NOT ENOUGH TOILETS FOR NATO SUMMIT. . . OR FOR QWEST WORKERS

BBC - Preparations for next month's NATO summit in Romania are being overshadowed by a row - over toilets. Parliamentary official Mihai Unghianu says NATO has complained that there are not enough lavatories at the venue. NATO is said to have asked the government to install 1,000 temporary toilets - one for every five delegates, each costing $9,500 (L4,700) a week. . . The palace is among the largest buildings in the world, and although it has more than 1,000 halls and rooms, and 4,500 chandeliers, it appears to be short on some of the bare essentials.

The dispute emerged after minutes from a parliamentary committee meeting were leaked. According to these, in the meeting Mr Unghianu reported that after NATO officials had asked him for the plans of the building, they said they were displeased with both the number and quality of the toilet facilities.

NATO suggested the installation of temporary toilets, but Bucharest objected that they did not have the money to fit them, and that they might upset the aesthetic appeal of what some consider to be an architectural jewel of a building. The palace's architect, Anca Petrescu, has called the request for extra temporary facilities humiliating. She told Romania's Adevarul newspaper that all the toilets would be working during the summit, and suggested that someone with portable toilets for hire was trying to make money at the taxpayers' expense.

QWEST SUPERVISOR TELLS WORKES TO USE URINE BAGS TO SAVE BATHROOM RUNS

AP- Union officials in Colorado say a Qwest supervisor tried to cut down on lengthy bathroom breaks by telling workmen to use disposable urinal bags in the field. The manager distributed the bags to 25 male field technicians, telling them not to waste time leaving a job site to search for a public bathroom, the Rocky Mountain News reported. "We deal with a lot of silliness in corporate America, but you've got to admit, it takes the freakin' cake," Reed Roberts, an administrative director at the Communications Workers of America District 7, told the newspaper. . . Qwest spokeswoman Jennifer Barton said, "There's no policy whatsoever" requiring field technicians to use the bags. . . Roberts said he had complained to Qwest's corporate labor relations department. He said the company has made an issue of the amount of time wasted by workers returning to the garage or central office for bathroom breaks. But he said it appears this manager "took it upon himself to cut down on the time technicians spend to go to the bathroom."