The Australian Industry Group of employers welcomed the decision as providing relief from "diabolical" industrial tactics.
AMWU National Secretary, Doug Cameron, who has consistently opposed the Workers First leadership of the Victorian branch ever since it was elected in 1998, told the July 10 Australian that "Workers First is not the future of the union". Instead, Cameron said, the AMWU would only tolerate strong industrial tactics if they were "smart".
This
isn't the first time that the national AMWU leadership has tried
to force Craig Johnston to stand aside from his position as Victorian
branch secretary. When Johnston, along with three other AMWU members,
was recently committed for trial on charges arising from alleged
involvement in the vandalising of the offices of labour hire firm
Skilled Engineering, the national leadership of the AMWU called
for him to stand down.
What is the truth? Has Doug Cameron acted in the overall interests
of AMWU members? Or is the suspension of Craig Johnston really
aimed at undermining the militant Workers First leadership?
The Socialist Alliance hasn't the slightest doubt about meaning of Johnston's suspension and the political motives behind it. Shamefully, the suspension of this popular and successful unionist by the Cameron forces puts the national AMWU leadership on the side of those attacking democratic unionism in this country.
The war is being waged by those who have most to lose whenever working people elect union leaderships that truly represent their needs-employers intent on cutting wages and conditions and federal and state governments who are only too willing to do the employers' bidding.
An exaggeration? Just look at the facts:
• The attack on Workers First and Craig Johnston comes after their success in gaining better improvements for AMWU members in Victoria than in any other state. Through the use of pattern bargaining the Victorian AMWU has won big wage increases, been successful in defending jobs, arrested the spread of casualisation and outsourcing and inspired other unions to pursue similar gains with similar tactics.
• As a result AMWU membership has grown strongly in Victoria in recent years. By its actions the Workers First leadership has proven to thousands of manufacturing workers that there actually is a point to being a union member.
• The suspension of Craig Johnston follows hard on the heels of attacks on Workers First by industrial relations minister Tony Abbott (within the "coward's castle" of parliamentary privilege), Bob Herbert of the Australian Industry Group and Victorian premier Steve Bracks. All agree that the Victorian AMWU's use of pickets against companies trying to use scab labour represents "industrial terrorism" instead of simply being a legitimate tactic for any union whose members' livelihoods are threatened.
• The attack on Workers First and the suspension of Craig Johnston coincides with the Howard government's royal commission into the building industry, targetted at another union which is guilty of nothing more than defending its members' living standards and rights, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.
The truth is obvious. The suspension of Craig Johnston is an incident in a war in which the Howard government, (now with the collaboration of the Victorian state Labor government), is fighting to eliminate any role for a unionism which puts union members first-independent of the desires of corporate Australia.
This is clear from the way in which the Cameron forces have exploited the charges brought against Craig Johnston and three other Victorian AMWU members in the case of the alleged "run through" against Skilled Engineering, as well as with the impending committal hearing against 17 more AMWU members allegedly involved in similar action against the firm Johnson Tiles.
Instead of defending fellow union members and pointing to the obviously political nature of these cases the Cameron leadership went to the media with a call for Craig Johnston to stand down as Victorian AMWU secretary. And this, despite the fact that it took 12 months for police to bring charges, indicating the companies must have come under political pressure to pursue the cases. Clearly, in their eyes the Victorian AMWU leadership was guilty until proven innocent.
Cameron also took court action to block the Victorian branch from paying any legal expenses, despite the fact that some of the AMWU members charged or awaiting committal hearings are rank-and-file members who lost their jobs at Johnson Tiles as a result of management's decision to bring in scabs.
Another factor in the clash between Cameron and Victorian branch was its April state conference decision to suspend the payment of affiliation fees to the ALP for six months, and not to attend the ALP state conference. The Victorian AMWU had found the Brack's state Labor government almost always on the side of the bosses in industrial disputes, most seriously in the case of the Skilled Engineering dispute (known as the "Skilled Six").
Instead of accepting the democratic decision of the union's Victorian conference Cameron took the state branch to court to overturn the decision and empower him to send a "Victorian delegation" to the ALP state conference. However, the ALP state conference, aware that acceptance of Cameron's delegation would end any pretence of internal democracy in the party, voted not to seat it.
The actions of the AMWU National Council are designed to destroy its Victorian branch. It is not only Craig Johnston that is on trial here, but the future of militant unionism and genuine solidarity. At risk is the Victorian AMWU's policy of supporting the struggles of other unions (here and overseas), as well as a wide range of community campaigns around such issues as corporate globalisation, women's rights, refugee rights and toxic waste dumps.
That's why Socialist Alliance is declaring its support for and solidarity with Workers First and Craig Johnston.
The battle between the Victorian AMWU and the Cameron group is not just another union faction fight. It is a fight for the future of democratic, member-driven unionism against the campaign of the employers and the Coalition government to establish tame cat unionism. Tragically, Doug Cameron and the Victorian state Labor government are helping Tony Abbott in this fight.
The Socialist Alliance says that the Victorian AMWU, Workers First and Craig Johnston are a source of hope and strength for all Australian workers. They must be defended. We call on all unionists, workers and community activists, conscious of how critical this fight is for the future of unionism and all progressive causes, to commit themselves to the defence campaign.
A victory for the Cameron forces for control of the Victorian branch will set back all progressive struggles. A win for the Victorian AMWU, Workers First and Craig Johnston will be a win for us all!