Ravens and hawks come to roost

In 1929, Prime Minister, Stanley Melbourne Bruce, later Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, tried to put the boot into the unions and the working people by altering the industrial arbitration systems.

For his pains, his government lost office and Mr. Bruce lost his seat as well.

Now, in 2006, another conservative government has succeeded in weakening the unions and setting up workers for slave wages.

However, the blame for the retro-laws does not solely rest on Conservative dogma.

The Labor parties in New Zealand and Australia put up the scenery and lit up the stage.

Thatcherites, Rogers in N.Z and Keating in Australia, privatized, rationalized, down-graded the union movement to make the banks and corporations richer.

Now the ravens and hawks have come home to roost

Keith Whitfield Woy Woy