There have not been a lot of changes to the law since “the workers’ friend” Howard has moved on, however, there has been a considerable change in attitude throughout the industry. This just reinforces the hard held view of this union that Howard’s laws were not only bad laws but absolutely unworkable in our industry.

There are still remnants of the enforcement of those laws hanging around in the shape of the building industry Taskforce who continue to make a nuisance of themselves. We have had some very serious safety issues occur and they are still persisting with the line that it could be viewed as an illegal stoppage when in actual fact it is a very serious safety situation.

Now, with the presence of our union back on the sites, members are demanding that justice prevail and that the builder provide a safe working environment for them to earn a dollar. I am quite excited about the prospects of 2008, especially in regard to membership which is back on the increase. Workers and former members are now acknowledging that exercising their right to be a member of a union is not a criminal act.

We need to rebuild our union and we couldn’t ask for better conditions to do it: a buoyant industry, the fall of Howard, a new government and a demonstration through the ballot box that the people of Australia do not like to see workers attacked or disadvantaged because they belong to a union. There are plentiful projects to come on line. It is a good time to be in the building industry with plenty of choices as to where you work and who you work for, which puts the members in a strong position to claw back the lost ground in conditions and wages that we had to endure under Howard’s evil reign.

The EBAs will be the vehicle that we will use to cement those gains in both conditions and wages, come the end of 2008. The shape of the claim will be determined by consultation between the union and its members and come November we will all, as a collective, achieve the outcomes that we seek. It is common knowledge that most if not all the major builders in this state have recorded and published record profits. In my view it is no coincidence that these huge profits coincided with Howard’s draconian, anti-union push. For example: John Holland had a record year with revenue increasing by 14% to $2.4 billion; Leighton’s half year profit was up 32% to $250 million and Thiess had revenue of $4.8 billion delivering operating profit of $178 million. At the same time workers have had to endure continuous interest rate rises.

For those workers who have a house that has been catastrophic but for those who don’t have a house the rise in interest rates still affects them at the bowser and at the grocery store and also rents have increased well past the CPI margin. So it is certainly going to be a time for workers to share in the prosperity of the industry via good EBA outcomes at the end of 2008.

I would like to remind members that our day of celebration recognising unions and all the things they have done for us to get us this far in life will be celebrated on May 5. Don’t forget to contact the union for details or assistance. The union has adopted a new charity, Kids under Cover, which deals with a major social problem – homeless children. Refer page 23. We are moving into a buoyant year where everyone should have good job opportunities and if we stick together, support our delegates, our organisers and our union we should all have a great and prosperous year.