Wobbly times number 147

May Day 2012 in Fremantle,
Western Australia
Filmed by Mike Ballard, this is the main May Day union 
workers' march through Fremantle, Western Australia 
on May 6, 2012. The film begins at the beginning of the 
march near the Fremantle Esplanade and ends after the 
march with the workers sharing home made beer brewed
 in honour of an old Australian seaman and unionist by 
the name of Paddy.


Employers know enough to belong to a 'union'. It's called 
The Chamber of Commerce. Doctors know enough to belong 
to the AMA. There are plenty of corrupt, shonky operators 
out there amongst the employing class, in the political State 
and amongst professionals. Corruption goes along with wealth 
and power accumulating at the top of a hire-arky. Even Lord Acton 
knew that. The real reason workers should actively join in union is 
to present a more powerful face to their employers when it comes 
time to negotiate the price of their skills. Without unions, there is 
NO negotiation. Without unions, there will be no resistance to the 
constant downward pressure on real wages by the employing class. 
It's market economics 101 folks. Employers want lower prices for the
 skills they purchase and workers should be wise enough to bargain 
for a higher price, including working conditions. Social justice 
remains an empty abstraction without its being filled in with 
workers receiving back more of what they produce.

Wobbly Times number 55

On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers struck thousands of shops across the United States in a national campaign for the Eight Hour Day. In Chicago, center of the movement and a stronghold of anarchist and socialist revolutionary unionism,40,000 workers struck and 80,000 workers joined a May Day parade organized by the International Working People's Association and the revolutionary Central Labor Union. Today, workers enjoy the weekend and the eight hour day because workers in the past struggled for it. This class struggle continues and we celebrate our victories on May Day!