BY SARAH PEART
MELBOURNE — "The task facing us is to build a worthy sequel to S11 on May 1 that will strengthen and advance the movement, organisationally and ideologically", M1 Alliance spokesperson and Democratic Socialist Party activist Jackie Lynch told the meeting to launch the M1 Alliance at Trades Hall here on January 31.
The M1 Alliance is planning a blockade and anti-corporate festival starting at the stock exchange and spreading across the surrounding city block, which includes corporate targets such as BHP, Yallourn Energy, the Environmental Protection Authority and McDonald's.
"The stock exchange is a great target for M1 because it is symbolic of capitalism", said Lynch. "All the corporations we are protesting against are listed on the stock exchange ... On M1 we can reclaim a part of Melbourne for working people."
Lynch also denounced the police violence against the anti-corporate activists who gathered in Davos to protest the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting there.
The meeting, attended by more than 90 people, also heard from Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union Latrobe Valley community campaign organiser Simon Miller, CFMEU shop steward Steve Jolly and Mary Galati of the Health Services Union of Australia (HSUA).
Miller announced that workers in the Latrobe Valley, who are struggling against Yallourn Energy's attempts to undermine working conditions, would support M1. "We're going to fight [Yallourn Energy's attacks] and we're not going to win it just through the courts", said Miller. "Our bargaining period starts again on May 2 making M1 a very important date for us."
Jolly announced the CFMEU's support for M1. Jolly agreed that the demands raised by M1 need to include a shorter working week with no loss of pay and opposition to the federal Workplace Relations Act. Galati said she was confident that HSUA members would support M1.
Discussion centred on how to make M1 the massive sequel to the September 11-13 protests against the WEF that it could be, with many participants emphasising the need to involve the most militant sections of the trade union movement.