BY SUE BOLTON
MELBOURNE — As attacks on the militant leadership of the Victorian
branch of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union are stepped up, the
Skilled Six Campaign has begun meeting. The campaign group was set up by
Melbourne unionists to defend the AMWU officials and members who face charges
connected with an industrial dispute at Johnson Tiles in 2001.
Initially, six AMWU officials and rank and file members were charged
over a June 15, 2001, alleged incident of vandalism at the labour hire
firm Skilled Engineering. However, charges were later brought against a
seventh AMWU member over this incident, and then this year police charged
17 AMWU members for alleged vandalism at Johnson Tiles — an incident which
also took place on June 15, 2001.
A total of 18 AMWU members have been charged in relation to one or both
incidents. They include several leaders of the militant Workers First grouping
that controls the Victorian branch of the union, including Victorian AMWU
state secretary Craig Johnston.
The Skilled Six Campaign group has produced a statement pointing out
that:
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“The real thuggery was the decision of Johnston Tiles and Skilled Engineering
to remove the livelihoods of 29 workers by sacking them and outsourcing
their jobs.”
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“Employers and the state and federal governments are targeting the AMWU
in Victoria because it has been winning… They hate the AMWU's use of pattern
bargaining … to achieve industry-wide outcomes for workers.”
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“[The AMWU] has also given a huge amount of assistance to other unions
in their industrial campaigns and has supported a wide range of community
campaigns … these unionists are being victimised for political reasons.”
Federal workplace relations minister Tony Abbott has made no secret
of his desire to destroy Workers First. Abbott is worried that the AMWU's
industrial militancy is rubbing off on other unions — threatening the enforceability
of the draconian Workplace Relations Act.
But Workers First is not easy to eliminate: Johnston is not interested
in a parliamentary career and he has no fat bank accounts. Intense digging
by journalists last year revealed no evidence of corruption.
The unionists are also under attack from the national office of the
union, dominated by a pro-ALP faction hostile to Johnston. Instead of supporting
the Victorian branch in the face of the attacks, the national office has
decided to launch an internal inquiry, smearing the unionists reputations
further with other unproven accusations.
Australia has a history of political trials. When Builders Labourers
Federation national secretary Norm Gallagher was convicted on corruption
charges in the mid-1980s, one of the jurors revealed the intense pressure
she was under to agree to a guilty verdict for Gallagher. She said that
huge media campaign against Gallagher had convinced most jurors he was
guilty before the trial began.
Tim Anderson was convicted twice for carrying out the bombing of the
Sydney Hilton Hotel during a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in
the 1970s, despite contradictory evidence from the police's informants.
The sentences were only overturned after huge political campaigns.
The Skilled Six Campaign is organising motions of support from other
unionists [see box on this page], distributing a statement to be signed,
organising public meetings and fundraising.
The campaign is helped by the fact that the AMWU branch has been supportive
of many other union and community struggles. AMWU support helped ensure
that the S11 2001 protest against the World Economic Forum and the M1 protests
in 2001 and 2002 were successful. It has supported International Women's
Day rallies, was one of the key unions involved in the campaign for a free
East Timor, and has supported the Victorian Refugee Action Collective.
The Skilled Six Campaign meetings are held every Tuesday at 5.30pm in
the back bar of the John Curtin Hotel, Lygon Street, Carlton South.
For more information phone Chris Spindler on 0425 784 819. Donations
to the campaign can be made through cheques addressed to the Skilled Six
Legal Defence Fund or by depositing money at the ANZ bank. The account's
branch number is 013259 and the account number is 5922 380 38.
From Green Left Weekly, July 10, 2002.
Visit the Green Left Weekly
home page.
