Michael Bull, Melbourne
Since its first meeting on February 10, the Defend Craig Johnston Committee has planned a range of activities to defend the former Victorian secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU).
Johnston is facing charges arising out of a dispute at Johnson Tiles in 2001, which are due to be heard at the Victorian County Court on May 10. He is facing a possible 5-year jail term for protesting job losses, which occured when 29 maintenance workers' jobs were contracted out to Skilled Engineering in 2001. A jail term could disqualify Johnston from holding an official union position again.
The committee, composed of representatives from a wide range of unions, as well as rank-and-file union activists, is calling for Johnston to be treated in the same manner as the other 17 unionists who were charged with him. These unionists were convicted of the relatively minor charge of unlawful assembly and given good behaviour bonds and minimal fines.
Johnston will face a jury on charges of threatening to kill and aggravated damages. He has strongly denied the charges.
The singling out of Johnston is part of a broader political campaign against militant unionism. Since it was elected in 1996, John Howard's federal Coalition government has used the media to paint militant unionists as violent thugs — first in the wharfies' dispute in 1998, then with the AMWU's protests outside Johnson Tiles and Skilled Engineering, and then with the royal commission into the building industry.
The government is slandering the image of unionists who have succeeded in advancing workers' conditions, in an to attempt to win public support for attacks on the rights of all workers.
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union state secretary Martin Kingham was another militant unionist who was targeted by the courts recently. Kingham was charged with contempt of court for not handing over the names of union members to the building industry royal commission. The CFMEU campaigned to expose the political nature of the charges against Kingham and succeeded in having them dismissed.
The Defend Craig Johnston Committee calls for unionists and the community to join a similar campaign for Johnston.
A band night to raise funds for the campaign, as well as a rally to support Johnston at his court appearance, have been scheduled. For more information about the campaign, to invite a speaker to address your organisation, for leaflets, posters or statements, ring Sue Bolton on (03) 9639 8622 or 0413 377 978.
From Green Left Weekly, March 3, 2004.
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