By Rachel Evans (Melbourne North East branch)
Members of the Melbourne North East branch of Socialist Alliance have been busy campaigning in solidarity with Australian Manufacturing Workers Union members’ pickets at three sites - Pac Metal and NCI Packaging, where the workers were out for a week and a half before winning their demands, and at the Stramit Industries site in Preston, where the workers have been locked out since mid-May.
Some of the most useful initiatives taken by our branch have been producing and pasting up a poster advertising the addresses of all the picket lines, the demands of the AMWU’s Campaign 2003 and a phone number for more information; writing a statement of support which contained information about the campaign for general distribution; activating email lists and collected donations.
We’ve also organised a number of suburban street stalls to build support and collect money for the picketers and, in the process, have made contact with quite a few people interested in left politics.
Following reports on these struggles at our branch meetings, we’ve encouraged all members to go down to the picket lines at the end of the meeting. We have now drawn up a roster for North East branch members to maintain our presence at the Stramit Industries picket until the unionists win their demands.