By Geoff Spencer
PERTH — Some 1200 people attended a Save the Westrail Midland Workshops march and public meeting on May 6. Loudspeakers were set up outside the Midland Town Hall to cater for the large crowd which could not be accommodated inside.
Speakers included TLC assistant secretary Tony Cooke, ALP leader Carmen Lawrence, David Moyer representing the workshops joint union committee and members of the local shire council. Other unions including the BLF, the LHMU and a delegation of AMIEU members from Robb Jetty abattoir were there in solidarity.
The 1200 workers, their families and supporters heard contributions detailing the history and tradition of the workshops and what the closure would mean for the local community in particular and the state in general. The economic irrationality of the decision was targeted with various speakers outlining the productivity improvements, the quality assurance level and the further restructuring that would have ensured the viability of the workshops.
While the Liberal Party frontbench declined invitations to attend the rally, the recently elected local MP was there, and while "stunned" at the decision noted, quite accurately, that it was the ALP which had set the workshops up for closure.
David Moyer provided an interesting piece of information on this point by revealing that the workshops general manager (who was appointed under a Labor government) had considerable shares in the parent company of Goninan — Westrail's major competitor in locomotive engineering.
The need to fight the government's decision was taken up by several the speakers. The Swan Shire president received strong applause when she said, "The first duty of a patriot is to defend the country against the government".
Unfortunately none of the actions proposed by the speakers went far enough to fight the closure effectively. Cooke was quite emphatic in pointing out that the TLC would not "sponsor wholesale industrial action". It was "a matter of a long sustained campaign" and the unions must "take the issues to the people".
In the end, the actions proposed to save the workshops and the hundreds of jobs involved amounted to little more than lobbying: contact your local politician, write to the editor of any newspaper and ring talkback radio.
The Court government announced the closure of Westrail's Midland workshops on the April 28. This decision, which is part of a proposed shedding of some 1050 jobs, broke a pre-election promise of to re-equip and ensure the long-term future of the workshops. It seems the government acted on advice from ent. This advice was in complete contradiction to an enterprise bargaining agreement negotiated by Westrail and the unions six months ago.