Paul,

I'm trying to work out whether the idiocy displayed in you post is feigned or real.

Q1 Was the claim to have met union officials mine or some one else's
Hint: the section was bracketed by quotation marks and preceded by "To quote Grace Collier:"

No I have never been nor ever will pay dues to the parasites called unions, and while you desperately try and divert the topic to international businesses I would prefer you focus on the criminals representing less than 1/5th of workers.

Shadow, who is this nondescript Grace Collier chick you make reference too? Other than being some kind of right wing totey, or is that tottie, I'm not sure which. Her only claim to fame is some disparaging remarks about Julia Gillard's cleavage, boring! If you are going to make reference to nobody's, please explain who these nobody's are, and that these nobody's are not you!

Fascinating ! So the unions have their useful idiots as well, Paul, Doog, mikk ?

I first joined a union in 1962, and was in one or another for about twelve years. All utterly useless: when I worked at Arnott's, the union bloke had (I think) TB but was allowed to continue working, he was always in the manager's office, just chatting. At another bakery in Melbourne, the union bloke was solidly behind the push to raise weight limits. Little turd. We nearly put him through the oven.

At a meatworks where I worked later, the union was pretty quiet until the Rugby was on - then we got health inspections.

Later, I worked at another bakery where the management tried to super-exploit the women, but once a complaint went to the union bloke at Trade Hall, a great bloke appropriately named Fry, the management had to back down and reimburse the women. The men did nothing either way, at the outset, or at the conclusion. So much for workers' solidarity.

Later, when I worked at a university, I found the union also utterly useless, in the pocket of one particular faction. They did absolutely nothing for me, and many years later they did nothing for my wife either. The NTEU. Total b@stards.

So ask me if I were still of employable age, would I like to join a union :)

Joe
www.firstsources.info

Joe,

"They (The Union) did absolutely nothing for me" thanks for your little bit of anecdotal nonsense. My 40 years experience of unions and being involved with the AMWSU for many years is just the opposite to yours. At the baking place where you most likely satback and did nothing as it sounds, were you still working for four pence a day, six days a week, 52 weeks a year, in your loincloth, begging bowl in hand? Or were you enjoying the multitude of benefits others workers had fought for and gained for you through unionism and worker solidarity.
In my years of experience most of the objections to the union were not philosophical but came down to blokes not wanting to part with the dues, there was the occasional right wing nutter who objected, but they mostly came from Eastern Europe and were still fighting comrade Stalin and WWII.

I recall one bloke who was vehemently anti union, until he relised he had been paid under the wrong classification and therefore was owed a substantial amount of back pay, quickly turned from a bosses lackey to a raving red, strange how self interest works, got his back pay, and of course went from a raving red to a bosses lackey. Thought I would throw that little bit of anecdotal nonsense in for you Joe, like yours its neither here nor there.

Fascinating ! So the bosses have their useful idiots as well, Loudmouth, Shadow Minister?

Hi Paul,

Coming from a strong Union family, all I wanted was a union whose on-site reps were not bosses' lackeys. I'm sure many people have had the same experience.

My grandfather was involved - on the workers' side - in the 1890s shearers' strike in Queensland. My mum was an organiser for the railways' union before and during the War. She knew people like Lance Sharkey and Jim Healy well. Make what you will of that.

But those were the days .....

Joe

Hi SM,

I'm a bit pressed for time this morning, but I just had to enquire as to whether you saw your hero Michael Lawler on Four Corners last night?

Do you reckon his delusion and paranoia was feigned or real?

Kathy just seemed to be there effect, but it was Lawler who came across as, shall we say, a little "off centre".

(since there is a union connection with these two, I don't suppose you mind me putting this here?)