Union Bashing

Yet again the first casualty in any war on the waterfront is the truth. This time the pollies, the bosses and the media outdid themselves turning a lockout on its head and making it out to be a strike.

"What the PM says the press parrot - be it fact or fiction," said national Secretary Paddy Crumlin.

The US lockout sparked Patrick-style union bashing in the media, forcing the ACTU and the MUA to lodge formal complaints.

The big surprise this time around, however, was that the ABC stooped to the same tabloid press fabrication as did the Daily Terror and The Australian, with commercial television following along behind.

And while the editorials in the Murdoch press could only be described as vitriolic and rabid, our already reserved right of reply was castrated in the Tele or, in the case of the Oz, completely denied (see Letters Forum).

This is the third time The Australian has denied us what is usually a sacrosanct right of reply this year and we are now preparing a formal complaint to the Press Council.

Members may recall that in the lead up to the Patrick lockout the Sun Herald ran a front page story "water Rats' parroting government propaganda and union bashing. The council ruled in our favour, the paper had to print an apology and one of its senior reporters then did a two page spread accurately researching and comparing wage rates here and abroad.