Round one to the wharfies |
The wharfies' victory in Cairns last month against International Purveyors' attempts to replace them with non-union labour provided a much needed shot in the arm for workers across the country.
Despite Peter Reith's personal connections with International Purveyors and his and ex-minister Sharpe's intentions of using this dispute to showcase the 'wonders' of their government's anti-union Workplace Relations Act, and despite their media mouthpieces at Sixty Minutes dutifully preparing the ground the week before with their 'expose' of so-called rorts on the waterfront, round one went resoundingly to the Maritime Union (MUA) and international solidarity.
Because of their fine traditions of union solidarity and strength, waterside workers internationally are at the forefront of the bosses' continuing attempts to undermine the rights and conditions of all workers, and they know it.
There can be little doubt that the ongoing two year battle of the Liverpool dockers in England and the international support they are continuing to get from waterside workers worldwide (including Australia), helped determine the outcome of this dispute.
Reith's dream of a non-unionised company taking on the waterfront received a further blow the week after the MUA victory in Cairns, when a new stevedoring company being set up in Sydney announced it was currently negotiating employment conditions with the Maritime Union.
Unfortunately however, whilst round one was a great victory, the fight is not yet over and it is not so much a matter of if, as when, the next round will begin. The government recently directed the Royal Australian Navy to award a contract to a private port services provider on the condition that the company employ staff on non-union individual contracts. They are hell-bent on seeing a return to the days of the 'Hungry Mile' when waterside bosses could pick heads daily from a casual, down-trodden and desperate workforce.
So whilst the MUA were this time able to avoid a full on confrontation with the WRA legislation which basically outlaws effective picketing and action, international solidarity alone will not necessarily be enough the next time around. All eyes are now on the miners for the next stage of this struggle - one that all workers have a stake in.
'The award for the nation's most inept media performance this week must go to Radio 2UE's right-wing demagogue Alan Jones, who had an interview arranged with John Sharp on Wednesday morning but agreed, for reasons that we are sure had nothing to do with rampant bias, not to ask any questions about travel rorts. So they talked about the rorts of wharfies instead.' From the Sydney Morning Herald, September 27th.
By Robyn Hohl
The NSW Labor Party's State conference in early October overwhelmingly rejected the plans of Labor Premier Bob Carr and Treasurer Egan for Australia's largest privatisation. It was the first time in over 50 years that a Labor leader had been defeated at conference. Such was the opposition to the projected $25 billion sale of the NSW power industry that Carr and Egan were booed, hissed and jeered as they spoke.
Despite this, it was made clear that this was not the end of the matter and the chairman of Pacific Power, Fred Hilmer, has warned of job cuts within 18 months if Pacific Power does not receive $500 million to $1billion to expand its development business into Asian markets. There is also the matter of the planned privatisation of the TAB to which little or no opposition has been raised. So whilst this outcome of conference is to be applauded, it would be a bad mistake to imagine the battle against privatisation in NSW has been finally won.
[Editor's note: The privatisation disease has spread to Tasmania, with the state government planning to sell off part of the Hydro Electric Commission. The proposal follows the sell off of the state's rail system to a US consortium.]