Tony Sheldon. Photo courtesy of The Age.
Unions need to take the intellectual lead in spelling out a vision for the future of Australia, according to Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) national secretary Tony Sheldon.
Mr Sheldon told delegates at the TWU National Council in Darwin that the labour movement risked losing the battle over the meaning of a good society because it was not articulating its alternatively strongly enough.
“Our philosophy is very simple,” Tony Sheldon said. “We believe that the wealth generated by the hard work of every Australian should ultimately benefit the whole community.
“And we believe that obvious economic injustices must be addressed.
“Economic efficiency and economic productivity are important, but they are not the only important concerns of a decent society.
“And the best way to do these things is through fair wages, fair taxes, better public services, proper regulation and investment in public infrastructure.”
Tony Sheldon said the TWU was not anti-business or anti-market.
“At the TWU, we depend on strong and profitable businesses to give our members jobs. Many of our members are self-employed or work for small and battling companies. They compete for contracts every day – so we know what competition is about.
“But while we’re happy to live in a market economy, we don’t want to live in a market society.
“We believe the logic of the market is important, but we don’t believe the logic of the market should determine everything.
“And we believe the values of the market should not override the values of the community.”
Tony Sheldon said living in the Australian century should be about driving up the standard of living for all Australians – not driving it down to the lowest common denominator.
“Recently, Coles CEO Ian McLeod, who earns $284,000 a week, complained that Coca Cola’s Australian-sourced products are too expensive compared to those that could be sourced from Asia.
“The obvious implication being that Aussie manufacturers are paying their employees too much.
“We have to stand against this sort of narrow, selfish and frankly un-Australian thinking.”