By Bronwen Beechey
MELBOURNE — Around 40,000 workers gathered on November 12 for the second Victorian Trades Hall Council-organised rally against the state government's proposed changes to the WorkCover scheme.
The crowd marched to Parliament House under a colourful display of banners and placards and to the sounds of a pipe band, chanting "No arms, no legs, no pay, no way". The rally encircled the building, tying bandages on the fence to symbolise concern for injured workers.
Thousands of striking teachers joined the march from a nearby mass stop-work meeting.
"This is an ongoing fight", Construction, Forestry, Mining and Engineering Union (CFMEU) general secretary Martin Kingham told the rally.
Dean Mighell from the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) told the cheering crowd, "It makes you proud to be union on a day like today ... We need to show that the union movement's not just a one-hit wonder. We can't afford to have one rally and go away."
Victor Borg of the Ethnic Communities Council, and a Vietnamese outworker who read a statement translated by Annie Delaney of the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union, highlighted the disproportionate burden the changes will place on already disadvantaged workers.
Tim Costello from the Baptist Church revealed that WorkCover funds were made available to Crown Casino. While the shares were originally worth $2.09, today they are worth 98 cents.
"Your money — nearly $20 million that is meant for your injured fellow workers — has been lost at Crown Casino, enriching some of the greediest people in the state", Costello said.
Rallies of several thousand also took place in Geelong, Morwell and Ballarat. Workers from the Shepparton area travelled to the Melbourne rally.
Wendy Boyle, secretary of the Goulburn Valley Trades and Labour Council, told the rally that workers in the country were solidly opposed to the changes.
Entertainment was provided by comedian Tracey Harvey and David Bridie from My Friend the Chocolate Cake, who dedicated a song to Justin O'Connor, a young worker recently killed on the City Link project.
The government introduced the WorkCover amendments late the same night. It intends to abolish the right of workers to sue negligent employers under common law and to cut weekly benefits from 95% to 75% of pre-injury earnings after 13 weeks for those unable to work (60% for those with a partial capacity to work).
While maximum weekly benefits will increase from $680 to $850, the definitions of incapacity have been tightened so that an injured worker would have to be rendered quadriplegic to qualify.
Most injured workers, and the families of those killed and maimed, will be worse off as lump sum payments are replaced by fortnightly payments which will reduce their social security benefits.
Although smaller than the 60,000-strong October 29 rally, the protest showed the campaign's widespread support among rank-and-file unionists, despite the half-hearted support of many union leaders.
Only the meatworkers, ETU and CFMEU voted to strike for the whole day, others claiming that it was too soon after the last rally.
Many other unions failed seriously to build the rally, leaving it up to individual members. One union delegate at the rally told Green Left that leaflets advertising the rally reached his workplace only the day before.
Luke van der Muehlen, La Trobe Valley sub-branch secretary of the CFMEU (Energy Division), told Green Left that power workers were prepared to strike despite the probability of being sued under the Workplace Relations Act, but only if the VTHC is prepared to back them with a serious campaign. He said there was a general feeling of cynicism about the union leadership doing that.
The rally took place amidst signs of cracks in the Kennett government. The day before the rally, former minister Roger Pescott resigned, citing the WorkCover changes, the government's plan to remove the independent auditor-general and lack of democracy in the parliamentary caucus.
His resignation will lead to a by-election in the marginal seat of Mitcham on December 13.
The widespread opposition to the changes (a recent opinion poll showed 80%) is having an effect. The opportunity exists for the VTHC to build a broad movement of opposition to the WorkCover changes and all the other government attacks.
Such a campaign could include strikes, work bans, rallies, public meetings as well as putting pressure on politicians and campaigning in the by-election.
However, there are clear signs that the VTHC is backing away. Secretary Leigh Hubbard and assistant secretary Natalie Sykes echoed ALP opposition leader John Brumby's call for Kennett to delay the WorkCover legislation until the Mitcham by-election had been held.
Sykes called for workers in marginal seats to vote against Liberal members. Hubbard suggested that the campaign should focus on pressuring employers to take out additional insurance, the Mitcham by-election and forming an "eminent persons group" to oppose the legislation.
Although Hubbard said that a broad delegates' meeting would be held to discuss the campaign, he said publicly the following day that unions would "probably" not hold another rally, pre-empting any decision.
It appears that, as in the campaign against Kennett's Industrial Relations Act, the VTHC is going to tell union members that their only hope is to vote Labor back in — not an attractive prospect given that Labor began the WorkCover cuts.
It would be tragic if the VTHC succeeded in diverting the fight away from organising an ongoing campaign of industrial and community action.