Militant unionists face further attacks

BY SUE BOLTON

As the royal commission into the building industry continues its assault on militants in the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, state attacks on the Victorian branch of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union just keep coming.

Federal Court decisions made in Melbourne on July 30 and 31 will deny Victorian AMWU members the right to determine their own state leadership and affairs.

On July 30, Justice Mark Weinberg made an interim ruling that the July 9 AMWU national council decision to stand down Victorian state secretary Craig Johnston was within union rules. However, he ruled that it had failed to give appropriate notice when it decided to appoint Dave Oliver as acting secretary of the union's Victorian branch.

Although many initially believed that AMWU food and confectionery division secretary Bronwyn Halfpenny would now act as secretary of the Victorian branch, in accordance with a decision made on July 8 by the state council, Weinberg's ruling has blocked this, by suspending the relevant order for 24 hours.

AMWU national secretary Doug Cameron hastily convened a telephone hook-up of AMWU national councilors on the morning of July 31 to “legally” reaffirm Johnston's suspension and appoint Oliver in his place. The court reconvened that morning and confirmed Johnston's replacement with Oliver.

Cameron has already begun to shore up his power. The July 21-25 AMWU national conference, dominated by Cameron's faction, decided to give the national council the power to overrule all decisions made by the elected leadership bodies of state branches.

The conference also made the publication of all media statements and leaflets by state branches subject to the approval of the national secretary, and gave the national officials the right to intervene in all industrial disputes where there is a likelihood of legal action.

Cameron has been unrelentingly hostile to the militancy of the Workers' First leadership of the Victorian AMWU branch, which has increased union membership and won some of the best conditions in the country. He is joined by the bosses and state and federal governments, determined to “tame” fighting unions. Johnston and other AMWU leaders are currently facing charges arising out of the 2000 Johnston Tiles dispute — a calculated move that threatens the Workers First leadership.

If the remaining Victorian officials ignore instructions by the AMWU national office and continue to abide by the decisions of the Victorian state council and state conference, it is likely that Cameron will simply move to replace the whole of the current leadership. He could prevent access to the office by any current official who doesn't swear loyalty to him.

This is exactly what happened to the militant leadership of the NSW branch of the Builders Labourers Federation in the early 1970s. That BLF branch, led by Jack Mundey, had transformed pay and safety standards for labourers. It had also supported campaigns to improve workers' lives, including the famous green bans, tenants' rights, the women's rights movement and the early gay and lesbian rights movement. Because of this, most left groups and progressive activists supported the NSW BLF leadership's struggle for survival.

The Victorian AMWU leaders, like the leaders of the Victorian branches of the CFMEU, the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) and the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA), play a similar role to that played by the Mundey leadership in the 1970s.

The Victorian AMWU, CFMEU, ETU and TCFUA branches have begun to rebuild a tradition of worker solidarity — both within different sections of unions and between workers in different unions. They have supported progressive movements, including the S11 2001 protests against the World Economic Forum, the East Timor solidarity movement and the refugees' rights movement.

This is backed by an industrial strategy which puts members' interests first, and is prepared to ignore the unjust and anti-worker Workplace Relations Act when necessary.

This approach has meant that these unions' Victorian members are getting a better deal, and has earned the enmity of governments, bosses and tame-cat union leaders. This is why the AMWU and the CFMEU are under attack. It is imperative that all unionists support both unions against attack — if one lot of militants is successfully removed from leadership, all will be more vulnerable.<|>n

From Green Left Weekly, August 7, 2002.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.