Sue Bolton, Melbourne
A petition seeking the release of jailed trade union leader Craig Johnston was launched at a 250-strong public meeting of unionists from Melbourne and Geelong on September 23. It is envisaged that thousands of people from around Australia will sign the petition calling on Victorian Premier Steve Bracks and his attorney-general, Rob Hulls, to show clemency and release Johnston from jail.
The petition notes that Johnston is the only person involved in the 2001 Johnson Tiles industrial dispute who is serving a custodial sentence for his involvement, despite there being no difference between his role in the protest and that of his 17 co-accused. Johnston, the petition says, has been treated differently because of his prominent role as a leading trade union official.
Mobilising to get the maximum number of signatures on the petition is "one way that we can try to right a wrong", Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union Victorian branch president John Cummins told the meeting.
The petition will be presented to the government in late October or early November. The presentation will accompanied by a mass protest.
Johnston's lawyer, Rob Stary, explained that Johnston was "engaged in traditional trade union values, collective action with his comrades, the other organisers and rank-and-file members in trying to protect those jobs [at Johnson Tiles]. But Craig Johnston was singled out. When he entered the Johnson Tiles factory with 40 or 50 other people, there were 16 other people who were nominated as being involved in that campaign, and those people rightfully got the benefit of a bond and a small fine when the judge who heard the case said they were involved in a legitimate industrial grievance.
"They then went on to occupy the Skilled Engineering office, and funnily enough, the only people who got charged, even though there were 40 or 50 people who went to those premises, were people who the police could identify as either being organisers or officials. That included the president of the union, other organisers, and a number of shop stewards. The one person who didn't get the benefit of a good behaviour bond was Craig Johnston."
Cummins said: "Mistakes were made, things got out of hand and excesses happened. But I feel strongly that [Johnston's] certainly not a criminal and should not be locked up in jail for nine months.
"There's a saying that 'Only those who do nothing make no mistakes'. I'm from the school that believes that when a comrade's going to be chopped up for real or perceived mistakes, that you don't stand back and let them burn, or worse still, assist in the burning of them.
"This has all been about doing a hatchet job on Craig Johnston, settling scores with Craig Johnston, fitting with the current climate of trying to criminalise industrial behaviour and giving a clarion call of deterrence to any trade union official who would dare commit themselves to fighting hard for their members in whatever industrial dispute they are involved in."
Cummins told the meeting that from the outset, "Craig said that if it really comes down to the line, I'm in the business of getting everyone else off and I'm prepared to take the fall. And you wouldn't expect the Craig Johnston that we know to say anything else, because that's the mark of the man, that's the mark of the trade union leader that I think the trade union movement needs more of."
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) metal division state secretary Steve Dargavel described the political situation for unions prior to the election of Craig Johnston as AMWU metal division secretary in 1998 and state secretary in 2000. He described how the abolition of Victorian awards by Premier Jeff Kennett's Coalition government and award stripping by Prime Minister John Howard's Coalition government meant the wholesale loss of conditions in many areas in manufacturing.
In this period, prior to Johnston's election, AMWU members suffered too many industrial defeats, said Dargavel. Members responded by seeking "a more active, more militant, response", he added.
"It was an inevitable response to the militant attitude of the employers. And we started to see the election of more militant tickets, not just in the AMWU, but in a number of unions. The AMWU was reorganised and became far more aggressive in its industrial and political approach. We became much more on the front foot.
"The stories stopped being about a number of unfortunate defeats and became more about employers complaining bitterly about this militant bunch of people at the AMWU."
Dargavel said that at one Labor Party national conference in Hobart some years ago, there was a lobbyist employed by Shell whose job was to work the Australian Labor Party caucus and certain figures within that party to complain about Johnston.
Dargavel compared Johnston's situation to other situations in the labour movement when property has been damaged and in another situation, union officials were involved in a punch-up. In the first case, the official was given a $100 fine, and the official is still held in high regard by all political tendencies in the AMWU. In the case of the punch-up, no court action was pursued.
These two situations reflect a double standard where Johnston has been thoroughly vilified for the Johnson Tiles/Skilled Engineering protest in which there was a small amount of property damage and there were no threats of violence towards people.
Victorian Trades Hall Council president and Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union state secretary Michele O'Neil told the meeting that the trade union movement was already "missing Craig". She said "We need more union leaders like him who are trying to reform unions. Craig has always been there when the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union needed it the most. There's a few notable campaigns where, without the intervention of Craig and others at a critical moment, disputes would have been lost. That's real solidarity and puts real meaning into the word 'comradeship'."
Cummins agreed, adding: "The hatchet job on Craig is really a challenge to the trade union movement to get mobilised to be able to redress these sorts of wrongs."
[The petition is available on the Green Left Weekly website, or by emailing <sueb@dsp.org.au>, faxing 03 9341 3427, or phoning 0413 377 977]
From Green Left Weekly, September 29, 2004.
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