By Anthony Benbow
PERTH — June 26 was the WA Trades and Labour Council's "Day of Defiance", part of the campaign against the Court government's "third wave" of anti-union laws. Around 6000-8000 workers attended from all over the city and some country areas.
There is clearly a sentiment for continued opposition to the legislation. However, some big questions about the campaign's future need to be resolved.
The call for actions on June 26 was adopted at a TLC mass delegates' meeting on June 4, with the understanding that a rally and march were to be organised.
No further delegates' meetings took place. Along the way, the rally became a concert, and the marching was left up to individual unions.
There were certainly some inspiring parts of the day: the joint construction unions' protest over workplace safety (they stormed into the WA Worksafe building with a coffin, to highlight recent deaths in the industry); the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union mass meeting; the stop-work of teachers' assistants over a pay claim; the 2000-strong mass meeting of Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union and Australian Manufacturing Workers Union members; and the message that South African unions had voted for action against WA goods and companies if necessary.
However, the overall spirit was more subdued, and people seemed to disperse more quickly at the end.
Speaking to many unionists on the day confirmed that many of those present were disappointed that the main event was a concert, rather than a rally and march.
Many workplaces that had turned out in force for the 25,000-strong April 29 rally were not as strongly represented. Some of the less militant unions did not seem to have a presence.
However, all present agreed on one thing: they did not like the legislation, and they wanted the campaign to continue. Industrial action was seen as key, but in need of a clear focus.
As one AMWU delegate from a country workplace said, "We have to see that our strike action is achieving something; otherwise people who are already stretched are reluctant to lose any more time and money".
Organisation and coordination are vital. An industrial campaign and rallies coordinated by mass delegates' meetings like that of June 4 will enable us to set the pace.
The government will stall as long as possible on arresting or jailing an organiser under the new legislation, to let the campaign die down.
Many of the hearings of those already charged are three months away. Despite hundreds of breaches, Graham Kierath's industrial relations department says it is yet to receive a complaint over the new laws. (This is a sign of our success: employers are fearful of putting in such a complaint.)
We need to work out how force the issue in a way that suits us, to find other "triggers" for action in the meantime.
The "third wave" is not the only attack on workers' rights — so was the state budget two months ago, so are any further privatisation or contracting out.
The teachers' union is currently campaigning for better pay and conditions tied to more funding for education. The LHMWU is opposed to contracting out of cleaning services at Fremantle and other hospitals.
Attacks on health care and education affect everybody — a "trigger" for action in everybody's interest.
Many unionists express anger at the government's daily full-page ads attacking the unions in every WA newspaper (nice use of taxpayer funds — another "trigger"?). We can't match them dollar for dollar, but if our ads can call for action and show that we are defending the community, the government's propaganda will be ineffective.
The broader community support we have built so far is based on seeing workers as a force fighting these broader attacks. Concerts, public rallies and "family days" (like this year's May Day) attract support only if they're part of such a campaign — not a substitute for it. Likewise, industrial action alone will eventually be ground down.
Nationally and internationally coordinated action has taken place, and can be built on. It's up to unionists in WA and around the country to keep pushing the campaign in this direction.