Re: Native English

Al in Dallas wrote:
On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 12:31:55 +1100, Peter Moylan <peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In the case of specialists, there is a longstanding argument between the government and the Painters and Doctors Union over who is to blame for the shortage. It seems very likely to me that the established specialists are indeed trying to keep the competition down.

House painters or artsy-fartsy painters have joined forces with physicians in Australia?

Sorry; obscure local reference. Half a century ago, at the peak of the
power of right-wing governments, there was considerable industrial
disputation throughout the country. Fights between companies and
workers' unions were common, and so were strikes. (Right now we again
have a government of the far right, but the present government nipped
the problem in the bud by making most strikes illegal.) The biggest
strikes of all were at the seaports, and one of the unions most commonly
involved was the Painters and Dockers Union. The reputation of the
Painters and Dockers Union was aggravated by rumours that they had
connections with the Communist Party (probably true) and with organised
crime (probably false, but possible).

At some later stage, somebody noticed that the most powerful labour
union in the country was the Australian Medical Association. Since
then, you'll occasionally hear the AMA referred to as the Painters and
Doctors Union.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org

Please note the changed e-mail and web addresses. The domain
eepjm.newcastle.edu.au no longer exists.
My e-mail addresses at newcastle.edu.au will probably remain "live"
for a while, but then they will disappear without warning.
The optusnet address still has about 5 months of life left.
.

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