There Is Power In A Union
October 18th 2007 02:15
Hi there,
The debate over the relevance of unions in the working lives of Australians has been a crucial battleground for this campaign. Ever since AWAs were seen to be abused by employers to strip away the rights of some employees, in some cases firing staff and rehiring them under restrictive AWAs, the Coalition have had the knives out for unions. They make no secret of this either, it's cut throat down to the last note, unions are a sworn enemy of the Liberals and they must die.
The debate, in the hands of Joe Hockey, a blunt instrument if ever there was, has been the detailing of a transparent disgust and hatred for unions. As if they were inherently evil. This sort of excessive and hyperbolic treatment of the unions as some sort of unstoppable bogeyman lurking in the shadows terrorising employers is simply nonsense. Yes, some unions have been corrupt over the years, but in and of themselves unions are effective and useful.
Having once been a member of the Teacher's Union, it became crystal clear that representation in pay disputes, for example, was instrumental in flexing enough muscle to get to the discussion table. You just can't do those sort of things on your own. It was great to be part of the demonstration, it was reassuring that you could be heard as part of the greater whole and it is good that employers can feel the sting of their dubious decisions over pay or conditions or whatever, by being made to feel it in the hip pocket.
Admittedly, Hockey and the Liberals sought their own version of Union Lite, that provides some of the benefits of a union without the ability to organise strikes and other sorts of actions. Their system using an independent umpire, seems popular, with only 20% of workers still favouring the unions, but the complete eradication of unions is not going to make Work Choices more legitimate or fair, it's just going to make it harder to turn around and defend yourself when things go wrong en masse.
What is bizarre though is the debate in the Coalition scare campaign to paint the Labor shadow cabinet as a bunch of union cronies and yes men simply because they have a union background. Having met the local member for Watson Tony Burke and read his maiden speech in parliament, it seems to me his union background has done him a great service in allowing him to serve union members to make sure they are being fairly treated by their employers. He has been at the coal face, many of his Liberal contemporaries simply have not.
This campaign, if the gun were to be turned around, would be like saying that 70% of Liberal party members went to expensive private schools or are Freemasons, or something ridiculous like that and therefore can not be trusted. They're even dredging up Julia Gillard's past in a University debating club called Socialist Forum as if she were Marx himself ready to fire the first shot in the revolution against the owners of the means of production. If you want to join a union, you should be free to do so, they've done enough good to prove themselves worthy of our support.
Cheers
Michael.
The debate over the relevance of unions in the working lives of Australians has been a crucial battleground for this campaign. Ever since AWAs were seen to be abused by employers to strip away the rights of some employees, in some cases firing staff and rehiring them under restrictive AWAs, the Coalition have had the knives out for unions. They make no secret of this either, it's cut throat down to the last note, unions are a sworn enemy of the Liberals and they must die.
The debate, in the hands of Joe Hockey, a blunt instrument if ever there was, has been the detailing of a transparent disgust and hatred for unions. As if they were inherently evil. This sort of excessive and hyperbolic treatment of the unions as some sort of unstoppable bogeyman lurking in the shadows terrorising employers is simply nonsense. Yes, some unions have been corrupt over the years, but in and of themselves unions are effective and useful.
Having once been a member of the Teacher's Union, it became crystal clear that representation in pay disputes, for example, was instrumental in flexing enough muscle to get to the discussion table. You just can't do those sort of things on your own. It was great to be part of the demonstration, it was reassuring that you could be heard as part of the greater whole and it is good that employers can feel the sting of their dubious decisions over pay or conditions or whatever, by being made to feel it in the hip pocket.
Admittedly, Hockey and the Liberals sought their own version of Union Lite, that provides some of the benefits of a union without the ability to organise strikes and other sorts of actions. Their system using an independent umpire, seems popular, with only 20% of workers still favouring the unions, but the complete eradication of unions is not going to make Work Choices more legitimate or fair, it's just going to make it harder to turn around and defend yourself when things go wrong en masse.
What is bizarre though is the debate in the Coalition scare campaign to paint the Labor shadow cabinet as a bunch of union cronies and yes men simply because they have a union background. Having met the local member for Watson Tony Burke and read his maiden speech in parliament, it seems to me his union background has done him a great service in allowing him to serve union members to make sure they are being fairly treated by their employers. He has been at the coal face, many of his Liberal contemporaries simply have not.
This campaign, if the gun were to be turned around, would be like saying that 70% of Liberal party members went to expensive private schools or are Freemasons, or something ridiculous like that and therefore can not be trusted. They're even dredging up Julia Gillard's past in a University debating club called Socialist Forum as if she were Marx himself ready to fire the first shot in the revolution against the owners of the means of production. If you want to join a union, you should be free to do so, they've done enough good to prove themselves worthy of our support.
Cheers
Michael.
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