Sam Wainwright, Perth
Led by some of the 107 workers being sued by the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), around 4500 people rallied on August 29 in support of the first workers to face fines under the Howard government's new building industry laws.
The crowd gathered on the Esplanade by the Swan River, the site of the Mandura railway tunnel project where, in February, workers went on strike for 12 days to protest the sacking of their shop steward, Peter Ballard, by building contractor Leighton Kumagai. The crowd then marched to the forecourt of the Perth Concert Hall adjoining the federal court.
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) WA state secretary Kevin Reynolds chaired a rally there, which was addressed by CFMEU officials, WA employment protection minister John Bowler, Australian Council of Trade Unions president Sharan Burrow, WA Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) secretary Chris Cain, Unions WA secretary Dave Robinson and Senator Glen Sterle representing ALP leader Kim Beazley.
Incoming national secretary of the CFMEU construction division Dave Noonan described the attack on the 107 as a historic dispute. "Never before have we seen individual workers prosecuted by their own government for standing up for their mate and the right to have representation in the workplace ...
"This dispute is about intimidation. John Howard wants a work force that is scared ... He wants every one of you to know that if you stand up to the boss his industrial police force will come after you ... But I'm confident that Australian workers, when faced with intimidation from people like John Howard, will not lie down."
Burrow drew attention to the safety issues at stake, saying: "Every week someone dies on a building site, thousands more are injured. Our battle is to save lives, but does the federal government care? No ... This government will only be satisfied when workers are too powerless and intimidated to speak up. Well, we've got a message for the government - that day will never come." Burrow said that the ACTU website has received 5000 messages of support for the 107 workers.
Cain spoke about the MUA's debt to the CFMEU, which gave decisive support during the 1998 dispute with Patrick Stevedores. The WA and Victorian police's failure to break the MUA picket lines at Fremantle and Melbourne's Webb Dock was critical in the dispute. At both locations, building workers reinforced the pickets.
CFMEU officials from interstate presented donations to the ACTU-administered fighting fund. The Victorian and NSW branches donated $50,000 each, and the Queensland branch handed over its first instalment of $8000.
In making the NSW CFMEU's donation, state secretary Andrew Ferguson said: "The reality is that our chequebooks, the courts and the politicians won't decide this battle. It's about the power of working people led by the 107.
"We now have some of the worst labour laws in the world. This battle is not just about working conditions and wage rates; it's far more significant. It's about class, power and democracy. A democracy is not just about getting to cast a vote every four years to elect a politician ... [it] is where working people have got power and rights in their lives, and in no place is that more important than in their workplace."
Contingents from the Australian Services Union (ASU), Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), Electrical Trades Union (ETU), Community and Public Sector Union, MUA, Socialist Alliance and the National Union of Students also attended the protest.
The rally wrapped up with emotional thanks from Mal Peters, one of the 107 and an occupational health and safety representative on the Leighton Kumagai site until he was sacked by the company on August 8 after returning from an interstate speaking tour. A few hundred protesters then crowded into the court, chanting as they went. The case was adjourned until October 18 for a progress report, with the next hearing scheduled for November 1.
Perth residents would be hard pressed to get a sense of the widespread support for the 107 by reading the only daily newspaper, the West Australian. Under the headline, "Low turnout for union rally", it made the ludicrous claim that only 1000 attended what it called a "psychological victory" for the ABCC.
The West Australian has run a campaign of smears and vilification against the CFMEU and its members, climaxing during the Mandura strike when its March 9 editorial declared: "The time has come to take a baseball bat to the union and its strike-happy members and find out how many actually want to work and are prepared to do so under an Australian Workplace Agreement."
From Sydney, Graham Matthews reports that 500 workers rallied at NSW Trades Hall before marching to the ABCC offices. One hundred and seven protesters were symbolically chained together to represent the charged workers. Representatives of the NSW Teachers Federation, NSW Nurses Federation, National Union of Workers, Transport Workers Union (TWU), Financial Sector Union (FSU), National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), AMWU, ASU, LHMU, Rail, Bus and Tram Union (RTBU), Fire Brigades Employees Union (FBEU) and MUA attended, along with a delegation of CFMEU members.
John Sutton, CFMEU construction division national secretary, condemned the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act as denying civil liberties to one section of society. He explained that under the act "almost anything in the building industry is illegal", even short site meetings.
Building workers also face the prospect of being sued for lost earnings by affected companies. Sutton described the threat of six months' jail for refusing to answer the ABCC's questions as "neo-fascism", adding, "Most Australians know nothing about the ABCC's powers. There's a conspiracy of silence in the media."
John Robertson, Unions NSW secretary, commented: "This government isn't stupid in the way it's rolling these laws out. They're not going the movement; they're going individual workers with threats of fines and jail." He called on workers to "stand up for democracy and the real threat to security - John Howard and his miserable government".
Labor MP Craig Emerson told the crowd that a Labor government would "tear up" the Work Choices legislation and "abolish the ABCC". Uniting Church minister Anne Wansbrough, actor Tony Barry and former secretary of the NSW Builders Labourers Federation Jack Mundy also spoke.
Graham Williams reports from Melbourne that some 500 unionists rallied outside the federal court. ACTU secretary Greg Combet told the crowd that, as the rally was taking place, three delegates at an Adelaide workplace were being forced off the job. He reported that the ACTU had set up a fighting fund for the 107 workers and other victims of the new IR laws.
Brian Boyd, Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary, said that Terence Cole, head of the royal commission into the building industry that recommended the formation of the ABCC, "is now investigating the Australian Wheat Board, which is well-known for its corruption, and the directors will walk scot-free. Meanwhile, in the building industry, honest workers are facing fines of $28,000."
Martin Kingham and Dave Oliver, state secretaries of the CFMEU and AMWU respectively, also addressed the rally. Unions and groups present included the CFMEU, AMWU, ETU, RTBU, ASU, FSU, MUA, TWU, Nurses Federation, Australian Education Union, Communication, Electrical and Plumbing Union, Meatworkers Union, Union Solidarity, the Socialist Alliance and Civil Rights Defence.
Liah Lazarou reports from Adelaide that at least 300 workers rallied in Victoria Square and heard the CFMEU's John Kane and Alan Harris speak about the need for solidarity with the 107 workers, as well as the remaining 296 Mandurah project workers who may yet be charged. The ABCC is also seeking to prosecute workers in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, NSW and Queensland.
The rally marched and chanted through King William Street to the stock exchange, where the CFMEU's Justin Feehan read out messages of solidarity and the crowd pledged to continue taking action until the charges against the 107 are dropped.
From Newcastle, Geoff Payne reports that 150 workers attended a lunchtime protest organised by the Newcastle Trades Hall Council, including about 40 Transfield riggers. Speakers included CFMEU organiser Russel Cunningham and ALP MP Kelly Hoare. NTHC secretary Gary Kennedy called on people to "throw Howard out" at the next election.
In Wollongong, Matt Barden reports that 130 workers rallied outside the offices of Liberal Senator Connie Fierravanti-Wells. Mick Lane, one of the 107 workers, said that he had spent the last two weeks in the federal court facing eight charges, each of which carried a penalty of $33,000 or six months' jail. Lane said that the federal government had already spent $1.5 million on the prosecutions.
Solidarity greetings were given by Mark Armstrong, secretary of the southern NSW MUA branch; Darrin Sullivan from the FBEU; NTEU organiser Jo Kowalczyk; and local Labor MP Sharon Bird.
From Canberra, Andrew Hall reports that the Socialist Alliance organised a campaign stall in solidarity with the 107 in Garema Place at lunchtime, distributing hundreds of leaflets about the campaign to raise the issue among local workers.