By Anthony Benbow
PERTH — Flickering lights normally cause most word processor users to break into a sweat, fearing imminent loss of power and their document. However, it was a source of hope for this correspondent last week — an indication that the picket lines at Kwinana and Muja power stations south of Perth were still in place. All over Perth industry slowed as Western Power enforced restrictions.
The usual government-inspired media hysteria appeared, denouncing power workers for "plunging essential services into darkness". Only weeks ago, that same work force put in a round-the-clock effort, restoring electricity supplies cut by wild storms.
The concerns raised then about the management and maintenance of WA's power grid were subdued — although the effects on schools, hospitals and the community were far more severe.
Following an industrial relations commission (IRC) order, power workers returned to work on April 11. This strike started when Western Power threatened breaches of the existing enterprise bargaining agreement, and should serve as an indicator of what will follow if the Court government pushes ahead with its "third wave" of industrial relations laws.
The "third wave" is descended from the "second wave", which the WA union movement defeated in 1995. Payroll deductions of union dues are outlawed; officials' right of entry to workplaces is severely restricted; "political" expenditure (which includes assisting rallies and community actions) is illegal unless "a majority of members agree" (although all unions already have bodies elected by a majority and empowered to make such decisions).
And who could forget the "secret ballots" without which no industrial action — including bans and stop-work meetings — can take place? State labour relations minister Graham Kierath claims it will take "a few days" to organise such a ballot. Union officials well acquainted with the structure and functioning of the IRC estimate the process will take up to seven weeks.
The IRC and the minister will also be given powers to order "essential services" workers back to work immediately, irrespective of any ballot result. (Individual workers denied their own "essential services" through loss of job or wage cuts have no such protection.)
Two-pronged campaign
The response of the state's union movement has been impressive. A meeting of the WA Trades and Labour Council on April 1 voted in favour of a two-pronged campaign: industrial action combined with civil disobedience, including a public rally on April 29.
In the week beginning April 7, union cars slowed traffic on the Kwinana freeway (including Kierath on his way to work) while banners were hung from bridges above. A similar protest took place in Bunbury. On April 10, more than 150 unionists occupied the public gallery of state parliament in response to government threats to gag debate and force the bill through the lower house. The parliamentary session was abandoned while security guards cleared the gallery. Debate on the bill will resume on April 15.
Major construction sites, including the Northbridge Tunnel and the new Collie power station, stopped work. Hospital workers met and voted in favour of industrial action. The Maritime and Transport Workers' unions are planning rolling stoppages which will close ports, rail terminals and airports, and stop dairy and bakery trucks. The teachers' union is recommending that its members stop for 24 hours on April 29. Other unions are meeting with their members to plan action.
Kierath responded by announcing that the bill will also apply to WA workers covered by federal awards, and claiming that the union movement was out of touch.
Not all of his colleagues are as confident: some sections of the Coalition, including Liberal deputy leader Colin Barnett, are starting to feel the pressure, no doubt remembering the success of the union campaign in '95.
This government promised in writing 18 months ago that "there would be no further legislation unless there is agreement on all sides", and has a shaky electoral "mandate" after the last state elections, where it lost control of WA's upper house for the first time this century.
This also accounts for the haste — once new upper house members take their seats in late May, passing the bill will become more difficult.
Vicious budget
The government's agenda is clear: continue the assault on the wages and living standards of workers and the community in order to increase assistance to the business sector.
The days are long gone when this approach could be dressed up as leading to jobs growth — there is no "trickle down" effect, just a steady flow upwards out of our pockets. The "third wave" is aimed at further breaking down any collective organisation that could stem this flow.
WA's budget, brought down on April 10, included increased costs of power, gas, water, public transport and indirect taxes like bank fees. The WA Council of Social Services estimates low-income households will be hardest hit, losing up to an extra $250 per year. Nominal increases of a few per cent in funding to health and education will do nothing to make up for the massive cuts these areas have suffered in past years.
Unemployment is still high. Court's excuses verge on the pathetic: Canberra is keeping most of WA's taxation revenue, and native title is threatening the rural sector. He fails to mention the effects of ongoing job cuts, funding cuts, contracting out and sell-offs of our public services, carried out by successive Labor and Liberal governments.
Court and Kierath are trying to convince us that it's the "unions" against "the community"; in reality the unions are defending the community. Their actions should be welcomed; unions should fight all attacks on our jobs, conditions and rights to organise, whether they come from Labor or Liberal governments.
[Anthony Benbow is a WA Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union state councillor and a member of the Democratic Socialist Party.]