Union Songs

If It Weren't For The Union

A song by Peter Hicks and Geoff Francis©1991 Peter Hicks and Geoff Francis

- [play]

Our union's story is there to be seen,
We've won many victories and we've suffered defeats,
But as I turn through the pages and look back through time,
There's one single question stands out in my mind -
Today we may prosper, today we live free,
But if it weren't for the union, where would we be?

Chorus:
It's our union, our union that defends our rights,
But our union's as strong as our will is to fight,
For the union is you and the union is me,
So stand up and stand by our union.

From it's humble beginnings our union has grown,
So no working person need struggle alone.
But no gain that's been made has been made without cost,
And together we'll see that no gain's ever lost;
Take a look at those countries where workers aren't free -
If it weren't for the union, where would we be?

It's our union, our union ...

Would you choose to go back, working twelve hours a day,
Would you choose to toil more and a pittance be paid?
Will you stand in the union against the new right,
Or do you think on your own you can withstand their might?
The answer is written in our history,
If it weren't for the union, where would we be?

It's our union, our union ...

They say we've got problems, and the unions they blame,
Well, Franco and Pinochet they said the same.
If our union they weaken, if our union they break,
Then where's our defence from becoming enslaved?
So would you choose bondage above liberty?
And if it weren't for the union, where would we be?

It's our union, our union ...

It's our union, our union ...

Notes

Many thanks to Peter Hicks and Geoff Francis for permission to add this song to the Union Songs collection. The song is on the CD Union Is Strength.

"This song celebrates the role of trade unions in workers' struggles for better pay and working conditions - and warns of the need especially in this age of economic rationalism to be ever vigilant."

Find more works by Peter and Geoff in this collection.

Visit the Peter Hicks and Radical Song Book website at http://home.austarnet.com.au/glazfolk/

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