Graham Matthews
Following the successful June 28 protest called by the ACTU, many unionists are calling for nationally organised industrial action to intensify the struggle against Work Choices.
"The time's now come to hit the grass for 24", Ian Bray, assistant state secretary of the Western Australian branch of the Maritime Union of Australia, told Green Left Weekly. "We need to do it for a number of reasons, the main one being that the ACTU doesn't lose focus on what this campaign's about. This is not an election campaign for the Labor Party; it's about fighting for the very existence of our pay and conditions now under threat."
Derek Belan, NSW state secretary of the National Union of Workers (NUW), agreed with the need for an industrial campaign against Work Choices. "I don't think there's any other thing to do", he told GLW. "If you don't take [the campaign] to the people who are affected, you might as well pack up and go home now."
Belan felt that although NUW members who attended the Sydney protest were "stoked", and came away "more confident about the fight", the size was limited by the ACTU's failure to call a national stoppage on June 28. Asked about the ACTU's plan for another national day of action in November, Belan remarked that the ACTU should definitely call a strike, or general stoppage. "It should not be the, 'Come if you want' deal again", he said.
Bea Bliele, an organiser of the Armidale rally, said that while she supported the plan for November protests, they needed to be more frequent if we were to have a chance of pushing back Work Choices. "People go to sleep in between", she said. "It would have been much better to call a protest in February or March this year, and have them every few months." Bliele felt that the turnout to the June 28 rallies was restricted by unions' refusal to call their members out. She strongly agreed with the need for national strike action to accompany the next protest.
Anne Thompson, national vice-president of the Australian Workers Union (AWU), and an organiser of the 2500-strong rally against Work Choices in Bathurst, felt that there needed to be more debate about whether or not to have an industrial campaign in the lead-up to November. "Some people say we shouldn't have industrial action, we shouldn't be striking because we'll just alienate the public", she told GLW. "Then there's the other side — the anger is building and we need to be able to demonstrate that clearly to the government."
Thompson said that concern with the threats of fines and disciplinary action from bosses had limited the size of the June 28 rally in her region. "We didn't ask many of our workshops to stop, just to send delegations to keep the campaign going", she explained. "But we will build on the momentum, and there may be a call later on for a national day of action with complete stoppages of workshops."
Rod Jarman, secretary of Unions Central Coast, which organised a protest cavalcade of 150 cars in Gosford and Wyong on June 28, told Green Left that "workers need to know that there's still action going on, as that strengthens their resolve to 'maintain the rage', to borrow a phrase". Jarman agreed that there should be industrial action against Work Choices and said that "eventually there's going to be one issue that will unite people to say 'enough is enough' and make that stand". "That day's not too far away", he added.
Susan Price, branch president of the National Tertiary Education Union at the University of NSW, also believes that another national day of action in November is not enough to defeat Work Choices. "We need more than half-yearly protests that only a fraction of the work force can attend", Price said. "The protests are an important public statement of anger against the Howard government's industrial terrorism, but they won't stop the laws being put into practice. What's needed is a concerted campaign of industrial as well as political action", Price told Green Left.
"The big rallies in the centre of major cites and towns are important in strengthening workers' will to fight. But they have to be backed with the call for a national stoppage so that all workers can attend and we can disrupt Howard-style business as usual. That was the problem with Unions NSW's decision not to organise a rally in the centre of Sydney, as well as Blacktown — so many workers who wanted to come couldn't."
From Green Left Weekly, July 5, 2006.
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