BY SUE BULL
MELBOURNE Martin Kingham, the Victorian state secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), faces the possibility of six months' imprisonment. Kingham was formally charged with being in contempt of the royal commission into the construction industry and will appear in the Victorian Magistrates Court on October 24.
Kingham has steadfastly refused to hand to the commission the names and phone numbers of stewards who attended union training courses. He would not comply with the demands for fear that those on the list would be harassed and blacklisted. He said: "I would have rocks in my head if I was to agree to the demands of the commissioner and assist him to harass and intimidate the union's front line, our shop stewards and our activists."
According to Kingham, the stewards had done nothing wrong and were simply trained in "negotiating skills and other skills necessary to represent workers".
Kingham was charged only a few hours after a stewards' meeting which had endorsed a wage claim proposal, which will now be voted on at a mass members' meeting on October 3. The proposal may result in an industry-wide agreement without any industrial disruption in Victoria.
According to Kingham, the laying of charges against him had been accelerated to assist workplace relations minister Tony Abbott in a point-scoring exercise. He accused Abbott of trying to "pump up" industrial strife in Victoria prior to the state election, which is expected before Christmas.
However, Kingham said that if he were jailed, the union would act in a disciplined fashion. "The only industrial action will be that which is authorised and coordinated by the executive of the union. It's our intention to keep our people where they can defend workers' conditions the best working on the job."
Other union leaders have come out in support of Kingham, including Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Leigh Hubbard. Hubbard said: "We support the decision to protect the interests and privacy of workers who attended union training courses."
Hubbard went on to say: "Never forget that in 1996, the then industrial relations minister Peter Reith, made it clear that attacking unions in four key industries was a key priority for the Howard government. Building and construction was one of these industries and we can see that in the royal commission. [The commission] has had an anti-union agenda from the start and this charge against Martin Kingham is yet another example of its lack of balance. There are many examples of unsavoury activities of employers, but the commission seems to overlook these."
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, according to Hubbard, has just released a report on Australia's industrial relations record claiming that workers' rights are being violated and that the right to join a union is under threat.
A very surprising ally to emerge during this process is populist radio personality Alan Jones. In his Today Show on 2GB, Jones said: "It tends to be fashionable in this country to have a hit at the union movement. And I have to say I've been guilty of that in the past. But when you see the farce that is Ansett and the extent to which companies just go belly up and leave workers whistling with nothing, then perhaps some sections of the union movement aren't tough enough."
Jones went on to say: "There has been a fairly major exercise in union-bashing going on for some months, calling itself a royal commission into the building industry ... the Victorian secretary of the CFMEU has been charged and faces a fine or jail because he refused twice in July and August to give the names of shop stewards who attended CFMEU training workshops in 2001-2002. So a union official is subject to criminal charges because he refuses to give up the names of union activists. He simply said he wasn't going to put the livelihood of them and their families at risk."
Jones also quoted figures about the commission that had been released by the CFMEU. Notably that 97% of Commission hearing time had been devoted to anti-union topics, 604 employers were called to give evidence but only 33 workers. Only 3% of the witnesses were ordinary workers, while 71% were employers or their representatives. And only 2% of hearing time had been spent on topics that didn't adversely affect the union.
He finished by saying: "Now surely in all of these things fairness has to be real as well as apparent. But a bloke refuses to give up names of his shop stewards and he faces criminal charges. It sounds fairly un-Australian".
It is believed that Kingham will have a huge solidarity escort to his trial on October 24, which is just four days before Australian Manufacturing Workers Union officials face contempt hearings over allegations arising from the peaceful gathering outside their offices in August.
From Green Left Weekly, October 2, 2002.
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