Hoorah!

The Federal Australian Education Union read my post on On Line Opinion and then looked at the Bad Apple Bullies website a couple of hours ago.

Maybe now I will get some union support.

Or maybe I will be threatened.

What are the odds?

QLDPCS I am a proud union official And proud my union never acted like that , did you read my post?.
It is true you know, And my side won the battle.
And DWTM congrats, do you know you are not the only one?
In my mind hundreds of people have been let down by SOME in the union movement.
That is why I said constant improvement is needed.
And I know my members do not want us to change.

"The boss-bastards are in the unions, don't you get it? The unions protect the boss-bastards."

This insight is spot on. The more I look at things, the more I realise that unionism, like capitalism and the hierarchical system in general is like a giant pyramid scheme: the earlier you set up the system, the higher you are up the pyramid and the more power, privilege, influence etc accrues to you. Of course, the lower down the tree you are, the less you get. Simple as that.

From the point of view of the ordinary person, the only way to beat the "boss-bastards" is if the whole top-down paradigm changes. And the only way to do that is through the power of people demanding a change in the whole structure.

RobP

"From the point of view of the ordinary person, the only way to beat the "boss-bastards" is if the whole top-down paradigm changes. And the only way to do that is through the power of people demanding a change in the whole structure."

To what? One of the most frustrating things about this country is that there are so many people who are willing to complain about the problem without tossing up any suggestions as to how to fix that problem.

So what's your solution? Are you seriously advoacting a system where there are no cheifs and only indians?

BN,

In the case of the health system, for example, the idea of nurse practitioners has potential. As well as taking the power out of the hands of the select few, ie doctors, the skills of a wider range of people (ie nurses) can be brought to bear, both to spread the work load and to deploy a wider range of skills (and bodies) to counter the diversity of problems in the health system.

You say, to what system should we move. I think a lot of people would be happy with anything that takes the pressure off them. If a system change is not possible in a given industry, then they would be happy with a system that brings more resources, opportunities through training etc to a problem so that things are not done in a half-baked manner as is so often the case.

These ideas have been said before, I know. Anyway, what's your solution?

RobP,

In a general sense, the current system suits me right down to the ground, but I realise that i'm in the minority in that context.

I think we need an evolution from the current system (as a whole). We need to recognise that we live in a global community and we need to recognise (rather than hide) from the impacts/challenges that brings. This is somehting that we are not doing.

And unions who behave as if we are still living 30 years ago are not going to help us as a country in this. To help us as a country, they either need to evolve or get out of the way. If they don't do either, then they will be even more the bay guy than they are now

I'm an advocate of wholesale change. You mention the health system - long before we talk about nurse practitioners taking on casework, let's talk about the prohibitive recruitment and training practices that go on in medicine. Doctors taking 7+years of study, internships and then potentially more time for specialisation and then getting paid a pittance... Nurse Practitioners take 10+ years to get fully qualified... It's no wonder we have a human resources catastrophe in health!

Scrap the system and start again, and build it based on the world now. That's a place to start.