Re: Re Bill's search

["bill" <mikabill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

thank you for the reply
I am in Adelaide which you would know has a  very weak SA see my last post
bill weller
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Boyle" <peterb@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Marxism List" <marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2003 3:22 PM
Subject: Re Bill's search


> Dear Bill
>
> Stop searching, you won't find it. If you want a "true
> working class-based party" in Australia then you will have
> to join
> others to build one. I reckon Socialist Alliance is the best
> start available. But you can dismiss my opinion because I am
> in the DSP. Fine, you can hug your prejudice as much as I
> can hug trees. But There's a few other folks you might
> listen to. Craig Johnston, the former Victorian secretary of
> the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and quite a few
> other leaders of the militant Workers First group in that
> union. They've won the respect of thousands of workers for
> their militant leadership and they've earned vicious attacks
> from an unholy alliance of bosses, their government and
> scabby union bureaucrats. Listen to Maritime Union of
> Australia Rank & File leaders Chris Cain. They are all in
> the Socialist Alliance and shaping it.
>
> But don't keep your shopping to the list. If you are near
> Sydney come down to the Morris McMahon picketline (see
> below) next Thursday and talk about it there.
>
> Alleged tree-hugger
>
> Peter Boyle
> peterb@xxxxxxxxxx
>
> <http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2003/539/539p9b.htm>
>
> Socialist Alliance: Steps towards reviving militant unionism
>
> BY SUE BOLTON
>
> MELBOURNE - At the national Socialist Alliance conference,
> held on May 10-11, the delegates included a high proportion
> of trade unionists.
>
> These included former Victorian secretary of the Australian
> Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) Craig Johnston, Maritime
> Union of Australia activist Chris Cain, who is standing for
> MUA WA secretary, and WA Construction, Forestry, Mining and
> Energy Union (CFMEU) journal editor Ian Bolas.
>
> Other conference delegates included activists from the
> National Tertiary Education Industry Union, the Community
> and Public Sector Union, the Transport Workers Union, the
> Australian Education Union and the Health Services Union of
> Australia.
>
> Conference delegates debated and overwhelmingly voted for a
> trade union resolution that will be produced as short
> pamphlet. This resolution explained that "active, organised
> and militant trade unions are important in giving workers a
> sense of their own power when they are organised
> collectively."
>
> The resolution outlined the principles of Socialist
> Alliance's approach to unionism: solidarity, democracy,
> unity in action, independence from the state and the bosses,
> militancy, preparedness to break the law when necessary,
> internationalism and adoption of a working class position on
> all political issues.
>
> The conference discussed unions disaffiliating from the ALP,
> deciding it would "argue for rank and file debate and
> conscious, democratic choice by the union membership instead
> of intra-bureaucratic factional manoeuvring" around such
> questions. It also decided to encourage individual
> unionists, including militant union officials, to join the
> alliance.
>
> The alliance also decided that it would attempt to: provide
> serious leadership on day-to-day workplace issues; propose
> campaigns such as for a shorter working week, for the repeal
> of the Workplace Relations Act and against the Medicare
> cuts; promote solidarity with unions and unionists who are
> under attack; propose that unions adopt pattern bargaining;
> consistently take an internationalist, working-class
> approach to issues such as racism and refugees; help its
> members in non-militant unions develop as workplace
> delegates.
>
> In order to achieve this, the conference decided to:
> establish local, state and national cross-union committees,
> such as the Victorian Trade Union Solidarity Committee;
> establish Socialist Alliance networks in individual unions;
> consider printing workplace and/or union-wide bulletins; set
> up a sub-committee to construct a trade unionists' education
> program; and consider a national conference of union
> militants
>
> Conference delegates overwhelmingly rejected an alternative
> resolution presented by the Melbourne-based group Workers
> Power. The Workers Power resolution argued that the
> Socialist Alliance should argue against unions
> disaffiliating from the Labor Party and against unions
> giving any support to the Greens. It advocated that the
> Socialist Alliance should argue for a "new workers party" as
> an alternative to Labor.
>
> During the conference, very warm greetings were received
> from Victorian CFMEU secretary Martin Kingham, the first
> unionist charged as a result of the building industry royal
> commission. Kingham congratulated the alliance on its strong
> practical support for the CFMEU.
>
> The huge applause that greeted Kingham was indicative of the
> respect alliance members have for the militancy and
> solidarity of the WA and Victorian CFMEU branches.
>
> The conference also decided to run a strong campaign in
> defence of the construction unions, and in defence of
> Johnston and the other unionists targeted in the Skilled Six
> case. The campaign includes producing a free broadsheet
> exposing the federal government's anti-union campaign,
> broad-based public meetings in each city, and a lobby of the
> ACTU congress.
>
> Militant AMWU faction Workers First hosted a fundraising
> "welcome" for conference delegates on May 10. Workers First
> then showed its appreciation for the alliance by donating
> $500 to it.
>
> >From Green Left Weekly, May 28, 2003.
>
> Subject: {M'ville SA} A day in the Morris McMahon picketline
>
> Date: Sat, 31 May 2003 08:23:35 +1000
> From: "Liam Mitchell" <liam.mitchell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Reply-To: mvlle_socialist-alliance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>
>
>
>
> Action at the can manufacturer Morris McMahon picketline is
> being stepped up as the dispute enters its 12th week. On
> Thursday May 29, some 40 supporters attended a community
> picket to greet the scab bus in the morning, while 60
> warfies arrived during the afternoon for a rowdy protest.
>
> The protests forced a backdown by Morris McMahon management,
> who were quoted in Friday's Daily Telegraph as saying that a
> union-registered agreement was never out of the question.
> They also said the company was prepared to negotiate with
> the union.
>
> The position put by management in previous negotiations with
> the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and in the
> Industrial Relations Commission had explicitly ruled out a
> union-negotiated agreement, insisting instead that workers
> sign individual contracts.
>
> The striking workers at Morris McMahon have said they will
> not sign individual contracts. Forty workers remain on
> strike.
>
> The morning picket, organised by community activists, kicked
> off at 6.30am. When company executives and scabs were due to
> arrive, the picketers formed a solid block across the gate
> in the newly erected fence and refused to let anyone enter
> the factory. Even security guards, which had recently become
> hostile to the strikers, were refused entry.
>
> When the sole company manager showed up, he parked opposite
> the picketline and made a couple of phone calls, before
> driving off. Managers had previously run the picketline,
> using their cars as an offensive weapon.
>
> The police who turned up to escort the scabs through were
> overwhelmed. When the bus and truck arrived, the bus driver
> drove the bus into the picket and kept inching forward, as
> he has done every other morning. The police formed up in
> front of the truck and attempted to clear the way.
>
> Police formed a wedge to drive the picketers into two groups
> and push them to either side. The flying wedge got through
> the picketline, only to have the picketers form a solid line
> behind the police again.
>
> At this point, the bus driver realised it was futile trying
> to run this solid picketline and reversed his bus back onto
> the street and drove away - the first time this has happened
> in the 11 weeks of the strike! The truck followed suit,
> causing a chorus of jubilant yelling from picketers and
> striking workers, who were cheering on from the other side
> of the road.
>
> (The courts had recently issued an injunction against
> striking workers and the AMWU, preventing them from
> organising a picket to block access to the site or coming
> within a certain distance of company property.)
>
> After the scabs left, police started arriving in force to
> the sound of sirens, bringing their numbers up to around 30.
> The road was littered with police vehicles, which where even
> parked across the entrances to adjacent businesses, blocking
> their access.
>
> After about half an hour, the roller door and gate were
> opened, signaling a return of the scab bus. Picketers where
> still formed into a solid block in front of the gates, with
> arms linked. As police started to attempt removal of
> picketers, the crowd sat down in a bloc, leaving the cops
> uncertain how to handle the situation.
>
> Five minutes of chanting later, the bus still hadn't
> arrived. At this point, word came in that police had
> escorted the bus and truck through the back gate, again the
> first time in the dispute the scabs had been forced to use
> the back entrance.
>
> The scabs were inside, but their day wasn't over. The MUA
> was mobilising for the afternoon.
>
> When wharfies started congregating at 3pm outside the
> company's security fence, hastily erected the week before,
> security guards inside the fence took fright and sought
> refuge behind the second gate to the carpark. A very vocal
> protest ensued which was highlighted by the MUA handing over
> nearly $15 000 collected from members to the striking
> workers.
>
> When the police arrived to escort the scabs out the gate,
> the senior cop took a look at the picketline and sent his
> officers away, refusing to ``endanger [them] for those
> bastards'' inside. The scabs, who have a clause in their
> contract saying they must work whatever hours they are told
> to, had to wait until after 7pm for the police to arrive
> again to let them out.
>
> With a 12 week picket at its front gate, the name of the
> company and its owner Judy Beswick being covered in mud in
> media articles and the state of production inside the plant,
> hopes are high that the dispute will be resolved soon.
> Beswick also owns an inner city law company, as well as
> other assets.
>
> Reports are coming out of the plant that the quality and
> quantity of work being done is extremely low. The back yard
> has a very large and growing pile of rubbish - the result of
> poor work output. Recent drums made to store hazardous
> materials have been found to leak. The same reports say the
> storage area inside the factory is empty and the waiting
> period for cans has gone from only a few days before the
> dispute to 6 months because of the poor productivity of the
> scabs.
>
> Community pickets will be occurring every Thursday at
> 6.30am. Wharfies have said they will also picket each
> Thursday afternoon. All supporters are welcome to attend the
> picketline at 34 Arncliffe St, Arncliffe. For more
> information, call Liam on 0415 365 937.