The big difference between the two is that while Abbott turned up to tell the workers what to do, the Labor Leader came to listen. When delegates from the picket line took their story to the Workers Parliament, the Labor Council, on Thursday night, Beazley's shadow attorney-general, Robert McClelland, was there to listen. He then promised a Labor Government would protect 100 per cent of all worker entitlements. This contrasts to the current scheme, a political fix that hurts workers - particularly those who have worked in the one job for a long time. It is a recurring theme in a relationship between the industrial and political wings of the labour movement that has endured for more than a century.
Unions are the engine room, the shop floor where the pressures of the time wreak their human havoc.
The ALP wins office to take these issues and do something constructive on behalf of the workers. This relationship was also seen in practice this week in the call centre industry. State Labor Governments around the country are moving to give effect to a minimum standards code that will civilise this growing section of the economy. Again it's the unions on the ground, identifying the issues as they effect real people, then taking their case to Labor administrations prepared to listen and to act. They, more than any over-paid shock jock, know that a Beazley Labor Government will make a big difference.