ACTU Congress: Bill Kelty speech

Extract [from Ged Kearney Blog]

We have confronted a serious issue caused by the behaviour of a few people in one branch of the Health Services Union. The ACTU has acted to suspend the union, and supports greater transparency around union accounts and the toughest possible approach to union officials caught misusing members’ money.

I say this because I know that the vast majority of union officials are good people who do their jobs because they believe in unions, not for personal gain. I also believe we must hold ourselves to a high standard, because of the vulnerable workers who out their trust in us.

In the long-term unions will continue to advocate a broader agenda that advances the interests of working people, and challenges the economic rationalism that dominates political debate.

I know many Australians don’t believe the orthodoxy that measures the success of our economy by the size of company profits.

They don’t believe global mining companies should be writing our tax laws for us. They think that tax reform shouldn’t consist solely of cutting the top rates of income tax or company tax, but be should be about making the system fairer and easier for low-income earners.

They understand that low productivity cannot always be blamed on workers and unions, and that we have to look at investment in infrastructure and training to keep Australia competitive.

These Australians believe that the money we spend on public education is an investment, not a cost, and that a strong public health system is part of a decent society.

The voice of workers is too rarely heard in this debate. That is why unions must advocate for an economic alternative and a broader social agenda based on equal opportunity for all, and genuine compassion for the vulnerable.

The ACTU has already begun campaigning for better treatment of the millions of Australians trapped in low-paid insecure work, without sick leave, carers leave or any certainty about their working hours.

Earlier this year when I saw thousands of nurses marching through the Melbourne CBD for fair pay and proper staffing of hospitals, with passers-by clapping and cheering, I was reminded of why unions were still important.

In the end there are still some campaigns that can’t be won just by clicking ‘Like” on Facebook, or watching a YouTube video.

They need real people working together, and a union movement that connects millions of people is still needed to fight for justice and positive change.

Union is not just a word. It is not separable, not separate from the spirit of this country. For Australian unions have been part of it, and the country was made by unionism. The very spirit of the place, what you feel about it, has unionism as part of it.