
which are mostly thickened fruit juice, a 'rich and indulgent' cheese
risotto which had 8.4 grammes of cheese in a 560 gram pack, a 'fruit
drink' whose fruit was orange peel extract, some 'naturally sweeter'
corn whose second ingredient was sugar, and Goulburn Valley brand apple
and strawberry fruit puree, which has no strawberries. Lin Enright from
the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said that while there
were fines for deceptive or misleading conduct, the ACCC preferred not
to prosecute.
(The Age).
McDonalds in Norway have launced a new burger - the McAfrica. Aid
agencies said the product was insensitive, given that large areas of
Africa are currently on the verge of starvation.
(Schnews weekly).
The Orlando City Council in Florida has voted to put homeless people in
jail if they are caught sitting or lying on the footpath. The new laws
are an example of many cities' homelessness strategy, which seems more
based on the needs of real estate agents than poor people.
Violators of the law face a US$500 fine and 60 days' jail. They did not
explain how a person with no money would be able to find $500, or why
people could be provided with free meal and board in jail but not by
free housing (jail is generally about as expensive as the most expensive
hotels, because of the costs related to security). The Council will also
vote on how many days a year volunteer groups can serve free meals to
the homeless in city parks - seemingly meaning that homeless people will
have another expense and be less able to afford housing.
Similar laws have been used in other American cities to stop Food Not
Bombs, a group mostly made up of anarchists who serve free food,
sometimes meaning that homeless people are visible and so making it more
difficut to 'gentrify' an area (raise house prices and replace the
existing residents with richer people).
anarchist news service
write to James, PO Box 503, Newtown NSW 2042
or email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
contact us to get ATNTF emailed directly to you.
All the News That Fits appears in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review
(www.vicnet.net.au/~anarchist - PO Box 20 Parkville VIC 3052).
Some other Australian anarchist websites:
www.angry.at/racists - Anarchist/anti-racist music site with free mp3s, Real
Audio, Real Video, band interviews etc.
www.dolearmy.org - information for unemployed people.
www.activate.8m.com - anarchist magazine aimed at teenagers.
..
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