THE GREAT BIG BAD, BAD UNIONS REPORT-The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption releases its report

Eee oop, report comin' out-copyright Hipgnosis AHM

In the great big silence two days afore new year when politicians are snoozin' and folk have better things to do than digest a report the size of a small bus the right honourable John Dyson Heydon AC, QC has released his findings, sorry those of the grand (or should that be the fair dinkum great big) Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption. Like Christmas it was coming, filled with expectations and so what do we have for such a large digest?

The Sydney Herald used the heading "Findings small tip of an iceberg" to breathlessly tell us how bad it was going to be. You missed out "the small tip of an ENORMOUS iceberg" Tony! Then wrote a thundering editorial about the relationship between unions in Australia and the Labor party. Then Tony Turnbull said it was a watershed moment for the labour movement and certainly, in no uncertain terms, not just a case of a few rotten apples. It was evidence based in fact. Fact! Fact! Fact!

Well in my view I would add a rider: Stand back people there is not as much substance here as the headline or Mr Turnbull's response might cause you to think. The Commission ran for two years, held 189 days of hearings, involving 505 witnesses. Mr Heydon was paid an obscene amount of money (about approximately 1 million dollars per year), the unions said 18 million dollars was spent in keeping the Commission in gravy.  ABC radio reckons a cool 46 million plus! Enough money pissed down a legal drain to have funded a number of indigenous support services, or other worthy causes. But no, the Unions needed a jolly good investigation and shake up and the honourable J D was the bloke to do it. The brief reads as if lets shake the tree and see what falls out and interview as many malcontents as we can and see what we can make stick in doing so. Well my words, it were far more legal posh than that. So was it brass well spent? I will declare my bias. I am a member of a trade union, me dad was a communist and trade unionist and most of me ma's family were in the UK seamans union. So let's review...

MUA - Go Away! Says Heydon the just

The first part of this report sets the tone for the contents to follow. Loads of content. So if you cannot sleep with worrying about stuff, read this and sleep like a baby. The language alone will flatten you catatonic. So in brief I have put the man's (or his scriptors) wurds in bold and my jottings in italics; as it his report/my blog. Fair enough! I was chucken' me slipper at telly but that were no good...so sharpened pencil it is at five paces.

Now in the opening paragraph the man quotes Sir Harry Gibbs-(no not the father of the BeeGees as far as I am aware; though the report would have been a lot sexier with  a title like "Staying Alive"). However Lord Heydon wanted to test Sir Gibbs's maxim that "the inherent decency of the Australian people continue". By George! Where did I park my gun boat? Me top hat, fly swat and feathers Jeeves, please! And no he was not referring to the introduction of holiday pay, sick leave or any number of improved work conditions fought for and gained by unions over the years. I think he was referring to our ability to not blink at the expenditure of such a large wad of our tax take without blinking, thinking it well spent to state the obvious...in all walks of life, there are the corrupt, the greedy and the self-serving. The Unions are not exempt and have never claimed to be.

So on to the headline or the stuff up in big letters contained in the over long summary report:
Unions are riddled with "widespread" and "deep seated" misconduct. No carry on, enjoy the full breadth of the man's thinking "...probably (legal word meaning banged up to rights) only the most egregious (bollock scratching) examples of misconduct...These aberrations cannot be regarded as isolated (obviously plague like-unionists dripping pus littering the political landscape). They are not the work of a few rogue unions, or a few rogue officials (although this is the guts; the sins of the few-magnified lovingly in prose like a fleas balls in a gale, of what is recorded in the report. Boot a bit of tar and feathering is always good for the soul)...it is widespread (except the Northern Territories, yeah I know go figure!) It is deep seated...It would be utterly (isn't that subjective your honour?) naive to think what has been uncovered is anything other than a small tip of an enormous iceberg." (And the evidence to support this contention? A Tonyism-a small number of serving union officials are bent, crooked and should be hung out to be pelted with rotten cabbages-but this does not provide substance to this statement.)

"...But it is clear that in many parts of the world constituted by Australian trade union officials, there is room for louts, thugs, bullies, thieves, perjurers, those who threaten violence, errant fiduciaries (those who hold/oversee the money bags), and organisers of boycotts." (Did we go to Moscow for the Olympics one year?Louts, thugs, perjurers and bullies can describe a number of settings. And gosh, are their not times when this could describe Parliaments?Senate? Upper Houses. A lot of work places, professional bodies-throw in thieves-those caught rooking their clients, possibly even lawyers are not unknown to such descriptors, from time to time-but not judges except in Queensland...). Sorry, its an age thing, I tend to be easily distracted when reading legal telephone directories as summary. But Carry On Justice Heydon: the report goes on to state "A sinister picture appears to form. It is a picture the unions concerned not with its role as the instrument through which to protect the interests of its members but with self interest. Its primary interest is in the leading group of its officials as a self perpetuating institution. The institution comes to operate like a Venetian oligarchy or a Whig Parliament with very few electoral contests. It is an institution more concerned with gathering members than servicing them." Breathtaking. Sounds like the average mens club in operation. Lets just reflect (pictures below) on some of the unions representing aspects of our work environment who have been condemned in this statement. Yes, all corrupt undoubtably self serving with nowt to offer the modern industrial/working world.

Supermarket workers

Nurses

Energy sector

Asian Women

Of course Governor Heydon was at great pains-in a few sentences in his report to at least put to bed the old chestnut that his Commission in any way, shape or form was out to get the Unions. Heavens! How could they they reach such a fanciful finding...not only that, his side were much fairer, courteous and calmer in their presentation of the facts, while the union rabble personalised, insulted, abused, probably wore their boots to court and behaved like riff-raff-he did state sniffly that standards had dropped since his day, when folded silk hankies on the head were de rigeur. Then some of the union witnesses were seen by his nibs as scornful and hostile, perjured and fudged with half truths etc. Err, his worshipful might like to watch Parliament live from time to time to improve his education on how pollies behave towards one another, or maybe have a heart to heart with one Julia Gillard, I am sure she can give him some insight into such matters.

But what is lost and damaged in this report is the good work done by unions. The fundamental decency of the majority of office holders who give of their time to improve workplace conditions and protect ongoing safety standards. And given the current attacks on our employment conditions this representation is necessary. This report does not address why at this time when we are reaching austerity by stealth conditions, this is a necessity. Or why for the health of our society we should support the work of unions to ensure employers do not turn back the clock to treat employees as commodities to suck dry and discard. For example the same Sydney Herald today had a piece about American businesses who do not give their workers sick leave and people out of economic necessity turning up at work sick, and when infectious infecting others. Read it at:

http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/is-going-to-work-sick-really-a-good-idea-20151229-glwkim.html

Do we want that kind of employment conditions to take root here in Australia? And isn't this, the threat of casualisation, taking away penalty rates and zero hour contracts good reasons to sustain and maintain a healthy union framework across our employment sector.

The report summary also does not address with any compassion (just mealy mouthed attacks on unions) the wreckage caused by deceit and fraud that is the case in for example the Health Services Union (HSU). Members of this union are some of the most disadvantaged in the workforce. I doubt nailing Ms Jackson's scrotum to the mast of the good ship Dyson has given them solace.  Using there trauma as a legal/political football shows a gross lack of fundamental decency and no doubt in the days to come they will be kicked equally as part of a union bashing exercise.

Already this morning (31 December 2015) Senator Cash (Employment and wizard at breezily dismissing the ginormous wads of dollars spent as top drawer bangs for bucks) and Malkie Turnbull are claiming the report supports evidence of systematic corruption. Cash careful to say in some unions but this needs a big hammer of reform to smash. Yes, there is evidence that in some unions there was systemic issues which allowed corruption to occur and these unions have already addressed this. Then there were the threats to take this to election and Cash asked everyone to read this report. Well we should, we payed mighty for it and as you read whisper forty million bucks to yourself. Good luck I say, it is not an accessible read, large wads of legalise, turgid and one sided and at the end of it, like reality TV, you may have indignation with what you read but may also be left with a sense of being manipulated to see things in a certain way. IT DOES NOT DEMONSTRATE SYSTEMIC ISSUES ACROSS THE WHOLE UNION MOVEMENT, but does position itself to suggest this is the case. A con. More smoke and mirrors to make something appear bigger and more of a current issue infecting all unions than it is.

Whether Mr Turnbull says it many Tony times as he likes, it is a case of a few rotten apples to the many decent, hard working, committed members and officials. This over expensive commission was set up by the Abbott government to reduce the influence of unions, take down a few politicians in the process but most importantly introduce work choices by stealth. As for the report writer, he didn't even have the decency to step down when it was shown he had a conflict of interest-of which is happy to cast aspersions on unions having re union superannuation funds etc. He did not treat people decently when it was evident findings were insufficient to hang them out to dry-but nonetheless, he left them to hang out to dry (Gillard and Shorten come to mind-releasing findings exonerating Shorten late on a Friday night but still hinting as an office holder Shorten was tainted by guilt). And that is the gist of this report all of us in unions are tainted by the guilt of the few. Gosh but Parliamentarians, political parties are not all tainted by Slipper, Bishop (the older) or the conveyor belt of NSW pollies who did not know the difference between conflict of interest, tainted cash and their political responsibilities to their electorate. And who consistently used the Murdoch defence of "I don't recall". Talk about hostile, unhelpful witnesses. "Oh is this a smoking gun? I don't recall how it got into my hand (bank account). Am I holding it. It must have been planted via the family trust". etc.

Yes punish those who have misused their position and that should be so in all walks of life. Yes, good unions like anyone else should have checks and balances sufficient to prevent fraud and should not condone bullying or the use of intimidation. And the majority do and some named in this report have taken action to address the matters raised. Some, such as HSU have had to deal with the legal process and the legal rights of those accused of wrong doing to appeal (such as Thompson and Jackson).

But has this Commission demonstrated whether "the inherent decency of the Australian people continue" this has been besmirched by the findings? Not even close. The 50 rat bags identified in eighteen months of proceedings are named and shamed and some rightly. 45 individuals will be referred to criminal prosecution or civil action. But ask yourself this, based on the material in this report, how many of those will the police actually, following investigation, send to court? HSU has already succeeded in civil action against Jackson et al. And of those of the magnitude of Jackson et al, who may well face further criminal court time, rather than civil action; how many of those will be found guilty? The evidence, as in this report is not as solid as it is pitched to meet a finding of beyond reasonable doubt. I hope with the likes of Jackson it does based on what is already in the public domain. However, a good lawyer and plenty of gravy will make it as slow as paint drying and not necessarily result in justice for those most wronged-members of the unions where corruption has been shown to have occurred.

To rub salt into injury beware of Liberals getting up on their feet making platitude statements about wanting to protect the rights of hard working union members. Be ashamed Senator Cash, given the public service hard working staff are currently being thrashed by toxic enterprise agreements and are with the support of their union CPSU continuing to vote no to unfair changes to conditions. Supporting hard working union members? I think not and nor will this current Nat/Lib rabble ever be genuinely supportive of union rights but they will continue to use every opportunity to undermine those rights.

And the recommendations ?

• Tougher penalties for misconduct by officials, stricter rules about financial disclosure by unions and new cicil penalties for unions who don't keep proper records. Question: Shouldn't these measures already be place and cover the private sector, all political parties and charities-why single out unions when the newspapers are consistently showing corruption, poor record keeping occurs across society.
• To create a union watchdog.
• To establish Australian Building and Construction Commission to oversee workplace relations in the building industry. Question: Did it work previously-no. Did it improve work place conditions/safety-No.

In my view this is a distorted report that will fundamentally change nothing, adds little but is an injustice to trade unions and their members in that it accuses the greater union movement of being corrupt and rotten to its core! A bit like saying because there have been and are a few bad politicians and even judges that therefore they are all rotten. Not so much a "Sinister picture" as a sketch with a lot of blank canvas. Not assisted with archaic descriptors of unions such as  Venetian oligarchy and Whig Parliament. Ah shades of Joseph McCarthy and 1950s America attacking anything remotely left wing...smells like fear of the establishment seeing unions in the way of the rightful rulers exercising their power. And once politically this report is seen as unhelpful, once all the limited mileage is milked from the speculative statements, it will be sent to the dustbin. But what would I know, old fashioned socialist curmudgeon that I am. But of course wouldn't Tony make a perfect Union Investigations Commissar? Oh well, let the shit fly and let's see what sticks....

The report can be purchased for sixpence from any corner shop and can be used indefinitely to line the bottom of the hamster's cage.

See this article from Guardian Australia where the writer makes the point the recommendations that Turnbull is threatening wholesale introduction of, sets a higher set of standards than that of the private sector. Smells like union bashing...

hhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/30/the-hits-the-misses-and-the-zealous-overreach-of-the-trade-union-royal-commission

Another article on the changing face of Australian unions:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/06/the-female-bosses-destroying-the-image-of-union-thugs-forever

And from New Matilda:

https://newmatilda.com/2016/01/12/reflections-on-the-turc-from-a-union-official/
Further Postscript  23 March 2016: Showing five charges referred to federal police have already been dropped. What a bloody waste of time this enquiry has been despite the NatLibs still pushing for a building commissar:
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/mar/23/fifth-set-of-criminal-charges-from-union-royal-commission-taskforce-dropped

FOR EVER AMBER COLLECTIVE: Geordie graft, craft and guile down amongst the photos

Who stole the North Sea?

Coming into the Tyne by ship stirred memories of me ma's family, generations of sailors living in and around North Shields and now, mostly gone, most barely remembered. The ferry from Holland crossed an unnaturally flat and well behaved North Sea. Mrs Belgo Geordie were glad of that. She had insisted on taking the top bunk in the cabin looking out the small porthole across the small silvery grey wash. She provided a running' commentary above the Belgo Geordie snores of lights of passing ships, buoys and wind farms. Even with the light wallow of the big ferry she didn't get a wink of sleep and rolled off at North Shields like one of me ancestors who'd crossed turbulent seas in gale force winds. She likes to remind me she comes from seafaring folk but they crossed the gigantic Pacific in canoes navigating by stars and waves. When they were of a mind like! Boot, wa wood yer even think of leaving' the beach on your island when there was plenty of fish nearby and nowt good came at her people across that big ocean that would want to make you go out and meet and greet incoming white folk. Even with her impression of the drunken sailor making landfall she still manages to put me in me place, carrying the cases...

But it were grand to be back on Geordie soil four year after me last visit. Made better by the taxi driver who took us into the city who was a migrant from the Balkans with his native accent salted with Geordie and entertained us with stories of his escape to sanity, never regretting putting down roots in a community where not only did he feel accepted but had become passionate about belonging, even grumbling that his daughters tell him off when he sounds like he has just stepped off from the boat from the old country.

So there we were in Newcastle again with tickets to see the Toon play Watford and an exhibition at the Laing Art Gallery-For Ever Amber. Well, last time I graced St James was in the early 1960's- a game played in fog and fug of fags, farts and blisteringly cold and I canna remember who was playing' who won or where me feet ended, only that I had icicles of snot hanging from both sides of me nose and a half time mug of tea just about sent me off ta infirmary with scalds all the way down to me bladder! Enough to say this year's game was a rare bit of disappointment and gave me the shits. Mike Arse and Sports Rip Off have more than torn the heart and guts out of the relationship that existed between fans and their team and I was ashamed to be part of that on that Saturday afternoon.

But Amber, now that is summat else. A collective that although born in London found its voice, vision and heart amongst the communities of the north east. I have gathered a small collection of their work that has come out on VHS and then DVD and books of photographs when I come across them. The irrepressible sunbeam of Geordie Finn (Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen) and the cool gaze through the lens of Chris Killip (His 1976 Wallsend shot of snow with the slogan on the brick wall "Don't Vote-Prepare for Revolution" and the old man trudging down the hill while a kid pulls his toboggan up over way). Allus good for the eyes and heart here in Sydney when I'm feeling a bit sick for a pie, cod and mushy peas.

The 1969 ten minute film documentary "Maybe" on the Shields ferry setting the tone for their work capturing every day lives in the region. Since then the value of what Amber has achieved cannot be underestimated. Their multi media (but mainly film and photography) ventures has created a comprehensive record of working class communities and of industries that have since died or been replaced on Tyneside and the north east. The mines, steel works, ship building, fishing. Amber's involvement of the communities in art projects has been one of true partnership, not exploitation but often a means of story telling which dignify and honour the lives of ordinary people. And charts the reliance of how communities have adapted to change, Amber's work show's people with humour, courage and a daring to continue to dream despite the odds.

So it were time well spent going through the exhibition at the Laing and there were some laugh out loud moments and some tears, the kids playing on the burnt out wrecks of tonked cars, jumping out of broken windows of abandoned houses, or seated in the street on discarded sofas. It was like my generation of kids in the early sixties frozen in time still surrounded by poverty, still trying to get by thirty years later. You still are left wondering outside the frame of the photograph, where will these children be in ten years, twenty years? And their bairns? Then there was the hope of the new generation of migrants making lives in and around the north east, the photographs in colour of Byker re-visited. Nothing stays frozen in time and that gives me hope that a change will come.

Oh so much more than the football, this exhibition made me proud to be a Geordie, and it reminded me of my roots, of family who are long gone, of the good, the bad and the ugly of life in sixties Tyneside. Although like the Animals when they said "We've Gotta Get Out of This Place...If It's The Last Thing I Ever Do".  I left aged six and never came back to live there but its never left me and Amber reminds me why that is. It is a place of strength, and each time I come back to visit it is, although I live on the other side of the world, still  home.

And an Amber film festival in Gateshead in late January 2016 see: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/life-tyneside-during-1970s-beamed-10767051

MARITIME UNION AUSTRALIA -MUA HERE TO STAY: Hutchinson's picket line revisited 19 December 2015

The flags have gone but after 136 days (7 August to 19 December 2015) that the picket line ran, the Maritime Union Australia (MUA) has won a heart warming and courageous victory. This and the Federal Public Service in the greater majority voting no to unfair enterprise bargaining agreements, shows, despite increased and sustained attacks in the last two years, the muscle of the unions remains strong in Australia. And by demonstrating that unions/workers are still up to the fight of keeping work conditions at the front of political debate, it gives heart to a new generation of those who believe in and fight for natural justice.

The Hutchinson 97 laid off by text and then locked out in a protracted dispute with one of the wealthiest company's on the planet, part owners of Vodafone. The picket received support from around the globe (See MUA journal Summer 2015-or www.mua.org.au ). Letters from Spain, Jordan, Japan, France, Morocco-to name a few and photos of support from dock workers in Panama and Hong Kong and one Jeremy Corbyn UK Labour Party Leader who is also in the process of being crucified by the English media as too left wing! I was there recently (the UK) and saw the level of vitriol this man faces on a daily basis because he dares to speak about old fashioned socialist values. But at this point it is heartening to hear the support he has in the electorate on this platform from a people sick of spin and evisceration through austerity.

The next battle will be the resolution of the Federal Public Service enterprise bargaining agreements. Toxic contracts the Government wants to impose to strip workers rights and conditions. Done under the smoke and mirrors of moving conditions into policy directed by corporate and operational plans and reduction of permanent jobs for non ongoing positions. And the "Shipping Legislation Amendment Bill 2015" aimed at ripping the guts and jobs out of Australian maritime industry (what's left of it) and at a time (climate change issues) we should be becoming more reliant on strengthening our economy by being sustainable. As Albo (The Right Honourable Anthony Albanese) has said "The Bill, soaked as it is in ideology, sells out the national interest on each of these counts, it will allow overseas-flagged and crewed ships paying workers Third World wages, to undercut Australian operators on domestic trade routes. It will destroy Australian jobs, damaging the economy. It will increase the likelihood of maritime accidents in our coastal waters..." Quite! Eloquent bugger that Albo! And there will be some business person or new right warrior bullshitting us about letting the market decide, competition is good and anyhow we should all be getting these Third World wages dear to Albos heart as then the few can get on with making massive, short term profits at the expense of the many and that bad word "community". Such as is Hutchinson's and those drongos who strip massive profit out of our economy and don't think they have to pay fair tax on these profits. And if they did would we as a community buy into the bullshit of belt tightening and budget blow out to excuse why we are not funding hospitals, schools, universities, every kind of service (health, disability, mental health, aged care) and finding ways to support our indigenous communities live healthier and longer.

So, I take me hat off again to MUA. Australians of the year one and all in my book!

Too bloody right!!!!

Smells like fascism...Paris will never be defeated by the sour killers of daesh

Clouds over Paris

Why do I love Paris? It was the city me dad was in during the Second World War and where as a fifteen year old he fought nazis. Smuggling, helping people escape to the rat line. Every time I go there, and I was last there in October this year, I think of him when I see the monuments and plaques that still remind us of young lives lost fighting fascism and this week again, fascism struck taking one hundred and thirty lives Struck down doing only one thing in common, living. 

There has been that much cod spoken following the terrorist attack in Paris it could repopulate the North Sea. Writers on the left and right have been busy, often being wise after the event. The most depressing are the pious, sanctimonious, left wing warriors of comment threads with their smoke and mirror words along the lines of "although this this been terrible and in no way do I support the terrorists haven't we (the advantaged) brought it on ourselves." The victims in these statements, although not explicitly stated are the murderers who are 'disadvantaged' and have no where to go but to fire automatic weaponry into crowds of people eating, watching sport, music-in short being sinful by enjoyment and then blow themselves up with belt bombs designed to cause maximum carnage."

Then there are the white "I hate muslims" Like Reclaim Australia/Patriot Front hybrids here in Australia. Wanting us to believe all muslims by being muslim are budding terrorists just waiting to go off like shit house doors in a gale! The new "Reds under the Beds"

Here in Australia, thank goodness for the sanity of Waleed Aly "ISIL wants to split the world into two camps...they want us all to become hostile...make muslims the enemy of the west." Why give them that opportunity. Let us remind ourselves what the caliphate preachers want. A society where woman are subservient to ignorant and egotistical, testosterone driven men. Where if you are gay you will be executed. Where if you are different, you will stand out and be crushed. Where life has small value against an afterlife which for blessed martyrs (those pathetic morons who blow themselves into mince) amounts to coming into a paradise akin to a male, porno experience-how many virgins and why? Where there is only one form of acceptable fascism and all other forms of belief are unbelievers to be destroyed and killing them gives you fly-bys to paradise. Where enjoyment, love, most music, poetry, art is a sin.

But they are destroyers not creators. These destroyers of life are hypocrites and bullies and for all of their agression-cowards. For all the orange suited social media cutting of throats-it is no more than little men being big in their own eyes, killing kittens. They are in a particular dream time of history, a choking dust that can never nourish life or creativity. Shackled in shite, they are no better than the nazis and like them, eventually  they will be consigned to the dustbin of failure, crushed under the aspiration of freedom. People don't want to be suffocated by totalitarian ideologies or told by muppets with beards and long robes what to believe. Freedom fighters? They are the complete opposite-oppressors stamping on what they cannot possess and control - soul.

But what I love about Paris is that within two days people were back in the cafes, on the terraces raising a glass to life and finger to daesh fascism. Paris, for all of its shortcomings will always stand up to this shite. Smells like fascism? It is fascism. One more joyless cause promoting death and slavery. Paris, however, remains a beacon, a city of love that dares to dream.

Why the Picket at Hutchinson's is a Line in the Sand for Workers: Sydney August 2015

Botany Sydney Sunday Morning Picket

There are mornin's as of late when Belgo Geordie awakes in a cold sweat. There's ghosties parading threw an old man's dreams. Tha tramp and spark of hob nailed boots hitting the long road down to London. Miners, dock workers, steel workers, seamen, labourers on the Jarrow March to take it to those sittin in the  Parliament. They didn't have much materially but fire in their bellies, passion and a commitment to working people second to none. Whole communities walked and on the journey educated the country.

An' I'm thinking what has it all been for? In the 1930s our grandparents fought for better working rights and safer wok environments, universal suffrage, they stood against fascism and stood for better representation of working people, a decent health, housing and education system. For our women, bairns, for our future, a better world...not just our backyard, our workplace but because it was the right thing to do-for all! And this includes if there was a strike or injustices happening across the world, there was solidarity through the union movement to the struggles of others. But today in modern Sydney, it takes the likes of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) to tell oos the fight is still on, and all that was gained will not be taken from us as easily as yon capitalist, neo-libs and nat libs might think, believe and hope.
See, having joost been away, I get back to Sydney to hear Hutchinson's have sacked near one hundred of their workers and in a way that can only be described as mongrel. Well to quote the Sydney Herald "Hutchinson Ports, Australia sent nearly 100 employees (97 it appears and 40% of Hutchinson'd Australian workforce) across the nation in a text just before midnight (my italics) on Thursday night telling them their services were no longer required and directing them to an email with information about their termination." Mrs Belgo Geordie had to use a crowbar to get the old man's jaw bone out of the floorboards. Then if that is not enough to send me to the nettie with an attack of mushy peas in curry sauce, Federal minister Eric Abetz cums up with summat along the lines of "Nowt wrong in sending these buggers their notice by text" Its obviously to be applauded as an efficiency his Government has been striving to achieve. Think of the savings Hutchinson's made on not having' ta send a letter, envelope and stamp x 100. Not ta mention it wouda not made it there by midnight. No penalty rates for pidgun delivery these days of competition, price cuts an all else dear to stoney hearts and fat wallets. Talk about not having the guts to look in someone's eyes when you shaft them!
So when most folk in Sydney were still shivering oonder doonas (posh blankets) and recovering from the Wallabies rattling the fillings of the Mighty All Blacks we went down to the Hutchinson's picket line to yarn with the comrades. Although it had been a cold night, morale was good and the kitchen was going overtime with bacon butties, coffee and there was good sized logs smouldering in the braziers. But the generator number three was as boogered as first two! A good dozen men had stayed out the cold night to make an important point. The picket is a 24 hours, seven days a week action. The employer had a good go at getting the oxymoron of the 'Fair Work Commission' to declare the picket illegal (as reported by some rags on Friday). The MUA took that up flagpole and told them to consider unfair dismissal-and its usual bromide-a lack of consultation with those losing their employment and their representatives- and see if where the sun does not shine in their court might want to have a good long think on things over the weekend...so stalemate, a picket, a line of security staff (to stop those employed, sacked but still in work by FWC definition you would hope, from going on with their rightful business; entering their work site.)

THE Paul Keating, waterside worker and good man

So I had a long chat with Mr Keating about what troubled him enough to be out in the cold on this Sunday morning. Simple stuff when it all boils down. Of the near one hundred sacked, a large percentage were either union organisers, delegates or part of the safety committee. Smells of a targeted lay off. Then there is this. Hutchinson's have in many ways been seen as a union supportive employer until this. The union had negotiated an enterprise bargaining agreement reducing full time hours in order to allow the employer TO HIRE MORE STAFF! The much vaunted excuse, down-turn in economy, falling profits, technology not requiring such a large workforce had been parts of the bargaining. But suddenly Hutchinsons turns feral-no consultation-sackings by text at Midnight and too many prominent union members from both Brisbane and Sydney out on their arses. Mr Keating was very polite, vert articulate and somewhat pissed off at the turn of affairs. And who can blame him as there appears to be shenanigans at work to pull staff from other areas of the port (and other employers) to cover the work done by those sacked. A familiar ring. And even more familiar and bell tolling...to maybe contract this very work out on a as needs basis. Casualisation of employment and reduction of more full time, permanent positions. Mr Keating struck me as a clear thinker, reasonable but with vision and a good overview of the bigger picture. He acknowledged the broad grass root support the picket was getting from a range of unions and not to mention the broader MUA community.

Likewise this is a human tragedy. You can taste the damage this has had on the lives of those workers being laid off. The woman who spoke from Brisbane on yon television who said with three members of her family turfed out, who is going to pay the bills and keep their heads above water? The guy who said he has just gotten married and has a mortgage. Do the employers care? Are profits so poor they won't get their bonuses, won't be able to send their kids to private schools, might have to ditch one of the family holidays. Na, they will still be rolling in it. The company said to be worth HK$433 billion-not small change and including owning half of Vodaphone Australia. But they won't loose sleep because it is not impacting on them, other than a picket line on their doorstep and a rumble of discontent emerging from a range of unions as this Government continues to oversee a robber baron mentality of doing business. Good to see all the messages of support from other unions!

Photograph by Sam Camilleri-alias Pablo

Security...

Aye, well this were of interest like. Most of the security folk looked like new immigrants and you have to feel for them. A job of work is employment but they are the shit in this sandwich not of their making. Like the police who were not on view but had a big van parked at front.

So, why is this a line in the sand? A thin edge of wedge? Because we, as a union movement and what we represent need to see this as a wake up call. The drongos think the MUA and the more militant unions (the ones that speak up and put their collective bollocks on the line) are ones they can get good media copy by taking on, trashing and making ineffective. They think the Australian public is gullible enough to swallow another round of 'reds under the bed' alongside 'belt tightening for the greater good' etc. Worked for Thatcher in UK (Miners and the Militant-but only because Murdoch unleashed his hounds of tattle in an attempt to destroy Arthur Scargill); Muldoon in NZ (Seamens Union). Here MUA and Patrick's. Then see the Great Big Commission of Enquiry into Bad Unions the NatLibs are running. Evidence? Threadbare at best. Next to bronnys expense 'I work hard being me therefore I deserve it' and the goons currently wanting life time entitlement out of the public purse and for shame three of them being Labor! Nowt to answer to comrades when put against the good union involvement has achieved. But in a good employer turning feral, we should all take heed. The Tories are desperate for success to lift their game and what better way than through short term global neo liberal capitalist crap at the expense not just of workers and their families but the viability and sustainability of our communities. Of that they will have the media half truth tellers at their beck and call. Everyone likes to believe the big bad union bogey is keeping decent folk away from proper 'flexible' working conditions of casual employment and greater employer powers to sack or just not re-hire. Well yes, it is the union that is making a stand against the persistent erosion of working conditions not to mention undermining work place safety. Getting rid of safety officers/committees-are they barmy. The Ghost of past cums back ta haunt! Today MUA...tomorrow, if Hutchinsons win this one...we are all in deep shit...who is that I hear knocking on my door (or should that be inbox) at midnight...

We had better hope so...support the picket!

* See Woolies are Bullies-New Matilda Is there summat in the water-the closure of a warehouse in Melbourne drew the following in the article:

"In making its decision to pack up and leave, Woolworths did not consult with any stakeholders. There was no respect for any worker, any community member. They timed their meetings with the Union, the Victorian Industry Minister's office, the workforce and the media all for the afternoon of June 9.

Most workers were informed of the decision by text message. There was not even a veneer that any Corporate Social Responsibility considerations were taken into account. This is not good enough."

Adam Goodes...A Hero in our Time

This is an Australian of the Year-photograph by Paul Miller/AAP

And further more: What is their not to like about this man?

http://www.smh.com.au/good-weekend/after-the-furore-meet-the-real-adam-goodes-20160111-gm39aa.html

Tom Uren Memorial Fund and Review of Straight Left-Tom Uren's autobiography

STRAIGHT LEFT-TOM UREN Random House Australia (1994)

Having lived here in Australia only since 2008 I am still playing catch up with Australian politics and the history of the left in particular. One man seems to stand out-with few enemies-but undoubtably a warrior of the left. Tom Uren in his autobiography gives an entertaining crash course in Labor politics since the Second World War up till the 1990s. An Australian member of parliament for 32 years. Minister in the Whitlam and later Hawke governments but he is so much more than that. Mr Uren is a character in his own write! His chronicling of his growing up, his war service and internment, his attempt to forge a career out of boxing and then his slow growth into political animal is fascinating. I chuckled over his judging of character vis a vis what would the bloke be like to share a bag of rice with (from internment). But mostly I warm to his now old fashioned socialist politics when the left had a vision, a constituency which it wanted to represent and a belief in the basic decency of society and our responsibility to uphold and nurture this. There is sections where my eyes met in the middle (as with most autobiographies-which fascinate the writer more than the reader) but these passages are rare. Mostly I felt informed and came away from this book feeling both educated and reminded of how much socialism has been an integral part of my life. And that today, it makes me a dinosaur to so many and how much the political oxygen we now breathe is driven by free market and centrist ideology. Mr Uren you have balls and the world is a better place for you having done the work you have and forged the vision into something practical and tangible. I hope your book, will inspire some young mind to think things can and should be different from today and the reader can and will want to make a difference as you have.

"Utopia' a documentary by John Pilger

I remember John Pilger as an investigative journalist for the Daily Mirror when it still had socialist balls and investigative journalist meant summat. Informed us like. Talk to Australians today about John Pilger (although mostly living overseas he is one of Australia's sons-the generation who went to London to work and who grew up on Sydney's eastern beaches); they mostly loath him, dislike him or are indifferent. Shades of Chomsky-he can be intractable, uncomfortable and too often right. Unlike Chomsky-you will never die not knowing John Pilger's line of argument. He speaks straight, honed on journalism, his words bite but are as clear as bells ringing. Something of 'shoot the messenger' seems to dog his footsteps here in Australia. Lots of people tell me how often Pilger has got it wrong but are short on saying exactly how other than in minor detail how that is -he is an investigative journalist by trade and is an assiduous fact checker. The wrong is only when he launches into opinion, many of which he has, uses and is happy to put out into the narrative of colonisation and global politics. His documentary on Indonesian sweatshops producing labels of the 90s we all wore with pride was something else I remember, it stopped me wearing my favourite deep blue shirt, once I knew the true cost of its making. Then there were the 1989 book "A Secret Country" and the peeling back of the facade of Australia as a lucky country-for some but not all. Reading this then was a profound shock and realisation how far ahead New Zealand was in addressing biculturalism and the tragedy of European colonisation. (Not too far but in comparison...) The book apparently rose from his 1985 documentary of the same name.

And thus Utopia. Released in 2013 and 110 minutes.
This if anything is the story of the destruction caused to Aboriginal communities through the intervention and invisibility of Aboriginal people through mainstream Australia. "The universal theme of the film" says John Pilger, "is that the world is dividing into two groups - those who prosper in material comfort zones, as most Australians do, and those who are dispossessed because they are "different" and refuse to comply. It's a dystopian project that says indigenous people cannot live in their homelands - they can't live differently, they must be assimilated, they must be like us." (My italics and notes from Anthony Hayward). Utopia is the most disadvantaged area of Australia. No utilities, grinding poverty and poor access to services most of Australia takes for granted. This is the core of what makes movements like Reclaim Australia evil. The soft porn of Tory politics. And if anything in the two years since this was released parts of the rest of Australia are playing catch up-finding themselves "different"-dispossessed, engaging with fragmenting services that no longer provide a lifeline in adversity. Yet Utopia is a documentary which also portrays the courage in the struggle of resistance by the first people at the cost of too many early graves. It can inspire as well as crush. What it shows is the lies told and then held as truisms, peddle about how dysfunctional Aboriginal communities are. Or as too many red necks like to claim-"so much money is thrown at them and still they don't change-must be because there is something flawed in their make up that they can't accept (assimilate) White ways."  And no matter the evidence to the contrary, injustice prevails*. Being set up to fail inevitably results in failure. And why do we do that? Because accepting differences means our comfortable myths about ourselves...if only they would...ring a little more hollow in the face of the starkness portrayed in these communities we allow to fester and break up. These the representatives of one of the oldest civilisations on our planet, of whom we should be proud and celebrate and should support as core to being Australian. It is a powerful indictment but also a testimony to the people portrayed and to Mr Pilger for having the guts to still put this story out into the public domain.
10/10.

From a secret country, secret agent Cockie spreads the seed

*And continues. See the excellent article by Helen Davidson-"Charlie's story: Life and death of the man forced to sleep rough while on dialysis." Saturday 25 July 2015, Guardian (Australia). Ask yourself when you read this man's life story-would prominent White Australians end their life in this way? Would we let it happen?

Bill "Bring It On" Shorten: A Point of Difference or Which Way is Left?

Here was an opportunity to redefine, learn from past mistakes and more importantly-focus on the future. The Labor Party Conference in Melbourne comrades. Bringing together enough intelligence, vision and passion to make a difference. New blood and calls for the way the party representing the left in Australia does business. And at a time when we need leadership, vision, commitment.

Why? Let me count on one ham fisted hand of gnarled knuckles the current issues we face:

• Children and women abused in detention prisons and it is not allowed to be called out as a crime
• Humanitarian whistleblowers could be prosecuted
• Refugees, asylum seekers and conditional refugees and detention; off shore processing NIMBY
• The stripping back of work place conditions, the relentless progress of casualisation of labour (Myers the latest cab to take this path-dont shop there!)
• Youth not able to get permanent jobs and completing education that leads to nowt
• And paying through the back teeth for the education or being at the mercy of private providers who teach them nowt
• The disenfranchisement of a generation who will not have permanent work, buy a house and have what little they can save taken in bills, gouging and rorting
• The shrinking of the social welfare safety net
• Work till your past seventy even if you are buggered and past it
• Go without health care because you can't afford it and turn up at emergency where you wait in a corridor to die; our health services swamped and struggling to deliver care
• Womens superannuation and pay scales still being less than mens
• Big end of town still being run by old white men
• The disintegration, privatisation of infrastructure and asset stripping
• Politicians spending expenses like there is no tomorrow while telling the rest of us we have to tighten our belts and make efficiencies
• A public service being gutted (and that includes fireies, ambos, nurses and teachers) while CEO  pay rates still soar
• The underfunding of health, education, public housing, disability services, mental health and aged care provisions
• People with mental health issues living on the street
• The disgrace that passes for support to indigenous communities and services
• The intervention and the strangling of resources to remote communities
• The disgrace that passes for in 2015-violence against women and children is still prevalent
• Not enough legal aid
• The rise of fascism (Reclaim Australia is a fascist movement)
• The selling off of our food bowl regions for mining
• Not supporting long term investment of our waterways for irrigation
• No planning on climate change, or to manage for consequences of extreme weather patterns
• The lack of affordable housing (And where have the obscene amount of dollars taken from selling Millers Point in Sydney gone towards public housing Mr Baird?)
• The inability to fund alternative energy resources such as solar panels and wind farms
• Letting banks and big business pass on costs at the expense of increasing poverty in basics such as utilities, health insurance fees, food (yes and the States hunger to introduce GST)
• Allowing the poor to become poorer
• More roads not more and more efficient, user friendly, affordable public transport
• Disproportionate taxation (how can big companies and banks get away with not paying a fair tax take when they asset strip by way of huge profits gained from unfair gouging such as credit card fees, Telco charges)

So is and will this conference provide leadership on how to tackle the above? To oppose the current mob? Can Labor still call itself the party of the disenfranchised, the dispossessed and as Fanon said so long ago "The wretched of the earth"- those where hope is lost and they are sinking to become unheard and unrepresented-victims of the free market and capitalism who are not seen as consumers (can't afford it) and jettisoned out of that equation because they can't pay their way. No instead we have factional positioning, union arm twisting votes, Julia aprons, stage managed presidential leadership cringe and the suffocation by faction of change. Its the same old, same old. Deals! Deals! Deals! And outside the doors, the same injustices, inequality continues...

"Bring It On" Bill claims he can win an election fought on climate change, just as long as Labor agrees to a policy supporting turning back the boats. In a rush of breath so fast it was almost unheard-of course we would increase our refugee intake. Tanya apparently got the concessions. After all we have to be electable by the definition of "The Telegraph" and its skimmers.

As the Sydney Herald editor calls it:
"Yet Shorten's argument was as sound as it was courageous. He concluded that stopping deaths at sea by stopping maritime attempts in unseaworthy boats via people smuggling, is the right policy setting. "
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/bill-shorten-shores-up-his-position-with-strong-alp-national-conference-win-20150725-gikfp6.html#ixzz3gxSJeOBT

Oh really? We don't know as we are not told, the conditions under which people have been turned back and to where. It is just a decision based on getting elected. So as not to be condemned by history as 'unelectable for having vision and balls (but we will be condemned by doing nothing and not taking an opportunity to go to the community and say boat turning/detention and hiding what we do off shore is just plain wrong. Labor so scared of the shade of Ms Gillard or Mr Rudd. To be unelectable is such a Blair whinge. What happened to debate? To convincing an electorate on the strength of what is right. This leadership is saying they don't trust their electorate. In reality, they are not out there in the workplace, the streets and communities talking, listening and giving leadership to addressing the issues currently ripping us apart. Listen to English Labour talking about electing a truly left wing leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Seen as a rank outsider, he is now emerging as a serious contender. Why? Because people know the point of difference with Cameron. They know what he stands for as demonstrated by those MPs supporting his leadership push.

 "They say Labour did not lose the election because it was too leftwing, but because it “failed to challenge the fundamental economic consensus on austerity. This cost all of us votes.”


It was not inspiring earlier this week to hear future Labor leader in waiting Tanya Plibersek parroting stale Nat/Lib rhetoric (as above with Shorten at the conference) to support this motion... "to prevent needless deaths at sea." And then give her vote over so she didn't have to take a stand. At least Albo raised his hand and said accepting turning the boats back as Labor policy was a red line we should not cross. What a man! And good on those people leaping on the stage to oppose this shameful piece of deal making. And Bill Shorten as a credible leader or a wind-up-doll? Stage managed to seem stronger than he has been, to me he is still a presedential style wind up doll saying Vote for ME! Vote for ME! Labor, you've sold your balls for votes. And where is your point of difference with the NatLibs? Buggered if I can see it from this one!