BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS
MELBOURNE "It's crucial that we start to get out of our little boxes", said John Cummins, Victorian president of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), addressing the Victorian Socialist Alliance state conference at Trades Hall on June 28. The Socialist Alliance conference was titled "Uniting to fight for a better world" and attracted more than 120 participants from Melbourne and Geelong.
The opening plenary on the day canvassed the internationalist politics of the alliance. "No refugee ever brought in privatised public transport or the GST", Judy McVey, chairperson of the Victorian Alliance for Refugees and founding member of the Refugee Action Collective, told the conference. McVey also raised a call for a protest against the World Trade Organisation when it meets in Cancun, Mexico on September 13.
"The world is like Orwell's 1984", Cam Walker, campaigns coordinator for Friends of the Earth told the plenary. "The world is divided into permanently warring superpowers. Only it's Muslims who now play the role of the enemy." Walker canvassed a series of political tactics for the movement.
In the "Defend militant unions" panel, Chris Spindler, an organiser with the metals division of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, outlined the difficulties faced by the union in implementing Campaign 2003, which seeks to standardise pay rates, guaranteed entitlements and the 36-hour work week across the industry.
Phil Andrews, activist with the National Tertiary Education Union, outlined the federal government's plan to strip academics of their right to carry out industrial action at industrially sensitive times. "Life inside a university is no different to working inside an education factory", he argued.
Cummins outlined the most recent attacks on the CFMEU, launched under the auspices of the building industry royal commission. The industrial plenary also passed a resolution of congratulations to alliance member Chris Cain, recently elected state secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia in Western Australia.
A series of successful workshops allowed Socialist Alliance activists to plan state campaigns. The "anti-budget" workshop planned Socialist Alliance participation in the community campaign against attacks on government services. The tertiary staff and students workshop planned a broad "fightback" public meeting in defence of public education for early August, while union-specific workshops of teachers, metal workers, public servants and construction workers were held.
In the final session of the day, the alliance's state constitution was successfully amended to allow for the greater participation of non-aligned members in the state executive of the alliance. A state executive and three state conveners were also elected.
From Green Left Weekly, July 2, 2003.
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