The Week In Review - The CFMEU Forestry Division or Howard, Who's The Bigger Bastard?

No red blooded ALP supporter will ever forget the images of Tasmanian timber workers slapping John Howard on the back in the last weeks of the 2004 election campaign. I stand by my belief that morally, the ALP's forestry policy was the right one. Politically, it was introduced the wrong way, too late in the election campaign, and was poorly explained to the people it was going to effect most. The intention of the policy was to ensure people who were working in an unsustainable industry would move to sustainable, safe jobs, rather than to prop up a dinosaur, as is so often the approach of governments.

That's why this story made me very very sick, and very very angry indeed.

It's a supreme irony that Howard can play unions like this, given that he's about to rip the seat out of their pants. It's also a good reminder of the reasons that unions should remember that representing workers should not come at the expense of others. I should add that I have many friends in the CFMEU who are and were as outraged about the deal as I were. I've also worked alongside the CFMEU to preserve historic buildings via Green Bans (another right of unions that could soon be lost). So this is not to tar an entire union with the same brush - I imagine plenty of Howard Government ministers and Liberal supporters are quietly seething about many decisions made in their name, too. It's just a reminder - valuable for all aspects of life: Keep Your Head About You Or Dumb Decisions Will Be Made.

(What say they put that above every ballot box in Australia?)