BY SIMON MILLAR
MELBOURNE On August
12, Denis Matson, one of the two national industrial officers for the printing
division of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union was summarily sacked
by AMWU national secretary Doug Cameron, and given one hour to pack up
his desk and vacate the AMWU's Melbourne building. Matson was not given
the opportunity to answer the charges against him.
Just a few days earlier, on August 8, a metals division organiser from Tasmania, Greg Cooper, was sacked and given two hours to vacate the AMWU offices.
The sackings appear to be part of a pattern of attacks on AMWU officials who disagree with Cameron, beginning with the national council's suspension of Craig Johnston from the position of AMWU Victorian secretary on July 9.
As if this was not enough, that national council meeting also voted to overturn the July 8 decision of the Victorian state council that Victorian food and confectionery division secretary Bronwyn Halfpenny would be acting state secretary in the event of Johnston being absent from the position. The national council voted to appoint former national industrial officer Dave Oliver as administrator of the branch instead.
Both Halfpenny and Johnston are part of the militant Workers First faction in the AMWU.
However, the sacking of Matson indicates that you don't have to be a member of Workers First to earn the wrath of the AMWU national office. All you have to do is take an independent stance on issues within the union.
In addition to the sacking of Matson, there have been comments made at national council meetings that Victorian printing division state secretary Jim Reid and printing division assistant state secretary Bob Yette should not be in their positions.
The incident which led to Matson's sacking was his participation, along with printing division federal secretary Steve Walsh and two other printing division officials, in negotiations with the AMWU national office over rule changes and budget issues. The printing division national conference had voted for Matson to participate in the negotiations.
Although Cameron and AMWU national president Julius Roe participated in these negotiations, no objections were raised at the time about Matson's inclusion in the printing division's negotiating team.
But two weeks later, on August 12, Matson was presented with a letter from Cameron which stated that Matson had broken his employment guidelines by attending these negotiations. Walsh supported Matson's sacking.
In response to the removal of Johnston and Matson's sacking, the Victorian AMWU leadership, except for the pro-Cameron vehicle and technical and supervisory divisions, decided to set up a picket line outside the Victorian state AMWU office, which also houses part of the national office. (The bulk of the AMWU national office is based in Sydney.)
Since the picket line began, the Victorian AMWU leadership has received solid support, which isn't surprising considering that, on July 17, up to 5000 AMWU members mobilised to show their opposition to the suspension of Johnston.
The key demands of the picket line are for the reinstatement of Matson, the withdrawal of Dave Oliver and implementation of the state council's decision to appoint Bronwyn Halfpenny as acting state secretary.
Printing division officials attempted to negotiate a resolution to the dispute with Cameron, but the negotiations collapsed as soon as they stated that no resolution was possible without the reinstatement of Matson. Cameron responded that the sacking of Matson was not negotiable.
Despite his hatred for the Workers First faction, Cameron attempted in one set of negotiations to broker a deal with Workers First as long as they distanced themselves from the printing division. This was rejected.
Although organisers aren't able to operate out of the union office while the building is being picketed, they are still going out to workplaces and taking up members' grievances. The national office tried to restrict the ability of the organisers to do their work by switching off their mobile phones for 24 hours, but they are now back on.
Some of the tactics being used by the officials aligned with Cameron are very similar to those used by bosses. For example, Cameron has initiated a case in the Federal Court attempting to get orders which will make it a criminal offence for officials of the union to be present on the picket line. The picketers have been photographed and filmed for the purposes of identifying which officials are on the picket line and are therefore able to be sacked.
Shop stewards are being rung by officials aligned with Cameron and told that their organiser will soon be replaced.
Motions of support for the picket are coming in from workplaces across Victoria. Some workers are responding to the national interference in their state branch with calls to withhold their union dues from the AMWU national office.
A mass meeting of all AMWU shop stewards will be held on August 21 to discuss the situation.
From Green Left Weekly, August 21, 2002.
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