Page 85 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 13 December 2016
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Ben found work in a bank and became active in the union that represented its workers, most of whose members were actually employed in factories. As Ben became known and active in the union movement, he consistently sought out opportunities to be with the real workers, apparently even welcoming a call-up to work in the coal mines during the war. So it was something of an irony when he was appointed General Secretary of the Association of Scientific Workers, a union that represented almost exclusively university graduates, many of them with PhDs. My other grandfather was, in fact, a member of this union, and just recently my mum told me how much he had admired Grandpa Ben’s leadership of the organisation and everything he had achieved for its members.
Shortly after the war Grandpa Ben joined the British Labour Party, and he remained active in it all his life. In 1976 he was awarded an Order of the British Empire, which he accepted on the grounds that he was the only one in his family without letters after his name, his three sons all having gone to university. This is a story I have known bits of since I was a child but which only recently has been recorded by my Uncle Chris, and I thank him for sending me this background.
There is no doubt my grandfather was an impressive man but his story is, in many ways, not so unusual. I tell it here as one example of the power of the labour movement to lift people up, to empower them, to inspire them and to enable them to reach for something more.
I am Labor because I believe in the power of solidarity, of standing together to change things for the better. I am Labor because I believe that the most valuable thing any person can offer other than love is their time. Time devoted to labour, building, making, or delivering a service, should be respected and fairly compensated and, of course, no worker’s safety should be sacrificed for profit. I am Labor because I know that not everyone is as fortunate as I am but I believe everyone, no matter what their background, should have the opportunity to be the best they can be.
I am Labor because I know that strong public services, particularly education and health—what we used to call the social wage—are our best guarantee of universal access, and universal access is our best guarantee of equitable service provision, because everyone has a stake. As it turns out, universal public health systems are also more efficient and effective than the private sector—so go figure. I am Labor because I believe that everyone has the right to participate, to engage and to be respected in their community. One of my goals in this place is to do what I can to see Canberra become the most welcoming, inclusive, and accessible city for people with disabilities that it possibly can be.
I am Labor because I believe in government as a force for good; to quote a famous line from the West Wing, “A place where people come together, and where no-one gets left behind.” I am here in part because of my work with one of the poorest communities in Washington DC, a capital city divided by inequality. I came home because Canberra is home but also because I wanted to make a difference, and I felt I had more chance of doing that here. Those generations of African-American women who have been fighting for their community for decades taught me the power of belonging to a place.
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