Victory in Europe

Photo: Zoe Reynolds

BATTLE FOR STRASBOURG: Australians stevedoring workers join European comrades in defence of dockworkers' rights

IT was the first contingent of Australians and Americans to battlegrounds of Europe since World War II. But this was an industrial war - 14 waterside workers and officials from around Australia and as many longshore workers from the US and Canada joining an army of 10,000 European dockworkers from 16 nations, defending their livelihoods against the conservative forces of global business.

At the centre of the battle was the 'Directive on Market Access to Port Services', a controversial bill which would let international shipping lines dictate operations in 400 ports and employ their own port labour, including ships crew and truck drivers, to stevedore their ships.

The International Transport Workers' Federation warned such a move would create ports of convenience, offering cut rate services for the convenience of shippers and shipping lines, at the expense of workers, civil society and the environment.

Portworkers in the European Community have been in a protracted struggle against the directive for five years, with the first pan-European dock strikes in 2001 leading to the bill's defeat in 2004. But now it was back on the agenda and the ITF was calling for solidarity delegations from around the world.

"This directive is driven by the global transnationals. It sets out to greatly reduce the ability of dockworkers to organise," said MUA National Secretary and ITF executive board member, Paddy Crumlin, in a letter asking branches to join the delegation. "It aims to deregulate the stevedoring industry and allow self-handling of cargo by seafarers. If they succeed in Europe, we'll be fighting it here."

"This is a direct attack against wharfies world wide and will be met with robust opposition," said Dean Summers, ITF Australia. "We wish our delegation all the very best and know that they will take the message of international solidarity to all of our brothers and sisters throughout Europe."

As the MUA battalion of waterside workers and officials packed their bags, Lloyds List newspaper reported the ports directive vote was knife-edge.

Strike

The battle began with the ITF affiliated European Transport Workers' Federation calling strikes on major seaports across the continent.

German dockers were the first. On January 11 Hamburg came to a standstill, with ships diverted or lying at anchor.

"The proposed legislation is the latest initiative in an ongoing drive of European big business to open up EU ports to the unbridled workings of the capitalist market on behalf of transnational corporations", Jor Wessels, Hamburg docker, told the French Liberation daily. "The shipowners don't care about employment or safety, they just want to coin in the money."

Soon after Australia's delegation left on January 14, workers at Europe's two biggest ports, Rotterdam and Antwerp, launched 24 hour strikes.

Then France. Ports in Marseille, Bordeaux, Brest, Dunkirk, La Rochelle, Rouen, Saint-Nazaire, La Havre and the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion all came to a standstill, the World Socialist web site reported.

"The commercial activities of the autonomous Port of Marseille and Fos-sur-Mer are completely stopped," Pascal Galeote, deputy head of the Marseille ports branch told BBC News. "All activities - handling, operating, naval repairs and oil - are blocked."

In Belgium, a union spokeswoman said: "The strike is total. Nothing is happening in Belgian ports."

In Greece the Merchant Marine Ministry reported 24-hour stoppages in Piraeus, Thessaloniki and the Cretian port of Keraklion.

Portuguese, Danish, Swedish and Spanish dockers also struck with sporadic action in other ports, affecting shipping operations representing 70 per cent of European Community trade.

In other ports dockworkers held information meetings, in many cases with the support of national MPs and Members of the European Parliament (MEP). The ETF delegation distributed about 15,000 "STOP PP2" postcards and compiled more than 20,000 signatures from their online petition.

"This second initiative (Port Package II) is just another go at getting the European Parliament to open the industry to cheap labour, competition, casualisation and contracting out," said Paddy Crumlin. "The move is consistent with the global attack on dockworkers that resulted in the Patrick dispute, the ILWU lockout and the Liverpool Dockers' Dispute. It is extremely important we build a strong network of solidarity and collective action against this escalating attack on our rights."

Touchdown

On the eve of the rally heralding the parliamentary debate and vote on the bill, the Australian delegation touched down in Frankfurt, Germany and crossed the border into France by bus. It was after eight in the morning before a bleak sunrise exposed a barren landscape of naked trees dusted with snow. Temperatures were sub zero and the jet-lagged, culture-shocked wharfies huddled in the warmth of an ancient pub off the cobbled streets and canals of Strasbourg's old quarter. Many had not slept during the 28-hour journey.

"I'd never been out of the country before," said Adelaide wharfie, Clem Clothier. "Unless you count Kangaroo Island! It was like an SBS movie without subtitles. But we were in it."

That night the US and Canadian ILWU contingents joined the Australians on the outskirts of Strasbourg. The next day, a tram into the city and a leading position at the head of the march, with a commitment to cede the frontline to local workers when they reached parliament house.

The rally came after months of savage rioting in the streets of Paris and beyond. Many of the battle-hardened French protesters, outside the ITF umbrella, came complete with gas masks and batons - trophies from the last altercation with riot police.

The March

As ITF Dockers Secretary, Frank Leys, organised the joint Australian and American group, waterside workers from Spain, Sweden, Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, the UK, Germany, Italy, Finland, France Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Poland and Portugal downed tools and crowded onto trains and buses to converge on the city centre.

They marched on Strasbourg, filing off buses and trams and filling the town square, anticipating a victory as newspaper banners announced growing opposition to the bill.

Leading the Australian delegation was Jim Tannock, MUA Deputy National Secretary and Asia Pacific Regional Vice Chairman of the ITF Dockers Section and Fair Practices Committee dockers delegate for Australia.

"Seafarers don't do wharfie's jobs in Australia," said Jim. "But that's what they wanted over there. If it got through the European parliament, how long do you think it would take for Howard to bring it through the Australian parliament?"

Dozens of Spanish dock workers crammed onto the tram alongside Australian wharfies and American longshoremen.

"People were surprised to see us here," said Fremantle P&O wharfie Adrian Evans. "They were surprised we'd come overseas to support them. Our presence seemed important to them. It was an amazing experience - so many dockworkers from different countries coming together in solidarity to defend dock workers' rights."

Welcoming

"One bloke asked for my MUA cap," said Hobart Branch Secretary, Mick Wickham. "I'd have given him the coat off my back."

Melbourne Branch Secretary Kevin Bracken said just being with dock workers from all over Europe was a fantastic example of internationalism: "And they all wanted their pictures taken with us. They all held us in high regard."

"People shook our hands," said Brisbane wharfie Len Waddell. "The respect they had for the MUA flag was unbelievable. It was a great honour to be part of an international group of unions - a part of history."

There was even a touch of sunlight, as rare as suntanned Australian wharfies, in the grey European winter.

"When they asked why we were here, I told them that what was going on here today was going to happen in Australia tomorrow," said Port Botany wharfie Bob Lee. "I'm proud to be part of the MUA contingent, playing a part in globalising the trade union movement."

ILWU member Willy Adams was struck with the youth of the protesters, with the majority looking to be in their teens or twenties. "It's Martin Luther King birthday holiday back home," he said. "He supported workers and he would have supported us being here today. I like to see the young people. We don't see that in the USA or Australia. It's a real groundswell."

For Newcastle delegate Shannon Gleeson it had been a long journey but worth it. "It makes a big statement to come all this way for a few hours," he said. "People were stoked. If we stand together it's a lot harder for the corporates to knock us over. The corporates have gone global, we have to go global too."

The battle for Strasbourg was the frontline for dockworkers worldwide. Win or lose, the ramifications were international.

In his paper Dockers versus the Directive - the War on Europe's Waterfront, Peter Turnbull, Cardiff University, celebrated the 2001 round of pan-European strikes as a "new repertoire of social action" forging a strategy of internationalism.

He described the unions first defeat of the Ports Package in November 2003 in as an "unprecedented victory for European dockworkers". Now they were poised to win again.

Noisy protesters, most wearing yellow and orange work gear, wove for several hours and several kilometres through the streets and parks of Strasbourg, letting off flares and fireworks, beating drums, singing and trumpeting their opposition to the bill. Shops were shuttered, in case emotions got out of hand, but many locals leaned out of windows to witness the fanfare and cheer.

Fireworks

"Everyone was making a noise," said Shannon. "The drums. Fireworks. People were involved. A couple of hours marching. Imagine. In Australia, you'd be the only one left at the end."

"I still remember the excitement - the music, the trumpets," said Mal Lingard, Newcastle Stevedores. "The passion of their struggle was inspiring. They understand the importance of struggle and they were prepared to demonstrate and stick together to protect their rights."

"Passions were running high. You could sense the emotions were going to run over," said Len. "You felt that."

For the most part the protest had been peaceful, but as the march reached parliament, workers were confronted with riot police. Tempers flared, with some protesters throwing rocks and smashing glass windows. Police fired water cannons and tear gas into the crowd, scattering protesters.

Teargas

"I stuck with them till the gas got me," said Clem. "I knew something was going on when the blokes around me put the gas masks on. I was out of my depth. It took my breath away. My eyes were stinging like buggery. I nearly chocked. I threw up."

The MUA contingent withdrew with the majority of the protesters, peacefully leaving the parliament grounds to regroup back in town. But violent clashes between dockers and local police forces continued with at least one policeman wounded. About 100m2 of the glass facade of the European Parliament was smashed.

ETF sources say the melee was caused by a minority of individuals, many of whom were not dock workers and who had infiltrated the rally.

"I was standing inside waiting to have a delegation of dockworkers meet with MEPs and the Mayor of Strasbourg when people started throwing things," said Frank Leys. "They were asking 'Why, when we are supporting them, do they do this.. Why this violence?'"

"You could feel the anger and frustration," said Ray Familathe, director international affairs, ILWU. "Dockworkers are under constant pressure to be more efficient and accept technological change. But the employers are never satisfied. They always want more. Even after the police used teargas you could see how many kept fighting."

"It was all about taking away dockers' work," said Mick. "That was the crux of it. Taking away something that traditionally belongs to us and should remain so. You can't get more passionate about losing what's yours."

For Shannon the riots were a big eye-opener: "It's a totally different culture in Europe. As one of the ILWU guys said if you trashed a federal building in the US, you'd get shot on the spot."

The Australians, most in Europe for the first time, were struck by the cultural differences.

"Class struggle is sharper in Europe and within French society," said Warren Smith, Sydney Branch. "It was a starkly different approach - a different culture. France has been going through social upheaval and riots. We came in at the very end of a long struggle to oppose a law that would have negatively impacted on thousands of European wharfies and, inevitably, on wharfies all around the world. So it was a pretty intense battle."

That night the toast at dinner was for international solidarity.

"The ILWU and MUA presence was felt here today," said Jim Tannock. "It was a great show of solidarity. We wanted to march side by side with our European comrades and we had to be disciplined."

The Debate

The next day Jim joined Eduardo Chagas, ETF General Secretary, Willie Adams, ILWU and Ken Bauder, ILWU Canada and the ITF, in Parliament with dockworkers from Malta, France, the UK and elsewhere. Inside they witnessed the debate and spent the day lobbying MEPs to vote the bill down.

"What struck me was how strongly some of the parliamentarians supported us," said Jim. "The Maltese MEP was one of the best. He made it clear we were not talking about containers, we are talking about people, that the directive would pit worker against worker and jeopardise safety."

Jim also noted the Greek member who argued that Europe needed skilled port workers, workers they knew and trusted.

"If we accepted this proposal we don't know who you will get," he said. "This is not a supermarket or service industry. It would risk livelihoods and social standards, jeopardise families and introduce cut-throat competition, pollution of port waste. It is in short a recipe for disaster."

The shipowners spokesmen and directive proponents were Transport Committee Jarzembowski, from Germany, and Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot. They argued for freedom to provide port services and increase competition - that market access for new companies would mean the most efficient, best priced bid, winning.

But the majority of European MPs savaged the directive.

Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL, NL) described the proposal as a "time bomb" and Richard Howitt said it would endanger jobs of highly skilled workers.

Speaking for the Employment Committee, Stephen Hughes (UK) said that the dockworkers' violence was unacceptable, but that MEPs should understand their frustration. It was 'ill informed' and 'an insult' to the European Parliament to bring back an almost unchanged proposal only 18 months after it was rejected.

"Self handling is ludicrous," he said. "It would create a health and safety nightmare. Opening pilot services to tender at the lowest price is ludicrous. In my area of Teesside, with its major chemical industries, it would expose the entire population to danger."

All were indignant that the bill rejected only one year earlier by parliament was back before them.

"'No' means 'no' in any language," said MEP Philip Bradbourn.

After the debate Jim Tannock joined ITF and ETF representatives giving interviews on CNN and BBC Television.

Even before it went to the vote the bill was doomed, Fairplay shipping magazine reported.. It generated animosity among all sides of the political spectrum and European institutions, creating an unlikely alliance of industry, management, MEPs and labour.

Victory Vote

Proponents of the legislation made a last ditch attempt to avoid humiliation on the day, moving to have the directive returned to the transport committee. It was, in the words of one parliamentary member, an attempt to "hide the view of the chamber"..

Likewise, an attempt to delay the vote, by pleading everyone needed time to cool down after the violence at the demonstration, was also rejected. It was "a normal demonstration for the most part," said one parliamentarian in the dockers' defence, and the European Parliament promptly voted the ports directive down 532 to 120.

"I was impressed," said Sydney wharfie Bob Lee who was in parliament to watch the historic vote.. "I think we knew the outcome before we went there, but we didn't think it would be rejected so overwhelmingly. You'd hope this means it won't rear its ugly head again, but no doubt it will. We still have to be vigilant."

For Brisbane Branch Assistant Secretary Dave Perry it was a great honour to have played a part in the bill's downfall. "We made history," he said. "We've just put a deposit in the working class bank of solidarity in Europe. Sometime in the future we may need to make a withdrawal."

"It brought it all back," said Len. "There was the '98 dispute. Then you go back to sleep again. This was a wake up. It's never going to end. It's always going to be on again."