BY MARCE CAMERON
BRISBANE — In a challenge to conservative union officials in the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, AMWU metal division activists will stand for state and national conference delegate positions in the November union election. Green Left Weekly spoke to BRETT CARDINAL, a founding member of the ticket, called Workers Unity.
Cardinal, a former AMWU metal division organiser and a member of the Socialist Alliance, said that Workers Unity had been formed about a year ago. "With a rapidly declining union membership, some delegates saw the need for more membership involvement in the decisions of the union".
In the 1990s, Cardinal worked for a refrigeration company in Brisbane. "We got organised and signed everyone up to the union. I was elected as delegate and we had our first strike in the company's history in Queensland. Now, that company is by far the best paying and with the best conditions. People are lining up from other companies to try and get work there".
Cardinal was an AMWU organiser from early 2000 to late 2002. His efforts, however, to promote membership involvement in the union, his prominent role in an industrial dispute between AMWU members and maintenance contractor Transfield and his association with members of the Socialist Alliance were met with hostility from AMWU Queensland secretary Dave Harrison and national secretary Doug Cameron.
This started to come to a head in late 2002. "I was told by Harrison that my association with the Socialist Alliance was being frowned upon by the national office", Cardinal explained.
Cardinal was then asked by Harrison to sign three things: an undated resignation letter; a letter of support for the national leadership of the union that would be published in Green Left Weekly; and a written apology pledging his support for the state secretary. He was also told to cancel his subscription to Green Left Weekly.
"I refused to sign [the letters]. As my days were numbered, I was sent home for a week, my mobile phone was taken back, I was asked not to contact any [union] members and to return with the letters signed. They made my position untenable."
Cardinal wasn't the only militant unionist targeted by the AMWU national office that year. An official in Victoria and one in Tasmania were also sacked.
Then, on August 19 this year, Maggie May, a metal division organiser employed by the Queensland branch, was sent a fax by Cameron informing her that she would no longer be working for the union. May told Green Left Weekly on August 27 that she believed the reason she was sacked was "because I'm not afraid to speak out" and because of her success in empowering union members to have a real say in the union. May was known to be a supporter of Cardinal and the Workers Unity group.
In 2002 Harrison's re-election campaign featured a fundraising dinner at Government House that was attended by Queensland Labor Premier Peter Beattie, AMWU national secretary Doug Cameron and Transfield Services management. At the time, around 80 AMWU members employed by Transfield at the Caltex petrochemical refinery in Brisbane were on strike over a disputed enterprise bargaining agreement.
Cardinal, who led the dispute for the union, is outraged that Harrison invited Transfield management to support his re-election campaign while 80 Transfield workers were on strike. "You're either for the workers or you're not, and if you're not then you have no place in the union movement. We can no longer sit back and watch our industrial strength withered away by incompetent, uncaring trade union leaders.
"The severe decline in membership and the complete flop of [the national-office run industrial] Campaigns 2002 and 2003 are clear indications that the state secretary is completely out of touch with the concerns of members.
"So we're running for national conference delegates and we hope that [by] going out and campaigning for these positions, we will create a bit of activism and encourage others to get more involved in their union.
"We need to send a clear message to the national leadership of the union that this union belongs to us, the members. We need to grow the membership base through running serious campaigns — for example, industry-wide agreements organised through mass meetings. We need union democracy to ensure that organisers are accountable to the rank and file, not just [to] a few careerists on the union executive.
"We'd like to see a union that pulls out all stops to defend workers, a union that's not frightened to challenge the Coalition's anti-worker legislation, and a union that tries to influence and shape society for the benefit of the working class", said Cardinal. Workers Unity can be contacted by phoning 0438 186 035 or by emailing <workersunity@yahoo.com>.
From Green Left Weekly, September 24, 2003.
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