National Conference

National and International organisation the central themes

'Organising nationally is organising internationally' was a central theme of the 2008 National Conference. And the 140 international guests from unions across the globe - including the USA, Canada, Europe, UK, South Africa, Asia and the Pacific as well as Australian transport, mining and resource industry unions - were testimony to this.

"We have a great future but there is only a future if we are in it," said MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin. "We have to be in the middle of the picture, working hard for our interests, reaching out to our brothers and sisters around the world, holding politicians accountable, protecting the weak and supporting the strong in our communities, in our labour movement."

The National Conference of Delegates 2008, held over the week 7-11 April at the Sydney Convention Centre in Darling Harbour Sydney, charted a progressive and far reaching agenda for the union.

The National Secretary urged delegates to turn the 2008-2012 National Plan into an active organising strategy in the workplace, in industries, in the branches, nationally and internationally.

More than 300 rank and file delegates from all ports and all industries helped map out union policy. They overwhelmingly endorsed the organising model as the union's core operation.

Conference began with the traditional welcome to country and smoking ceremony by Aboriginal elders Silvia Scott and Uncle Max Evlo, drawing on the common bond between Aboriginal people and the labour movement.

The smoking of Balga (grass tree), Wattle and other native plants is believed to take away the bad spirits cleanse and heal the space in which the ceremony takes place.

"The unions have the same sort of fight as our people have had to fight to survive in this country," said Silvia Scott.

Acknowledging the significance of the PM's apology for the stolen generation, Aunty Silvia also reminded conference delegates that the pain is still ongoing among her people.

"People are still crying, mothers are still crying, children are still looking for their parents but when they've got there it's too late, they've passed on."

Aunty Silvia thanked the MUA participation in support of indigenous rights, specifically its donations and time over 50 years to the Tranby Aboriginal College and indigenous education initiatives.

Delegates adopted a comprehensive policy on indigenous Australians developed by MUA life member Terry O'Shane and Kevin Tory of the Trade Union Committee on Aboriginal Rights who also addressed conference.

Tim Gartrell, National Secretary of the Labor Party officially opened proceedings on the Monday, outlining the history of the ALP and its importance to progressive politics globally.

"Seafarers and wharfies have always been at the centre of progressive politics," he said. "Wharfies and seafarers carry the ideas of nations with them. Wharves are not only the drop off points for goods they are also the drop off points for ideas. And this is doubly the case in Australia. Wharfies and seafarers have always been at the heart of the labour movement and the Labor party here."

The ALP secretary also spoke of the personal economies of working families and the contradictions of Australia's export economy.

"Despite the minerals boom many people are doing it tough," he said. "We've had a two track economy over the past decade. The ratio of household debt to income has jumped from 60 per cent to 170 per cent creating two Australias."

Keynote speaker at conference was Deputy PM Julia Gillard, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. She made headlines with her comments on the waterfront conspiracy papers and freedom of information (See box p14). The deputy PM also spoke of the former government's failures in transport and nation building.

"Our transport infrastructure, including our ports, has been neglected," she said. "Maritime skill shortages have emerged. ?And despite the hard work of so many, export bottlenecks have developed that are holding back national productivity and economic growth, checking the spectacular success of our resources boom."

Julia Gillard used conference as a platform to reconfirm her government's commitment to Australian shipping.

"I find the previous government's desire to run the industry down quite bewildering," she said. "Our seafaring history is something we should be proud of.

"We also shouldn't forget that our merchant seafarers played such a heroic role in the first and second world wars. It's worth recalling that, at best estimate, nearly 400 members of the Seamen's Union lost their lives as the result of enemy action in the Second World War alone. Many were captured, and some died in prisoner of war camps. ?It was merchant seafarers who rescued Australian women and children from the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in the face of the Japanese advance in 1941 and 1942 - one of the great unsung Australian achievements of the Second World War."

The Deputy PM also committed to a national code of practice and set of regulations for stevedores to be developed by the Australian Safety and Compensation Council.

"Ports, ships and the people who load and sail them have helped make Australia what it is today," she said. "We will invest in their infrastructure and skills; we will ensure their pay, conditions and safety meet exacting community standards; and we will ensure cooperative relations between employers and employees."

The Rudd Government's commitment to shipping was also the focus of Transport Minister Anthony Albanese. "It is outrageous that under the Howard Government Australian-registered trading vessels declined from 76 to 49," he said. "This government and this minister are committed to the revitalisation of the Australian coastal shipping industry. We will elevate the role of shipping by ensuring it is on equal footing with other modes of transport."

The minister also spoke of the newly created Infrastructure Australia.

"An important part of that is ensuring that maritime is no longer a footnote after roads and rail, but that it's at the heart of a coordinated transport strategy," he said.

He also announced the government would support union representation on the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

WORKING WITH LABOR

Panel discussions on how the union would work with the Rudd Government in the coming years highlighted the need to grow and strengthen unions.

John Robertson, Unions NSW said the success of the yr@w campaign was that the union movement became the voice for working families.

"We didn't care about the history of blues we'd had, with demarcation disputes between us. We were focussed on one thing and that was that working families had a voice. We are speaking on behalf of hundreds and thousands of Australians," he said, noting that the challenge over the next four years was how to grow union membership.

"If we don't, we are destined to fail," he said. "We will fail ourselves and we will fail future generations."

MUA Assistant Secretary Mick Doleman, who co-ordinated the unions' marginal seats campaign, said he would hate to see the work and achievements of that campaign - i.e. "the dumping of Howard, the loss of his seat and his whole rotten government" - and the election of Rudd and his government being squandered.

"I'd hate to see us not be able to grab that prize and turn it into something for the labour movement in this country," he said.

Tony Maher, CFMEU (Mining and Energy division) proclaimed the hard right in this country had been set back 20 years.

"Every business group is currently trying to remodel itself from Howard cheerleaders to 'We've always worked with Labor you know'," he said.

ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence urged unionists to take on the important social challenge - to drag Australia back from being at the extreme edge of a right wing experiment.

"Australia is the only country in the developed world where, if a majority of workers want a collective agreement and boss says no, there's nothing the workers can do," he said, outlining the key IR measures the unions will seek to have the Rudd Government implement.

INTERNATIONAL

Discussion of industrial issues and other matters followed, with Deputy National Secretary Jim Tannock highlighting the importance of involving rank and file delegates in overseas actions.

" If you go internationally that's a lesson in itself," he said. "And I think that if you go to other countries and work with other unions there are so many lessons to be learned. We have to ensure we involve our rank and file when we have international delegations such as the Ports of Convenience campaign in Strausberg, May Day in Cuba, ITF Congress in Durban in South Africa, pickets in LA and NZ."

This was echoed by MUA Women's Liaison officer Mich-Elle Myers. She stressed the importance of women being represented on international delegations.

"They really are the event that makes us active," she said. "There is a moment when you go to a dispute or you go to a picket line somewhere in the world or somewhere in your country. You're standing there and you realise you're representing your union and I can't explain it. It's a goose bump thing. It's the moment that makes you release why we do what we do. Our inclusion in the events and marches is priceless. The experience can't be measured, but what comes from it can. You end up with a bunch of amazing activists who come home empowered and enriched."

The UK transport workers' leader Bob Crow, RMT, stressed that to have respect abroad, internationalism was essential.

"I've got more in common with a Chinese labourer than I do with a stock broker in your city here or a stock broker in my own country," he said. "Workers all have the same problems. We want a decent job. We want to attend work in the morning or night and go home in a fit condition without being injured, we demand good pay, not just reasonable pay, decent pensions, decent conditions and a world that lives in peace. That can only be achieved by militant trade unionism."

Dutch dockworkers leader Niek Stam headed what he described as the biggest FNV Bondgenoten Dutch dockworkers delegation ever. Their 16-strong delegation was second only to the NZ Maritime Union and ILWU delegations.

"We have to be prepared to fight," he said. "When the conservatives are in power we have to be prepared to fight for protection. When Labor is in power we have to fight for progress and improvements."

Frank Leys, secretary of the International Transport Workers' Federation, Dockers' Section, said waterside workers were confronted around the world by liberalisation and casualisation.

"We have to fight as dockers and we have to be proud to be a docker," he said. "We are also under siege for trade union rights. Global network terminals have almost 60 per cent of the throughput of all containers in the world. It is the GNTs which will set the standard. We have networks of unions around the world that are mapping the strength of unions and the weaknesses of the GNTs."

Frank Leys also said that global unions could use the GNTs to negotiate safety standards and implement an international code of practice for stevedoring workers.

"There is a central message when we talk about unionism now," said Sharan Burrow, president of both the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the International Trade Union Confederation. "And that is while we have to get our own house in order and operate nationally as a successful unified powerful trade union movement, we have to act internationally as well. Everything we do nationally must now be done internationally."

Dave Heindel, Seafarers' International Union of the US saluted the work of the MUA national secretary and the unions' grassroots political efforts behind the change of government in Australia.

"It seems that people, certainly the working class around the world, are searching for a change," he said. "Whether organised or not, people are fed up with the state of affairs and the lack of concern by government for their own people. I strongly believe, as does my union, that there is an undercurrent of discontent among workers. We, as leaders of workers, must harness that discontent and use it to set the agenda for the next 20-30 years."

Henrik Berlau, the seafarers and dockers secretary of the 350,000-strong Danish federation 3F congratulated the Maritime Union on the defeat of the Howard administration.

"It is important to understand that if there is no union there is no democracy," he said. "Globalisation has been the word of the day and has created dramatic changes for all workers and transport workers in particular. In Europe millions of jobs have been relocated to what is called the new economies where the most notorious exploitation of workers this world has ever seen is now taking place."

He said the only answer to this is to globalise our unions and teach our opposition there is no escape in this world and no place to hide.

David Cockroft, International Transport Workers' Federation said he attended a lot of union conferences around the world and usually had to argue the case for international solidarity and the work of the ITF.

"I don't think I have to do that here today," he said. "You have done it already. The fact that there are so many, unions, strong delegations here is a very clear testimony. The fact that the slogan that you have 'organising nationally is organising internationally' says it all for me.

"You've already heard from ITF unions from all over the world on exactly what we are trying to do organise the workforce globally," he said. "And clearly the MUA is an absolutely vital part of that operation."

Dean Summers ITF Australia Coordinator then outlined the success of the L&B campaign and how it differed from traditional Flag of Convenience campaigns by focussing on one ship and targetting it to international action. As a result 27 of the 50 ships L&B ships are now signed up with ITF agreements.

"It's down to the wharfies ultimately," he said. It's down to you guys the men and women who are prepared to do the hard yards, to take some sacrifice, to be threatened and to stand up to those threats the way that we know very well how to do."

Hanafi Rustandi, Indonesian Seafarers' Union and ITF co-ordinator thanked Australian maritime workers for the important role they played in supporting Indonesian independence in 1945.

"Without the support of Australian maritime workers boycotting and stopping the vessels carrying (Dutch) ammunition and weapons to Indonesia we would never have had independence in our country," he said.

Hanafi has been campaigning on behalf of imprisoned Iranian trade unionist Osanloo. He recounted how he travelled to Iran without a visa for this sole purpose, waiting four hours at the airport before he was allowed in after the intervention of the ITF.

Osanloo remains in prison but international pressure has succeeded in achieving the release of a second trade union leader. "The government of Iran heard the voice of international solidarity of all unions all over the world," Hanafi said.

Hanafi also announced his union was working to have former military commander General Wiranto put on trial for war crimes during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.

Meanwhile on the east coast of the USA the International Longshore Workers' Association is under attack. John Baker told delegates of the anti racketeering court case the Bush Government has run against the union for three years. He said the Washington Post described it as an attempt to undermine a legitimate and effective trade union and conduct a political misinformation campaign.

"We are all aware that global solidarity between dockworkers, longshore workers and seafarers is vital to all," he said. "Count the ILA in this mission for the protection of workers' rights and for high living standards in Australia, America, Canada and throughout the world."

Ken Riley, President of ILA Charleston Local 1422, a leader of the Charleston 5 dispute and International Dockworkers' Council member, said the only reason his members were attacked in 2000 was because the company thought they were a small isolated bunch of dockworkers. But they were wrong.

"Isolation is synonymous with defeat and solidarity is synonymous with victory," he said.

A book on the dispute On the Global Waterfront: the Battle of the Charleston 5 has been circulated to branches and will be reviewed in the next edition of MWJ.

WOMEN

MUA/ITF Women's Liaison Officer Sue Virago who chairs the ITF women's committee reported to conference on the outcome of the National Women's Conference held that Sunday.

"We had 40 women covering every maritime industry including diving," she said. "Between us we had over 261 years experience. One of the women had only been in the industry two months, two others up to 20 years."

A survey of MUA women before conference found the five main issues in the workplace were bullying and violence, casual employment rights, pay inequity arising from inequitable access to overtime and upgrades, isolation and flexible work arrangements.

"We are looking forward as a women's movement in the union to a yr@w campaign that rolls out family flexibility whether it be paid paternity and maternity leave, or carers' leave, work hour flexibility - something that represents that we as a working class care about our families," she said. She called on delegates to empower women to be activists in leadership roles.

MUA Joint Women's Liaison Officer Mich-Elle Myers outlined the work of the women's committee, not only on women's issues but other union issues.

"Our women are on the ground at all the events," she said. "They're at all the disputes, all the rallies, everything they can get to they're at. At the yr@w campaign they were at the polling booths, they were door knocking, they were doing leaflet drops at universities and train stations. We're on all committees, OH&S, branch and the ACTU."

VETERANS

Fred Krausert, MUA Veterans' Association, recognised the courageous work of the leadership of the MUA, the delegates and the membership over the last 11 years under the Howard regime.

"And you're still here," he said. "And if you would have failed the hardships that would have occurred on the retired people of this country would have escalated."

"Corporations don't have borders and neither should we," he said, thanking the union for sending veterans on international delegations. "MUA veterans have been engaged in all aspects of the political struggle."

YOUTH

"The strong message that came from the ITF youth taskforce was that measures must be taken to activate young workers around the world, whether it be in a trade unions, community groups or progressive political party," said Brett, MUA Youth Committee. "The success of the union movement and the hopes of the working class depend on how we invest in our young members today. The youth of the world are our future and we must develop them into the leaders of tomorrow."

NATIONAL

Paul Howes, AWU, is working in an alliance with the MUA in the offshore and northern Queensland dive tourist industries, areas where the unions had once been at loggerheads and non-union work has grown.

"I think that the greatest mistake that we made and I think many other unions in this country made was that for a period of I think about 30-40 years we were far more interested in how we could defeat each other than how we could defeat the bosses and build real working class power in this country," he said. "I think finally the union movement in this country can put this behind us.

"What we have done between the AWU and the MUA is not only important in organising the hydrocarbons sector, it's important in terms to the leadership we have shown to the entire labour movement in this country."

"If we fail to organise in the hydrocarbon industry we won't just lose 10,000 members, we will lose the most important sector driving our economy right now, the resources sector," he said.

Tony Sheldon of the TWU reported on the horrific conditions non-unionised road transport workers endure. He cited a recent survey, which found that long distance truck drivers were seven times more likely to be killed than at any other workplace. Sixty five per cent of those accidents were fatigue related and 15 per cent of drivers worked more than 100 hours a week.

"One in three drivers in the non unionised sector abuse mental stimulants just to get their job done and they are the same people sharing the roads with every one of us and the same people competing with unionised labour," he said. "This is not drug taking for recreational use. This is an occupational requirement. Meanwhile people on the supply chain are making record profits."

Only 32 per cent of road transport workers are organised - down from 72 per cent in the 1970s.

"We know that to organise the supply chain requires the cooperation of all unions in our sector - road, rail and waterfront," he said.

"We had a 100 year dispute with RTBU over rail heads," he said. "But as a result of negotiations and discussions chaired by the MUA, we're now not only clear on who has what coverage but how we organise and how we start taking on the bosses the way that we need to."

INDUSTRIAL

National officers also reported on industrial issues, financiality, union policy and the critical seafarer shortage in blue water.

"We do have a seafarer shortage and it's chronic to the extent that day to day, not weekly, we are under pressure for ships to sail, certainly in the blue water ships sail under minimum manning," said Assistant National Secretary Rick Newlyn.

"We had to come up with some initiatives to ensure ever berth is available for training," he said, outlining the Rudd Government support for allocating some of the 20,000 federally funded training places to seafaring. "What we have been campaigning for 11 years in opposition with the now federal government is to ensure we have a future in shipping and that we're on those ships and there is an Aussie flag flying on the aft end."

The full national conference report was circulated to delegates in March and is available from branch offices.

LABORFEST

The LaborFest program, which paralleled the conference, was also an outstanding success, and again emphasised the important role the Union has played and continues to play in the cultural life of Australia. The dedication of the Hungry Mile, involving Peter Garrett MP (Federal Minister for the Arts) and Frank Sartor (NSW Minister for the Arts), was another important milestone in the union's history. (Full report next MWJ)

National Secretary Paddy Crumlin said the week was also about a celebration of labour culture. "The preservation of the film unit, the preservation of the mural down on the Hungry Mile, even the Hungry Mile itself, recognises an area where dockworkers and seafarers sought their livelihoods for generations in this city before developers took over.

"It's about working class culture, the culture of who we are and our wonderful history," he said. "They can't take that away from us."