Union Songs
Our Terms They Won't Be Changin'
(sung to the tune "The Times They Are A Changin'")
Come all of you teachers, the young and the grey,
There's serious business to deal with today,
Chief Minister Stanhope is barring your pay,
Oh the times seem to be changin'
This is the time for having your say
To resist Jon's plans for changes.Step forward you 'schoolies', your toes to the line,
Shout out to the minister my hours are fine,
[my hours are fine!!]
We stand firm together our efforts combined,
For the times we need to change them
The minister's plans really must be refined
Oh the plans we need to change them.So please Mr Stanhope, just listen and hear,
You've resisted our pay claim for almost a year,
We won't stand for job cuts, our conditions are clear,
At no time will they be changin'!
Now reject Mike Costello and become 'sincere',
For the times they won't be changin',We have here a message from teachers to you,
We advise you to pass it to andrew barr too,
You won't get your outcomes if we don't get our due,
For our terms they are not changin'
Come to your senses reject mike's review
For the times they won't be changin'You can't slice the system 'thout hurting yourself,
Put Costello's review right back up on the shelf,
Use logic and reason to guide us all through,
Or your time will be a changin'
Please listen carefully your options are few
Oh your time will be concludin'!
Oh your time will be concludin'!
Notes
Many thanks to Mike Fitzgerald for permission to add this song to the Union Songs web collection
"I am an Organiser for AEU in ACT. We had an extended dispute with Jon Stanhope and Andrew Barr (ACT Chief Minister and Minister of Education) though out much of 2006. We organized many stop work meetings (with 500-3500 attendees, depending on the type of stop work meeting) and sang most of the following songs, en masse, outside the ACT Legislative Assembly. The dispute was sent to private arbitration and settled when it was clear to the ACT govt. that the members were becoming energised by the stop works and numbers were increasing over the months, not decreasing, and that they quite a few members knew the songs so well that they could sing the songs without their song sheets!
Some songs; words and music written by Mike Fitzgerald. Some songs; words written to traditional / popular tunes by Bill Book and Mike Fitzgerald"
Find more works by Mike Fitzgerald in this collection
union songs..........a selection by mark gregory