DOCSLIB.ORG

Interview with Jack Mundey

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Interview with Jack Mundey wi Ch iq o k mundeu COULD YOU MAKE SOME GENERAL YOU MENTIONED IN THE PREVIOUS COMMENTS ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENTS INTERVIEWS THAT THERE WERE ALL IN THE UNION SINCE THE ’70 AND ’71 SORTS OF CROSS-CURRENTS OF OP­ INTERVIEWS? INION GOING THROUGH THE PARTY ABOUT THAT TIME WHICH INFLUEN­ I think the most important single advance has CED YOU. WAS THERE A GENERAL been our intervention in the non-traditional STRATEGIC LINE, AND COULD YOU areas, particularly on the environment. Having ELABORATE ON THAT? in mind that we are the most urbanised country on earth, the destruction of the urban environ­ Once having commenced on the track, we ments particularly in Sydney but also now in found the tremendous response I spoke Melbourne and, to a growing extent in Bris­ about, and among the thinking segment of bane, means that we’ve been in a fairly ad­ the population we now enjoy tremendous vantageous position. We are the first building support, something I didn’t envisage as workers on a project, and no building can be secretary of the union when we started. demolished without builders’ labourers. I think jt bears out the contention that I think the biggest thing was that we res­ quality of life issues are increasingly more ponded to the frustration of people who important in a relative sense to purely felt they were powerless to act, such as the economic ones. people of Kelly’s Bush, which triggered it all off. The extent of the frustration was such that we were inundated with requests from WHAT’S YOUR ANSWER TO PEOPLE residents and from other community groups WHO SAY THAT THESE ARE MIDDLE who felt that the collusion between State CLASS ISSUES AND THAT IT’S REALLY governments, the Federal government’s fail­ A DIVERSION FROM THE CLASS ure to act, and most particularly, the poor STRUGGLE WHICH IS NECESSARY TO quality of government at municipal level, OVERTHROW CAPITALISM7 meant that they came to us and requested us to impose bans. I don’t think there was If capitalism is to be overthrown it is any great foresight on the part of the Buil­ essential that a great section of the middle ders’ Labourers Union, but the important class have to be involved. We’ve also had thing was that we responded to other sect­ growing support among the workers too, ions of the community and in this way comm­ and it’s interesting to note the number of enced the astonishing involvement which has rank and file members of other unions who had international repercussions. have come to us. Many of our bans have 15 been in working class areas where the we’re going to have a tremendous struggle. working class themselves have acted in great numbers to impose the ban. There IN OTHER WORDS, YOU SEE THAT THE has been a deliberate attempt by the BUILDING BOOM IN THE SENSE OF CITY Labour Press group, and others, to say OFFICE BUILDINGS COULD DECLINE that we are the darling of the trendies, sell­ SHORTLY AND THEN THE PROBLEM OF ing out the workers, etc. but that hasn’t WDRK FOR BUILDING WORKERS WILL been borne out. It would be true to say ARISE AND THE ISSUE WILL BE - that the majority of our members now WE’VE GOT ALL THESE NEEDS, WHAT strongly support the union’s position. At ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH THIS the same time, we didn’t neglect the ec­ AVAILABLE LABOUR? onomic issues and in particular the ques­ tion of permanency, changing the nature Yes, because I don’t believe those who say of the industry. I believe that if we hadn’t that because of the capital appreciation they had the big strikes of ’70 and '71 based on, can sit out the green bans. If we win the fight first of all, civilising the building industry that the inner city area should be mainly res­ to some extent, lifting up the second class idential , with provision for tow and middle status of the builders' labourers, bringing income earners, then the tremendous app­ forward a formula that the wage variation reciation of capital on the buildings will not should be no wider than 100-90, this sup­ go on. So I think we’re going to have a real port would be far less. Incidentally, our crisis within the building industry in this stand on the gap between “skilled” and area, and it’s wrapped up in permanency “unskilled” was partly responsible for the too, because there are real elements of work ACTU, at the following Congress, putting ers’ control in it. It will mean, as we've put forward that the ratio should be no wider forward for a long time now, that there than 100 - 82. The gap was the thing in should be a Building Investigations Comm­ the five week strike in 1970, and then in ittee to determine which buildings should '71 it was a social issue of accident pay in be built, and in fact had the BWIU and oth­ an accident-prone industry, because of er tradesmen’s unions come along with us the lack of safety, etc. in the fight over the last award, we could But the support arose most importantly have made this a real fighting point. The of all over permanency in the building Master Builders nearly croaked when we industry. Our concept here goes beyond put it forward - you remember their silly just having permanent employment for stuff, “this is workers’ control, it’s anarchy the full year, because to effect permanency they’re taking over”. On the monetary in an industry like ours, where, with each side, th _y coughed up six or ten dollars fluctuation in the economy, the building without any real struggle, whereas before industry is hit, and the imbalance between they were always hard to fight on dough. the commercial and residential sections Now the money was there, but no invading glaring (by the middle of next year, there of our sanctity, they said, by the setting will be ten million square feet of unlet up of any committees to determine which office space in Sydney, compared with buildings should be built. four million now), to win permanency in I think this opens up the other side of it, the building industry would be vastly the social responsibility of workers, the different to winning permanency on the examination of the end result of their waterfront. labuui now on, and I think it’s tied In the building industry, if you’re going right up with the ecological crisis which to have 200,000 building workers employed exists in our society. Once workers, indus­ throughout the year, then you’ve got to sta­ trial workers, start to have a say in the bilise it, and stabilise it in such a way that end result of their work - if, for example, the three tiers of government have to work unemployment built up, and they dem­ out their rate, their preferences, their ratios, anded that money be diverted to hospit­ and the expenditure on each. Insurance com­ als, to the public sector, instead of to panies and hot money flowing into the coun office buildings - I think that would be try have put up superfluous office buildings. partly workers’ control and also an exp­ To win permanency goes way beyond any- ression of social responsibility by the thinq else that’s been achieved, and I think workers themselves. 16 AUSTRALIAN LEFT REVIEW DECEMBER 1S73 And take the motor vehicle --1 think the Kelly’s Bush women, nearly all upper that motor vehicles have got to go in the middle class, who went down in front of way in which they’re being produced now; the bulldozer. But then the same militancy they’ve got to be restricted and greater was shown at Eastlakes, which is certainly emphasis placed on public transport. For the other end of the social ladder from that to happen, I think there’s got to be Hunter’s HilL It’s this that the government shock tactics by the workers themselves, hasn’t been able to handle, and I think it the workers have got to take it up, and shows the potentially revolutionary charac­ a section of the workers have to be invol­ ter of eoological action, people in action. ved. And I consider that what the builders’ lab­ ourers have done has only been a tiny step DO YOU THINK THEY HAVE HONESTLY along the road as to how unions have to TAKEN IT UP IN THEIR OWN HEARTS? involve themselves in the future. In the motor vehicle industry, for example, I think the time will come when the thinking work­ When we embarked on the green bans, the ers will have to tadde the whole question leadership was a long way ahead of the mem­ of saying, well, we shouldn’t be making bership -1 think that’s the real position. I see these cars, we should divert our energies that a most essential ingredient is leadership. elsewhere. It will mean that some indust The very fact that we’re defending workers’ ries will have to curtail the number of homes, defending the right of people to live people involved, and by raising their con­ in the city, means that workers could identify. sciousness, with the rest transferring over Even though many of them might be forced out to other industries performing work that to live at Mount Druitt and beyond, they is socially beneficial to the community at could identify with those people who were large.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Recorder 298.Pages
    RECORDER RecorderOfficial newsletter of the Melbourne Labour History Society (ISSN 0155-8722) Issue No. 298—July 2020 • From Sicily to St Lucia (Review), Ken Mansell, pp. 9-10 IN THIS EDITION: • Oil under Troubled Water (Review), by Michael Leach, pp. 10-11 • Extreme and Dangerous (Review), by Phillip Deery, p. 1 • The Yalta Conference (Review), by Laurence W Maher, pp. 11-12 • The Fatal Lure of Politics (Review), Verity Burgmann, p. 2 • The Boys Who Said NO!, p. 12 • Becoming John Curtin and James Scullin (Review), by Nick Dyrenfurth, pp. 3-4 • NIBS Online, p. 12 • Dorothy Day in Australia, p. 4 • Union Education History Project, by Max Ogden, p. 12 • Tribute to Jack Mundey, by Verity Burgmann, pp. 5-6 • Graham Berry, Democratic Adventurer, p. 12 • Vale Jack Mundey, by Brian Smiddy, p. 7 • Tribune Photographs Online, p. 12 • Batman By-Election, 1962, by Carolyn Allan Smart & Lyle Allan, pp. 7-8 • Melbourne Branch Contacts, p. 12 • Without Bosses (Review), by Brendan McGloin, p. 8 Extreme and Dangerous: The Curious Case of Dr Ian Macdonald Phillip Deery His case parallels that of another medical doctor, Paul Reuben James, who was dismissed by the Department of Although there are numerous memoirs of British and Repatriation in 1950 for opposing the Communist Party American communists written by their children, Dissolution Bill. James was attached to the Reserve Australian communists have attracted far fewer Officers of Command and, to the consternation of ASIO, accounts. We have Ric Throssell’s Wild Weeds and would most certainly have been mobilised for active Wildflowers: The Life and Letters of Katherine Susannah military service were World War III to eventuate, as Pritchard, Roger Milliss’ Serpent’s Tooth, Mark Aarons’ many believed.
    [Show full text]
  • A Call for the Revolutionary Regroupment of the Australian Left
    A Call for the Revolutionary Regroupment of the Australian Left http://www.softdawn.net/Archive/MRM/thecall.html September 1975 Melbourne Revolutionary Marxists Introduction (2017) by Robert Dorning and Ken Mansell Momentous changes occurred in Western societies in the 1960s and 70s. A wave of youth radicalisation swept many Western countries. Australia was part of this widespread generational change. The issues were largely common, but varied in importance from country to country. In Australia, the Vietnam War and conscription were major issues. This radicalisation included the demand for major political change, and new political movements and far-left organisations came into being. A notable new development in Australia was the emergence of Trotskyist groupings. However, as the wider movement subsided with Australia's withdrawal from the Vietnam War, the Australian Left became fragmented and more divided than ever. It was in this environment that, in 1975, "A Call for the Revolutionary Regroupment of the Australian Left" was published by the "Melbourne Revolutionary Marxists" (MRM). "The Call" includes a description of the evolution of the new Left movements in Australia including the Trotskyist current to which MRM belonged. MRM was a break-away from the Communist League, an Australian revolutionary socialist organisation adhering to the majority section of the Fourth International. At the Easter 1975 National Conference, virtually the entire Melbourne branch of the CL resigned en masse from the national organisation. The issue was the refusal of the national organisation to accept the application by Robert Dorning (a leading Melbourne member) for full membership on the grounds he held a "bureaucratic collectivist" position on the social nature of the Soviet Union, rather than the orthodox Trotskyist position of "deformed workers' state".
    [Show full text]
  • Issue No. 14, November, 1974
    NU;~BER FOURTEEN NOVEMBER 1974 TEN CENTS No to protectionist, reformist traps! Expropriate Ley/ands! No layoffs; for a sliding s..cale of hours; for occupation of Leylands-Zetland! For a car-industry-wide strike against layoffs! For workers' control of Leylands! Not protectionist tariffs or quotas but international working-class organisation! Nationalise the car industry under workers' control! No compensation! On 10 O'ctober, after seven weeks of secret and again in August) was inaction at best -- with negotiations with the Labor government, Leyland strong evidence of VBEF officials' complicity. Australia announced that it will shut down com­ Reacting to pressure from the ranks, NSW VBEF pletely its car manufacturing plant at Zetland in Secretary Joe Thompson called a stopwork meeting Sydney. Leyland's new managing director, David at Leylands on 9 October and put a'motion calling Abell. estimated that the closure will eliminate for nationalisation, increased import quotas, a "significantly more than 3000" Leylands jobs by ban on work transfer from Zetland to Leyland's Christmas. The almost total end to Australian Enfield plant, and opposition to all retrench­ car production by Leyland is likely to cost an ments. One shop steward warned that "it will additional 7000 jobs in the car industry due to take the police to drag us out of here". But retrenchments by the 400-odd companies that while Thompson is willing to put an occasional supply Leylands. Workers sacked at Leylands ]01n militant-sounding resolution, the VBEF bureau­ an army of unemployed now growing at a rate of crats have avoided at all costs any mobilisation 1000 a day, who face an annual inflation rate of workers for a real fight against the layoffs.
    [Show full text]
  • August 5, 1976 / 3W *
    August 5, 1976 / 3W * PEACE AND FREEDOM THRUI NONVIOLENT ACT¡ON Seeking a Human Perspective on Housing How the'Vietnam War lsn't Over for Somã People Bird-Brained Schemes in the Pentagon Are Alternative lnstitutions the Way to Social Change? August Ir The 31st Anniversary of Hiroshima; For observances, see Events, page 17 1. \ ¡.ç "dltfiþ't'* *---lr^ ,qsl{r^-.{¡se***, å{-!¡t- ,l I am convinced that his present she cites show that he is not a pacifist, .¡ detention by the Lee Kuan Yew govern- perhdps) but they say nothing about the ment is for punitive reasons and NAEP. fgpPression of politicians who oppose 2) The WA\{-WSO is fïlled with hrs government. people who were in defense work. Just I appeal to all peace loving people all because a person once did defense work over the world to-once again help does not mean that hej or she only.does achieve the release not õnly ofmy evil thingb. husband Dr. Poh Soo Kai, but aliother 3) Iknow very little about the BECOMING REAI political prisoners such as Dr. Lim Hock world, but I doubt business that sub- are two ways, in thè stories at least. Siew, Said Zahari, Ho Piow and manv sidiaries of large corporations have their There others who have been in prison for m'ore first is like Pinocchio, and l've done it, projects.dictated to them by their þarent The than 13 years. I demand the PAP companies, or that the parent Through good works, and self-denial, and an enterpr¡s¡ng governrñent allow my husband to to companies have total access to the Conscience, and the only reward ' August 5,1976 l,Yol, Xll, No.
    [Show full text]
  • Full Thesis Draft No Pics
    A whole new world: Global revolution and Australian social movements in the long Sixties Jon Piccini BA Honours (1st Class) A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Queensland in 2013 School of History, Philosophy, Religion & Classics Abstract This thesis explores Australian social movements during the long Sixties through a transnational prism, identifying how the flow of people and ideas across borders was central to the growth and development of diverse campaigns for political change. By making use of a variety of sources—from archives and government reports to newspapers, interviews and memoirs—it identifies a broadening of the radical imagination within movements seeking rights for Indigenous Australians, the lifting of censorship, women’s liberation, the ending of the war in Vietnam and many others. It locates early global influences, such as the Chinese Revolution and increasing consciousness of anti-racist struggles in South Africa and the American South, and the ways in which ideas from these and other overseas sources became central to the practice of Australian social movements. This was a process aided by activists’ travel. Accordingly, this study analyses the diverse motives and experiences of Australian activists who visited revolutionary hotspots from China and Vietnam to Czechoslovakia, Algeria, France and the United States: to protest, to experience or to bring back lessons. While these overseas exploits, breathlessly recounted in articles, interviews and books, were transformative for some, they also exposed the limits of what a transnational politics could achieve in a local setting. Australia also became a destination for the period’s radical activists, provoking equally divisive responses.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian Left Review No. 108 1988
    1990s FEMIN. STUART HALL ON THE NINETIES LAURIE CARMICHAEL INTERVIEW XMAS READING: FICTION FROM MOYA SAYER-JONE5 BARBIE DOLLSi JH REVIEW1 PETER CAREY CRISIS ^CITIES £ IS i JacK Mundey on the Urban Blight INTERNATIONAL B O O K S H O F* MARXISM GAY LIBERATION ENVIRONMENT - I FEMINISM POLITICS THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKSHOP CARRIES AUSTRALIA'S LARGEST RANGE OF BOOKS ON POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES. BOOK EDUCATION NEWS..A QUARTERLY LIST OF ECONOMICS N EW BOOKS IS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST. MAIL ORDER SERVICE PROVIDED, ALSO SECOND HAND LEFT BOOKS, JOURNALS, ETC. HISTORY Jr RECORDS MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY ******* 2ND FLOOR 17 ELIZABETH STREET MELBOURNE 3000 » TELEPHONE 03 614 2859 AUSTRALIA ifT K F Itt LU W '* ' N T E N n c r v w KEVIE UNIVE* BRIEFINGS 5 ^ r » « u K i 2 B 108 1988: THE YEAR IN REVIEW The year ministerial Incomes took a dive in Qld, o racism came back into vogue, Bill Hayden exchanged tourist map for top hat, political debate hit new lows in Editorial >^oilective: the USA, and Aboriginal people found nothing much changed. ALR surveys the year that was, Sydney: Eric Aarons, Hilda Andrews, Malcolm Andrews, Letter From Ephesus: Quayie Soup David Burchcll, SteveCatt, Lyndell Is it true that Mickey Mouse wears a Dan Quayie Fairleigh, Gloria Garton, Jane watch? inglts. Carfolta McIntosh, Peter McNiecc, Karen Vanec, Profile: Peter Carey Melbourne: Lousie Connor, Jim Crosthwaite, James Gray. Sue FFATURES El McCrcadie, Pavia Miller. Anitra Nelson, Ken Norling, Olga Silver, A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE 8 Janna Thompson. From the early Seventies to the eve of the Nineties, Brisbane: Nicola Doumany.
    [Show full text]
  • Whitlam's Children? Labor and the Greens in Australia (2007-2013
    Whitlam’s Children? Labor and the Greens in Australia (2007-2013) Shaun Crowe A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the Australian National University March 2017 © Shaun Crowe, 2017 1 The work presented in this dissertation is original, to the best of my knowledge and belief, except as acknowledged in the text. The material has not been submitted, in whole or in part, for a degree at The Australian National University or any other university. This research is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship. 2 Acknowledgments Before starting, I was told that completing a doctoral thesis was rewarding and brutal. Having now written one, these both seem equally true. Like all PhD students, I never would have reached this point without the presence, affirmation and help of the people around me. The first thanks go to Professor John Uhr. Four and half years on, I’m so lucky to have stumbled into your mentorship. With such a busy job, I don’t know how you find the space to be so generous, both intellectually and with your time. Your prompt, at times cryptic, though always insightful feedback helped at every stage of the process. Even more useful were the long and digressive conversations in your office, covering the world between politics and philosophy. I hope they continue. The second round of thanks go to the people who aided me at different points. Thanks to Guy Ragen, Dr Jen Rayner and Alice Workman for helping me source interviews. Thanks to Emily Millane, Will Atkinson, Dr Lizzy Watt, and Paul Karp for editing chapters.
    [Show full text]
  • Rebel Cities: from the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution
    REBEL CITIES REBEL CITIES From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution David Harvey VERSO London • New York First published by Verso 20 12 © David Harvey All rights reserved 'Ihe moral rights of the author have been asserted 13579108642 Verso UK: 6 Meard Street, London WI F OEG US: 20 Jay Street, Suite 1010, Brooklyn, NY 1120 I www.versobooks.com Verso is the imprint of New Left Books eiSBN-13: 978-1-84467-904-1 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Harvey, David, 1935- Rebel cities : from the right to the city to the urban revolution I David Harvey. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-84467-882-2 (alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-84467-904-1 I. Anti-globalization movement--Case studies. 2. Social justice--Case studies. 3. Capitalism--Case studies. I. Title. HN17.5.H355 2012 303.3'72--dc23 2011047924 Typeset in Minion by MJ Gavan, Cornwall Printed in the US by Maple Vail For Delfina and all other graduating students everywhere Contents Preface: Henri Lefebvre's Vision ix Section 1: The Right to the City The Right to the City 3 2 The Urban Roots of Capitalist Crises 27 3 The Creation of the Urban Commons 67 4 The Art of Rent 89 Section II: Rebel Cities 5 Reclaiming the City for Anti-Capitalist Struggle 115 6 London 201 1: Feral Capitalism Hits the Streets 155 7 #OWS: The Party of Wall Street Meets Its Nemesis 159 Acknowledgments 165 Notes 167 Index 181 PREFACE Henri Lefebvre's Vision ometime in the mid 1970s in Paris I came across a poster put out by S the Ecologistes, a radical neighborhood action movement dedicated to creating a more ecologically sensitive mode of city living, depicting an alternative vision for the city.
    [Show full text]
  • Derridean Deconstruction and Feminism
    DERRIDEAN DECONSTRUCTION AND FEMINISM: Exploring Aporias in Feminist Theory and Practice Pam Papadelos Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Discipline of Gender, Work and Social Inquiry Adelaide University December 2006 Contents ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................III DECLARATION .....................................................................................................IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................V INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 THESIS STRUCTURE AND OVERVIEW......................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 1: LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS – FEMINISM AND DECONSTRUCTION ............................................................................................... 8 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 8 FEMINIST CRITIQUES OF PHILOSOPHY..................................................................... 10 Is Philosophy Inherently Masculine? ................................................................ 11 The Discipline of Philosophy Does Not Acknowledge Feminist Theories......... 13 The Concept of a Feminist Philosopher is Contradictory Given the Basic Premises of Philosophy.....................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • THE CULTURAL REINVENTION of PLANNING by Gregory
    THE CULTURAL REINVENTION OF PLANNING by Gregory Young MA (Syd), Dip Urb Studs (Macq), MPHA, MPIA A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of the Built Environment University of New South Wales THE CULTURAL REINVENTION OF PLANNING Abstract THE CULTURAL REINVENTION OF PLANNING Culture is expanding and has greater weight and explanatory potential in our culturalised age. Following the earlier literature of the ‘cultural turn’, culture is now perceived as ubiquitous in society, the economy, and theory, and with the capacity to intervene on itself. Further, it may be seen to characterise both the nature and the progressive potential of a range of contemporary social and intellectual technologies such as planning, education, health, and organisational development. While this general process of ‘culturalisation’ proceeds apace, the capacity of culture to act as an organising idea and category for sectors such as planning is still largely underdeveloped, most particularly in planning itself. A new Culturised Model for planning that is reflexive and ethical is proposed. Differentiated from the trend to culturalisation and its association with commodification, ‘culturisation’ has true sustainable and transformational potential. The thesis consists of three main parts – each of three chapters - with a substantial scene- setting Introduction and a Conclusion. Part One examines culture and planning, Part Two develops a new Culturised Model for planning, and Part Three illustrates the Model. In Part One the grounds of culturisation are prepared by: 1) describing our culturalised age; 2) developing a new positionality for planning; 3) presenting a critical analysis of neomodern and postmodern planning theory; and 4) outlining an original history of culture and planning in the 20 th and 21 st centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • Submission on the Fair Work Bill by Chris White Labour Law Researcher
    Committee Secretary Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Committee Parliament House CANBERRA Submission on the Fair Work Bill by Chris White Labour Law Researcher Summary My submission argues: 1. The changed circumstances of the global capitalist financial crisis (GFC) means the Fair Work Bill (FWB) requires substantial amendments by the Parliament to better defend the economic, social and occupational interests of workers during a recession. 2. The FWB shortfalls for the protection and advancement of workers’ rights with devils in the details are significant. While welcoming the genuine reforms, this is new ‘1984 doublespeak spin’ that ‘WorkChoices is dead’ and the FWB establishes ‘fair rights for workers’ and a ‘fair balance for all’. 3. The fair collective bargaining system has not been achieved as the FWB deliberately retains the repressive regime against industrial action. The Deputy Prime Minister DPM’s ‘clear rules for the right to strike’ are but a cut and paste from WorkChoices. They bring shame on an ALP government. The failure to provide for the right to strike to enable workers to respond to the environmental crisis is but one example. 4. Is this fairness we can believe in? This Parliament can respond to the twin challenges of the GFC and the environmental crisis by recognising the legitimacy of the unions’ Your Rights at Work’ voice in the democratic elections by not selling out the justifiable political demands for workers’ rights. I write from a union perspective. These are my own views. One. The disastrous impact on workers in this global capitalist financial crisis requires changes to better protect workers’ rights.
    [Show full text]
  • Howthe Right Union Activism
    luly7,1977l30d PEACE A FREEDOM THRU NONVIOLENT ACT'ON Howthe Right Watches the left Union Activism: The Green Bans Changes Prison Notes e I I I i ? why people protesting nuclear powergot ¡nuch a subject for day-to-day discus- t' so worked up about things like vege- òion. It was the fortnight-loirg occupa- tarian food, shoes, or segregation by tion ofthe armories that made this hap- sex. Such secondary issues simply rein- pen; a premature release would have- LETTERS forced (as Marty Jezer pointed out) the circumvented it. stereotypes held bv many Americans of It may be ourfaultthatthere is very the occüäiers as spoiled iriddle-class little awareness oftotal nonviolent non- hippies ùho were^out for a good time. cooperation as a pressure tactic-but the The camp¡ign at Seabrook may well pre- physical or non-physical, in achieving fronting us. He does not mention that They did nothing to extend the positive confusion in the armories over this issue vent the construction of a nuclear plant ãny intermediate end. This is not pos' many in the movement are concerned outreach effects ofthe occupation and of is multiplied many times by the confu- at thntsite; but at what cost? The tactic sible. All of Gandhi's campaigns were with conversion; an effort notjust to stop many groups' work over mâny years in sion outside. By hassling over petty plairned-that of occupying every bit of carefully built upon this principle. As and reverse the arms tace, but to solve buildiñg public consciousness on the issues, we perpetuate our isolation from landlo that construction is impossible- lóng as we seek to resolve conflict by many of the problems it either causes or nuclear oowef issue.
    [Show full text]