Manufacturing Workers Union, firefighters, maritime unions, Graham Matthews, Communist Party of Australia, the Socialist Alliance, Treasury Gardens, Nikki Ulasowski, Unions WA, Fremantle, peace and justice, Wollongong's May Day march, Jim Tannoch, Australian Council of Trade Unions president Sharan Burrow, Labor Party, Peter Robson, Newcastle, Newcastle Trades Hall Council, Bill Mason, the Coalition, the ALP, STUART MARTIN">
May Day celebrated
BY STUART MARTIN
Marches and rallies were held in several cities on the weekend of May 4-5 commemorating May Day.
The largest rally was in Sydney, where 1200 gathered in Hyde Park for the traditional Labor Council event on May 5, Melanie Sjoberg reports. Large contingents to the rally were organised by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Australian
Manufacturing Workers Union and firefighters and maritime unions.
In Melbourne, in sharp contrast the 10,000-strong May 1 protest, around 500 people gathered at Victorian Trades Hall to commemorate the passing of another May Day on May 5, Graham Matthews reports. The march, which was smaller than the previous years, demanded a six-hour day and a pay rise for workers.
The May Day procession, including contingents from the Communist Party of Australia, the Socialist Alliance and a handful of unions, snaked silently through city streets. On arriving at the Treasury Gardens, the majority of those present enjoyed a BBQ and beer, while a minority assembled in provided seating to listen to speakers.
Nikki Ulasowski reports that 1000 unionists joined the Unions WA rally on May 5 in Fremantle. A number of building, maritime, financial and other unions as well as left-wing groups had contingents at the rally, which was themed "peace and justice". Speakers defended refuges and Palestine.
Three-hundred unionists, socialists, community activists and anarchists joined Wollongong's May Day march on May 4, demanding workers' rights and protesting the abuse of refugees and the Palestinian people.
The Trade Union Centre was formally re-named Fred Moore House, after the workers' rights campaigner and former Miners Federation activist, at the protest. Speakers included refugee activist Aamad Reza Wakil, Maritime Union of Australia deputy national president Jim Tannoch and Australian Council of Trade Unions president Sharan Burrow.
After paying tribute to the role of unions, Burrow spent much of her speech defending the Labor Party — arguing passionately that unionists should remain within it, and criticising those "here and in Victoria" who would say otherwise.
A heckler condemning the ALP's role in dismantling workers compensation received enthusiastic support from much of the crowd, forcing Burrow to respond.
Peter Robson reports from Newcastle that 350 people marched on May 4 as part of the activities organised by Newcastle Trades Hall Council. Refugees' rights activists attended, leading popular chants demanding freedom for refugees.
In Brisbane, Bill Mason reports, May Day is marked with an annual public holiday, falling this year on May 6. Receiving loud applause for his call for justice for refugees and asylum seekers, academic Ross Daniels' speech contrasted with the main address by Queensland premier Peter Beattie, who claimed that the Labor Party would never desert the union movement.
Daniels slammed both the Coalition and the ALP for their attacks on asylum seekers, bringing a dose of reality to mutual backslapping between the ALP and the union officialdom on the day.
From Green Left Weekly, May 15, 2002.
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