File spoon-archives/marxism-general.archive/marxism-general_1998/marxism-general.9804, message 33


Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 13:09:15 +0200
From: Hugh Rodwell <m-14970-AT-mailbox.swipnet.se>
Subject: M-G: ILWU statement on Australian docks battle


This is from LabourNet

http://www.labournet.org.uk/

Cheers,

Hugh

____________________________


Forwarded From The International Longshore & Warehouse Union
1188 Franklin St.
San Francisco,CA 94109
(415)775-0533 Fax (415)775-1302

Bosses and government provoke major confrontation in Australia

The Australian war on the waterfront moved into high gear as a major
employer, Patrick Stevedore Co., sacked 2,100 of its unionized workforce at
four facilities on the island continent April 7 and made plans to replace
them through non-union subcontractors. The companys action came as workers
at Patricks terminal in the capital city of Sydney rejected its latest pay
offer and unanimously endorsed a seven-day strike at a mass meeting.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), which represents waterfront work
ers, has asked workers to remain united and not accept individual contracts
with Patrick. The conservative Australian government, which has openly
vowed to break the MUA, is up to its eyeballs in the union-busting scheme.
It allowed Patrick to train serving members of the Australian military in
the United Arab Emirates as scab longshore worker s late last year. The
plot was aborted when it was uncovered and made public. The government has
announced it will back redundancy pay plan for the fired workers with
taxpayer money, up to (Aus)$ 250 million.

The MUA immediately went to federal court and obtained an order enjoining
Patrick from hiring scabs or transferring assets. Peter Reith said that was
pointless, and he will get his chance to say it again under oath April 15
when the judge hears the case, as the union has asked for a summons to
compel his appearance in court.

Meanwhile, the Australian Workers Union (AWU) put the government and
Patrick on notice that it will endorse a national oil strike. The
Australian Competition and Consumer Council wrote AWU saying major
government sanctions, including fines and injunction s, may be levied under
the Trade Practices Act. The International Transport Workers Federation
(ITF) is asking all affiliates to contact shipping lines and agencies and
express their solidarity with the MUA.

ILWU International President Brian McWilliams has requested all longshore
locals contact the shipping lines that service Australia from their ports
and put them on notice that the union is extremely displeased with Patricks
actions. Patrick locked out unionized dockworkers Jan. 28 at Webb Docks in
Melbourne and leased the facility to the non-union Producers and Consumers
Stevedoring Co., a front for the National Farmers Federation, an employers
group connected to the rightist govern ment of Prime Minister John Howard.

The government's stated intent in provoking this dispute is to break the
unions hold on waterfront work by establishing scab docks. In support of
their locked-out mates in Melbourne, the workers at Patricks Sydney
terminal refused overtime work. Reith warned Patrick that it would be in
violation of the pro-employer Workplace Relations Act if they paid workers
during such a protest. So Patrick withheld the workers pay for eight days
of their regular work. In response the MUA declared an eight-day strike in
Sydney beginning March 24.

Even before the mass sackings, employer defections from the belligerent
tactics continued, suggesting that the NFF, Patrick Stevedore Co. and the
rightist government may overplay their hand. The Pastoralists' and
Graziers' Association (PGA), an agribusiness group, issued a joint
statement with the MUA warning the NFF against a proposed scab dock in
Fremantle. Past experience has clearly shown that the introduction of
companies or organizations based on confrontation and not cooperation were
not in the overall best interests of either the maritime or farming
communities, their statement said.

PGA also reported record container throughput in the past few months, and a
30 percent decrease in livestock loading costs. These farmers converged
60-strong on Fremantle with the stated aim of bettering relations with the
MUA. Other company leaders, such as SeaLands Andy Andrews, have come out in
support of negotiated contracts and labor peace through compromise,
claiming the productivity on union docks ranks well up in worldwide
efficiency. A joint union-management committee has sent out invitations to
farm and other user groups to visit SeaLand and see first hand how unions
and management working together get the best results, the MUAs March 19
press release from Adelaide said.

The Australian Peak Shippers Association delivered a major economic blow to
Patrick when it advised exporters to turn shipping away from Patrick. APSA
went much further when they stated that Patrick's problems were
self-inflicted. Patrick's relations with the union are most unlikely ever
to be restored, Frank Beaufort, president of APSA, was quoted as saying in
the March 26 Journal of Commerce. We see the dispute at Patrick going on
and on until Patrick gets out of the industry.

These breaks in management ranks reveal their concern that the conservative
government of John Howard and his many former NFF colleagues now in
government might harm profits if they provoke a major dock war. Australian
media analysts have speculated that the obvious provocation by the
government is a move to bolster Howards share of seats in parliament by
blaming the labor movement for the touch of Asian economic flu their
economy is feeling. Australian law against primary and secondary boycotts
is as fascist as the British Thacherite laws after which they are modeled,
and all unions face expropriation of assets and jail for any support
actions. Needless to say this violates the ILO agreements.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports the Australian government is prepared to
fight the ITF at its headquarters in the UK if it interferes , though at
this moment the ITF is mobilizing massive international support for
Australia's working class. The government is up to its eyeballs in this
from the moment it took power in 1966 (?). Not only in the abortive Dubai
scheme, it even paid NFF employees to rewrite the Workplace Relations Act,
the very law under which the workers could be prosecuted . and Workplace
Relations Minister Peter Reith, has called on the MUA and the Australian
labor movement not to overreact.




     --- from list marxism-general-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---

   

Driftline Main Page

 

Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005