Depending on how you’ve interpreted my writings over the past couple of decades (readers appear to think I am either an Aboriginal-loving communist or a neo-con racist) the following statement will be either a complete shock or no surprise at all.
I believe in trade unions.
I believe that were it not for organised labour the average salary in this country would be half what it is and for that we’d be working 60-hour weeks with bugger-all holidays and even less sick leave.
I think that anyone who reckons the free market can be trusted to determine wages and conditions should have a look at how workers in the child care and aged care sectors are faring.
The laws of supply and demand suggest they should be some of Australia’s best-paid, yet they are two of the most impoverished professions in the country (just in front of journalism).
After reporting on business and economics for the best part of 25 years I have come to believe the only thing Adam Smith’s invisible hand can be trusted to do is transfer money from poor people to the rich.
Trade unions have taken the edge off that harsh economic reality and put a few bob in the pockets of people with no bargaining power.
I also believe that different workplaces require different union tactics.
One of my good mates at the newspaper is a business reporter named Neale Prior, who for as long as I can remember has been an official with the journos’ union — the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance.
Neale’s a very good union rep and I would welcome him to my corner should I have an industrial dispute at work (the closest I have come is when the beer fridge was taken away).
However, if I had a job with real safety concerns then I’m not sure Neale would be the right horse for the course. I would probably look to someone like CFMEU organiser Edmond “Monty” Margjini.
![One of my good mates at the newspaper is a business reporter named Neale Prior, who for as long as I can remember has been an official with the journos’ union — the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance.](https://timesofsydney.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ff5214d2320b5262329cccd9b310d57100c47b64.jpg)
Monty is a former Albanian cage-fighter who, whilst not a bikie himself, knows a lot of gang members and (according to a police prosecutor) occasionally acted as a standover man for them.
If I look in the stationery cupboard at work and see there are no blue pens then a considered finance journalist is the right person to raise the workplace grievance.
But if I was a rigger on a high-rise building site and I see there are no safety harnesses then, I’m sorry, I want an Albanian cage-fighter pushing the case.
I ain’t gonna die if I have to use a black Bic.
![I would probably look to someone like CFMEU organiser Edmond “Monty” Margjini.](https://timesofsydney.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/b8fdf84ab05b6963ed32f1277807df00e69e663e.jpg)
Why bikies make good unionists
For more than a week now we’ve been told that bikies have infiltrated the CFMEU.
This is wrong.
Infiltration implies outlaw gang members covertly enmeshed themselves without union officials knowing about it; the reality is these guys were welcomed with open arms.
Why wouldn’t you want the underworld in your corner when you’re renegotiating an enterprise agreement?
Show me an HR manager who’s sweating when they turn the ignition key and I’ll show you someone willing to a down-tools clause should it get hotter than 33C.
It’s a neat fit because there are a lot of similarities between a well-run outlaw motorcycle gang and a militant blue-collar union.
Being staunch is a coveted character trait by unionists and bikies alike.
They both have to pay their dues once they sign up and they are both expected to attend all-in events (bikies call this “church” and unions call them “stop-work meetings”).
Unions and bikie gangs both love a show of force and don’t like ladies to be part of the gang (a CFMEU rally is just as much of a sausage-fest as a bikie clubhouse).
They both like to get their punch on and are contemptuous of the justice system.
Most obviously, unions and bikies often employ similar negotiation tactics (remember that scene from the movie Casino where Joe Pesci had the guy’s head in a vice?).
It’s been suggested over the past week that the CFMEU is regretting letting bikies sign up.
Again, this is incorrect.
Suspended from the Labor Party? Boohoo, that just means a lot of money retained in CFMEU bank accounts instead of going to pay for ALP political campaigns.
Anthony Albanese, who has been clutching his pearls at the thought there might be corruption in union ranks, had the audacity to act shocked at the past week’s revelations.
Give me a break, Albo, the underworld’s had a construction ticket since the days of the Builders Labourers Federation!
Mick Gatto openly describes himself as a building industry mediator, for God’s sake.
So does Tom Domican, and Tom makes Mick look like Ned Flanders.
Tough Tommy, as Domican is known, was part of Australia’s most infamous jailhouse fight, going bare knuckles for a full 10 minutes with hulking convicted murderer Neddy Smith in what became known as the “Battle of Long Bay”.
Domican was charged twice with the murder of Sydney underworld figure Christopher Dale Flannery, who earned the nickname Mr Rentakill through his work as a professional hitman.
Guess what Tough Tommy did after he beat those murder raps?
Became a political numbers man.
Guess which party?
The ALP.
And Albo is acting shocked. Spare me.