This is breaking news. It's been happening all day, and it's still happening now.
The CFMEU is technically a union. I think the letters officially stand for "Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union", but they change all the time, so I could be out of date...
It's one of the largest so-called Unions in Australia. However, functionally, they're more like a mob; a bikie gang. They purport to be left wing, in the style of the "old left", but really, their only interest is self-preservation, and self-interest. They're as close to quite literally fascist as a modern union could be. John Setka himself, the head of the union, who sparked today's protests by being a complete piece of shit (in league with the Labor Party, of course), is a Croat. If he lived in a different time, he would have been an Ustase member or sympathiser. Guy is completely, transparently corrupt, and incredibly dodgy.
So, this "union" is one of the biggest "official" parts of the Labor party (never mind that unofficially, that would probably the CCP, lol). They're thoroughly "old school working class", purely because those industries are more or less the only true "working class" ones we have left. They have a great deal of power, in the ALP (Labor), but outside of it, they're largely seen as a bit of a joke, including by me.
Now we get to the last few weeks, where Setka, and the rest of the leadership of this "working class union", have proved themselves to be far more "Labor stooges", than anything or anyone actually representative of their constituents and members. Last week, the Vic ALP banned construction workers from using their tea rooms (break rooms), so members decided to form ad hoc "tea rooms" in the middle of the city streets, to protest. It was a brilliant move, and that set the scene for Saturday, when many of those same blokes (mostly) turned up for those massive protests you saw in Richmond and Hawthorn, just outside the CBD.
Fast forward to today, and the CFMEU members anger has finally exploded. They've been outside the HQ, in the Melbourne CBD, all day, and shit has gradually been ramping up and ramping up. Setka came out the front of the building and made a speech this morning, which uhh, simply made the crowd angrier, and they fucking exploded after that. Throwing bottles, smashing windows, smashing up cars - the lot.
I'll do a part 2, shortly. Just need a break, but wanted to get that explanation out there.
Correction: Setka DIDN'T address the crowd. Instead he went on 3AW, "conservative" talkback radio, and made a "speech" there, like the criminal coward that he is.
So it's even worse than I thought. Man is too scared to even address his own "members", yet will go on talkback and preach about "peace" and "following da rulez" for members' own "health" (read: his own political self-interest).
Thanks for the run down. It's pretty crazy to think that a group of such people would be left-wing. It's almost the exact opposite of how it is here.
Although there certainly are plenty of unions on the left, a large portion of people who do this type of work are pretty firmly on the right.
It would appear, that times have changed there as well. You really never know what's boiling below the surface of people when they begin to feel oppressed. Make no mistake either, the Government may be hiding it behind a thin layer of virtue but these people are most certainly being oppressed across all of Victoria right now.
We're slowly inching toward the same here in the states as well — along with several other Western countries.
Yeah dude, they claim to be "left wing", but... As we were discussing elsewhere the other day, the modern "left" doesn't really stand for anything, anymore.
But these aren't "those" sort of lefties. They're not fighting for pronouns, or gender quotas, or tranny rights. No, these are the "wake their enemies up in the middle of the night, take them outside and shoot them" type lefties. They're a hireable mob. Quite literally thugs, hence the kicking of the dog...
And look, I ain't disparaging "the union movement" as a whole, in this country. They've done a lot of good. More good than bad, I would say. But the CFMEU, in its current form, is irretrievably fucked, and this just proves it.
I will say that the Union movement here is quite different to how it is PERCEIVED, at least, in the States. The situations are not the same. But you know all those stereotypes about unions in the US, and how they're largely useless and self-interested? I can't confirm or deny the veracity of that, for your country, but... If there is an Australian equivalent, in Current Year, it's probably this mob... :-/ They're real fucking bad. And I'm glad that at least SOME of their members seem to have finally (!!) woken up to that fact.
On my last sentence: pity it took until now, though, or perhaps we would not be in this situation, by now, at least in the Labor states...
I guess that is, partially at least, an example of cowardice: these people didn't stand up until the authoritarian state threatened their own self-interests. Not that I'm not pleased that they ARE finally standing up, and "on my side", but it is rather telling that it took until this point, for it to happen...
Niemoller is absolutely always relevant, in cases like this.
This is breaking news. It's been happening all day, and it's still happening now.
The CFMEU is technically a union. I think the letters officially stand for "Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union", but they change all the time, so I could be out of date...
It's one of the largest so-called Unions in Australia. However, functionally, they're more like a mob; a bikie gang. They purport to be left wing, in the style of the "old left", but really, their only interest is self-preservation, and self-interest. They're as close to quite literally fascist as a modern union could be. John Setka himself, the head of the union, who sparked today's protests by being a complete piece of shit (in league with the Labor Party, of course), is a Croat. If he lived in a different time, he would have been an Ustase member or sympathiser. Guy is completely, transparently corrupt, and incredibly dodgy.
So, this "union" is one of the biggest "official" parts of the Labor party (never mind that unofficially, that would probably the CCP, lol). They're thoroughly "old school working class", purely because those industries are more or less the only true "working class" ones we have left. They have a great deal of power, in the ALP (Labor), but outside of it, they're largely seen as a bit of a joke, including by me.
Now we get to the last few weeks, where Setka, and the rest of the leadership of this "working class union", have proved themselves to be far more "Labor stooges", than anything or anyone actually representative of their constituents and members. Last week, the Vic ALP banned construction workers from using their tea rooms (break rooms), so members decided to form ad hoc "tea rooms" in the middle of the city streets, to protest. It was a brilliant move, and that set the scene for Saturday, when many of those same blokes (mostly) turned up for those massive protests you saw in Richmond and Hawthorn, just outside the CBD.
Fast forward to today, and the CFMEU members anger has finally exploded. They've been outside the HQ, in the Melbourne CBD, all day, and shit has gradually been ramping up and ramping up. Setka came out the front of the building and made a speech this morning, which uhh, simply made the crowd angrier, and they fucking exploded after that. Throwing bottles, smashing windows, smashing up cars - the lot.
I'll do a part 2, shortly. Just need a break, but wanted to get that explanation out there.
Correction: Setka DIDN'T address the crowd. Instead he went on 3AW, "conservative" talkback radio, and made a "speech" there, like the criminal coward that he is.
So it's even worse than I thought. Man is too scared to even address his own "members", yet will go on talkback and preach about "peace" and "following da rulez" for members' own "health" (read: his own political self-interest).
Thanks for the run down. It's pretty crazy to think that a group of such people would be left-wing. It's almost the exact opposite of how it is here.
Although there certainly are plenty of unions on the left, a large portion of people who do this type of work are pretty firmly on the right.
It would appear, that times have changed there as well. You really never know what's boiling below the surface of people when they begin to feel oppressed. Make no mistake either, the Government may be hiding it behind a thin layer of virtue but these people are most certainly being oppressed across all of Victoria right now.
We're slowly inching toward the same here in the states as well — along with several other Western countries.
Yeah dude, they claim to be "left wing", but... As we were discussing elsewhere the other day, the modern "left" doesn't really stand for anything, anymore.
But these aren't "those" sort of lefties. They're not fighting for pronouns, or gender quotas, or tranny rights. No, these are the "wake their enemies up in the middle of the night, take them outside and shoot them" type lefties. They're a hireable mob. Quite literally thugs, hence the kicking of the dog...
And look, I ain't disparaging "the union movement" as a whole, in this country. They've done a lot of good. More good than bad, I would say. But the CFMEU, in its current form, is irretrievably fucked, and this just proves it.
I will say that the Union movement here is quite different to how it is PERCEIVED, at least, in the States. The situations are not the same. But you know all those stereotypes about unions in the US, and how they're largely useless and self-interested? I can't confirm or deny the veracity of that, for your country, but... If there is an Australian equivalent, in Current Year, it's probably this mob... :-/ They're real fucking bad. And I'm glad that at least SOME of their members seem to have finally (!!) woken up to that fact.
On my last sentence: pity it took until now, though, or perhaps we would not be in this situation, by now, at least in the Labor states...
I guess that is, partially at least, an example of cowardice: these people didn't stand up until the authoritarian state threatened their own self-interests. Not that I'm not pleased that they ARE finally standing up, and "on my side", but it is rather telling that it took until this point, for it to happen...
Niemoller is absolutely always relevant, in cases like this.