Ian Jamieson, Fremantle
Up to 300 union activists attended the second biennial conference of the Western Australian branch of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), held July 26-28.
Coming at a time when the union movement is facing vicious attacks from PM John Howard's Coalition government, the conference began to map out the WA MUA's defence of workers' union rights.
The conference was attended by many international guests, including maritime union officials from New Zealand, the US and Britain, as well as union representatives from the Philippines and East Timor.
Also participating in the conference were MUA national and state officials, delegations of MUA members from other branches and representatives from various WA unions including the construction, manufacturing and communications unions — CFMEU, AMWU and CEPU.
The conference was addressed by former Victorian AMWU secretary Craig Johnston and Victorian Union Solidarity activist Dave Kerin, and by John Maitland, the retiring national secretary of the CFMEU.
In one of the first resolutions unanimously adopted, the conference called for the abolition of the Howard government's Australian Building and Construction Commission. Noting that the ABCC is the body pursuing more than 107 workers for "illegally" striking, the WA MUA voted to put its full weight behind the campaign to defend the workers and their families. A collection raised $1400 for John Pes and his family. One of the 107, Pes is now a waterside worker and member of the MUA.
In expressing its opposition to the new Work Choices industrial relations laws, the WA MUA has made it clear that although it would prefer a federal Labor government, it will not be held to the political approach adopted by the ALP in the lead-up to next year's election. It believes the union movement should set its own agenda. The MUA has always argued that the ALP should scrap all anti-union legislation.
After hearing moving testimonies from union representatives from overseas about the repression of the union movement in Third World countries, particularly in the Philippines, the WA MUA voted to stand side by side with these unions and workers.
The WA MUA has not fallen into the trap of calling for a bam on the use of guest workers in Australia. Instead, the conference voted to demand that the federal government grant full rights, including citizenship, to them.
Among other resolutions adopted by the conference was a reaffirmation of the MUA's opposition to the US-led war in Iraq as well as an amendment calling on Israel to immediately withdraw its troops from Lebanon. Solidarity was extended to the Cuban Five, political prisoners being held in US jails, and a call on the US to end its economic blockade of Cuba was made.