Union Songs
Our Unity Will Pull Us Through
(to tune of "Foggy Dew")
As down the road one chilly morn
To the civic square drove I
There squads and lines of marching folk
In hundreds passed me by
Their chants did hum, their battle drums
Did sound a loud tattoo
While the teachers' song rang loud and strong
'Our unity will pull us through'Right proudly high in Canberra Town
Held they up their banners high
T'was better to loose a half day's pay
Than comply with Stanhope's lies
And from the ranks of the loyal crowd,
Defiant shouts were roared
While Stanhope's threats rained 'gainst the proud
And gallant teacher hoards
While back in the schools some teachers cowered
Afraid to stand and fight
For teachers, schools and students too
They can't tell wrong from right
But to and fro to these strikes I go
And i kneel and pray for you
For slavery's price is the coward's choice
But our courage will pull us throughSo back down the road i drove again
And my heart with joy did fly
As I parted then with valiant men
And women who fought the fight
They stood their ground and suffered hard
To block the lies and greed
Their bravery's feat is a victory sweet
That's won by unity
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