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Editorial - The Language of the Rail Shutdown
The Language of the Rail Shut Down
The views expressed below are those of the Editor, and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the NSW Branch of the RTBU.
On Monday 21st February, with the newly minted Minister for Employee Relations, Damien Tudehope leading the charge, he and Transport Minister David Elliott used a range of inflammatory language to describe the shut down of the rail system. They said in various media engagements that it amounted to ‘industrial bastardry’, that it was ‘cowardly’ and ‘unAustralian’, and that the shut down was a ‘terroristlike activity’. Mr Elliott described the unions claim that it was not on strike, and that workers were available for work as ‘bullshit’ and ‘spin’. The sentiments were echoed by Premier Dominic Perrottet and Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his Federal cronies, as they piled on their anti-union hysteria. The following day, and in the days that have followed, with egg and shame on their face, neither Minister Tudehope or Elliott, or the Premier has apologised for this language or for getting the facts so horribly wrong, Mr Elliott simply smugly toned down his rhetoric by explaining it as ‘ a day of high emotion’. I would, however, echo the highly charged words of the Minister, and describe the shut down in similarly strong and passionate terms. The slight change required is to substitute ‘union’ with ‘government’ and ‘rail executives’ in this narrative. The Minister and Premier, and friends were frantic in raising the anti-union, antiLabor flags as Federal and State elections approach, but pulled a stunt that back-fired badly and did irreparable harm to rail workers and commuters alike. If the shutdown can be described as a ‘terrorist-like’ act, then we only have to look to rogue transport executives as the ‘masterminds’, feebly attempting to imitate their private sector heroes, in pulling a dangerous stunt to attempt to deceive the Fair Work Commission into ordering a halt to industrial action, and potentially cancelling the enterprise agreement bargaining process. At the same time they ran the tired old ‘red flag’ of unions, under the control of the Labor Party, bringing the economy to its knees, as a nervous plea for their waning electoral fortunes. Unfortunately, those same rogue executives and their political masters underestimated the integrity of the RTBU and rail workers, and the ability of the broader public to see through their thinly disguised lies. Another factor that these clowns have under-estimated is that their private sector industrial heroes are not directly accountable to the voting public in the same ways as they are. The only people who came out of this disgraceful mess with their honour intact, were the NSW Secretary of the RTBU, Alex Claassens and the RTBU leadership, union delegates, union activists and members who remained resolutely honest and strong in the face of this vile barrage of attacks.
