Port of call

Good Deed

SYDNEY: MUA members on Sydney Ferries rallied passengers to dig deep over Xmas to raise $11,500 in gifts and donations for the Westmead Childrens' Hospital.

Warren 'Happy Chappy' Harkins dressed as Santa and took his helpers on board the Rivercat up the Parramatta River to the hospital where they spent the morning handing out the toys to children unfortunate enough to be spending the holiday season sick.

"I love seeing their faces light up," said Warren. "It's such a satisfying thing to do. The kids were just absolutely astounded they were getting presents."

This is the fourth year MUA members down at Circular Quay have run the Sydney Ferries Christmas Toy Drive.

On the organising committee are Jim Williams, Warren Harkins, Phil Henry, Adam Thomas, Mark Champley, Harry Hair, Lynda Shaw, Steve Shears, Peter Tancred, Matthew Gifford, Tim Glover and Lorraine Ryan with Sydney Branch Assistant Secretary Paul Garrett and representatives from Sydney Ferry management also joining Santa on the day. MUA Ferries delegate Adam Thomas was the chief organiser and did a fantastic job.

Battered Spirits

MELBOURNE: MUA Cook Mark Atkins awoke around 4am to a woman's screams. The Spirit of Tasmania I was rolling violently in a heavy storm. He got out of bed and ran down in his jocks to have a look. There was a large lady, terrified, huddled in her cabin clutching her life jacket, screaming. The portholes were smashed and there was water everywhere.

Everyone had expected a bad night -- but not this bad. The forecast for February 3 was a rough passage with 6-8 metre waves and 10 metre swells when the ship departed Port Melbourne for Devonport. Sixty kilometres out and the gale force winds and a 20 metre swell were lifting the vessel into the air before dropping her with a thud. Portholes in the top three levels were blown in. Windows over the bridge, which sits 23 metres above sea level, were shattered.

"I got a phone call to wake up all the IRs and go down to bridge 7," said Bosun Keith Phythian. "There was a big window about 6ft by 6ft smashed in, with wind and spray coming through. The ship was pitching badly. It was absolutely loud inside the bridge. The captain had to scream above the roar of the wind and sea. The helmsmen were screaming back, but you could barely hear them."

Everyone had been evacuated by the time the bosun got to deck 8, but deck 7 was an absolute mess. The starboard cabin had two portholes caved in and the bulkhead opposite the portholes had pealed back, making one of the cabin doors inaccessible. On the bridge the crew were standing in a metre of water.

Steward Craig Goodlet squeezed through the small gap (see photo above) where a buckled door blocked the passage way to get an elderly couple out.

There was no light. Everything was pitch black. But Craig also managed to grab their luggage.

The IRs evacuated the area and barricaded the busted portholes with wood, mattresses and steel poles, to to keep the spray and wind at bay.

Cindy O'Connor TT Line facilitator, praised the crew in her report to to national officer (See Letters Forum p24)

"Spirit I was a bloody mess," she said. "Over 50 cabins were out indefinitely. Half a dozen portholes were destroyed and covered with steel. The alleyways on deck seven and eight were awash with passengers' belongings (false teeth, suitcases, clothes etc). Stewards were standing in knee high water for hours helping hysterical passengers move to dry areas.

Captain Stuart Michael ordered the ship to turn back with her 623 passengers. It docked safely with the help of tugboats alongside the Spirit II at Station Pier that morning. The crew were exhausted. Some had worked 20 hours straight.

It was the worst storm on record in Victoria, closing airports, roads and train lines and blacking out 120,000 homes as 100 kph winds brought down cables and wires. The Yarra broke its banks.

Tasmania too suffered. In Devonport the Spirit of Tasmania III was also in trouble. The vessel was moored when the storm hit, breaking the lines and requiring a tug to keep it alongside until the storm subsided. The bow door was wrecked.

John Graham was relief bosun and left the ship after being up all night trying to sort it all out.

NAZI Encounter

SYDNEY: WHEN the Branch got a call to bolster defences for an expected onslaught by Neo Nazis on the CFMEU on February 19, they were quick to respond.

Assistant Secretaries Warren Smith and Paul Garrett rallied troops and helped confront the Patriotic Youth League demonstrating outside the CFMEU's offices.

The Neo-Nazi's alleged the union was involved in importing foreign workers.

"The far right have regrouped and the general shift to the right in the community arising out of the last election has no doubt buoyed their enthusiasm for action," said Warren Smith. "It was pleasing to see that upon being greeted by a group of unionists and left-wingers in Hyde Park the fascists went running."

The Neo-Nazi's re-grouped outside the CFMEU building where their numbers dwindled to four. They were protected by about 30 police as the group of unionists and anti-fascist demonstrators protested their racist and intolerant views.

The branch is calling for vigilance in combating the extreme right.

Summer at the MUA

MELBOURNE: Victoria Trades Hall Council established the Young Unionist Network in 2004 to attract younger members and activists. Part and parcel of this is the "Union Summer Program" set up to give young people three weeks experience with a union, while training at Trades Hall.

Shannon Brincat, the grandson of a wharfie, President of the Deakin University Student Association and an honours graduate in Arts (Politics and International Relations) and Law did his three weeks with the MUA.

"I'd done work experience with the union before and have a keen interest in the MUA, particularly its international links with other maritime workers across the world, and through the work of the ITF," said Shannon. "I took part in, or observed, enterprise bargaining negotiations, delegate training, work safety inspections, conciliation at the Commission, workers' compensation, activist meetings at Trades Hall, ITF inspections and meetings with members. Part of my time was spent on researching a paper on the economic affects of privatization in Australia - a study which showed that even after the government has sold off around $US150 billion of once public owned assets, that we are in even more national debt than ever before."

Shannon said his time at the MUA bolstered and re-instilled great hope and confidence in the union movement.

"We must engage and empower young people within our unions," he said. "The worker of tomorrow can only be taught by the worker of today."