Meredith Burgmann and Yvette Andrews

RESEARCH NOTE

Trade Union Yobbos Inspire Book on Misogyny

A recent book about public misogyny in Australia has created controversy both locally and abroad. The book, The Ernies Book: 1000 Terrible Things Australian Men Have Said About Women, records sexist comments by Australian public figures. The Ernie Awards for sexist remarks have been with us for 15 years but few people realise that their beginnings lie deep within the trade union movement. Just as no one remembers who Oscar actually was, few remember the original Ernie. However women in the trade union movement in the 1980s and 1990s recall him well. Ernie Ecob was the Secretary of the Australian Workers Union (AWU), the old Shearers Union, and was famous for his comment that women only wanted to be shearers for the sex. He also failed to endear himself to women in many other ways. In fact, as Charlie Oliver – the previous AWU Secretary who appointed Ernie to the job – said: 'I've made a blue. I've put a Yobbo in as Secretary'.	1
Those of us involved in the trade union movement in New South Wales had battled with Ernie on many occasions. So in May 1993, when he announced his resignation, Vicki Telfer from the Commonwealth Public Sector Union, suggested that we have a lunch to celebrate. And that's how it all began. We also realised that it was exactly ten years since the Women in Unions Caucus had been formed and decided to celebrate that occasion at the same time. This group was established after another famous case of industrial sexism: in 1983 Barrie Unsworth, Secretary of the NSW Labor Council, announced support for the Miss Australia Quest at an official gathering. When the women delegates began hissing and jeering, he snapped back at us: 'Miss Australia wouldn't face much competition from you lot if she came down here'. Of course, a number of women delegates stormed out. Eventually Unsworth apologised and we all trooped back in. Many years later he said it was the most embarrassing moment of his political life. But some of our supporters amongst the male unionists hadn't quite got the point. At the pub afterwards, one said: 'Never mind dear, I think you're pretty'.	2
So basically the first Ernies function was started by women unionists to protest sexism in the trade union movement. However, it grew from there. The invitation to that first awards celebration announced a 'Grand Farewell Dinner at NSW Parliament House for Ernie "women don't belong in shearing sheds" Ecob' and proclaimed that there would be a presentation of the Ernie Ecob Memorial Trophy for the most bestial remark of the year. The trophy featured a miniature portrait of Ernie Ecob and a sheep rampant atop a brass plinth, a reference to Ernie's connection with the Shearers Union. Guests were advised to wear a 'good frock – something Ernie would approve of' and 40 women came, suitably attired.	3
The winner of the inaugural Ernie Ecob Memorial Trophy was the National Secretary of the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, Joe de Bruyn for his remark: 'All childcare subsidies should be removed and reallocated to women who stayed home to mind their children'. When the Sydney Morning Herald informed Ernie of the event, he retorted: 'it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of ... what do you expect, they've never liked me and I've never liked them'. And then of course he went on to totally endorse the remarks of the inaugural winner: 'Joe has done the right thing ... children should have the full care of their mother ... I believe 90 percent of the problems of this country have been caused by the breakdown of the family unit'.	4
Men in the trade union movement figured heavily during the early years of the Ernie Awards but measures taken to combat sexism in trade unions and the rise of senior women such as Jennie George and Sharan Burrow eventually had an effect. As the labour movement itself cleaned up its act, the piggish remarks from men faded from the scoresheet. That's not to say they hadn't scored well while they were at it. Who can forget classics like the Vehicle Builders Union Secretary, Joe Thompson writing an article called 'Academic Feminists Hurting Families' (1994) or the President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), Martin Ferguson, calling women unionists 'hairy legged femocrats' (1995). Another shocker was the AWU membership campaign which offered discount strippers from an outfit called 'Frisky Business'.	5
The nomination of trade unionists fell off dramatically in the late 1990s with the last union winner of the Industrial 'Silver' Ernie being NSW Labor Council Secretary, Michael Costa (aged 43) who argued that Sharan Burrow (aged 45) was 'too old for the times' when she ran for President of the ACTU. From then on the Industrial award was won by chauvinist bosses or industrial relations commentators. Trade unionists in fact get totally swamped by the new breed of Ozzie bovver boys, the sports stars, and celebrity chefs.	6
However the male unionists have come into their own in the hotly contested race for the 'Good Ernie'. In fact the first 'Good Ernie' was awarded to Labor Council Secretary Peter Sams for his supportive remarks about the National Pay Equity Coalition's submission to the Review of the Wage Fixing Principles in 1994. Groups of male workers also start to be nominated, such as the 83 men at the Carter Holt Harvey factory who refused a pay rise and went on strike until the female office workers at the factory also got better pay and conditions. They overwhelmingly won the 2002 'Good Ernie'.	7
While it is easy to regard the Ernies as just good fun or tasteless male bashing, the Awards have turned out to be a valuable chronicling of public misogyny and, in the case of trade unionism, a useful record of the journey that male unionists have travelled from virulent sexism towards egalitarianism. Let's hope there is no backsliding.	8
Meredith Burgmann, former President of the Academics Union of NSW, and Yvette Andrews, former Public Service Association Delegate at Parliament House, are the joint authors of The Ernies Book: 1000 Terrible Things Australian Men have Said about Women, published by Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2007. <mburgmann@gmail.com> <vetta@bigpond.net.au>

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