I am a unionist and I am a refugee
Union members must stand up in solidarity to oppose the persecution of asylum seekers, writes Andrew Casey
LAST Sunday night, I tweeted and Facebooked my way through the #LightTheDark rally in Sydney — and I’m grateful to see how many people re-tweeted and liked my photos.
Strolling through the crowd I could identify different groups of faith communities, schools, suburbs — all coming out to say they were shocked at the murder — yes, murder — of Reza Barati in an Australian-run asylum centre.
I was looking for people I knew. To stand with them. To say I belong to a community which has strong ethical values and welcomes the stranger to Australia.
In particular, I wanted to see union faces. I wanted to stand beside a union banner saying ‘Refugees are Welcome’.
Sure, I saw a few people I knew from my union activity, but it seemed to me they were not there as union people. They were there as individuals with conscience — or standing as part of some other group.
The union voice was muted
It may have been different in Melbourne, or Adelaide, or Newcastle or Brisbane, but in Sydney the union voice was muted.
The union voice wasn’t up front speaking loudly from the platform alongside the Baptists, the Catholics, the Jews, the Muslims, Get Up!, the Asylum Seekers Centre, etc., etc.
And it wasn’t down there — identifiably — in the crowd waving candles (if you were there with a union banner, sorry I missed you).
Now I know in Sydney a small group has been established called Unions for Refugees. Do we have anything similar in other states?
Unions NSW has given its imprimatur to this group; but Unions for Refugees has a big job ahead of it. The group knows it. Its role is to go out and educate union people of the positive values refugees bring to our nation.
Working families, especially in Sydney’s western suburbs, consistently show concern about this latest wave of refugees.
You can read all about it. In both public polls and, the less than secret, private political polls.
Unfortunately, I’m not surprised polls show former migrants, former refugees, among the most hostile Australians to this wave of refugees.
I know this response. Personally.
I am a refugee. I lived in a refugee camp. My family paid smugglers to navigate the dangerous borders of Stalinist Hungary — after the failure of the 1956 Hungarian revolution.
“Our union leaders must repeat, again and again, that our historic role demands today we help this new wave of refugees — especially in their workplaces.”
My father was a Social Democrat; a union member, and minor union official. The secret police had a file on our family because we were close to Social Democrats who had ‘disappeared’ for many, many years.
When we arrived at a port in Australia there were union people — from the former Federated Ironworkers Association, now part of The Australian Workers’ Union — ready with an open hand to help this latest wave of refugees.
Dad — who was a sparkie — proudly held a NSW Electrical Trades Union membership card.
My parents speak fondly of how 1950s Australia was an easy, friendly place to escape to — a democratic society far removed from intolerant Europe.
Today, if you talk to my now 90-year-old parents, they see this new wave of refugees in very hostile terms.
It is not the same they argue — and most of their friends, who arrived in the same refugee wave, nod in agreement.
Unions must go talk to their members; talk to those whose parents, and grandparents, came here in boats (rarely planes) as migrants or refugees.
We must underline a core union value — to fight discrimination in all its forms.
Our union leaders must repeat, again and again, that our historic role demands today we help this new wave of refugees — especially in their workplaces.
We should support refugees looking to find good jobs; and stand with them against any form of discrimination — from their bosses; or their workmates.
Successful workplace integration will diminish, in all our communities, the fear of the other.
We need to honestly assess and measure attitudes to refugees amongst our members — to understand the hostility.
Unions can lead the change
Union activists are our greatest resource; they know, and can identify, the best ways to change the angry mood which right-wing, populist, media play up so successfully — and put on a feedback loop into our communities.
Unions should actively promote our wins on behalf of refugee members and their families; promote our victories integrating refugees in our workplaces, overcoming discrimination.
We should talk openly, and regularly, about how we support refugee members.
And tell the real, personal, stories of refugees, their families; ordinary people struggling to build new lives in Australia.
To get the message out we should:
- use our own media,
- use social media,
- use refugee and immigrant community media,
- as well as mainstream media.
Then, once we have measured changes in attitudes amongst our base, we can tell politicians — especially the Labor Party — they need to end this war on defenceless people.
Final note: I did find a group to stand with — the Inner West Chavurah, a group of Jewish activists.
One of their number Robin Margo, a former President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, spoke from the stage at Sydney Town Hall Square.
The ‘Parliament’ of the NSW Jewish community , the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, has been a vocal advocate for refugee rights for many, many years.
Andrew Casey was a union activist all his life until his death in 2018
Published on 2 March 2014.
