Exactly.
Any dwarf who can't work in his job(s) at last some of the time will want to complain. Hauling doesn't count, just about everything else does. (AFAIK the dwarves want at least some work where they can gain XP per season).
AFAIK there's two solutions to the meeting problem:
a) Disable the Manager's jobs ... hope they hold a meeting. It won't work while the "Attend Meeting" guy is sleeping, and they'll wander off to eat and drink occasionally.
(Some players recommend that once the meeting starts, you should lock them in a room until the meeting is finished... When the meeting is finished, if you locked the room, both will be on "no job", so you can see the "Idlers: 2" warning. To doublecheck: Oce the meeting is completed, view the dwarf's personality [(v) (p) (z) I think], he should have that noted as a positive thought .)
b) Ignore the whiner, and hope the bad thought 'unable to find anyone to complain...' doesn't drive him over the edge
The bad thought seems to be minor, as long as you give the dwarf more jobs (or draft him and let him spar), he should be back to ecstatic in a season or two.
Maybe add some more engravings and expensive statues along your major 'traffic routes' to cheer up your dwarves, or give them better rooms.
And to prevent them from complaining about lack of labour ...
a) Industry. Farming, weaving, dyeing thread, weaving, dyeing cloth, milled food ... five querns going almost non-stop, a small army of farmers, churning out -cloth craft- ... Hm, I did that, but basically the fortress is drowning in finished goods we aren't allowed to export.
b) Useless tasks set on repeat. Catapults to shoot rocks into the wilderness. A couple of water pumps and reservoirs to move water around or make a small waterfall; stuff like that.
c) My current approach: Military training. Mixed squads which train for a season, then go back to their civilian job after a siege (for hauling), or when it's time for the other squad to start training. They're getting more experienced though, I guess I'll have to increase the size of my standing army (Champions refuse to work ...) though that will reduce the number of emergency haulers if I get sieged.
[ May 21, 2008: Message edited by: Samyotix ]