BY SUE BULL
MELBOURNE — The federal Coalition government is rolling out its big guns to attack Victoria's militant trade unionists. In the latest outburst, immigration minister Philip Ruddock slammed the Victorian branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) for its support for the Refugee Action Collective (RAC).
Ruddock launched his attack during question time in the House of Representatives on June 4. In an obvious attempt to tap backward attitudes held by some workers, Ruddock described RAC as an organisation "that has harboured those who escape immigration detention".
Ruddock stated that RAC "boasts proudly that the CFMEU in Victoria is organising their mail-outs, publishing information in union journals, giving them time to speak at union meetings and providing financial support with union membership funds".
Ruddock went on to try to bait the union by charging that tens of thousands of "illegals" were taking trade union members' jobs. Not fooled by such racist rhetoric, Victorian CFMEU secretary Martin Kingham on June 5 described the federal government's polices towards refugees as "disgraceful". He added that Ruddock must be confusing asylum seekers with British and American backpackers who overstay their visas.
Ruddock's criticism comes on the heels of federal workplace minister Tony Abbott's May 29 attack on Craig Johnston, secretary of the Victorian branch of Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. Hiding behind parliamentary privilege, Abbott described Johnston as a "maniac".
Meanwhile, Abbott is threatening to withhold funds from the Victorian government for the construction of schools and roads after the Labor government rejected a $90 million federal grant to redevelop the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The grant was reportedly rejected because the state government wouldn't allow site inspections by workplace relations officers.
However, according to union sources, the main objection was that Abbott does not want union enterprise agreements on federally funded building sites, only individual contracts. The state government realised that such a condition would cause industrial havoc in the Victorian construction industry.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, June 19, 2002.
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