By Rose McCann
WOLLONGONG — For the first time in living memory, this year's May Day march was led here by women workers, members of the Federated Clerks Union (FCU). This was in keeping with a long-standing South Coast tradition, which gives pride of place at the head of the annual May Day march to workers currently on strike.
For five weeks, 36 clerical workers in Wollongong, Sydney and Newcastle have been waging a struggle which is earning them increasing support and respect from the rest of the trade union movement. Clerks and officials in many union offices have taken collections for the strike fund.
Unfortunately for the image of the union movement as a whole, and left-led unions in particular, the strike is over anti-worker and anti-union behaviour by some leaders of the NSW branches of the Building Workers Industrial Union (BWIU) and the Federated Engine Drivers and Firemen's Association (FEDFA).
The strike is the culmination of an 18-month dispute over redundancies, with the BWIU-FEDFA refusing to accept the principle of workplace seniority and attempting to victimise workers, including an FCU delegate.
Solidarity with the striking clerks has been particularly strong in Wollongong, where all FCU members employed by trade unions are maintaining a picket line outside the South Coast Labour Council offices.
A SCLC disputes committee meeting here on March 30 voted 6-4 to order the clerks to lift their "unauthorised" picket line, but the clerks refused to do so. The largest union in the area, the left-run South Coast branch of the ironworkers' union (FIMEE), supported the clerks in the vote, and another important union missed the meeting to avoid voting against the BWIU-FEDFA. Most vociferous in urging unionists to ignore the picket line has been Paul Matters, SCLC secretary.
Despite this, a warm reception was given to the clerical workers' May Day contingent. At the rally following the march, chairperson Stan Woodberry, long-time ship painters and dockers union leader, urged unionists not to "side with the strikebreakers" and to support the strike fund. FCU delegate Judy Whitehead, employed by the Sydney branch of the FEDFA, accepted a May Day trophy traditionally awarded to the best contingent in the march. The clerks also participated in Sydney's May Day on May 3.
A 20-minute video covering the strike and picket outside the Sydney offices of the two unions (which are in the process of amalgamation) is currently on sale. Titled What About the Workers' Workers, it is available for $20 for organisations and $10 for individuals, from Spontaneous Productions, 14 Junior Street, Leichhardt NSW 2040.
The clerks welcome financial and moral support on their daily picket outside the BWIU-FEDFA offices at 361 Kent Street, D>