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           Shipping Stevedoring Port Services Hydrocarbons Diving  Jul-Aug 2008        |
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The Waterfront 3 years on - Labor salutes Labour
Dogged, determined, tenacious, passionate, compassionate, courageous, a genuinely tough fighter, a warrior, a one man intelligence operation, a remarkable man, a man of integrity, a decent person, a fair person, everyone's favourite uncle, one who inspires others, who saved the union, one of the giants of the labour movement. A legend. "The company here to salute John Coombs demonstrates what a remarkable man he is," said Opposition leader Kim Beazley. "John's victory capped a career in the labour movement which will leave him among the legends for decades and centuries to come."Introduced by Paddy Crumlin as "the soon-to-be prime minister of Australia", Mr Beazley recalled how a white faced John Coombs took him to one side outside the Sydney Town Hall back in 1997. He asked Beazley, as a former defence minister, if he knew the names of a select number of army officers. There was also a certain advertisement in an army newspaper. It was the prelude to the Dubai industrial mercenary scheme - a conspiracy the union contends was hatched in Canberra to break the union. "John was a one man intelligence operation, one person pitted against the State," said Beazley. "And the State is an awesomely powerful thing. Our political opponents understand that. The State can create the laws and manipulate the laws and offend against the laws and protect itself while it does so. A state can trample on the rights of citizens and it is an extraordinarily difficult thing to introduce to the leadership of the State the view that their powers are curtailed - that they have responsibilities to a broader democratic community. "They have in their hands a tool unsurpassed in its power," he said. "And they can use it in any way they see fit. Such people are extraordinarily dangerous. And such people govern us now."The Opposition Leader stressed that the government had one objective - not greater performance on the waterfront. Not greater productivity. Their only objective was to destroy the MUA. And they lost. "They were utterly defeated by the union," Beazley said. "A union movement and a community that had at its sharp end John Coombs. Peter Reith became symbolised by the rottweiler, the rottweiler on the waterfront. But he's a chihuahua now. John Howard's lap dog slinks away behind a 100 leopard tanks to lick his wounds."ACTU secretary at the time of the Patrick Dispute, Bill Kelty, said the government had seriously underestimated their move against the MUA on three counts in the great Patrick Dispute, according to then . "First of all they underestimated the collective resolve of the trade union movement," he said. "Secondly they underestimated the strength and resolve of the workers. And the third thing they underestimated was the leadership of John Coombs and Greg Combet.Kelty summed up this leadership as a combination of finesse and warrior qualities. "Unions look back on that dispute just a few years ago with a sense of pride, a sense of passion and I think a sense of history," said Kelty. "In 100 years time people will look back on that dispute with the same sense of pride and the same sense of the historical significance and the same sense of obligation that every trade unionist owes to that dispute and the mua membership and the leadership of John Coombs."Describing John as both determined and dogged, Kelty also called him a true friend and a builder of a great union. In the words of Paddy Crumlin: "John Coombs navigated our union, its members and their families through the reefs, shoals and wreckage of one of the most important industrial disputes since colonisation. He navigated them into the relatively sheltered waters of today against what we continue to say was a criminal conspiracy of deceit and political corruption hatched by heads of state and executives in the corporate board rooms of Australia's leading companies." Crumlin said Reith and Howard attempted to debase, belittle, and vilify the character of the union, its membership and its leader in the most extraordinary campaign of disinformation, exaggeration and outright falsification. "But they only succeeded in stoking the fires of John," said Crumlin. "He exposed their hypocrisy. He remained quietly determined, carefully considered, imaginatively expressed. Australians grew to know and respect this bloke. As my mother said John Coombs looked like everyone's favourite uncle."Crumlin paid special tribute to John's wife, Gwen, who he described as steadfastly supportive, consistently advisory and determinedly active in every aspect of union work. "Together they shared a protective love for their children and grandchildren which was also reflected in their outstanding commitment to the MUA and the working class."Introducing ACTU Secretary Greg Combet, Crumlin described the relationship between John Coombs and Kelty's successor as "a great friendship forged out of the blast furnace of the dispute, an unlikely pairing, the yin and yang of the brains trust." Combet paid tribute to Coombs as tenacious and passionate - a genuinely tough fighter for the people he represents. "He never, ever gives up," said Combet. "His unionism is instinctive. He instinctively understands how important it is for working people to join together to advance their interests."Combet described John Coombs as one of those rare people never prepared to compromise his integrity. "He is a decent person, a fair person," said Combet. "Corrigan knew that John Coombs would never stoop to the standards of his opponents. "During the dispute I developed a profound admiration for this man," he said. "He was very intelligent and he was a compassionate person throughout. And he made every single hard call."Combet recalled that gettings a federal court injunction against Patrick meant every single cent of union funds had to be laid on the table. "That was a big call and it was the right call," he said. "John put absolutely everything on the line at great personal cost. He bore more pressure than any human being should have to during the course of that dispute. But he was never, ever found wanting. "It was a government backed attack on the union and it had the vigorous support of the cheer leader squad of the business community," said Combet. "Every single piece of legal artillery was lined up against the mua."Three years on Combet was philosophical about their one fall out. It was at the outset of the dispute and the union had successfully subpoenaed the lease for Webb Dock between the NFF and Patrick. A clause in the lease prevented the farmers' P&C Group from stevedoring containers, thereby proving the union contention that the Webb Dock enterprise was all about union busting and nothing about competition. However Corrigan successfully suppressed the document as commercial in confidence. Seemingly oblivious to this Coombs announced the finding to the media scrum waiting outside. "I thought, Jesus Christ what's he up to now? He'll have us in court for breach of the order," Combet recalled. "But I kept smiling."After the media were finished Combet reminded Coombs of the confidentiality clause. "I don't know anything about that, mate," said Coombs. "I couldn't hear anything in that courtroom. You know I'm hard at hearing."Combet said he turned to MUA solicitor Josh Bornstein and asked if hearing loss was a defence for breaching a confidentiality order. The response was a series of expletives. "What about temporary insanity?" Greg muttered. "I heard that," said John from across the other side of the room. "So there you have it - a defence of temporary hearing loss," said Combet.This aside Combet said he felt nothing but absolute pride to have been able to have spent so much of that unforgettable year with Coombs. "I don't think that anyone touched people in the same way as John Coombs," said Combet. "It's an intangible thing but great leaders do influence people. Everywhere he went when I was with him he attracted people in the street offering their encouragement and support often in the most unlikely places and from the most unlikely people. "Once we came out of a pub in St Kilda in the company of rather shadowy former sas commandos," Greg recalled. "They were desperate not to be seen with us. But before you knew it there was a horde of people on the street wanting John's autograph. You should have seen these sas people as they scooted off."Combet also recalled waiting outside a Patrick creditors meeting with Coombs when two older men approached them. They were both casual cleaners for a contract cleaning firm, earning about $10 an hour and grim about their future But they told John that what he was doing gave them some hope and thanked him for fighting on behalf of workers. "And that is John Coombs," Combet concluded. "A tremendously courageous person, a decent person, a person who inspires other people and a person who saved the union."But when it came time for John Coombs to take the stage he handed back all the glory to others. It was a mammoth speech, most of which he spent naming and thanking individuals who stood by him or contributed to the union victory- family, friends, the ACTU, the legal team, labour councils, the labour movement, his mentors, MUA officials past and present, staff and most of all the members. "We would not have got anywhere at all irrespective of the standard of the leadership, if we hadn't have been able to rely on the troops," he said.Coombs paid special tribute to the Patrick workforce before giving special mention to MUA seafarers who had born the brunt of the government's ire since the May 7 onslaught. "The government attack on this union goes beyond the stevedoring workforce," he said. "They want to destroy the Australian shipping industry. Every single ship owner you talk to in this country (privately and some publicly) tell you that this government has sat on the report recommending rejuvenating the Australia shipping industry because they want to destroy the Maritime Union of Australia. But they can't destroy the morale of the seafarers. Their ship is their home and everything that impacts on that ship is like an attack on their home. And so they rely more than any other person for the strength on their collective to defend their vocation and their home."Both Coombs and Crumlin reminded ALP guests how important it was that a future Labor Government support Australian shipping. Coombs also had a special message for the wider public on the night - a message he entrusted with the media that was broadcast on national radio, television and through all major press outlets: "I don't think they would ever again turn up with dogs on leashes and balaclavas and defence force personnel against Australian workers," he said. "I suspect they've learnt that lesson. I suspect they've learnt, too, that if they want to take on workers in this country, they can rest assured there are a lot of people in this country who think trade unions do a worthwhile job and they'll oppose them."The evening concluded with presentations by the former national secretary to his long time secretary Robin Leavitt and national office administrator Sally Nicholson before MUA Deputy National Secretary Mick O'Leary and a representative of the ILWU made special presentations to the Coombs on behalf of both unions.
War on the Waterfront articles
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