this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2024
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When unlawful power is called out and given a good smacking? Always entertaining to watch from a safe distance. Unions are not per se bad, but when the power inherent in them is abused it's good to know that there are some ways to rein them in. You may be too young to remember the whole Painters & Dockers Union stuff, but they did things like murder people. As well as run-of-the-mill corruption and stuff. No-one was surprised when that union was forcibly de-registered - except maybe the members of the union. Seems like the CFMEU have forgotten that lesson.
My biggest concern about this whole saga is how long it's taken to get to this point. I worked on CFMEU sites for a decade or so (non union role) and thought it was bad then. Like absolutely transparent corruption and no one seemed to care.
Also disappointing that unions are meant to protect workers against shit conditions and bad management. Now they're becoming the monster they were suppose to slay.
The cultist mentality is pretty messed up too. Glad it's being taken care of, but I don't trust either gov party to act as administrators.
Yeah, the whole power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely thing. Unfortunately inevitable, unless there is robust pushback from the rank & file. Same thing happens with political parties. The point of short electoral cycles is that the bad apples can be booted out before they've done much damage. Variable election dates also help with the booting process. What gets really nasty is a fixed election cycle like in the USA - where the last 2 years of an election cycle is spent getting re-elected instead of actually accomplishing anything. The appointment of a 'king' with no pre-specified end date for power works quite well if the 'king' is sensible, but if a bad apple gets power ....
Pushback from union members would be something, but unfortunately there was very visible intimidation from Setka's supporters. The more I look at our Federal 3 year terms the more I appreciate it. Also having 8-10 weeks for an election is perfect.
To be fair there are plenty of non-evil unions. I've found the Australian Services Union pretty good.
Yeah for real. The CFMEU is just the most prolific and loud. I'm with CPSU and they're kind of a toothless dog, but do help out when needed.
I found CPSU to be entirely useless when needed, Sadly.
I've heard they can be shit. So far they've been okay mostly for us. Hopefully I won't have to lean on them for anything.