Racist ? being called American is racist, really ?

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Racist ? being called American is racist, really ?

8 yrs ago

The national construction union has been fined $20,000 in the Federal Court after one of its officials was found to have racially abused a representative at a building site.

Bradley Upton, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union official, was separately fined $4000, with the court noting that "the language used as well as being repeatedly obscene, had a particularly nasty racist overtone".

Upton's tirade surrounded his dissatisfaction with a meeting room at a construction site in Western Australia. The union accepted the abuse occurred, according to signed court documents.

He is said to have asked the site representative: "Is this s**thole good for you f**king Americans? This is not f**king America."

http://www.theage.com.au/national/cfmeu-member-cop-24000-fine-for-racial-abuse-against-american-20150705-gi5h6x.html

4 comments

geomac

8 yrs ago

The USA has many cultures and uses terms like italian american etc. Wop, spik or dago might be racist but American to my mind is not unless being called an american has become a term of racist abuse. I think there would be about 300 million yanks who would disagree. Abusive yes but racist ? If someone called me a effing Australian I would reply sure am and proud to be one mate. Tongue in cheek of course with the mate bit.

seth

8 yrs ago

If anyone can deny the good that has come from a trade union and how lucky we were to have them in Aust. Then you only have read the story of 'Rosa" a worker at 'LG" assembling tvs' in Brazil... result of an accident lost both hands, no help available no compensation, now an action is being taken against 'LG'.. the workers are at the mercy of the merciless, is this the aim here? to remove the gains in the last 100yrs for workers.?

geomac

8 yrs ago

I read about that today Seth, flatscreens terror.

Daisy

8 yrs ago

Hmmm.....there is much one can think about this outcome. Is it fair? Personally I choose to run with the court decision. I am all for Unions but abuse is not on and if someone was calling me a f#%^ing Australian with aggressive energy I might feel intimidated and racially attacked.

Will be interested to see what those who rant about "overboard PC" (yet hate unions) have to say about this one :).

Depends on whether you consider the CFMEU A genuine union working for its members interests or a gang of thugs, who engage in Extortion ...

Daisy

8 yrs ago

Sounds like PC is ok/not ok when it suits?

No I am always against PC. It is group think ...

seth

8 yrs ago

Has the Aussie become a sook,? offended at every nasty word aimed at them, Life is full of verbal attacks, as we see, even on impersonal chat lines, who hasn't been insulted, you either insult back or tell them to get stuffed, very seldom has it resulted in a scuffle, unless you were with mates and a scuffle was a break in monotony.

Yes we should remove the word offend from the anti discrimination act. Andrew Bolt was prosecuted because he offended some white aboriginals.

seth

8 yrs ago

Andrew Bolt, now there is a self righteous bigotted twit, full of himself.

Daisy

8 yrs ago

Pete,

Does your post at 11.19am indicate you are against the court ruling fining the National Construction Union and Bradley Upton for offending Americans?

Not at all I think the word offend should be removed from the racial discrimination

act .

The CfMEU who are a bunch of thugs was prosecuted by The Fair work building Co mission Set up by the Labor Govt in 2012 . It won its case for threatenIng and abusive and racist behaviour. Just one case last week against the CFMEU ..

The AWU is able to do its deals under the threat that the CFMEU are worse.

Seth may be right that Unions in the past may have helped improve conditions but. They are not the Unions of today . Who too often work against the best interests of their members . No wonder that 9 out of 10 workers in the private sector do not belong to unions.

PlanB

8 yrs ago

Bolt --and they call the ABC biased !

Bolt is not payed by the taxpayer .and he is opinionated like all commercial columnists Phillip Adams for instance .

The ABC has a charter to be non biased as it payed for by all taxpayers .

I don't want to see the ABC closed but Givernment involvement in the entertainment industry pared back I see no justification for seven television stations and rock radio stations to be funded by the taxpayer,

seth

8 yrs ago

Why not? the taxpayer funds those idiots comedians in government.

seth

8 yrs ago

I just wonder with most people who become anti union, were they helped in the work place, or did they have any clue how any workplace conditions were improved by a union? if you had been employed in the building trades pre war you would certainly know the difference not ony in conditions and pay, but in safety.

PlanB

8 yrs ago

Thanks to the Unions we have better conditions, sure there have been some crooks there also but we would have been working for SBA if it wasn't for the Unions

Seth you are using the same tactic as those for homosexual marriage who accuse those of being anti Homosexual marriage of being homophobic .

Being anti crooked unions is not being anti unions.

seth

8 yrs ago

Pete I agree with you about crooks taking over unions, this is where the rank and file need to act, unfortunately the crooks use their threats against those who stand up against them, in the mean while, the good unions did, and could do, is lost, amid all the anti union attacks.

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