Union Songs

Come To The Meeting

A song by Don Henderson©Don Henderson 1979

The law had gone unnoticed
till they put it to the test
when the bosses at Pilbara
told them "Move in and arrest"
Come to the meeting
Come to the meeting
There's some things we must discuss
They apply to all of us
Come to the meeting

Well a law can't be respected
if you know the law is wrong
There's a meeting called to change it
are you going to come along?
Come to the meeting
Come to the meeting
We can change it, yes we can
Every woman, every man
Come to the meeting

We dont want a confrontation
We're not looking for a fight
but free association is a basic human right
Come to the meeting
Come to the meeting
It's a right that we won't yield
The law must be repealed
Come to the meeting

And if we are arrested
make a legion of the nine
And if we are convicted
we're not gonna pay the fine
Come to the meeting
Come to the meeting
Weight of numbers tips the scales
Fill and overflow their jails
Come to the meeting

We dont want a confrontation
We're not looking for a fight
but free association is a basic human right
Come to the meeting
Come to the meeting
It's a right that we won't yield
The law must be repealed
Come to the meeting

Notes

Thanks to Sally Henderson for permission to add this song to the Union Songs web site.

Don Henderson wrote Come To The Meeting in 1979 on hearing the news that nine members of the Metal Workers Union were arrested in the Pilbara in Western Australia for holding a union meeting without first having gained police permission

The song is particluarly appropriate today (1999) for the struggle in the mining industry in Australia where unions are locked in battle in the Pilbara with BHP and its puppets who sit in government cooking up laws to destroy unions.

As the new century dawns we are still seeing police batoning pickets and unionists being arrested as they insist on their right to free association.

Six years later (2005) this song is even more current with a new swag of anti-union laws being passed through parliament and the senate, laws that make nomal union activity illegal for the first time in generations.

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