International solidarity with the wharfies
News of actions in other countries in solidarity with the sacked waterside workers is beginning to come in.
In addition to the actions being organised by participants at the Asia Pacific Solidarity Conference in Sydney earlier this month (see article above), the longshoremen's union in the United States has launched a consumer boycott of Australian products, in particular farm products, because of the role of the National Farmers Federation in introducing non-union labour to Australia's wharves.
After the British High Court overturned on April 17 an injunction to prevent transport unions around the world from taking action against Patrick Stevedores, these unions have been discussing banning the unloading of any ship which has been loaded by Patrick's non-union labour. The Swedish dockers' union is reported to have already decided to black-ban all ships loaded at Patrick docks.