Modern Australian trade unionism and the unionist that I am doesn’t rely on a class war view that somehow that the interests of employees and managers are in two separate spheres and they’re irreconcilable.
BILL SHORTENThe whole time I was a union leader, we had to put up with John Howard and Tony Abbott attacking workers’ conditions.
More Bill Shorten Quotes
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What I believe to be every Australian’s right – a good, safe job with proper pay and conditions.
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I’ve spent my whole working life standing up for workers. Didn’t matter if it was the two trapped miners at Beaconsfield or professional netballers or indeed factory workers or construction workers.
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There is a history and a reality that we cannot ignore. The challenge before us is real, the questions we grapple with as elemental as life and death.
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The whole time I was a union leader, we had to put up with John Howard and Tony Abbott attacking workers’ conditions.
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My preference is that employees pay their union dues, but what I also get is that I’d rather someone be in the union than not in the union.
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I want to build a Big Labor party. A party of big ideas. A party which is deeply connected to the community. A party which reflects our diverse nation.
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I’m a Christian and a supporter of marriage equality under the law.
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I believe that when people can go to work and be happy, satisfied, engaged, where the employer is getting employees who feel their interests are aligned with the employer, you get productivity. This is the future of Australian workplaces.
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I’m proud of my record of negotiating agreements, representing people and making sure that both employers and employees could get the best out of going to work every day.
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What I’ve done as a union leader and what literally thousands of other union representatives do, is make sure that we have co-operation in the workplace. What I get is that where employees are well treated, employers do well.
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Fleeing persecution is not a crime. And we do not seek to pander to a noisy, tiny minority who will never embrace modern multicultural Australia. But there are important truths we must face.
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Trusting people to pursue their own futures invariably provides better outcomes. Money goes where it is needed, rather than being absorbed by administration costs.
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What really matters in a workplace, what helps an employer if you’ve got a unionised workforce is if your shop stewards know the rules of the game, if your safety reps are taught to be able to examine situations to make sure the workplace is more safety.
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Labor is at its best when we are the party of ideas and action – ideas that empower the powerless and actions that build a better Australia for the long term.
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I think it is a cornerstone of our electoral system that you raise electoral funds for elections but that doesn’t mean that therefore the implication can be made that the recipients are incapable of transacting their interests and their duties towards people any differently.
BILL SHORTEN