Peter Boyle
The next ACTU-called national day of action against the proposed new federal industrial relations laws is not until November 15. But trade unionists in Geelong, Victoria, are determined to keep up the pressure. They have set an example with an ambitious and imaginative political campaign.
The campaign is going to be in the hands of the local union delegates, Geelong and Regions Trades and Labor Council Hall secretary Tim Gooden told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly. "We are not going for the orders-from-above-via-Sky-Channel approach."
On August 17, an all-unions delegate and activist meeting brought together about 100 unionists. "We had white-collar and blue-collar unionists together discussing how we are going to build up from the 10,000-strong rally we had on June 30", Gooden said. "There were lots of ideas and some criticisms of how we handled the last rally. Everyone was determined to have a larger rally in November.
"We collected 99 names out of the 100-plus delegates there for a volunteer list, and the delegates are going to meet again in about four weeks to see how the campaign is going and to make more decisions." In the meantime, unionists in Geelong are out leafleting footy matches and more.
On August 23, the first industrial relations training for women trade unionists was held in Geelong Trades Hall. "We three had sessions with about 20 women at each. The sessions were held at different times during the day so that women with various work and family commitments could participate. It was such a success we are going to follow up with a second round of women's training sessions", said Gooden.
This month, a "name and shame" campaign will be launched, targeting companies that are trying to force their employees onto individual contracts. "We have a couple of such companies in our sights and one of them will soon feel the heat", Gooden said.
"When the former Liberal state government [under premier Jeff Kennett] handed industrial relations powers to Canberra, some 300,000 to 500,000 Victorian workers were for nine years forced onto the sort of five minimum conditions that Howard wants workers on nationally. Most big unions moved their members onto federal awards to avoid this attack, but many workers in little workplaces missed out, and now many of these are being forced onto AWAs [Australia Workplace Agreements — individual contracts]. That's happening already, even before Howard's workplace laws have been tabled in parliament.
"So it is not a question of whether or not we need to take industrial action once the new laws are introduced into parliament. We do, but we need an industrial campaign now to prevent employers from forcing workers onto individual contracts even before those new laws come in."
At the delegates' meeting, former Victorian secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Craig Johnston (now a Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) delegate from a construction site at Deakin University) proposed a social event so that delegates and union activists from different unions and different industries in the region could get to know each other better. Gooden explained, "They need to build up their trust in each other if we are going to go into a big blue with the bosses".
"It is going to be like a karaoke night except we won't be singing. The delegates wouldn't want to hear me singing! Instead, we will have a spruiking competition because we need those skills on the picket-line", he said.
On September 20, a public meeting with ACTU president Sharan Burrow is planned. "We've lined up a solicitor to explain the proposed IR laws and we are also arranging to have someone from the churches or a community advocate to speak."
Gooden said that one thing they learnt from the last big rally is that they need to train more people to lead rallies and pickets, to get on the megaphones and lead the chants. "We are looking for people with confidence and rhythm", he said, adding that one thing he personally learnt from the last rally is that he doesn't have much rhythm.
On October 7, "picket kits" will be launched, produced with money collected at the June 30 rally.""Picket Trades Hall!' is how we plan to advertise the launch", explained Gooden. "We will have a demonstration picket line to help train delegates and other unionist activists. And we will be inviting the media along to get the message out to employers that we are getting ready for some serious picket-line duty in the case of any worker or union being attacked under Howard's new IR laws."
Then there is a plan to hold a public meeting in October in the Liberal-held seat of Corangamite. "This is to reach out to workers in outlying districts who didn't get involved in the June 30 rally."
Media reports on the industrial relations campaign often dismiss the importance of mass rallies and marches as a lot of ineffective noise that only involves a dwindling core of organised workers. Gooden sees this as a self-serving caricature of mass action by some journalists too keen to please their corporate bosses.
"We are reaching out with our campaign. After the 10,000-strong June 30 rally the phone was running hot with enquiries about joining unions. There were even mums and dads ringing up to see what union their sons or daughters should join.
"Some unions are growing fast. My union, the CFMEU, has reported a rise from 23,000 to 30,000 members across the state.
"But we know we have to reach out to non-unionised workers and young workers in particular. At the last cross-union delegates' meeting there was discussion about ways to involve more young workers and we will be trying out some of these ideas in future rallies."
Gooden sees the challenge of reaching out to more workers as political, not just organising a membership drive. "The trade unions need to set out clear demands for the IR campaign. So far the national campaign has been quite reactive. It has no clear demands, no bottom-line principles that we fight to defend.
"For a start we should demand no AWAs, no non-union agreements, collective bargaining rights, repeal of the Workplace Relations Acts and other anti-union laws, and access to unfair dismissal rights for all workers.
"All the union campaigns in the past that have won have had clear political demands, which have been put clearly to all political parties, the ALP included", says Gooden. He, like many unionists in Geelong, is ropable that the ALP will not commit to abolishing AWAs if it is elected to government in the next federal election.
"The ALP and other parliamentary parties cannot expect political support from the trade union movement without guaranteeing to support the key elements of this union campaign. The movement should make that clear — no blank-cheque support from us without an unqualified commitment to support our basic demands."
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, September 7, 2005.
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