I had to work on Sunday, to cover the launch of the ALP's campaign for Beazley's seat of Brand.
Now - as much as I keep it well clear of my writing, I have Labor in the blood.
My grandfather worked on the wharfs in Freo during the 50s. Enough said.
Yesterday was fantastic. Bob Hawke was there to 'endorse' the candidate, Gary Gray, and the old codger hasn't missed a beat.
He launched into a blistering attack on the wrongdoings of the Howard Government, as well as a salient reminder of what the union movement actually achieved for all Australians (such as annual leave, maternity leave, leave loading etc).
It's easy to brush aside the benefits of unionism in today's society, particularly when Howard insists on whipping-up anti-union histeria about them controlling the workplaces under ALP rule. Whatever.
But at the end of the day, a lot of the great working conditions that we enjoy at the moment were won by the unions over the years.
I don't see Howard and Costello bitching about conditions that allow them paid leave every year. It was the unions that got them those conditions in the first place.
2 months ago
3 comments:
I had an argument with someone about unions at the weekend and came back to the same point, which failed to win her over. I also noted and appluaded Hawke's continued use of the phrase "the bastards" in his speech. Hawkey might have had his problems but he had charisma.
He's brilliant. I had a conversation with a Western Suburbs housewife (read Liberal supporter) who told me that she couldn't vote for Labor because if they got in, the unions would run the workplaces again. People seriously buy that shit.
I grew up in a "Union" house. I think we even had the Teamsters logo on the wall. My dad was union proud. To this day we don't dare bring it up because if it comes up we will be hearing about Jimmy Hoffa's stellar work for the next hour or so........
Unions did serve our family well. My mom didn't work outside of the home and there were 11 kids to support.
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