[Muanet] Victorian unions call mass delegates' meeting

[Chris Latham]

Below is an article on the initial response of Victorian unions to the
Howard governments coming IR assault, from the current issue of Green
Left Weekly. 
Chris Latham
 
Victorian unions call mass delegates' meeting
Sue Bolton, Melbourne 
At a meeting of 150 unionists on February 24, Victorian Trades Hall
Council (VTHC) officials announced that they were calling a mass
delegates' meeting for March 23. They anticipate an attendance of 2500
delegates. The meeting will be followed by a march through Melbourne's
streets. 
The speakers at the meeting lifted the lid on a debate that has been
brewing in the trade union movement since last October's re-election of
the Coalition over how unions should respond to the Howard government's
planned attacks on unions' ability to organise. 
ACTU secretary Greg Combet emphasised the need for unions to focus on
"on-the-job organisation and collective bargaining on the job".
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) Victorian branch
secretary Martin Kingham cautioned against unions responding to the new
political environment by burying their assets and minimising activity to
weather the storm. "If unions do the head-in-the-sand trick to make
themselves a small target", said Kingham, "they might still have a few
million dollars in the bank in a few years time but their members'
conditions will be washed down the river". 
He added that "whatever the challenges, we have to continue to organise
collectively. The primary task is at the workplace, but don't
underestimate that we need to keep our members encouraged with a message
of resistance." 
>From the floor of the meeting, a CFMEU delegate called on trade union
leaders "to start fighting now, organising mass rallies now. It's too
late if we wait until the legislation is through." Another speaker said
that workplace organisation was crucial but that there also needed to be
combined union action nationwide. 
Combet replied that a lot of workers had voted for the Howard
government. "You can't believe your own bullshit" about the level of
support for unions, he lectured. 
He acknowledged that demonstrations were important, but then disparaged
the proposal for mass protests by saying: "You will never excite
widespread community support if you smash down the doors of Parliament
House. We have to appeal to Australian values. There's no point having a
rally and then going home and scratching our heads about what to do." 
VTHC secretary Leigh Hubbard intervened in the debate to say that Combet
and the CFMEU delegate had "highlighted a balancing act that we have to
work out". Hubbard said that the VTHC had already called a mass
delegates' meeting for March 23 and that national days of protest would
be called, but that workplace organisation was the key, as Combet had
outlined. 
Hubbard concluded that unionists "shouldn't be under any illusion we can
stop the Howard government doing what it's going to do" with mass
protests. These, he added, "will be about locking the ALP into doing the
right thing when it next gets elected". 
Militants reject pessimistic approach
Several union leaders have told Green Left Weekly that they disagree
with the negative and pessimistic approach that pervades the top
echelons of much of the union movement. 
Michele O'Neil, the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union's Victorian
branch secretary, said that "mass protests are definitely not in
contradiction to workplace organisation. We've got to be organising at
every level ... Our response has to be well organised and tactical but
that requires that we demonstrate public and forceful opposition in an
organised way by collectively coming together and saying across the
movement that we are opposed to what this government is trying to do to
working people. 
"It also means doing the hard work in workplaces and in neighbourhoods
and in communities to make sure that the information about what these
changes mean gets out. We've got to organise in the workplace, we've got
to organise within our unions, across our unions, and outside our unions
in the broad community to fight off these attacks. 
"The way you bring about change is to make sure that people understand
what's behind these changes and [organising] a strong public presence is
an important part of getting a message to the government that what
they're doing is unacceptable. 
"I don't accept that just because the government has control of the
Senate that you can't affect what they do because, at the end of the
day, the government wants to stay in power. To not acknowledge that the
trade union movement can exert both industrial and political power is to
ignore our history." 
Electrical Trades Union state secretary Dean Mighell said that "union
members are looking for leadership. Members are eager to set the agenda
for the long-term campaign for political change. We organise and
participate in all sorts of very public demonstrations. And it is a
great thing because everyone can get together with like-minded people
and express their passion or belief. We've always got to express our
desire for change in the most unified public way. Public rallies and
public meetings with thousands and thousands of people are the ultimate
expression of the country's democracy. So let's never take the emphasis
off rallies. 
"We support both. Of course you organise in your workplace because if
you don't, you're dead. But never take your eye off the ultimate form of
unity in mass rallies." 
Protests to pressure ALP?
Mighell challenged the idea that the main purpose of mass protests was
just to pressure the ALP to do the "right thing" when it got elected.
"The whole political campaign that needs to be mounted here about
workers' rights isn't party-specific, regardless of who's in government
... We've got to be campaigning for good reform always. 
"Campaigning for long-term political change is part of our everyday
organising activities. Any suggestion that we have to rely on the ALP to
deliver a panacea to workers - well, history tells us that that's not
going to happen ... 
"Waiting for the ALP to get elected is tantamount to giving up the
fight." 
Geelong Trades and Labour Council assistant secretary and CFMEU member
Tim Gooden explained that while "you've always got to have workplace
organisation, if you only have workplace organisation you run the risk
of workplaces feeling isolated and powerless. The ACTU's current
position is to maintain what we've got by burying our heads in the sand.

"If you want to take on the federal government, then that's going to
require mass organisation of all unions simultaneously and with the
broader community. Each workplace, regardless of how strong it is, how
large it is and what density of membership they have, isn't going to be
able to sustain any of these changes that the government is proposing,
without solidarity from the rest of the union movement. 
"The ACTU is hoping that the Howard government will damage workers so
badly that they'll have no choice but to vote for Labor at the next
election. That's their strategy - not to make Labor look better than the
Liberals, but to allow the Liberals to make themselves look worse than
Labor. 
"By the ACTU not proposing that the union movement resist the Howard
government's legislation, it is saying that it is not putting any
demands on a future Labor government either." 
Gooden pointed out that the government won't always win. "Passing a
piece of legislation is one thing. But having the political will and
ability to implement it is quite another. Since 1996, all unions are
meant to give 24-hours' notice for right of entry to workplaces. The
most activist unions never give 24 hours' notice. The employers and
governments know that if they tried to enforce the law, there'd be an
industrial backlash. Where they think there won't be a backlash, they
enforce the law. 
"Any government, regardless of how dictatorial it is, if it thinks
there's going to be a sustained public backlash, will water down its
legislation or not implement it. But that requires a sustained campaign,
and not just one or two demonstrations. [Previous Coalition premier]
Jeff Kennett had the full force of the Victoria Police on Swanston Dock
during the maritime dispute in 1998. But in the end, he wasn't able to
use the police to smash up the massive community picket line because of
the likely public backlash." 
Kingham told GLW: "Howard's changes are striking at the very heart of
how unions organise and it's absolutely vital that there be a united
response of condemnation, not just for the sake of campaigning and
protesting about the government's intentions. It's also about how we
operate after whatever changes come in, because if the unions go into a
wait-and-see mode, that's a message to rank-and-file members and
activists that the resolve isn't there to combat the situation down the
track. 
"It's about how we encourage our members to continue to fight on in the
workplace. It's very important that we're out there fighting, that there
isn't a gap, a kind of limbo period. It's vital to show people in the
workplaces that unions aren't running away, that we're out there doing
what we do and we're going to defend it." 
>From Green Left Weekly, March 2, 2005. 

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