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 SHORTENI 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.
More Bill Shorten Quotes
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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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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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To the best of my knowledge, when I became national secretary and, indeed, Victorian secretary, the – my predecessors in the union had detected wrong activities, activities which aren’t in the best traditions of the AWU or, indeed, trade unionism.
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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’m interested in better wages for workers, better safety, job security, and, profitable companies, because I understand that if you get co-operation in the workplace, everyone wins.
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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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I’m proud of being a moderate trade union official, working co-operatively between employees and employers.
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When I entered federal parliament at the end of 2007, I was appointed parliamentary secretary for disabilities.
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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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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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Better informed delegates, better workplace safety saves companies money. Unions are very good at safety. We are good at teaching delegates how to resolve disputes.
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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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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.
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I’m a Christian and a supporter of marriage equality under the law.
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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.
BILL SHORTEN