BY JOHN MCGILL
ADELAIDE Janet Giles, former president of the South Australian branch of the Australian Education Union (AEU), was recently elected unopposed as the secretary of the South Australian United Trades and Labor Council (UTLC). She spoke to Green Left Weekly about unionism and political activism.
Giles believes that the priorities for the UTLC are: to increase the number of union members, particularly among young people, women and casual workers; to reinstall industrial issues as the core function of the UTLC; to influence public policy for the benefit of the working people of South Australia; to support unions working together more collaboratively as a movement; and to assist unions to become more activist and campaign based.
"I think there are some real leaders in the South Australian union movement that are unrecognised, that have built delegate structures, that are focussed on building power at the workplace and we want to build on those things", said Giles.
"The problem in the past has been that the council has operated sometimes as if it is something separate from the trade union movement. It is at the workplace level that the union movement is going to grow, not from a peak body level. My aim is to provide a public image of the trade union movement that helps the work that unions are doing in becoming more activist and more relevant as organisations."
Giles believes that unions are facing a critical struggle, with employers and the federal government working together to undermine the most militant unions and promoting stereotypes of unionist violence and aggression to mask their attacks. The prime targets are the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU).
"The connection of the CFMEU with social movements has been there forever", she said. "It's the same with the AMWU. They take a broad view of what society we want to live in. And the MUA is an international union, they're interested in global connections.
"Of course these are the targets. They are the ones who [raise the] fundamental differences between the conservatives and more progressive people."
One of the federal government's most aggressive attacks on working people is the royal commission into the building industry. "At the moment, what we are trying to do is get information out about the commission and its operations. The fact that it is basically a rigged process that's got a political agenda and has nothing to do with corruption or organised crime in the building industry", Giles explained.
As to the future, "It will require, once it starts building up more momentum, a joint community and cross-union response, because this is not just an attack on the CFMEU, it's an attack on trade unionism, collectivity and the right for working people to organise."
Giles has spoken at refugees' rights protests. "We have an important role to educate our members about these issues ... it is a difficult one because the people the union movement represents, are often the ones that feel most threatened about this, because they are often on the precarious side of employment themselves."
This raised the question of conflict between international solidarity and union-led nationalism. "I don't actually have a problem with people trying to look after workers in their own country", responded Giles.
"I don't have a problem with national pride. I do have a problem with the sort of mad nationalism that leads to racism. I think it is important we build our own identity as a country and look after ourselves. I believe that protectionism is a dirty word, but the countries where the work force is well organised and protect their own jobs are the ones that do look after themselves. They don't let themselves fly in the winds of free trade around the world. We would want workers around the world to look after themselves within their countries as well.
"[Handouts to Australian businesses] is not a good way to go, but if we lost our car industry here we would disappear, because we are heavily dependent on it. The answer is not to keep pumping money in to big corporations to keep them here. The answer is to make sure that we take some control, don't leave our economy open to the market. That we do some planning, build a broad diversity of industries that are partly state supported, in terms of planning and supporting infrastructure."
Giles was involved in the S11 2000 protest against the Melbourne World Economic Forum meeting. "That was one of the most life changing experiences I ever had", she said. She travelled to Melbourne on a special train organised by the AMWU with contingents from the CFMEU and the AEU.
"The beautiful thing about [S11 2000] was the incredible collection of diverse groups and people, all concerned about the same agenda. I met farmers, public servants, men, women, young, old, professionals, white collar, unemployed, a real mixture.
"There's not much point sitting down around the table with people who are hell bent on global profit and increasing their own power. We have to build community movements against this and put pressure on them. When people crossed the picket lines and went inside to try to persuade those inside, they weren't seeing the real picture."
From Green Left Weekly, August 14, 2002.
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