Workers Online
Workers Online
Workers Online
  Issue No 40 Official Organ of LaborNet 19 November 1999  

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History

Rhyme and Reason

By Lucy Taksa - Workers Online history editor

Poems written by workers provide us with an insight into their experiences and also how they felt about their work and working conditions.

The following are just a small sample of those that have been discovered during research into the history of the Eveleigh workshops.

Keep Pluggin'

Although the way be weary and
The going very rough,
And work conditions in your shop
Are getting rather tough;
Don't let your spirit be cast down
But try with all your might
To get your mates from everywhere
To fight, fight, fight.

No good conditions anywhere
Were given without strife,
So you must guard what you have got,
Just as you would your life;
For sure as day is followed by
The darkness of the night,
We know the dawn will break for us,
So fight, fight, fight.

J. Kay, Eveleigh
The Railroad, 2 June 1936, page 4.

Eveleigh Workers' Lament

We wash in dirty buckets, where germs abound galore,
We cram our clothes in lockers 50 years of age or more,
For years we've fought & struggled for real amenities,
But according to the Rail Heads, they're liabilities.
Workers needs can't be considered,
If the Boss can improvise,
So the Rail Heads constant, years old cry,
Is "can't be done --- no use to try
Confound, the men's conditions we must economise.

Eveleigh News, 9 June 1954.

Poem from Munitions Annexe

Turning, Bending,
Shell up-ending,
Clamp it tight,
Lever right,
Press the knob,
Watch the job-
Sliver and blue
Come to view,
Ribbins of Steel!

List to the wheel,
Hark to the Brake
Ready to take
Yet another shell
Know all is well
Australian man!
Thus our plan-
From dusk to dawn
Munitions form.

The screaming whirr
And eager burr;
A coo-ee clear
To you, my dear!
Rythmic machines,
Send potent means
To help you fight.
'Tis woman's mite
Of toil and tears.

A Woman Munitions Worker
The Railroad, 30 March 1943, page 6.

Attention: All Historians (and fellow travellers)

Australian Society for the Study of Labor History Annual Dinner and Address will be held at the Staff Club, University of Sydney. 7.00 for 7.30pm on Friday November 26. Annual address from Hon Dr Meredith Burgmann, president NSW Legislative Council. Two course dinner $35 drinks additional, vegetarians catered for RSVP by Tuesday 23 November, mailto:[email protected] or phone: 9351 3786


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*    Send your history contributions to Dr Lucy Taksa

*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 40 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: No Quick Fix
Online pioneer Marc Belanger explains why the Internet, on its own, will not save the union movement.
*
*  Unions: Organising With A Mission
Entries are beginning to trickle in for the Labor Council Organiser of the Year. With just two weeks to deadline, we look at the TWU's nominee.
*
*  History: Rhyme and Reason
Poems written by workers provide us with an insight into their experiences and also how they felt about their work and working conditions.
*
*  Health: The Food Police
Three times a day you take your life in your hands. How? When you sit down to eat a meal.
*
*  Politics: East Timor: Defeat or Victory for the Left?
John Passant's "Requiem for the Left" advances some rather extravagant charges regarding the left and East Timor.
*
*  International: Kiwi Unions Rebuild from Ground Up
After fifteen years as a right wing laboratory New Zealand is about to change tack. New NZCTU chief Paul Goulter outlines the challenge ahead.
*
*  Satire: Australian Democrats Revealed as Student Hoax
The Chaser has obtained an exclusive background report on the extraordinary story which reveals how and why Cheryl Kernot defected from the Democrats.
*
*  Review: The Best of the Best
Once again Channel Nine has out done itself with it�s new Ray Martin program �Simply the Best�.
*
*  Labour Review: What's New at the Information Centre
View the latest issue of Labour review, our resource for officials and students.
*
*  Deface a Face: 25,000 Teachers Can�t Be Wrong!
Angry teachers yesterday voted overwhelmingly for Education minister John Aquilina to take the mantle of this week�s face to deface.
*

News
»  Contracts Fear as Teachers Sidelined
*
»  Reith Calls on States to Split Entitlement Costs
*
»  Burrow's Plea: Net-Heads Must Take Leadership Role
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»  Ozemail Downloading Leave Entitlements
*
»  Geeks Claim 400 Per Cent for Millennium Bug Patrol
*
»  Hospital Crisis Looms as Nurses Set Deadline
*
»  Pre-Fab Shelter Wins UN Support in East Timor
*
»  Rail Authorities Back Down on Surveillance.
*
»  Rio Tinto Black List Exposed at Blair Athol
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»  Needle Stick Fears Spark Industrial Action
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»  Round One to the Cleaners
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»  Telstra's Greed Puts Service at Risk
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»  Tragic Death Leads to Lift in Contractor Safety Standards
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»  Oldfield in the Pub
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Columns
»  Guest Report
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»  Sport
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»  Trades Hall
*
»  Piers Watch
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Letters to the editor
»  Letter of the Week
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»  Republican Post Mortem
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»  Aquilina's Horror Award
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»  CCT - Destroying Rural Communities
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»  Timor Pride Not Cause for Requiem
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