Union " Stormtroopers " !

The world watched - and did nothing - when Adolph Hitler's followers practised thuggery on those following the Jewish religion in German cities before the start of the second world war.   It was a form of harassment that incited the public to avoid buying from Jewish owned businesses and individuals thought to be Jews were accosted and roughed up in the streets.

A lot of people were seriously concerned at the rhetoric used by a Victorian Union leader addressing a crowd attending a CFMEU protest meeting in Melbourne this week.   His union is bitterly opposed to the reformation of inspectors from the  Australian Building and Construction Commission to enter building sites and supervise the bans and stoppages enacted by the unions.

This CFMEU secretary was addressing a roaring and supportive crowd twenty-thousand strong when he told them that the union would expose and publicly shame these individuals and that this would take the form of protest meetings in front of their homes and appeals made for support from their neighbours.  He suggested their children would be ashamed of them and they would feel unwelcome in shopping centres and football clubs.

The CFMEU - along with other hard line unions - is well known for breaking Australia's industrial relation laws.  Stoppages are a potent tool in enforcing demands that fall outside the law because they can quickly throw a job behind schedule and impose a financial loss on the building company involved.  On most big construction jobs, industrial peace is achieved only when the company and the unions negotiate a " deal " that is mutually acceptable.  This is usually outside the legal framework and the unions are known to make fresh demands at a critical time during the construction.

The purpose of these inspectors is to ensure that the law is being upheld.  That is anathema to the unions.  Now we have a key union leader openly proposing that his members identify and publicly harass the individuals holding those jobs - to the point of threatening their public safety.  They wish to turn their members into a private army to go after those tasked with bringing law and order to building sites.

The government has flagged that it will refer this threat to the police and the leader of the opposition has " repudiated " it in the strongest possible terms.  Unfortunately, it seems indicative of a new form of violence that is growing in Australian society.   The people who keep us safe - no longer enjoy a feeling of personal safety.

Many have noticed that the police who raid the homes of terror suspects looking for bombs and firearms have their identity covered by face masks.    The faces are not shown, nor the identity revealed of members of Australia's " special forces " when they appear on television.  In fact, the police are advised not to travel to work in uniform.  It is safer to change when they arrive at their duty station than to stand out in a crowd.

Even the people tasked with booking cars for parking offences now do their job with trepidation.  They expect daily abuse, and occasionally that turns to actual violence.  All of this is leading to a " them and us "  mentality and our police are about to be issued with military grade assault rifles to increase their firepower.

Increasingly, the police carry out their duties in groups for safety reasons.   It seems that lone building inspectors on work sites may soon also be a thing of the past.  All this is evidence that we are becoming a more violent society !