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Issue No. 141 | 21 June 2002 |
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Bitter Pills
Interview: The Fels Guy Solidarity: Life or Death? Unions: Back to Basics International: Global Terror History: Sorry Business Technology: Future Active Satire: Executive Presents PowerPoint Eulogy at Mother�s Funeral Poetry: Santa Claus Was Coming to Oz Review: Dial 'M' For Minority Report
The Soapbox The Locker Room Week in Review Bosswatch
 Tanya IncTom Bites BackRoot Canal Therapy
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Solidarity Life or Death?
************* The question central to the haka - life or death - had been heard in the city before of course - at the SFS, the Showgrounds, even the Olympic Stadium. But never before had it stopped downtown traffic on a weekday afternoon. But these warriors weren't footballers. They were working men in boots and swandris, drawn from building sites around the city, to mass six deep on the intersection of Goulburn and Castlereagh Streets and roar their defiance at a Royal Commission which continues to downplay workplace safety. Amongst their number were families and friends of Selwyn Wano, Wally Treloar, Tom Pascoe and Mark Poi, Maori whose lives have been sacrificed to the Sydney skyline and employer greed. Kaumatua, or elder, Wara Heremaia told the crowd Maori had gathered to celebrate the power of aroha, something akin to love, rather than anger. "We know the power of aroha," he said. "We are here because of our aroha for our brothers in the building industry." The protest pitched the Royal Commission into an international spotlight. Crews from both New Zealand's national television channels covered the event. CFMEU organiser, Steve Keenan, himself a Maori, told viewers back home why his people had commandeered the streets of Sydney. "We came here because we thought the building industry would provide a better way of life for us and our families. We didn't come here to die," he said. To the best of his knowledge, he added, the industry had claimed 16 Maori lives since the 1960s. But the protest involved more than Maori. The Aboriginal and Pacific Island communities, who have both lost sons to building site accidents in the city, were well represented. Aboriginal dancers preceded the haka Four coffins, draped in the Australian, New Zealand, Aboriginal and CFMEU flags, sat on the steps of the Family Court building in which the Commission is housed. They had been delivered by marchers who started their journey outside the Darlinghurst site on which teenager, Wano, had been killed in 1994. They held a brief service there, unveiling a plaque in his memory, before walking through the city. Outside the Commission building, CFMEU state secretary, Andrew Ferguson, made a presentation to Wano's father who, eight years ago, carried the teenager's body from the site. The three communities made their stand the day after the Royal Commission declined to use its powers to insist on visiting unsafe sites nominated by the CFMEU. The commission, which has subpoenaed workers and issued all-embracing discovery orders against their union, wrote to one nominated site at Flemington asking permission to attend. When the boss wouldn't play ball, it didn't push the issue. After the dust settled and traffic began snarling its way through the intersection again, the memory of the haka remained. Not just the bulging eyes, swirling tongues and stamping feet, but its uncanny approriateness to situation in which building workers find themselves. The haka tells the story of a warrior, battling the odds, facing defeat, who must decide whether or not to stand and fight. Inevitably, he does. It is about his defiance and strength but it is also a formal challenge to the adversary. It is bad form, in the extreme, not to acknowlege the challenge and a weakness not to meet it. The haka party has had its say. All eyes now are on Commissioner Cole.
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