BY JACKIE LYNCH
MELBOURNE — A solidarity committee has been established by unionists and supporters, following criminal charges of riot, affray, aggravated burglary and criminal damage being laid against six members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.
Those charged include state secretary Craig Johnston and state president John Speight. All are pleading not guilty.
The charges arise from an industrial dispute with Skilled Engineering, a labour hire firm which offers only casual and contract-based employment.
The dispute started when Johnson Tiles, in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, sacked 29 AMWU and Electrical Trades Union members. Skilled Engineering was then hired to replace the workers, and did so with just 10 employees, all of whom crossed a picket line the unionists set up in protest.
State prosecutors are now alleging that at one point during the dispute about 70 union supporters entered the plant and got the scabs to leave. However, not one person has been charged with this.
Instead the charges brought against the six relate to an incident on June 15, when it is alleged that the AMWU officials went to Skilled Engineering in balaclavas and damaged computers and pictures. Nobody has alleged that anybody was assaulted or hurt, yet if convicted the unionists face up to 25 years in jail.
The officials charged have been involved in militant union campaigns, including the pioneering of "pattern bargaining", which attempts to replace shop-by-shop bargaining with industry-wide struggle. This was successfully applied in the recent TriStar struggle.
The Victorian AMWU leadership has also been campaigning for a 36-hour week as the solution to growing unemployment.
In the past year, the Victorian AMWU has backed the anti-corporate S11 and M1 protests, supported International Women's Day, supported trade unionists from Indonesia and the Philippines and shown practical and moral support for the weekly blockade of Nike's city superstore.
Support for the unionists has been flowing in from many progressive campaigns supported by the AMWU, as well as from other unionists. Activists interstate have also offered support.
The solidarity committee, called Defend the Skilled Six, is organising an August 17 band night to cover court costs around the theme: "They've been there for us, we're there for them!"
To join the campaign phone 0419 747 757 or 0425 784 819.