Long March

P&O delegates around Australia head for Sydney

Mick, Joe and Kerry ( left) are just three of 45 waterside workers from nine P&O enterprises around Australia set to arrive in Sydney for the three day delegates conference beginning April 10.

This is unions@work -- rank and file participation in negotiating the terms of the next enterprise agreement.

As with the Patrick EBA talks, some of these delegates will be elected to hammer out the terms of their work head to head with senior P&O executives and shoulder to shoulder with union officials.

Heading the negotiations is National Secretary Paddy Crumlin.

Previously outgoing Deputy National Secretary Mick O'Leary played a leading role in P&O negotiations, but with his departure from the union, the process of delegates and branches being centre stage will be accelerated.

"National Council determined we would develop stronger and more democratic structures within the workplace and the branch. Now with one of our top officials gone there is all the more urgency to implement the unions@work strategy," said Crumlin.

Meanwhile, a survey has gone out to all members to identify the main issues on the job. Results will be collated at the outset of the conference.

But members have made it clear what the big issues are:

• casualisation of the industry

• the threat to the Retirement and Redundancy agreement following Patrick's withdrawal in 1998.

• the dysfunctional relationship between management and workers on the job

• the high number of unfair dismissals

"The union will continue to view permanency and part permanency of employment as fundamental to the protection of the workforce," said Crumlin. "The R&R agreement will also need resolution."

Costs for the conference have come from both the MUA and members on the job, with the union reaching agreement with P&O to keep all delegates on the payroll throughout the conference.

And just as rank and file workers are being trained for their new responsibilities, union officials have been having a few lessons of their own.

Five MUA officials have recently completed the ACTU unions@work management course held at Currawong on Sydney's Pittwater, and a second was held in National Office in the last week of March.

"The course gave valuable insight into the decline of trade union membership," said Crumlin. "Only 25 per cent of Australian workers belong to unions and this is from a high of 64 per cent in the early sixties. The ACTU is determined to arrest this decline. To turn the tide we must move from the current service model that many unions like our own have in place, to the organising model. This means devolving responsibility, especially everyday union issues, from national office back into the branch and the workplace. That's where our financial and industrial resources will increasingly be directed."

The ACTU has determined that if the union movement is to grow it must first eliminate bureaucratic structures and have in place a strong delegate and activist base backed with expert support from the union.

"I've informed all employers of the intended shift and instructed them to place more importance on delegates in resolving disputes at the workplace," said Crumlin.

As well as playing a key role in EBA negotiations, delegates will also help recruit new members and ensure existing members are financial.

Delegate training will be required in achieving these goals and this will be a continuing responsibility of the union.

But Crumlin says the technical skills needed to better understand EBAs, legal matters and information technology should also be complemented with political training so that workers can more effectively understand the tremendous pressures in the workplace under the new global economic and industrial conditions.

To this end exchange programs are being organised between members in maritime industries around the world.

"The EBA will continue the consolidation of workers' rights and conditions following the dramas in 1998. We are delivering productive, efficient workplaces and this must translate back to a better deal for workers," said Crumlin. "That means security of employment and a workplace where workers are respected and not just used up."

National Women's Liaison Officer Sue Virago (formerly P&O, Port Botany) will also participate in the meetings and EBA negotiations.