Jeremy Smith
The national council of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), meeting in Melbourne on September 30-October 2, voted to support the campaign to end the imprisonment of militant unionist Craig Johnston.
Attended by 200 councillors, representing staff at Australia's 38 public universities, the national council meeting also discussed the union's enterprise bargaining campaigns, the federal elections and whether the NTEU should defend students charged in the course of protest actions.
A strong motion of support for jailed former Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) Victorian branch secretary Craig Johnston adopted by the NTEU's Monash University branch committee was circulated at the council meeting. It was scheduled as one of the last items for the meeting to consider.
Supporters of the campaign to free Johnston lobbied furiously throughout the council meeting. There were some heated informal discussions, but also genuine curiosity on the part of some councillors. Many of the discussions revolved around the question of different kinds of violence that occur in industrial disputes, what is legitimate and what can unions like the NTEU defend publicly.
When it became clear that there would be substantial opposition to the Monash motion, as it made no comment on events at 2001 Johnson Tiles industrial dispute, out of which charges were brought against Johnston, the motion's supporters met to consider different options.
Several meetings later, it was decided to amend the motion to focus attention on the key political reasons why Johnston was jailed. The amended motion incorporated the official Victorian Trades Hall Council executive position in full.
The VTHC motion declares that it does "does not condone the excesses" the prosecution alleged were involved in the AMWU's dispute with Johnston Tiles, but criticises the heavy custodial sentence - nine months - handed down to Johnston. It stops short of directing any support to the existing campaign to free Johnston.
Supporters of the original Monash motion consequently drafted an amendment that retained the crucial call for support for the campaign. The motion came to the floor of the council meeting late. However, the issue lost the attention of all but a few of the tired councillors.
Monash councillor Phil Andrews and Melbourne Uni councillor Melanie Lazarrow spoke to the motion. Victorian division secretary Matthew McGowan spoke against, arguing that although Johnston clearly had a strong record of supporting progressive causes, the "excesses" allegedly committed in the dispute were "too great" to overlook.
The seconder of the motion then appealed to councillors to focus on the politicised nature of the court case, regardless of what they thought of events associated with the Johnson Tiles dispute.
The motion was passed with notable support from Queensland councillors and a bloc vote from NSW councillors. Most Victorian councillors voted against the motion with some Deakin University councillors swayed by final arguments to vote in favour.
Later, in discussion of the motion to support students charged in the course of protest actions, NTEU general secretary Grahame McCulloch, speaking on behalf of the union's national officers, told the council that they had made a deliberate decision not to participate in the debate.
The NTEU contained different views on the use of violence, but no single policy position, McCulloch said. Consequently, the national officers decided to stay out of the discussion so as not to influence the council's decision. The motion was passed.
A motion was also passed resolving to explore links with Venezuela's new Bolivarian universities through Education International. That motion also signalled that the NTEU would support activities carried out in Australia in solidarity with the "Bolivarian Revolution" in Venezuela.
Also discussed was the NTEU's campaign to finish the fifth round of enterprise bargaining. This round commenced some 18 months ago and is still incomplete at many universities. Industrial action is forecast at a number of them to finalise agreements by the start of 2005.
The NTEU's capacity to achieve solid gains in enterprise bargaining was reflected on in the context of the possibility of the re-election of the Howard government. Twelve months ago, the NTEU defeated the government's attempts to marginalise it with a strong campaign that included a national strike. It was noted that the NTEU would be very high on the Coalition parties' anti-union hit list if they were returned to office.
[Jeremy Smith is the branch president of the NTEU at the University of Ballarat, a member of Socialist Alliance and seconder of the Craig Johnston motion at the NTEU national council meeting.]
From Green Left Weekly, October 13, 2004.
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