Sue Bolton, Melbourne
At a public forum held in the north-western suburb of Glenroy on October 27, Martin Kingham, Victorian secretary of the construction workers' union (CFMEU), said that the Howard government's anti-union laws can be beaten, but only by building "a bigger and more effective opposition than the opposition in parliament", adding: "The opposition is us, the movement outside parliament."
Kingham told the 100 people attending the forum that the government's advertising is costing $2 million a day, but that it was not eroding massive public opposition to the anti-union laws.
"We've got to let the employers know that there will be repercussions if they use these laws", Kingham said.
Industrial relations lawyer Marcus Clayton outlined how the new workplace laws will make it virtually impossible for workers to take legally protected industrial action.
Clayton told the meeting that "it's one thing for the laws to be on the books, but it's another thing for them to be implemented. The law of sedition — seditious intent is to incite disaffection against the government — has existed for many decades, but it has rarely been used. Laws can't be defeated overnight, but they can be defeated in the end, for example the opposition to the Vietnam War."
He pointed out how the 1956 penal powers were used to fine many unions thousands of dollars for taking basic industrial action, but after the general strike in 1969 to protest the jailing of tramways union secretary Clarrie O'Shea, the government couldn't get away with using them again.
Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou and Uniting Church social justice officer Anthony McMullen also spoke. McMullen pointed out that the new IR laws will undermine some of the protections won for outworkers because they'll be treated as independent contractors and not employees.
In discussion, Vamvakinou came under criticism for the ALP's refusal to commit itself to repealing Howard's anti-union laws and Labor leader Kim Beazley's support for Australian Workplace Agreements and the new anti-terrorism laws.
From Green Left Weekly, November 9, 2005.
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