The Labor party is having their

"gabfest" here this time. The place is being over run with their supporters. I saw a few passing by yesterday. 

These things happen on a regular basis. The "good" and the "great" of the party get together to decide on changes to their "platform". Speeches are made. Decisions are made. Arguments okay, tempers rise and fall. It is all, supposedly, "democratic".

Being "Labor" the union movement is there. The union movement is there in a very big way. It might even be said that "Labor" is still the union movement itself.

Union membership is down dramatically in this country. The old days of compulsory union membership have gone. People are no longer required to be members of any union. There are some areas where not being a member of a union means you might not get employed or you will be under constant pressure to join but this is no longer legal. There are other ways and other means of ensuring your employment is fair and legal now.

The union movement, particularly the more militant sections of it. seem not to have recognised that. Their demands are still strident. The leaders seem to believe they have the right not to simply ask but to demand or even dictate policies across many areas. 

The "Manufacturing Workers Union" is making many such demands. They want a "republic" of course.  The referendum failed "back then" but apparently it would pass now and that is reason enough to do it again. They want the "Union Jack" removed from the flag. It is apparently a "symbol of oppression". They want all the "colonial statues" removed from public places. These are a reminder of our shocking past apparently.

Their demands have gone on from there to changing the date of our national holiday. That is an issue which has been made contentious by activists. We are told it should be a "day of shame". 

The same people want the failed "voice to parliament" revisited. That it failed to get up at a referendum too but apparently we should do it again. It apparently should have got a "majority of people in a majority of the states".  It is a pretty high bar to pass but they think they can do it. All this is couched in high sounding language about indigenous recognition and rights and how the rest of us are "racist".

There are also calls for the "recognition of Palestine" and those who control it. This may actually be impossible under international law but why let that get in the way? 

There is "climate change" of course. Apparently we should be spending a great deal more on that than we are.  It should not be difficult to do.

They want a four day week for the same pay as they are now getting for a five day week. At the same time they want "better working conditions and increased wages". They want "the rich" taxed even more than they are now. 

These things will apparently come up for discussion at their meeting today. They may well get adopted.

Membership of unions in this country has risen slightly since I last looked. It is now around 13.1% of the workforce. It is around 14.0% for women and 12.0% for men. Among the younger generation, those in the  20-24yr group the figure is 7.3% and about 3.7% below that. The AMWU numbers are even smaller of course.

Yet it is these people who will dictate the direction in which the country goes. It seems they are not concerned with the dire state of manufacturing in this country. They apparently believe in some sort of utopia which would be possible if everyone else did as they demand. 

Even in my idealistic teens I did not believe in "communism". Socialism still does not appear to work but they believe it will. I wonder where that leaves the rest of us...and whether they would like it if what they demanded actually happened.