BY SUE BOLTON
MELBOURNE — Four of the seven Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) members charged over alleged vandalism during a "run-through" at office of Skilled Engineering in Box Hill on June 15, 2001, have been committed to stand trial.
On June 20, the final day of the committal hearing, magistrate Peter Couzens ordered AMWU Victorian secretary Craig Johnston, John Danby, Linda Pope and Terry Bradley to stand trial on October 8 on charges of riot, affray, criminal damage and aggravated burglary.
However, charges against AMWU state president John Speight, and union activists Greg Warren and Tony Mavromatis, were dismissed.
During the proceedings, police admitted that the process of identifying the seven trade unionists accused of vandalising the Skilled Engineering offices was flawed. The day after the incident, a photograph of Johnston had accompanied an article in the Melbourne Age about the alleged run-through. The police then showed this newspaper photograph to witnesses for the purposes of identification.
Police admitted that it was unsuitable to use the Age photograph as it could "subconsciously influence" witnesses.
Although a magistrate last year banned publication of images of the unionists after lawyers argued identification of the accused was the central issue in the case, the police did not make any inquiries about media reports that could have interfered with the identification process between the June 15, 2001, incident and the laying of the charges on July 6.
The court also heard that witnesses did not begin identifying the accused until a month after the incident. In the meantime, they had seen newspaper articles and photos which connected Johnston to the case, potentially prejudicing the identification process. Most witnesses did not identify or describe any of the accused in their initial hand-written statements about the incident, which were written on the day of the incident.
The charges are related to an industrial dispute at Johnson Tiles in Bayswater. Johnson Tiles decided to contract out its maintenance work and sacked its 29 maintenance workers. The company provocatively hired Skilled Engineering to send other workers to cross the picket line and take the sacked workers' jobs. Skilled Engineering refused to employ any of the original workers.
Seventeen AMWU members, including Johnston, are also being charged with a number of offences at the Johnson Tiles premises just prior to the "run-through" of the Skilled Engineering office. The charges mainly relate to the abuse of scabs for taking workers' jobs. The Johnson Tiles case goes to a committal hearing in August. The 17 AMWU members include nine of the sacked workers.
It was almost a year before Johnson Tiles pressed charges against the unionists, indicating that political pressure could have been brought to bear on the company. Federal workplace relations minister Tony Abbott has been calling for employers to press charges against unionists, even after a dispute has concluded.
Abbott, Victorian Labor Premier Steve Bracks and a number of employers have made it clear that they oppose the leadership of the Victorian AMWU branch because of its militant defence of members' jobs and working conditions. They have made no secret of the fact that they would prefer a tame-cat leadership to replace the current leadership.
National AMWU secretary Doug Cameron has chimed in with this anti-union campaign against the Victorian AMWU by releasing to the media a letter he sent to Johnston calling on him to step down from his position of AMWU Victorian state secretary.
Cameron's call prejudices the trial. It is designed to help create the impression that Johnston is guilty before he has had a chance to prove himself innocent.
According to an article in the June 21 Age, if Johnston is convicted of a proscribed offence carrying a three-month jail term, under section 227 of the Workplace Relations Act, he will be barred from holding union office for five years.
Cameron has also obstructed AMWU members' efforts to defend themselves legally. The Victorian branch voted to cover the legal costs of the unionists charged, as the charges relate to an industrial matter.
Cameron has initiated court proceedings to try to block the union from funding the legal defence. This is especially scurrilous when nine of the AMWU members charged were workers at Johnson Tiles who had lost their jobs. Cameron's comes at a time when there is a huge campaign against the union leadership from both the Victorian and federal governments. The legal bill could amount to $1 million.
AMWU members, other unionists and their supporters in Melbourne, who appreciate how much support the AMWU in Victoria has given to other workers in struggle, to the campaigns for East Timor's independence and the rights of refugees are organising a solidarity campaign with the charged unionists.
To get involved, phone Chris Spindler on 0425 784 819.
From Green Left Weekly, June 26, 2002.
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