A review of BRIAN BOYD's Inside the BLF by John Tognolini appeared in the January 29 issue of Green Left Weekly. Here, the author responds.
I am disappointed but not surprised in Tognolini's line of attack against my book. I would have wished for something more incisive and analytical from him rather than the usual "going the player, not the ball".
However, it is still worth clearing up some of the whining claims in his disjointed review.
First of all there is not one word in the book that purports to support the Accord or what is deemed Bob Hawke's "school of corporate unionism". Tognolini, of course, couldn't find one quote to use. The book's theme is not to push "faith in the ACTU-ALP", but instead is an honest attempt to explain, from my own observations, how an effective trade union was unnecessarily lost to the Australian trade union movement. The real theme was hammered home in many parts of the book and was obvious to anyone who read it.
Secondly, the book does not make any judgment, critical or otherwise, on Gallagher's intervention in the NSW BLF branch in 1974-76. It simply shows that Gallagher's relationship with the traditional builders at that time, in working together to knock off Jack Mundey, was the start of the petty corruption he was to be nailed with seven years on. These same building employers were to fall out with the BLF secretaries and dob Gallagher into the special police task force when he began to play off the new developers against them for better site allowances in the late '70s and early '80s.
Yes, the book "focusses" on Gallagher. This was its intent. To explain how the union's power was misused, since the official corruption investigations around Gallagher began, the BLF's secretary's motives in many disputes had to be revealed.
It is interesting Tognolini does not challenge the day to day evidence in the book of how normal industry disputation was artificially portrayed to the rank and file to generate regular bans and strikes for these hidden motives.
To this end there is no suggestion the BLF rank and file were "sheep". The exact opposite is true. Rightly, the rank and file fought hard against the "double jeopardy" — the threat of deregistration — which was the other arm of the Fraser government's attack on the BLF. What the rank and file were never told was that their persistent, brave efforts against deregistration (briefly successful in 1984 when all the governments and the employers pulled out of the proceedings) were continually compromised. Gallagher's covert insistence that the dropping of the corruption charges against him was more important than defeating deregistration saw to that, especially after the 1984 deal was reneged on.
Yes, the likes of Dave Kerin and Johnny Lowe "understood that the union was more than Gallagher" in the fight against the lead-up to the 1986 BLF deregistration. But these same people also allowed y manipulate the tactics and strategies of the battle for his own ends, with Kerin and Lowe knowing full well what he was doing. They can't have it both ways.
Yes, the rank and file "broke the occasional concrete pour" in the anti-deregistration campaign, but it wasn't simply against the developers as Tognolini alleges.
In fact, during 1984-86, while the Gallagher corruption trials were in full swing, the developers were, more often than not, exempt from such activity to encourage favourable court evidence. Or, if they were occasionally hit, it was to remind them to give favourable evidence. Again, nothing to do with the "saving the union/anti-deregistration" campaign.
The BLF was not finally deregistered by the ALP governments (and the book asserts this clearly) because it was just a "militant" union. It was attacked initially for such a reason by the earlier Liberal federal and Victorian governments (1981), who saw an opening in exploiting Gallagher's personal greed to have a go at unionism per se.
The BLF was deregistered because of Gallagher being personally targeted for his indiscretions (corruption) and more specifically for him believing he could use the BLF's industrial strength over a prolonged period to save facing the resultant criminal charges. If Tognolini had read the book, he would know this is the main point being made.
There is no evidence to suggest that the social/political atmosphere of the mid-1980s required the comprehensive smashing of a union. There was only a heightened "New Right" push that demanded the usual curtailment of unionism in general.
Yes, Tognolini is right it was not simply Gallagher's taking of "materials from a few builders and developers" that led to the union being wiped out. This was never claimed in the book. It was indeed Gallagher's covert campaign against the subsequent court appearances with sustained bans on major projects that had Hawke, Cain and the employers reinstitute deregistration proceedings after collectively withdrawing from the Fraser-instigated ones in 1984.
Despite Tognolini's convenient denials, there were in Victoria a large number of rallies, meeting and job collections over issues surrounding the struggles of PGEU, SEQEB, Robe River and Cockatoo Island. No such action of any kind was planned or ever contemplated by the union movement in relation to the BLF. This, despite the fact it was suffering a major onslaught of major concern. The explanation is simple. Most unions were intrinsically aware of what Gallagher was trying to do and did not condone it. Any common-sense assessment of his anarchistic tactics between 1981-85 showed Gallagher could not be "fair dinkum" about saving the BLF. Many unionists eventually expressed frustration over the dilemma of Gallagher always trying to hide behind the "defend the BLF" slogan as a cover for his own hidden agenda.
Simply, my recommendation is for your Mr Tognolini to read the book again — this time more carefully.