The Year Ahead
By By National Secretary Paddy Crumlin
2004 presents a number of challenges for us to ensure our position in the industry continues to be protected under difficult industrial conditions. The conference of members is essential in developing a clear direction for strong and militant activity. It is the cornerstone of how we determine our policies. Membership involvement makes this mechanism of union government effective and focused, and ensures our ability to properly identify the needs of maritime workers and the tools to meet those needs.
In the stevedoring industry we must press on in our determination
to secure stable and permanent jobs and employment conditions allowing for regular
time off with decent pay. In shipping we must continue to gather strength in
our determination to fend off the federal government drive to remove our right
to work in this essential domestic industry. This means ensuring our efforts
chime in with campaigns and activities of maritime workers and workers generally
internationally. Global capital always discriminates in its own self interest,
and the easiest shortcut to profit is the continuing deregulation of labour.
Profit is sucked out through workers competing against each
other for their own jobs, whether permanent workers against casual or contract
workers or workers from developed countries against workers from developing
and third world countries.
Our union needs to gather strength as well by consolidating
our bargaining position in every aspect of the industry including the hydrocarbon
industry where jobs and workers have become increasingly isolated and separated
by the big oil transnationals and the contractors employed to do their handywork.
Strong unionism in key industries equals workers protection.
Most importantly 2004 gives us an opportunity to get rid of
a federal government that has failed in its responsibility to build a strong
and sustainable society predicated on fairness and equality. A government of
segregation, racism and elitism, it has overseen the continuing polarisation
of wealth and opportunity in favour of international capital. Chief executive
salaries are a small insight into how their policies mete out wage justice.
To maintain strong industrial presence we must be prepared to challenge the
political values this mob stand for. From the front not the back is our style.
That's the way we like it -- plenty to do. 2004 won't be any
different.
Head Kicking
There is no better indication of the Howard Government's ongoing
agenda than the continuing persecution of the CFMEU, firstly in the mining industry
and now in the building industry. The Cole Royal Commission was an excuse for
head kicking workers into fear and weakness.
The legislation that is flowing like sewerage following the
Royal Commission report includes setting up a secret police force to intimidate
and bludgeon building workers into abandoning the protection of decent conditions
of work their union provides. As long as workers, including maritime workers,
are prepared to stand up to this attack it will be exposed for what it really
is. And that is absolutely nothing to do with a safer or more efficient building
industry and everything to do with thumping workers and their union.
The CFMEU and tens of thousands of their members have gone
to the wire with us on many occasions, most recently during the Patrick dispute.
That's the sort of company we keep. And we're proud of it.
Holed up
When they reefed Saddam out of his hole it was an eye opener.
Here's the bloke who supposedly had his finger on the button of enough weapons
of mass destruction to end the world as we know it. According to their propaganda,
he had to go. Stuff the United Nations, stuff international justice and law,
stuff the innocents gunned down, bombed and shattered in the cross fire, stuff
their economy, jobs, infrastructure and rights. The end justifies the means!
And this to get a bloke whose back up plan was to dig holes to live in. It was
one of the greatest snowjobs of all times. Saddam only got there in the first
place because he was a suck for the CIA, where they backed him to level Iran
in the 1980's. He's got an interesting CV. Like all gangsters however he got
a bit big for his boots and found out that what the US giveth the US can also
taketh away.
Three cheers for the New World Order after the so-called end
of the Cold War.
The perpetrators of the war in Iraq have a lot to answer for.
In going after a bloke they helped create, and on the way through destroying
the lives and society of a generation of Iraqis in the name of anti terrorism,
they appear to have not only strengthened the hand of the righteous zealots
driving religious based acts of terrorism, but dragged that region back to the
brink of total breakdown. We're led to believe that the answer of course is
more guns, more armies, more effective weapons of mass destruction by the worlds
new police force. This presumably includes Australia, which for the first time
in our history has been party to the unilateral declaration of war on another
state. Nothing like boxing outside our weight.
But again, they say the war will prove successful. Like Afghanistan
has been.
The MUA must continue to join our efforts with others here
and around the world and demand a peace process be re engineered in the Middle
East to replace the war process there.
CSL record breaker
So far so good with CSL, which secured buying the Iron Chieftain
(thanks to BHP). We've now secured agreement for the vessel to have Australian
crew working under Australian conditions. It's been the first thing we've agreed
on for a while.
The crew is to be congratulated by all maritime workers for
their determination to make the new conditions aboard the vessel succeed. A
lot depends on it. For CSL's part they should re-crew their other Australian
trading vessel with Australians and stop pissing into the tent. We can never
resolve all our issues until this happens.
Interestingly, their majority share holder Paul Martin is about
to become Prime Minister of Canada. Good luck mate, I hope you show a bit more
leadership with the ship of state. Canadians must hope he's just a slow learner.
Slow learner
One notorious slow learner is the Minister for Transport, John
Anderson. He tried to steamroller the new Maritime and Shipping and Port Security
Bill through the two houses without much dialogue with our union, presumably
because the views on security of the majority of workers on the waterfront are
not considered important. Pretty typical. We made our point about what those
views are, and persevered in ensuring any legislation protects the rights of
the men and women actually making our ports function. Security is an issue,
but so is privacy. We told his department that they weren't serious about security
if they continued to write single voyage permits like bets in the ring at Caulfield
races, or have contractors wandering in and out of the place like nomads.
We've proven with the foot and mouth disease problem the importance
of our work. Port security is a high risk environment potentially similar to
the aviation industry. However there can only be total security with a secure
work force - employed to do the job on a full time, not part time or contracted,
basis. And backing a domestic shipping industry employing Australians, and not
whoever turns up on the tide. It's a bit smarter way to protect our interests
than starting wars in the Middle East.
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