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August 2004   
F E A T U R E S

Interview: Trading Places
New ACTU International Officer Alison Tate cut her teeth delivering aid to developing nations through APHEDA. Now she is helping chart the global union agenda.

Safety: Snow Job
James Hardie has been drilled into our collective consciousness as a story of power, greed and immorality. It is also, as Jim Marr reports, a tale of human tragedy.

Politics: In the Vanguard
Damien Cahill reveals how neo-liberal think tanks have been at the forefront of the corporate assault upon trade unions and social movements in Australia.

Unions: Gentle Giant Goes For Gold
Don�t get between Sydney sparkie Semir Pepic and a gold medal in a dimly lit alley, writes Tim Brunero.

Bad Boss: 'Porker' Chases Blue Ribbon
Perfect Porker, Darren Vincent, brings a history of meat worker shafting to this month�s Bad Boss nomination.

International: Cruising For A Bruising
Europe�s big unions are bruised as they watch companies roll over some of their best-organised unionised workplaces demanding longer work hours � without any recompense, reports Andrew Casey.

History: Under the Influence
Was John Kerr drunk when he wrote and signed the letter dismissing Edward Gough Whitlam from the Prime Ministership in 1975? Geraldine Willissee investigates.

Economics: Working Capital
Where superannuation fits, where it fails and what we should we do about it. Neale Towart gives the tough answers.

Review: Fahrenheit 9/11
There's many a must see moment in Mike Moore's new flick but beating the propaganda machine at its own game wreaks havoc with wearied bullshit detectors, writes Tara de Boehmler.

Poetry: Bad Intelligence Rap
When Flood washed away the PM's sins, the truth was once again left high and dry.

Satire: Osama Bin Manchu
During a recent visit to an elderly relative in a nursing home, I was waylaid by an ancient gentleman who insisted I listen to what he had to say, writes Rowan Cahill.

C O L U M N S

Parliament
The Westie Wing
The Labor Governments in each State must take the lead to stop the abuse of corporate law in Australia in the absence of action from the Federal Government, as the Inquiry into James Hardie�s has highlighted, writes Ian West.

The Soapbox
Cleaners Deserve Our Support
It's time the state's cleaners were given some support, loyalty and long service leave, writes Chris Christodoulou.

The Locker Room
Half Time At The Football
Phil Doyle wants to have his pie and eat it too.

Tribute
Faithful Servant
Frank Mossfield was one of the labour movement�s quiet achievers. Former Labor Council secretary Michael Easson pays tribute.

Postcard
Lessons From East Timor
Just back from a study tour to East Timor, National Reserach Officer with the Construction division of the CFMEU, Ben Stirling, writes about the experience for Workers Online.

E D I T O R I A L

Tarnished Rings
As our athletes approach the starting line in Athens, it is interesting to reflect on how the world has changed since Sydney was the centre of a global group hug just four years ago.

N E W S

 Stink Rises from Hamberger

 ALP Embraces Collectivism

 Bully Drives Deckhand into Drink

 Fighter in Cancer Link

 Tunnellers Dig in for Safety

 Seconds Out in Newcastle

 Vale Josh Heuchan

 "Betrayal" Sparks Election Rethink

 Councils Wedge James Hardie

 Great Southern Death Rattler

 Libs Desert "War Criminal"

 Casuals Take Over

 ALP Star Hits The Waterfront

 Activists What�s On!

L E T T E R S
 An Officer And A Teacher
 Tom Goes Asexual
 Road Rage At Work
 Democracy In Action
 Asbestos Bastadry
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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Tribute

Faithful Servant


Frank Mossfield was one of the labour movement�s quiet achievers. Former Labor Council secretary Michael Easson pays tribute.

Frank's story commands our interest tonight. When you think of Frank, the words loyal, decent, determined - a big word for 'guts', faithful, labor, union, come to mind.

Gosh he was loyal. He never stopped me once from telling my jokes at the Labor Council. Did you hear about...?

This may be a tougher audience than I'm used to. So I better not try my luck.

I'm going to say a few words about Frank, the person, the dedicated unionist whom I came to know well when I became Secretary of the Labor Council in February 1989.

The union movement was Frank's passion. As he said in his Maiden Speech as MP for Greenway, " I am very proud of my trade union background."

What did he do there? What were his achievements?

Frank was a fitter and turner by trade, joining the Australasian Society of Engineers as an apprentice; after 15 years in the trade he became a union official with the ASE. He later became the State Secretary and Federal President of his union, the Upon the amalgamation of the ASE and the Ironworkers' union, he became the Sydney branch secretary of FIMEE. Frank served a term on the ACTU executive. Those were sometimes difficult times.

The mid 1980s/early 1990s were a period of immense change; many traditional manufacturing businesses closed; Australia was opened to world competition, the end of the cold car had huge significance in the world of organised labour. Enterprise bargaining and changes to the arbitration system were challenges. Frank sat at the table and contributed to those events.

The challenge for Labor was to provide a helping hand to help people through - with training, vocational education, assistance and other means.

Perhaps Frank's greatest impact was at the peak Council of the movement in NSW. In 1989, Frank, who was already Vice President (elected in 1984), became Council President, replacing the late Ernie Ecob, the AWU stalwart who resigned in March that year. Frank went on to serve as Council President right up to his election as MP for Greenway in the 1996 Federal elections.

He was President of the Labor Council for seven years and one of the State's leading union officials. The custom at these events is to heap unmitigated, polite praise on the bloke who is about to retire. What to say tonight? I'm going to say a few words about Frank, the person, the dedicated unionist whom I came to know well when I became Secretary of the Labor Council in February 1989.

As President of the Labor Council, Frank:

- Presided in the Chair at the weekly Council meetings of 100 to 200 delegates attending;

- Chaired the meetings of the Council's radio station 2KY

- Participated in the major discussions on strategy.

And there were the guest speakers. On one occasion there was a guy who turned up, dressed as a tree. He wanted to speak about logging. Assistant Secretary Peter Sams apparently didn't immediately recognise him as the guest speaker. He asked before the meeting, "who's the freak show tonight?"

Then there was another guest who arrived one night, when Frank was Acting President, Gennady Yanayev. He was then President of the All Soviet Federation of Trade Unions. The teachers were demonstrating that night about something or other. Gennady took fright. He felt unsafe. And before he was to address Council, he fled. Years later I was squinting at the t.v. set. I recognised him. Gennady was one of the three coup leaders who tried to stage a coup in the dying days of the Soviet Union in August 1991. The same guy who was too scared to address the Labor Council. I didn't think they would succeed.

Anyway, the first year of Frank's presidency, in 1989, was the year when the Greiner Government was at its strongest. Frank's aim, the Council's aim, was to blunt their effectiveness and defeat or amend legislation in the Upper House.

It wasn't just polite talk we were engaged in. Rallies were organised, workshop meetings held. Frank spent a lot of time going around the bush, speaking to workers about our campaigns.

What difference did Frank make? A lot, actually. Let me give five examples:

First, the Labor Council needed to change. Although a generation older, we both came from a catholic, anti-communist rightwing Labor tradition. Nothing wrong with that. But with the Berlin wall falling and the old factional labels meaning not as much, we needed to broaden the Labor Council's base. Fighting battles based on the Grouper/commo battles of the 1950s made little sense forty years later. Without Frank, the Labor Council would not have diversified its support to include people of left and centre backgrounds.

Second, Frank participated in the meetings setting up Chifley Financial Services in 1990, which the Labor Council still owns a third. This is both a thriving business and a service to workers seeking good, objective advice. Frank worked in Chifley for a couple of years before Parliament beckoned.

Third, I asked Frank about bringing Barrie Unsworth back as MD of Radio 2KY. Frank enthusiastically backed him; Barrie did a great job setting up narrowcast radio licenses in country NSW.

All he did then meant that years later under Secretary Costa, who sold 2KY for $20m plus, that such a result was possible. Frank deserves some of the credit.

Fourth, in the dark days in the early 1990s, when Greiner was in the saddle, we formed the Save Our Services Alliance and other initiatives, which Frank led.

In the 1991, when Labor was doing it tough we raised a million dollars in cash and in kind to support campaigns in marginal electorates, particularly in the bush. Frank went all over the State. That effort brought Labor to within a whisker of victory in 1991.

Fifth, Frank's served on the TAFE board and other vocational education committees, driving the union movement's priorities about training, training, training.

Frank was arguably one of the most active Presidents of the Labor Council since Jim Kenny, in 1941.

In January 1995 Frank was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, for his contribution to the movement.

His story deserves to be better known. The union movement wasn't always easy. The post-amalgamation tensions in FIME, prior to the AWU amalgamation caused Frank to think about moving on. We wanted him to work for Chifley Financial Services.

They were tough days for Frank. But as George Orwell once remarked, "no bomb that ever burst shatters the crystal spirit."

It's that spirit we pay tribute to tonight.

In thinking about what to say tonight, I found a copy of Frank's Maiden Speech wherein he said:

"I hope that the defeat at the last elections, following on the defeat at the 1949 elections, has not discouraged members of the Labor Movement from fighting for what they think is right -- whether it brings victory for the party or not.

"The Labor Movement was not created with the objective of always thinking what is the most acceptable thing to do -- whether this individual will win a seat or whether the movement will pander to some section of the community.

"The Labor Movement was created by the pioneers and its objectives have been preached by disciples of the Labor Movement over the years, to make decisions for the best for all the people."

There's a clue there about the man Frank is; a man of dignity, who stood for something.

Tonight I want to say thanks Frank for what you did for the labour movement and more recently, the people of Greenway.


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