Mr Mark Lennon speech, Palm Sunday 2008

I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land and their elders. We have heard today from the speakers, including the faith speakers before the march, that there are various notions of peace.

Mark Lennon, Assistant Secretary, Unions NSW

We can have external peace, we can have inner peace. We can have peace and justice.

In the last three years in Australia we've certainly had a battle over the notion of peace. We've had a battle in our nation about the types of relationship that should exist in our workplaces. Whether, on the one hand, the workplace should be ruled by dictates and decrees, or on the other hand, it should work under a model of cooperation and mutual obligation. Not a system where there won't be differences in the workplaces, but if there are differences they will be worked out in a mutually acceptable way, that everyone respects.

At the heart of that, of course, is the question of power, and power relationships in our workplaces and in our society more broadly.

But underlining all that is a notion of peace. We want to be sure that people can go about their lives, got to their workplaces, undertake their tasks, with the peace of mind that they are going to be treated with justice, fairness and equality.

Fortunately the good people of this country last November decided to reject the views of the Howard government, and to change governments, particularly because of their issue of workplace laws.

Now the war hasn't been won, but the issue is now a long way towards being settled. We are keeping sure that people can go to work knowing and having the peace of mind that they will be treated justly and fairly as they go about their daily work.

For our working colleagues overseas, many don't have the same luxury. It is not a question of going to work, it is a question for them about being able to have a peaceful existence in their society and in their community. In that regard, as working people, they haven't even got to the first step.

If you consider around the world that it is a fundamental right of working people to be able to live in a world where there is no violence and oppression, and they are free to carry out their own will and pursue a career that they desire.

How sad it is for all of us as a community to think about the loss of productive human talent in places like the Gaza Strip, where there is 80% unemployment. Think of the skills and the talent, the resources being wasted, because people can't go to work because no peaceful solution can be found to the strife in that area.

How hard is it for people in places like Iraq, who want to grow their food for their families and communities, but can't do so because of sectarian violence.

How frustrating must it be for workers in East Timor, who make those beautiful textiles that many of us wear as scarves, who don't have the opportunity to do so because of civil unrest in their nation.

All of those issues we need to contemplate today when we consider the notion of peace and justice on Palm Sunday.

What we've learnt as the Australian trade union movement and workers here over the last three years - we knew it before but the lesson has really come home to us in the last three years - we can not survive and prosper without global ties, without us as trade unionists and as an Australian community being global citizens.

So the commitment I give to you today from the Australian trade union movement is this: having learnt the lessons of the last three years about the importance of our ties to comrades and colleagues overseas, we the trade union movement will continue to strengthen those ties and fight for peace for working people around the world.

I will finish on a personal note. Today of course is a day of reflection and contemplation. Many will do this in different ways. Some will pray, some will meditate, some will simply sit in a corner and contemplate.

I ask you today, as you do this in whatever way and with whatever belief system, to think of:

• the bus union worker in Iran who cannot stand up and support his members without the fear of violence and being thrown into jail; or
• the worker sin the Gaza Strip who can't have sufficient peace to find work;
• of the women workers in East Timor who want to ply their trade in the textile industry;
• of many workers in the United States who can't go to work each day with the peace of mind that what they earn will be sufficient for them to maintain their families.

I ask you to think of all those and to make a commitment that you will do your best, collectively and individually, to ensure that they can live in a peaceful existence and the sooner the better. When you consider your thoughts today, I ask you to renew your efforts to ensure that that will occur.

© Walk Against the War Coalition 2003.
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Last Modified: Tuesday, 25-Mar-2008 16:55:22 EST
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