Logging On

With Colin Friels the Maitlands and Derek Corrigan, on the shoot of Bastard Boys

By National Secretary Paddy Crumlin

Congratulations to the officials already elected and good luck to the candidates for the contested positions. Once the final ballot is declared, all of us will continue to bear an enormous responsibility to our members.

Elections

Our MUA quadrennial elections are under way. They're an essential part of the success of our Union and never more so than in the current industrial and political conditions.

Howard has made the next federal election a further referendum on his anti-worker WorkChoices legislation. There has been another drop in overall union membership in the country, and Howard, in his usual dissembling manner claims this is due to the irrelevancy of unions in the modern workplace.

He's a shifty bastard, that's for sure. He can sell turds as turkeys. Unfortunately for him, his sleight of hand on political matters is becoming increasingly obvious. Workers are not voluntarily leaving unions; they are being harassed out of them. Harassed, bullied and discriminated against if they make the connection between trade unionism and decent working conditions. Young people often aren't even given the so called "choice". Sign this or see you later - much later.

And why wouldn't workers be falling over each other to voluntarily sign individual contracts in large corporations? They are treated like last night's empties. When the takeover takes place and the party is over, the views of the workforce are quickly dumped in the wheelie bin. And not recycled.

What a great track record many businesses have in regard to respecting the working lives that depend on them. Look at Ansett - stripped of assets including workers' super - Qantas and Telstra. The big private equity firms must recoup the inflated prices they shoe-horned out of the company (thanks largely to massive executive salary packages) and the best way is to casualise, contract out and asset-strip. Take Hardies - no need for the union there, the big soft hearted benevolent company that they are. For over 40 years they watched as workers coughed the last of their life's blood into bowls - all the time working out how to sidestep the liability they neglected to alert anyone to. Does anyone really believe an employer will pay a worker more under an individual contract if they don't have to? What are we, imbeciles?

It's not much easier in our industry, hardly known as the last stand of the friendly employer. It is an industry that will continue to see new investors periodically asset strip, outsource and restructure to justify the price they paid.

Each new owner will, of course consult thoroughly with their employees before committing to any course of action. And dogs will walk on two legs and sharks will frolic with swimmers.

That's why, according to the Federal Government, workers at their own volition have decided to trust employers and leave unions. You're full of shit, Howard.

In a tough national political and industrial environment there is none tougher than the maritime industry. Stevedoring workers and seafarers have been up against it from Day 1 with Howard. But we are a fighting Union and a fair and democratic one, where our members expect honesty, hard work and support from their elected officials - particularly in hard times.

Congratulations to the officials already elected and good luck to the candidates for the contested positions. Once the final ballot is declared, all of us will continue to bear an enormous responsibility to our members.

We conduct our own elections on the basic premise that the membership has never relied on anyone else to do our job for us. Respect that and make sure you register your vote, comrades.

Working and living

It's terribly hard at work just meeting the mundane demands of the job. When workmates are maimed or even killed in meeting these demands it becomes an extraordinary test of will and morale to continue normally.

Stevedoring members attested to this in their show of respect and condolences in stopping for services around the country after the recent death of Bob Cumberlidge. There are deaths in other industries. The building and mining industries have very high rates relatively. Few officials or delegates have wasted much oxygen in rising to an employer or other critic's bait about why we have achieved such pervasively good conditions of employment in our industry. For starters, it is a demanding and potentially dangerous industry, from ship to shore. And workers in our industry and others like it have aspired, sometimes conspired, for a better deal. Safety has always topped the list.

The problem is not restricted to the Australian maritime industry. That's why, a few weeks ago the international dockworkers and seafarers sections of the ITF carried an MUA resolution for a worldwide campaign for better safety standards, along with a minute's silence of respect and condolence for Bob and other dockworkers lost in Australia and around the world. That respect will be only fully shown by our determination to succeed in our campaign to fully secure safe jobs and safe working lives.

One for the worker

Congratulations to our President and Sydney Branch Secretary Robert Coombs on his election to the NSW parliament. The knockers find it attractive to bag any worker rising through the industrial process to parliamentary representation. And in the past, this transition has certainly had its casualties for the working class. Fortunately, our Union has been well represented by our members and officials gaining parliamentary representation. MUA members draw plenty of water regardless of where they go.

A lot of it comes down to whether as a Union we're comfortable throwing rocks over the parliamentary fence when we're dirty, interspersed with our support at election times due to outrages visited upon us by people like Howard, or do we encourage workers to climb over the fence from time to time and enter the fray via the parliamentary process?

Political times change and new strategies of engagement need to be constantly assessed for their effectiveness in defending and promoting workers' rights.

The WorkChoices legislation has highlighted the importance of strong and representative Labor governments in promoting genuine workers' rights.

The Howard government has succeeded in reshaping the constitutional landscape in Australia through parliament. Australia's original constitutional labour and civil rights protections have been shredded by his political agenda. This is the first time our Constitution has been adjusted without a referendum. His government has also engineered one of the greatest transfers of wealth from the majority to an elite minority in the history of this country.

Many workers have continued to gain affluence despite this. In our industry, for example, through effective Union organisation, we have achieved by negotiation further far-reaching improvements to our superannuation arrangements. During this unprecedented period of global prosperity imagine what could have been achieved across our communities and industries with a government driven by policies of fair redistribution and representation, rather than exclusion and disempowerment.

If Australia is to continue to develop as a society based on its historic precedents including social justice, labour rights and democratic political structures, then progressive and representative community views need to be nourished. This includes the Left outside the ALP, the genuine socialist movement and the Greens but it also needs to be done inside the Labor Party. Building a diverse, effective and dynamic progressive political front for working women and men needs constant development through analysis and engagement.

One of our major criticisms of Labor has been its back-flips and opportunism in government. A lot of that stems from the poor quality of, and lack of experience in community and co-operative action of many of the elected representatives as much as from balancing the competing pressures on government. The recent debacle over misdirected attempts to promote port competition is one close example reflecting the poor leadership on offer at times in Labor administrations.

The Union was pleased to support Robert's candidature and the National Council unanimously endorsed it and then actively progressed it. Fortunately, his electorate also agreed that he was a good idea. His electorate, the government and the Union will benefit from his and his family's commitment. Well done, comrade!