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           Shipping Stevedoring Port Services Hydrocarbons Diving  May-Jun 2008        |
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10 years on and the MUA must still defend Patrick workers14 April 2008By MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin -
This is the MUA's response to the SMH editorial damning the union and its workers for the 1998 Patrick dispute. The letter was published in the Heralds' "First Word" on April 11 The Herald would have readers celebrate the night when up to 2000 Australian workers were forcibly removed from their jobs by security guards in balaclavas with dogs. Tuesday's editorial encouraged readers further to revel in the month-long lock-out that left these workers with no income, no job and no dignity as the Howard government and Patrick stevedores ran a sophisticated campaign of character assassination. A campaign that lives on at the Herald, it seems. The claim that attacks on waterfront workers by Chris Corrigan in 1998 led to an increase in productivity is one of the great myths of the dispute. The figures show improvements in waterfront productivity did not kick in until two years after the dispute, when the company gave up on confrontation and sat down to negotiate with the Maritime Union of Australia. Attempts to achieve productivity improvements at the point of a gun only lead to long-term dysfunction and often some form of war. Threats and intimidation lead to an unwilling and unhappy workforce. Fair and flexible working arrangements, safe workplaces and strong morale are far more effective at boosting productivity. Our members know their long-term interests lie in working for successful trading enterprises. They only ask for those enterprises to bargain in good faith, something that Patrick and the Howard government didn't do in 1998. The union remains committed to exploring legal avenues to have released any documentation exposing what the High Court found was evidence of unlawful acts against the MUA and its members. This was largely locked away through a process to shield government actions from accountability. That is not sour grapes. It's about the type of democracy we wish to nuture as a nation. Many of those workers lost families, houses and their health as a result of the political and ideological violence inflicted upon them by Patrick, with the full support of the Howard government. Paddy Crumlin National secretary, Maritime Union of Australia, Sydney
For further information
Public News: You can view MUA's publicly available news in a variety of ways. Please select one of our public news indexes. |
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© 2001 Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) |
