By Jonathan Singer
Protests called by the ACTU against Reith's "second wave" of anti-union laws ("A Bill to amend the Workplace Relations Act" — WRA) have begun, with rallies in Perth on August 10, Adelaide on August 11 and Melbourne on August 12. There will be further actions in the other capital cities, regional centres and in suburban Melbourne (see page 2).
Few unions are calling on their members to stop work to take part. The demonstrations will consist primarily of workers from inner-city workplaces who can get the time off work. Students and other supporters of unionism can be expected to attend. As a result, the rallies will be smaller than they could have been.
A significant exception will be in Melbourne. A coordinator of the Trades Hall Council's Justice at Work campaign office, Brigitte Huhn, told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly that rally organisers anticipate an attendance of up to 100,000. Huhn said she expected strong support from striking unionists from a number of unions, as well as from student and community activist groups.
The ACTU is conducting a publicity campaign focused on three points: that the WRA breaches International Labour Organisation standards; explaining the damaging economic and social results of labour market deregulation in New Zealand; and explaining how the new laws make women most vulnerable to cuts in pay and working conditions.
The ACTU's publicity calls on workers to hold meetings to discuss the amendments, to participate in the rallies, to write to Australian Democrats senators and to prepare submissions for the expected Senate inquiry into the laws.
Some questions
The ACTU's campaign raises some questions. Is this all that needs to be done? Can unions and their supporters do more? Would the most high-powered union campaign be enough to stop the laws being implemented or to turn around the rising tide of anti-unionism that has confronted workers since the 1980s?
The ACTU's campaign is directed at the Democrats. ACTU leaflets state: "Only the Democrats have the power to stop this unfair legislation being passed".
However, the ACTU is not demanding that the Democrats reject the new laws outright. A July 5 ACTU media release stated: "We hope that the Democrats will just say no to the whole Bill going through the Senate". However, on July 9, the ACTU said it welcomed the Democrats' "claims they will reject Peter Reith's amendments ... unless they are substantially amended".
The commitment of the Democrats to a Senate inquiry on the "second wave" amendments does give the campaign more time. To beat the anti-union laws, however, the ACTU campaign must force the government to back off rather than rely on the Democrats — discredited in the eyes of many workers by their deal with the federal government to allow the introduction of the GST — to decide the fate of the legislation.
Howard and Reith know which side they are on in the war between the employers and the workers. "We are on the side of profit. We are on the side of the people making profits", Reith reassured a recent meeting of business leaders.
To force the government to withdraw the "second wave" amendments, which it can pass if it concludes a deal with the Democrats, or even to secure a partial victory, effective industrial action and protests by the union movement and its supporters must continue until the government yields.
What is possible?
The 1995 campaign by Western Australian unions against the state Liberal government's "second wave" anti-union laws was successful because of its use of widespread industrial action combined with civil disobedience and street protests. The legislation was killed off in months, despite the government's upper house majority.
A similar approach will be needed if Reith's laws are to be beaten. The ability of the Victorian union movement to mobilise is partly a result of its experience of mass action that started with the 250,000-strong rally in November 1992 in response to Coalition Premier Jeff Kennett's anti-union crackdown.
The 1992 campaign, and one against workers' compensation cuts in 1997, petered out without success. So did the WA unions' campaign when the state government's anti-union laws were reintroduced as a "third wave" in 1997.
Mobilisations by the unions of their members cannot be sustained without a growing confidence among workers that they can fight and win. Union leaders need to express and reinforce that confidence by taking the campaign forward on the basis of the workers' experiences and understanding. The same things are needed for the more fundamental job of rebuilding the unions. Along with workplace organising, broader campaigns organised to involve workers will be vital in achieving that goal.
The most significant recent experiences of Melbourne workers were during the Patrick waterfront dispute in April and May last year, which involved mass pickets and a strike and demonstration on May 6, 1998.
Smaller campaigns in Victoria around the lockout of workers at the Australian Dyeing Company, for shorter working hours agreements on the Docklands and Federation Square building projects, and for industry-wide bargaining in the metal industry have also taken place.
Another important experience has been the mass delegates' meetings that have given direction to the larger campaigns over several years. These experiences explain why the campaign against Reith's amendments has developed more quickly in Melbourne.
Nevertheless, the July 7 union delegates' meeting in Melbourne did not represent a fundamental break from the ACTU's campaign strategy. The delegates' resolution called on the Democrats to refuse to negotiate, and to reject all proposed "second wave" changes, but continued to cite the Democrats, alongside the Liberals, as equal targets of the campaign.
Winning new forces
In the political fight over the federal government's attack on workers' right to organise, concessions won from the Democrats can only be temporary gains. As long as the balance of forces — against unionism — remains unchanged, the government can return to the attack.
The trade union movement needs to win new forces to its ranks. This is possible. At present, there are people who want to join unions, but fear the reaction of their employers. There are even more sympathetic to unions. These people want to become part of broader union campaigns.
The starting point for winning new forces is the involvement of the ranks of the unions in organising a campaign that can inspire and mobilise members and the community at large.
Three steps that could be taken to bring this about are: regular mass meetings of union delegates to run the campaign (this has already begun in Melbourne — a further delegates' meeting is proposed for September); the encouragement and coordination of individual union actions that target government revenue and big business profits; a national stoppage of all unions, as soon as is feasible, as part of a campaign that will continue until the legislation is withdrawn.
The government would try to ride out a national strike, if it thought the campaign would stop there. The campaign would need to continue, or any national strike would just be a day's lost pay. A national stoppage, if properly prepared and part of an ongoing campaign, would give unionists a chance to measure their strength and gain confidence.
A petition to the ACTU calling for such a national stoppage has been initiated by the Democratic Socialist Party. For copies, please phone the Resistance Centre in your city (see page 2) or phone (02) 9690 1230, fax (02) 9690 1381, e-mail <dsp@dsp.org.au> or write to PO Box 515, Broadway, NSW, 2007.