By Willie Jackson

Do you think the protest from the unions was just a little bit over the top?," I asked my great mate Unite union boss Matt McCarten on radio this week.

"No way!" he said, "we're in a war and this is just the beginning."

Matt was responding to my questions about the trade union activists who attempted to disrupt the National Party conference last weekend.

The unionists were rightfully protesting against a Government which has decided to make things tougher for Kiwi workers.

The 90-day law will give employers the right to get rid of employees as it suits them, with no protections for the worker.

As well, union access will be restricted and workers will have to provide a doctor's certificate when they take a sick day off.

These changes have been described by Labour leader Phil Goff as an attack on Kiwi workers' conditions and wages.

And he's right.

But in a strange and twisted way he should be grateful for this development.

Goff must be relieved that finally the Tories are acting like the ugly Tories he knew they always were.

In fact, it was looking so bad for Goff that Key was starting to look like a Labour Party Prime Minister!

Key's latest moves though have changed all that.

And if he ever was going to make major changes to our industrial laws, now is probably the most appropriate time given he's 20 points ahead in the opinion polls.

The union's protest was necessary to re-establish credibility for themselves, as they had become very much a non-event.

Their decline started in 1991 when the leaders of the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) refused to initiate a general strike against the Employment Contracts Act.

This was despite the call from thousands in the membership that action should be taken against an act from a Tory government that was intent on destroying the unions.

The movement has been on a downward spiral since that betrayal from the union leadership.

Many unions have sold their souls to the Labour Party and only a few have any credibility left.

In 2002 the biggest union, the Engineers, collaborated with the Labour Party to ensure their candidate Lynn Pillay would win the Waitakere seat.

Her selection effectively brought to an end the Alliance party, a party which fought for workers' rights and a party I was proud to be a part of.

That decision from the Engineers ensured a right-wing approach from a supposed Labour government for the next six years as Helen Clark partnered up with the likes of Peter Dunne and Winston Peters.

We barely heard a whisper from the unionists during that time as many of them had entered Parliament under Labour and the rest were content with the crumbs they were thrown.

The unions have a chance now to re-establish their credibility in their fight against the Government's current industrial policy, though it's a chance that they don't deserve given their sycophantic, sickening support for Labour.

No doubt it'll be their last-chance saloon.

Sunday News, 25th July 2010.