A Just Transition for Workers

by Mick Drury

‘Get a job you wankers’
shouts the irate fist passing in his 4x4.
Others wave and blow their horns.

Outside the petro plant for eleven hours now,
it’s been cold and wet.
The workers come and go,
and most don't want to know.

The press have been and done their stuff,
some still denying we’ve had enough,
and the police are here, standing off.

Where does the union stand on this?
Trashing jobs, these radical yobs.

Where do our politicians stand?
Growth at all costs, forget the children to come.

What do the business leaders say?
Keep the subsidies going, and we’ll keep it flowing.

Where do the wretched of the earth stand?
… silent screams.....

And the earth itself?
Just the slow, background sound of extinction.

What are we standing here for?
Keep it in the ground.
A just transition for workers,
a transition to justice for people and planet.