grodscorp@grods.comWhy I was at the MCG this morning
 | Posted by Scott on Thursday 30 November 2006, 2:11 pm Categories: Politics Tags: ACTU, GregCombet, IndustrialRelations, JohnHoward, Labor, Liberal, MCG, TradeUnions, WorkChoices |
I’m not a member of a union. Hell, I don’t even have a job. But this morning I got up early, caught a train, walked along the Yarra with a takeaway coffee (so I could be easily identified as a member of the “latte left”), and took a seat at the MCG.
There is a widely-held belief in the community, summed up by MrLefty, that today’s anti-WorkChoices rallies around the country would achieve nothing. Being little more than expensive and high-profile union love-ins, the rally and march would change nobody’s opinion or vote and simply give John Howard more ammunition in the spin-laden promotion of his ideologically-driven industrial relations legislation. If this was true then I would agree that there was, as Lefty suggests, little point in attending the rally.
I held this view myself until a couple of weeks ago when I heard Greg Combet address a group of unionists. He told these blokey, Eureaka flag-toting building workers, in a stern and accusing tone, that ACTU research indicates a large proportion of union members around the country voted Liberal at the last election having been sucked in by John Howard’s bullshit interest rates scare campaign. Combet rightly made entire rows of the audience squirm by pointing out that those votes in all likelihood handed the balance of power, if not the election, to the Howard Government, and subsequently made possible the WorkChoices legislation. Hearing this I realised that the primary purpose of the ACTU Your Rights At Work campaign was not to convince the general public about the need to repeal WorkChoices by voting against the Liberals, but the membership of the country’s unions.
So this morning I toddled along to the MCG rally and afterwards marched to Federation Square. Sure, the overblown rhetoric of the union and Labor is just as reductionist and misleading as the Howard Government’s; sure, the lure of Jimmy Barnes was probably responsible for quite a few people showing up; sure, there were obscene quantities of meat pies and hot chips being consumed at 8 o’clock in the morning. But the fact remains that the WorkChoices legislation is intrinsically bad and the only way we’ll get rid of it is by voting against John Howard and the Liberal Party. If it takes a “rock concert” (as Howard called it) rally to change enough votes to make this happen then I’ll support it any way I can.
Thursday 30 November 2006, 4:11 pm #Iain Hall
Believe it or not but I don’t support the “work choices” legislation but I don’t however think that it will be enough to see a change of government at the next election. The ALP are just not an attractive proposition to most people under the leadership (sic) of Kim Beazley. When he can’t popular culture people like Rove McManus’s name right in a doorstop people go woa! There! this man wants to be PM…. What The…
Oh and by the way I’m not so casual about the opinions that people have of me when I have any respect for them as a human being. When they are utter scumbags like your new friend troll-boy; what difference does it make to me what he thinks of me? Some how I think that you are a better person than him by several orders of magnitude but when you lie down with dogs you are bound to get fleas so I suggest a good wash with an appropriate product from your local vet
But seriously since I decided to no longer write about your mate MrGreeny I have broadened my Blogging horizons a great deal and frankly it is more fun. Unlike many on either side of the political spectrum I am happy to engage with my opposite number on the issues. If you seek to do the same and argue your case as you do in this post there may yet be hope for your immortal soul :o)
Just don’t delude your self that someone who does not accept your position on an issue has to be innately evil.
Thursday 30 November 2006, 6:44 pm #The Editor
Some how I think that you are a better person than him by several orders of magnitude…
Aww shucks, Iain. That’s beautiful.
…but when you lie down with dogs you are bound to get fleas so I suggest a good wash with an appropriate product from your local vet
Rest assured, Iain, I get plenty of flea-killing juice all over my hands when I attack the cat with it every month.
Thursday 30 November 2006, 7:58 pm #Iain Hall
Rest assured, Iain, I get plenty of flea-killing juice all over my hands when I attack the cat with it every month.
ah but does the stuff for the cat fleas work on fleas from a dog? they are different you know.
Thursday 30 November 2006, 9:38 pm #Tony.T
I actually thought the Tatt’s We Can’t Be Beaten, although prerecorded, rocked far harder than any of Barnsey’s tripe.
Thursday 30 November 2006, 9:46 pm #The Editor
C’mon, Tony. Admit that you loved Casey Donovan’s warbling.
Friday 1 December 2006, 11:15 am #Tony.T
For a moment there I thought that said wobbling.
Friday 1 December 2006, 12:40 pm #Jacob
You guys caused all the bloody traffic stuff up yesterday!
Friday 1 December 2006, 1:50 pm #Chris
I too attended the mass rally at the MCG as many people did, why? Well for one I’m an electrician by trade, educated? Yes. Informed as well. I quite happily work in the construction industry and perform my duties to the best of my ability, I find it therapeutic to actually do something I love and treat certain aspects of it as an artform.
Currently made redundant by my previous employer for “not having enough work to keep you on. Sorry mate” I still attended the mass rally, even with Barnsy’s tripe making any conversation inaudible.
Anyway getting to my point here. Being a member of the Electrical Trades Union I have experienced first hand why our Enterprise Bargaining Agreement contains such safeguards as redundancy/income protection, good rates of pay, supperannuation and strict safety guidlines.
It is the second time this year I and many other workers have been made redundant due to the rapid rise and fall of work available during this year, all of which began with the commonwealth games. The construction industry is an extremely volatile environment subject to commercial trends, interest rates, etc…
I feel quite lucky actually to have some of these safeguards in place that guarantee to minimise my risk of exposure to harmful situations within the workplace and also to protect me in times of unemployment as the situation is at present.
Seeing that there will be very minimal opportunity to regain employment until at least the end of January I’m glad that my union has negotiated the redundancy package to protect workers like myself at, and especially, this time of the year. Ultimately it means that I can make it through until January without having worrying too much about how I’m going to get it there.
I believe, as well, that to actually put a stop to Howard’ workchoices laws he needs to be voted out at the next election and of course we are faced with the not too comforting proposition of Kim Beazly running the country.
I agree with a lot of people that the Labour party does not give us much confidence in their ability to successfully govern this country into the future but given the “work choices” available to us, the war in Iraq and John Howard’s ambition to build us into something that George W. Bush would be proud of doesn’t really leave us much of an option when placing your numbers in that ballot paper come election time.