Value systems at heart of union movement

Another (and much better) rejoinder to the anti-Christian sentiment in the announcement of Prof. Ian Harper's appointment as fair Pay Commissar (sorry - Commissioner) by Ruth Limkin in The Courier-Mail - who ably points out the historical legacy of Christinaity and Unionism. Alas and alack, the real history of Christian engagemnet in socoety gets forgotten time and time again (or is it suppressed?) to support alternative theories of how we got to where we are today. Or maybe people are just extraordinarlity self-absorbed and short sighted.

______________________________________________________


When union leaders criticised the new Fair Pay Commissioner for his values, they forgot unionism has a Christian heritage, writes Ruth Limkin.

In the midst of the raging debate about the industrial relations legislation, finally something has given us some light relief.

I have watched with great interest, and more than a little amusement, the response to comments made by the head of the new Fair Pay Commission, Professor Ian Harper.
Many of them are, (unwittingly I suspect), laced with a refreshing irony. With so much of the IR debate a little "same old, same old" it's been a nice change.

In the past week, Harper has been open about the fact he has a personal Christian faith, and has commented that it will guide his decisions. That has been enough to set off the nervous whispers about religion in the corridors of power and the accusations that the Prime Minister is being influenced by fundamentalism.

The responses by the secretary of the Australian Workers Union Queensland, Bill Ludwig, have been interesting.

Ludwig attacked Harper's comments, declaring them as an extraordinary development in 120 years of industrial relations.

That's an interesting perspective. Men of Harper's persuasion founded the trade union movement precisely because they were guided by their personal Christian faith.

Read more