Solidarity and union spirit were on display on November 25, as 6000 unionists gathered outside the State Library to protest the jailing of former Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) Victorian secretary Craig Johnston and the increasing criminalisation of trade union struggle.
The rally called for Johnston's immediate release and the start of a fight-back campaign against PM John Howard's reactionary agenda.
The large number of unionists mobilised showed how strong the spirit of resistance still is in the Victorian trade union movement. The biggest contingents came from workers in the construction industry unions and AMWU members in manufacturing. Contingents also came from the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union (TCFU). Most of the 15 unions that endorsed the rally had a presence.
Some factories shut down as the whole work force went to the rally, other work sites sent delegations. AMWU members at one recently unionised factory only decided to shut it down for the rally after their boss started sledging Johnston. It was these workers' first experience of collective action.
Rather than the building unions making a central decision, each work site voted on whether to support the rally, and how. Every site that had such a discussion voted to support the rally, either by shutting the site or by sending a delegation.
The Melbourne docks closed for a stopwork meeting that morning, after which all of the wharfies marched to join the rally. This is the first time that Patrick Corporation's Webb dock in Port Melbourne has shut down since the 1998 waterfront dispute.
The Refugee Action Collective was present, with a banner drawing attention to Johnston's support for the refugee-rights movement. The Socialist Alliance, which has supported the campaign from its beginning, was also present.
In the lead-up to the rally, every national and state union secretary and every trades and labour council around Australia was sent a letter by AMWU national secretary Doug Cameron discouraging them from supporting the campaign. Some unions were also sent another slander sheet from the anonymous "Unionists Against Violence", which peddled a range of lies about Johnston, the Workers First grouping he was part of in the AMWU and the Johnson Tiles and Skilled Engineering protests that led to Johnston and 17 others being charged.
The slander sheet also peddled the lie that the Free Craig Johnston Campaign is a small front group for the Socialist Alliance and Green Left Weekly, and that the campaign doesn't enjoy broad support, conveniently ignoring the fact that an alliance of 15 unions was formed in September to call for Johnston's release.
The November 25 rally proved that thousands of workers know that many more union leaders could be jailed for basic union activities unless the union movement bands together to call for Johnston's release.
TCFU state secretary and Victorian Trades Hall Council president Michele O'Neil read out a message from Johnston thanking everyone for attending the rally. "Our challenge must be to say no more unionists are to go to jail. We need to send a clear message that there will be no more Craig Johnstons; no more unionists sent to jail for doing their job."
Maritime Union of Australia state secretary Kevin Bracken addressed the rally outside Victorian Labor Premier Steve Bracks' office, saying that "some unions aren't here today because they're afraid to be associated with the campaign. They say what Craig did was violent. Well, there was no one injured, no one was threatened, and yes there was a bit of property damage. But Craig made the compassionate gesture, looking out for people who had been in their jobs for 30 years, who had been turfed out on the street.
"The real violence is this government sending our own nation to war under bullshit lies, saying there were weapons of mass destruction [in Iraq]. There's 100,000 dead Iraqis today because of what this war has done.
"Make no mistake. Workers in this country are under attack by the federal government and the only hope is for us to come together collectively and stick together and say we're not going to cop working for inferior conditions.
"If all these people [unionists] hadn't got together six years ago, we [the MUA] wouldn't be here today. When we come under attack, people came together collectively. We believe that Craig Johnston's been dealt an injustice.
"It might be appropriate that it's coming up to the 150th anniversary of Eureka to remember that people will only take so much as happened 150 years ago when people came together and they took the Eureka oath 'I swear by the southern cross to stand truly by each other to fight to defend our rights and liberties'. And it's as important today as it was 150 years ago."
The rally heard messages of support from all over Australia and around the world. Individuals and organisations from 24 different countries have signed statements calling for the release of Craig Johnston. Major union federations from India, Indonesia and the Philippines have all signed statements calling for the release of Johnston.
A message from Western Australian MUA secretary Chris Cain pledged his union branch's support and said, "Johnston is a beacon of light in the trade union movement."
AMWU metal division state secretary Steve Dargavel compared Johnston's harsh jail term to the freedom enjoyed by James Hardie executives responsible for tens of thousands of deaths.
Dargavel asked, "Why is it that an effective militant trade union official who has worked tirelessly for working-class people, is in jail for those offences, when there are many employers walking around the streets, owing our members hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid entitlements?
"Why is it that so many employers are walking around freely, when so many workers have died because of their negligence? That is because this system is unfair."
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union state secretary Martin Kingham reminded the crowd of Johnston's role in developing cross-union solidarity: "Even when the metal workers were up to their neck in defending their members' struggles, if anybody else was having a go, and was in difficulty against their employer, or internationally, in relation to the East Timorese people, it didn't matter how busy the metalworkers were, Craig would be there. He would organise workers, rank-and-file members, union officials and delegates to provide solidarity to other workers' struggles, time and time again. And that's the example we have to keep following."
The rally ended outside Premier Steve Bracks' office so that Kingham could present more than 10,000 signatures calling on Bracks to show clemency and release Johnston from prison.
It was interesting that the Age — the media outlet that has put the most effort into creating the impression that the Johnson Tiles and Skilled Engineering protests were violent — devoted just three paragraphs to its report of the rally.
The protest has shown how much support there still is for Johnston, despite the huge slander campaign that has been carried out by the corporate media and the national leadership of Johnston's own union, the AMWU. Nw, if only AMWU national secretary Doug Cameron could look past his factionalism, and recognise that an attack on one, is an attack on all.
From Green Left Weekly, December 1, 2004.
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