Industrial Workers of the World

http://bushtelegraph.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/building-unions-oppose-abcc-at-actu-congress.mp3

Inside the ACTU

The building unions in Australia are trying to get rid of the Australian Building & Construction Commission (ABCC). It was a recommendation of the Cole Royal Commission to industrial police attack the building unions. Union members support these attempts. The ABCC is a commission that was set up under the Howard government and continued under the Rudd Labor government. It is used to harrass and intimidate unions and their members.

Over 200 workers have been dragged up before the ABCC since it was set up. They are threatened with imprisonment. CFMEU official Noel Washington was threatened with prison under the Labor government. Because of pressure from the unions an inquiry was set up, called the Wilcox Inquiry which has recommended that the ABCC legislation to be moved across to Fair Work Australia, the ALP government’s IR legislation.

Labor has also retained the secondary boycott legislation that was used against the meatworkers union during the Hawke labor government. Now this legislation, design for times when capitalism is is crisis, is to be used against workers during the current recession.

Click on the link at end of this: which is a speech given by David Noonan and one of the members, Ark Tribe, who is a rigger in SA and a proud member of the CFMEU Construction division Ark received a standing ovation for his speech. Be patient it may take a little while to load but it is well worth listening to (30 mins playing time).

LIsten to it in the background while you read the rest of this peice. The recording begins with a video (sound only) that was played to the ACTU congress on 2 June 2009 in Brisbane. Then Dave Noonan speaks followed by Ark, the rigger who has been threatened with jail by the ABCC for refusing to dob in his mates at work.

Just before the 1983 election Ralph Willis, the future minister for employment & industrial relations in the Hawke govt, told public sector workers at a mass meeting of the ACOA and other public sector unions at Festival hall that we could expect nothing if Labor won the election. He was true to his word. They gave us the Accord and never repealed the laws against secondary boycotts.

So the ALP distanced itself from the unions even before the election that time around. We suffer no illusions, this may be the last throw of the dice for the unions and, ironically, for many of us older workers. This time around the unions have distanced themselves from the Rudd ALP government quicker than they did last time in 1983.

Then the ACTU stuck with the ALP throughout the term of the Hawke & Keating governments, only unions like the Builders Labourers Federation BLF broke free. The BLF in Qld stuck with the ALP government whereas down south they were deregistered & made illegal by the Hawke government.

Ian Curr 2 June 2009