Union is strength: Songs for the Weipa heroes
Various artists
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union
Reviewed by Jennifer Thompson
The spark for this album — a tribute to the 75 Weipa unionists who stood up for their right to be in a union against the world's biggest mining company at an isolated site on Cape York — was struck during their seven-week strike at this time last year. Gary McCarthy from the construction division of the CFMEU in Young, western NSW, was inspired to write a song, "Rise Again", for the striking workers at Weipa.
McCarthy's song echoes the confident prediction of the great Irish socialist and labour leader shot by the British after the 1916 nationalist uprising, Jim Connolly, who said, "We will rise again!". McCarthy's pride in a fighting union rather than "the right-wing union from which I resigned" will resonate with workers in Weipa and other places.
McCarthy sent the words of his song to Weipa during the strike. Nigel Gould, CFMEU lodge secretary, had been talking about the overwhelming solidarity the strikers were receiving from CFMEU lodges, other unions and the community Australia-wide and specially mentioned McCarthy's song.
When McCarthy approached Sydney folkster Peter Hicks about recording the song, the idea for a whole album dedicated to the workers was born. Hicks felt strongly about the tradition of remembering important struggles for collective rights through music and folk lore, quoting Joe Hill from the IWW: "A pamphlet is never read more than once, but a song is learnt by heart and repeated over and over". Two songs written by Hicks and Geoff Francis — "If it Weren't for the Union" and "Hold that Line" — feature on the album.
The range of performers, songs and sounds reflects the broad connection between the folk and working-class movement. Some songs, like Judy Pinder's rendition of "James Connolly", point to the long international tradition of union organising, as does the Solidarity Choir's spirited Italian traditional "La Lega Crescera" (The union is growing).
Other songs, including McCarthy's and "Coal Tattoo" by Stephanie Osfield — whose tribute to "the tenacity of the [coal miners'] union" struggling for better pay and working conditions features on the liner notes — were especially written for the project. "From Barcaldine to Weipa" by the Sydney Trade Union choir is an adaptation of the famous "Ballad of 1891", delving into working-class history.
Others on the album include "The Apprentice Song" by the famous family of folk, the Fagans, Denis Kevans' "Green Ban Fusiliers", John Dengate's "Economic Rationalist", Alistair Hulett's "Shipyard Apprentice" and "The Swaggies have all Waltzed Matilda Away", and Kev Carmody's tribute to the poor, "If Jesus was a Christian".
Mark Gregory, who sings Jim Garland's "How 'Bout You" on the album, is researching the history of trade union involvement with music. He told the miners' union journal Common Cause that "trade unions have had a long involvement in producing cultural artefacts of the labour movement". It went back to Henry Lawson, he said, and one of Lawson's poems, "Freedom's on the Wallaby", opens the album.
In 1959, a record by Paul Robeson was put out by the Australian peace movement with support from trade unions, said Gregory, and the Seamen's Union in Brisbane helped produce One Out in 1968, and Fan the Flames in 1981, featuring songs by Don Henderson and others about miners, unemployment and seagoing life. The folk movement, Weipa workers and CFMEU have together added a new struggle to the repertoire of working-class song. n
[The album will be launched in Sydney on December 1. See pp. 29-31 for details.]