May Day

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:46): Today, 1 May, is May Day. It is an international celebration of organised labour, for those of you who do not know. The bonds of trade unionism that extend across cultures and nations bring us together to recognise the achievements of workers and their unions, and in particular the hard-won victory of the eight-hour day.

May Day may have its origins in history, but the truth is that it is a story that continues to be written. It is in fact still being written right now. Far from the fanciful Thatcheresque notion that there is no such thing as society, our society has realised that Thatcher herself was just part of the story of our community. Labour exists, workers exist, within a landscape that is, by its very nature, ever changing. The economy is always changing, industrial landscapes are always changing, workers themselves are changing.

As we continue to progress toward a future economy, as we continue to write our story of next year's May Day, we must ensure that working South Australians do not get lost in the shuffle. We can do it; we have done it before. We were here, union members were right here where I stand right now, when the colony had yet to shift in true earnest from being an agrarian economy to an industrial economy.

Our movement has been here through so much industrial change. Across that span of time we have advanced industrial and democratic reforms that broadened economic opportunity and participation, and empowered workers to have a greater agency in their work and in their lives. Union members have been the driving force behind not only economic but social progress: the eight-hour workday, the five-day work week, overtime pay, our health system and superannuation. The labour movement is the reason we have ever been in a position to talk about the Australian dream.

At no point in our state's history were those at the top of the economic pyramid doing poorly. From the earliest days of South Australia there was a lot of wealth and a lot more was built during its early decades, but wealth inequality was rife and labour was feloniously easy to exploit.

Within an evolving and developing economy, and through reforms driven by workers and their unions, things started to change for those in our community who were not among the wealthy. Wages and incomes began rising, and along with them so did the standard of living for many South Australians. But now, as the economy continues to evolve, technology in particular has enabled industrial innovations that have made it easier for companies to do more with far less human effort. They can shift operations on global supply chains and replace human labour with automation.

Our industrial landscape is changing once again. As the change sets in, the same interests, from big business, from the conservative side of politics and from many corners of the media, make the same old arguments that worker protections and unions themselves are somehow to blame for the middle-class struggles. But as executive wages skyrocket, while the cost-of-living crisis rages on, it is an argument that rings, frankly, pretty hollow.

When union membership falls, inequality returns, and it has returned. The Australian Dream is, if not dying, at the very least a dream that seems perpetually deferred. Now more than ever it is clear that the anti-union rhetoric of attacking community and looking out for yourself ahead of anyone else just does not stack up. Those who prepare our food, who clean up after us, who heal our sickness, deliver our babies and look after our ageing parents cannot and will not house themselves in trickle-down promises.

The celebration that is this year's May Day should remind us all that the hard-fought victories for fairness in our past must inspire us to continue to fight against the change which brings inequality for workers right now. The first step we can all take is a simple one: celebrate the history of what we all share today by being involved in your union. Be the change that you want to see in your workplace, in our society and in our community. Happy May Day, comrades.