Ian Jamieson, Perth
Since the Coalition government was re-elected in 2004, workers around Australia have been waiting for the union movement to begin to organise against the federal government's anti-union agenda. Almost immediately after the federal election, PM John Howard's government announced that industrial relations "reform" was its top priority. Finally, plans are starting to be laid by the union movement in several states for mass resistance against the anti-union laws.
The federal government will reveal its industrial relations legislation to a meeting of state premiers on June 3, when it hopes to convince them to hand over the areas covered by the state industrial relations systems to the federal government.
On May 17, UnionsWA, representing more than 30 unions in Western Australia, decided unanimously to endorse a rally in Perth on June 30, which will coincide with similar actions in Victoria and Queensland.
The rally will be part of a week of action, backed by the Australian Council of Trade Unions, to protest the federal Coalition government's impending industrial law changes. June 30 is the day before the Coalition assumes control of both houses of parliament, when passage of a raft of anti-union legislation can be assured.
In the lead-up, UnionsWA has called for all union delegates and activists to meet at the Perth Convention Centre on June 1. Officials and activists are confident that more than 1000 people will attend to hear further details of Howard's legislation and to plan and coordinate opposition to the laws. The mass delegates' meeting will also take part in a protest organised by the National Tertiary Education Union and the Australian Education Union (AEU) on June 1 against the federal government's attempts to force individual employment contracts in higher education and introduce privatised TAFE colleges.
The Maritime Union of Australia has committed to building the delegates' meeting and the week of action, and intends to send busloads of seafarers and wharfies to the June 30 protest. Like a number of unions, the MUA is also considering a stoppage on June 30 to allow all members to attend.
Mike Byrne reports from Brisbane that after one-and-a-half weeks of unconfirmed rumours that the Queensland Council of Unions was planning to call a mass union protest on June 30, a leaflet publicising this finally appeared on the QCU website on May 20.
The QCU is organising a lunchtime protest in the traditional rallying place, King George Square. Some unions have already decided to take strike action. Green Left Weekly understands that the construction unions will be taking industrial action, and that the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union will join them. The Australian Nursing Federation is also discussing the possibility of industrial action.
It is likely that protests will also occur in regional areas. Plans for a June 30 lunchtime rally were announced at the Cairns May Day march. Quite large May Day marches occurred in Mount Isa, Cairns, Townsville and the Gold Coast.
The details of the Brisbane protest are: "Your rights at work are worth fighting for! Day of action against federal IR changes", Thursday June 30, 12.15pm at King George Square.
In Hobart, Alex Bainbridge reports that Unions Tasmania has called an indoor protest rally for June 30 at the City Hall, which holds 1600 people.
AEU state manager Chris Lane told a May 19 AEU delegates' meeting that the plan is to pack the hall to the rafters. If this is achieved it will be the largest union protest meeting in Tasmania in more than a decade.
The theme of the action is "Your rights at work — worth fighting for".
From Green Left Weekly, May 25, 2005.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.