The bosses and the Reserve Bank are nervously looking over their shoulder. With relatively low levels of unemployment, a skills shortage, rocketing profits and massively increasing salaries for company executives, can the combined forces of PM John Howard's Coalition government and the employers prevent a wages break-out? Will the system of enterprise bargaining and anti-union laws be enough to hold unions in check?
In previous decades, economic booms were used by unions to make up for what workers lost during recessions. Now the shortage of skilled workers in many trades should put unions in an extra good position to win big improvements in wages and conditions, including re-winning job security.
An Australian Industries Group survey published in the September 15 Australian Financial Review found that one in two Australian companies find it hard to get skilled labour. It also found that companies in the energy, mining and manufacturing industries are looking offshore for skilled workers.
Of course, changes since the 1970s such as the casualisation of the work force and the introduction of enterprise bargaining make it more difficult for unions to generalise improvements across a whole industry or across a whole series of industries.
However, pattern bargaining campaigns in Victoria by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), the Electrical Trades Union and the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union demonstrate that even with the current anti-union laws it is possible to spread gains across an industry.
Employers in Victoria have retaliated by locking out workers more, and for longer, than employers in any other state.
Employers are eager for the re-elected Coalition government to go for broke in introducing new anti-union laws that they hope will deter unions from taking advantage of booming profits and the labour shortage to improve workers' position.
The secrets of the success of some of the unions in Victoria have been pattern bargaining, solidarity between unions for each others' picket lines, including solidarity between maintenance workers and production workers, and being prepared to ignore unjust laws that restrict workers' ability to advance their rights. The Western Australian branches of the Maritime Union of Australia and the CFMEU have also had success with these methods.
This is a worry for the employers because if these methods catch on among a broader range of unions, including those in other states, it won't matter how many anti-union laws the government passes — they will be made null and void by union action on the ground.
This is the reason why former AMWU Victorian secretary Craig Johnston was jailed on August 27. He refused to cower before the anti-union laws. He gave union members the confidence to stand up for their rights, regardless of the laws. By cultivating solidarity between workers, the employers were forced to concede.
For the union movement to succeed against the impending onslaught from the Howard government, the traditions of struggle and solidarity that were promoted by Johnston need to be continued and expanded to more Â鶹´«Ã½ of the workers' movement.
We can't wait until the new raft of anti-union laws is introduced. The union movement needs to gear up immediately with a solid campaign for Johnston's release, and by building up practical cross-union alliances in advance of Howard's attacks.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, November 24, 2004.
Visit the