BY SUE BULL
MELBOURNE Despite much adverse publicity, 400 supporters of the Skilled Six turned out on August 30 at Williamstown Town Hall for a dinner to raise funds to help cover their legal costs.
It was a tremendous show of solidarity for the four Australian Manufacturing Workers Union officials charged with criminal acts during an alleged run-through of Skilled Engineering last year and the 17 AMWU members who are facing possible charges over alleged incidents at a picket outside Johnson Tiles on June 15, 2001.
Aside from the many AMWU members in attendance, the dinner was also attended by officials and members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Federated Engine Drivers and Firemans Association, the Electrical Trades Union, the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA), the United Firefighters Union and the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union. There was also significant attendance from members of the Socialist Alliance and the Irish Social Club.
Jim Reid, Victorian secretary of the printing division of the AMWU, was the compere for the night. He summed up the feelings of many at the function when he noted how bad it was that the national leadership of the AMWU had refused to pay the legal costs of the members charged or facing charges over incidents at Skilled Engineering and Johnson Tiles especially since the alleged actions occurred in the course of struggles to defend AMWU members' jobs.
CFMEU state secretary Martin Kingham and TCFUA state secretary Michele O'Neil gave solidarity greetings. Kingham noted that AMWU members in Victoria had often shown great solidarity with the CFMEU and there was no way that the CFMEU in Victoria would give up on the Skilled Six solidarity campaign. He also noted that there is a huge attack on union militants generally in Victoria at the moment and that therefore the militants must stand together.
Chris Cain, a rank and file Maritime Union of Australia militant, member of the Socialist Alliance and of the Defend the Unions campaign in Western Australia, also gave greetings. He noted how the support of the CFMEU and the AMWU during the MUA dispute of 1998 had been instrumental in helping to fend off the federal government's attack. He felt this showed why union militants must stand together when under attack from the state or even from within their own union.
Finally Craig Johnston, the embattled state secretary of the AMWU, came to the stage to thunderous applause. He thanked everyone who had helped make the night and the campaign a success. He explained why the solidarity night was important in bringing together all of the left unions and their supporters to unite against such attacks. Johnston noted that it wasn't only in the AMWU that a national leadership displayed little regard in representing the real interests of workers, but how this has been a widespread tendency that threatens to destroy the whole trade union movement.
Throughout the night large sums of money were raised. This included $1000 from the auction of a Ned Kelly suit of armour made and donated by Geelong workers for the Skilled Six Campaign. The winning bid was made on behalf of Kevin Reynolds, the Western Australian CFMEU secretary.
From Green Left Weekly, September 4, 2002.
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