BY MARGARITA WINDISCH
MELBOURNE — On April 8, the County Court was told that all matters relating to the Skilled Engineering and Johnson Tiles cases between the prosecution and all of the 15 unionists except Craig Johnston had been settled.
The charges arose out of a 2001 industrial dispute at Johnson Tiles in Bayswater. The dispute started when Johnson Tiles decided to contract out its maintenance work and sacked its 29 maintenance workers who were all members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU). The company provocatively hired Skilled Engineering to send other workers to cross the picket line and take the sacked workers' jobs. Skilled Engineering refused to employ any of the original workers.
It was almost a year before Johnson Tiles filed charges against the unionists, which led to suspicions that political pressure had been brought to bear on the company. Workplace relations minister Tony Abbott has been calling for employers to press charges against unionists, even after a dispute has concluded.
The initial charges ranged from riot and criminal damage to aggravated burglary and even threats to kill. At a case conference on April 8, 14 of the accused unionists agreed to plead guilty to the more minor charge of "unlawful assembly" in exchange for the prosecution dropping the other charges. They will reappear before the court on July 21-23 for plea hearings.
However, the prosecution and defence counsel were not able to settle upon the charges against Craig Johnston, the former AMWU Victorian secretary, who also entered a guilty plea to unlawful assembly. His case will proceed to trial. A case conference between the prosecution and Johnston's defence lawyers has been set for May 19. The trial is unlikely to commence before 2004.
Johnston faces charges ranging from affray to threats to kill. If he is convicted of a proscribed offence carrying a three-month jail term, under section 227 of the Workplace Relations Act, he will be barred from holding union office for five years.
From Green Left Weekly, April 16, 2003.
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