Annolies Truman, Perth
Cuban and Australian unionists pledged to step up mutual solidarity at a public meeting on July 15 with Gilda Chacon, head of the international section (Asia-Pacific Region) of the Cuban Federation of Workers.
Chacon, who is also a member of the Cuban parliament, was the keynote speaker at the Australia Cuba Friendship Society event. The tour was supported by a number of unions, in particular the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).
Kevin Reynolds, WA CFMEU secretary, praised the high working-class consciousness in Cuba, reflected in the 1.5 million turn out for May Day in Havana, before launching an appeal to help free the Cuban Five — Cuban intelligence officers whose brief was to seek information in the US relating to terrorist activities against Cuba. They have been imprisoned since 1998 and are serving terms of up to two life terms plus 15 years.
Reynolds spoke about the government's attacks on 107 CFMEU unionists who are facing fines of up to $28,600 each for going on strike to have their delegate reinstated. He urged the meeting participants to attend a CFMEU-organised event on August 13 to support the charged workers.
Chris Cain, secretary of the WA MUA, reinforced the need for solidarity: "Workers are being sued over their right to strike. If we don't fix this blue with the CFMEU, then we're all in big trouble." He said the mass delegates' meeting prior to the June 28 national day of action against the IR laws voted to stand by any worker or union fined or jailed. "Now is the time to involve the community, defy the law and win against this law", he said.
Apart from solidarity between unions, Cain stressed the need for solidarity with Third World workers referring to the plight of Filipino seafarers who had been proposed to replace an Australian crew on the chemical carrier MT Stolt Australia for a miserable $100 per week. "It's not about stopping people from other countries from working in Australia. It's about everyone on the same wages and conditions when they work in this country", Cain said. Trade unionists from a number of Third World countries will attend the MUA state conference at the end of the month. "While we connect up with workers around the world, then we all have a chance", Cain said.
Chacon contrasted the situation of Australian unions, who have to defend basic rights such as collective bargaining and decent wages, to that of Cuban unions who have such rights guaranteed by a pro-worker government. Their main struggle, she said, together with the rest of Cuban society, is to survive the US economic blockade and other acts of aggression.
"The US blockade has cost Cuba US$79 billion over 45 years, and the US Congress has just voted to give the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba $80 million to achieve 'regime change' in Cuba", she said. "Internationalism has been practiced by Cuba since the [1959] revolution. Cuba has been sending doctors into Third World countries, including East Timor. Under this new US law, any country which receives help from Cuba will be penalised in terms of trade."
Asked about her impressions of Australia, having been here several times before, Chacon said she felt "very encouraged" by the welcome from Australian workers and unions. "Unions and community solidarity is oxygen to us, and they have been very generous. The WA CFMEU sponsored my tour, and the WA MUA donated $15,000 to a children's hospital in Cuba.
She added that she was shocked by the fact that "in such a rich country, the government still asks parents for donations to keep the schools going", adding, "in Cuba, schools and universities are completely free."
From Green Left Weekly, July 26, 2006.
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