By Ben Reid
MELBOURNE — A delegates' and activists' meeting of Victorian Trades Hall Council affiliates on April 16 voted unanimously for a statewide stop work and rally on May 6 in support of the MUA and sacked maritime workers. Six thousand people packed Dallas Brooks Hall before marching to Peter Reith's office at Treasury Place.
The mood of the meeting was extremely militant with standing ovations for sacked MUA members and officials. Thousands in the hall pledged to attend the picket lines at Webb and Swanson Docks.
A long list of speakers included Vic Slater, assistant national secretary of the MUA, who attacked the Howard government's pledge of $150 million to fund Patrick Stevedores' redundancies while health, education and aged-care funding was being slashed.
He argued that a long campaign was needed for the MUA to survive "until this government is dumped". The implied objective of holding out until Labor is re-elected contrasted with the appeals at the meeting for more immediate action relying on union and community support.
Greg Combet from the ACTU spoke about the illegality of Patrick's sackings and the court action against Patrick and the federal government alleging a "criminal conspiracy" between them.
Other speakers included state Labor opposition leader John Brumby and Labor Senator Bob McMullen. They were the only people to remain seated at the meeting when THLC secretary Leigh Hubbard asked all those who were prepared to flout the Workplace Relations Act (WRA) to stand. Hubbard stressed the need for delegates and workers to join the picket lines and break the WRA when the struggle required.
The right-wing Amalgamated Manufacturing Workers Union state secretary, John Corsetti, who is being challenged in the upcoming union elections, was booed when he addressed the audience.
The official motion for a May 6 stoppage also called for increased fundraising for the wharfies, workplace meetings around the issue and the establishment of a maritime defence committee for the duration of the dispute.
Amendments were moved from the floor calling for mass rallies and stoppages should fines or jailings occur due to industrial legislation. These amendments were rejected by the movers of the motion who said the amendments locked the unions into a fixed response if the government enforced the WRA.
However, a call for the ACTU and state and regional TLCs to adopt May 6 as a national day in solidarity with the MUA was carried, along with an addendum committing VTHC affiliates to rally outside any picket line that is breached.
Union activists around the country are already taking up the call to turn May 6 into a national day of solidarity with the MUA. However, given the speed at which this dispute is unfolding, the unions may well have to act sooner.