Why the Picket at Hutchinson's is a Line in the Sand for Workers: Sydney August 2015

Botany Sydney Sunday Morning Picket

There are mornin's as of late when Belgo Geordie awakes in a cold sweat. There's ghosties parading threw an old man's dreams. Tha tramp and spark of hob nailed boots hitting the long road down to London. Miners, dock workers, steel workers, seamen, labourers on the Jarrow March to take it to those sittin in the  Parliament. They didn't have much materially but fire in their bellies, passion and a commitment to working people second to none. Whole communities walked and on the journey educated the country.

An' I'm thinking what has it all been for? In the 1930s our grandparents fought for better working rights and safer wok environments, universal suffrage, they stood against fascism and stood for better representation of working people, a decent health, housing and education system. For our women, bairns, for our future, a better world...not just our backyard, our workplace but because it was the right thing to do-for all! And this includes if there was a strike or injustices happening across the world, there was solidarity through the union movement to the struggles of others. But today in modern Sydney, it takes the likes of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) to tell oos the fight is still on, and all that was gained will not be taken from us as easily as yon capitalist, neo-libs and nat libs might think, believe and hope.
See, having joost been away, I get back to Sydney to hear Hutchinson's have sacked near one hundred of their workers and in a way that can only be described as mongrel. Well to quote the Sydney Herald "Hutchinson Ports, Australia sent nearly 100 employees (97 it appears and 40% of Hutchinson'd Australian workforce) across the nation in a text just before midnight (my italics) on Thursday night telling them their services were no longer required and directing them to an email with information about their termination." Mrs Belgo Geordie had to use a crowbar to get the old man's jaw bone out of the floorboards. Then if that is not enough to send me to the nettie with an attack of mushy peas in curry sauce, Federal minister Eric Abetz cums up with summat along the lines of "Nowt wrong in sending these buggers their notice by text" Its obviously to be applauded as an efficiency his Government has been striving to achieve. Think of the savings Hutchinson's made on not having' ta send a letter, envelope and stamp x 100. Not ta mention it wouda not made it there by midnight. No penalty rates for pidgun delivery these days of competition, price cuts an all else dear to stoney hearts and fat wallets. Talk about not having the guts to look in someone's eyes when you shaft them!
So when most folk in Sydney were still shivering oonder doonas (posh blankets) and recovering from the Wallabies rattling the fillings of the Mighty All Blacks we went down to the Hutchinson's picket line to yarn with the comrades. Although it had been a cold night, morale was good and the kitchen was going overtime with bacon butties, coffee and there was good sized logs smouldering in the braziers. But the generator number three was as boogered as first two! A good dozen men had stayed out the cold night to make an important point. The picket is a 24 hours, seven days a week action. The employer had a good go at getting the oxymoron of the 'Fair Work Commission' to declare the picket illegal (as reported by some rags on Friday). The MUA took that up flagpole and told them to consider unfair dismissal-and its usual bromide-a lack of consultation with those losing their employment and their representatives- and see if where the sun does not shine in their court might want to have a good long think on things over the weekend...so stalemate, a picket, a line of security staff (to stop those employed, sacked but still in work by FWC definition you would hope, from going on with their rightful business; entering their work site.)

THE Paul Keating, waterside worker and good man

So I had a long chat with Mr Keating about what troubled him enough to be out in the cold on this Sunday morning. Simple stuff when it all boils down. Of the near one hundred sacked, a large percentage were either union organisers, delegates or part of the safety committee. Smells of a targeted lay off. Then there is this. Hutchinson's have in many ways been seen as a union supportive employer until this. The union had negotiated an enterprise bargaining agreement reducing full time hours in order to allow the employer TO HIRE MORE STAFF! The much vaunted excuse, down-turn in economy, falling profits, technology not requiring such a large workforce had been parts of the bargaining. But suddenly Hutchinsons turns feral-no consultation-sackings by text at Midnight and too many prominent union members from both Brisbane and Sydney out on their arses. Mr Keating was very polite, vert articulate and somewhat pissed off at the turn of affairs. And who can blame him as there appears to be shenanigans at work to pull staff from other areas of the port (and other employers) to cover the work done by those sacked. A familiar ring. And even more familiar and bell tolling...to maybe contract this very work out on a as needs basis. Casualisation of employment and reduction of more full time, permanent positions. Mr Keating struck me as a clear thinker, reasonable but with vision and a good overview of the bigger picture. He acknowledged the broad grass root support the picket was getting from a range of unions and not to mention the broader MUA community.

Likewise this is a human tragedy. You can taste the damage this has had on the lives of those workers being laid off. The woman who spoke from Brisbane on yon television who said with three members of her family turfed out, who is going to pay the bills and keep their heads above water? The guy who said he has just gotten married and has a mortgage. Do the employers care? Are profits so poor they won't get their bonuses, won't be able to send their kids to private schools, might have to ditch one of the family holidays. Na, they will still be rolling in it. The company said to be worth HK$433 billion-not small change and including owning half of Vodaphone Australia. But they won't loose sleep because it is not impacting on them, other than a picket line on their doorstep and a rumble of discontent emerging from a range of unions as this Government continues to oversee a robber baron mentality of doing business. Good to see all the messages of support from other unions!

Photograph by Sam Camilleri-alias Pablo

Security...

Aye, well this were of interest like. Most of the security folk looked like new immigrants and you have to feel for them. A job of work is employment but they are the shit in this sandwich not of their making. Like the police who were not on view but had a big van parked at front.

So, why is this a line in the sand? A thin edge of wedge? Because we, as a union movement and what we represent need to see this as a wake up call. The drongos think the MUA and the more militant unions (the ones that speak up and put their collective bollocks on the line) are ones they can get good media copy by taking on, trashing and making ineffective. They think the Australian public is gullible enough to swallow another round of 'reds under the bed' alongside 'belt tightening for the greater good' etc. Worked for Thatcher in UK (Miners and the Militant-but only because Murdoch unleashed his hounds of tattle in an attempt to destroy Arthur Scargill); Muldoon in NZ (Seamens Union). Here MUA and Patrick's. Then see the Great Big Commission of Enquiry into Bad Unions the NatLibs are running. Evidence? Threadbare at best. Next to bronnys expense 'I work hard being me therefore I deserve it' and the goons currently wanting life time entitlement out of the public purse and for shame three of them being Labor! Nowt to answer to comrades when put against the good union involvement has achieved. But in a good employer turning feral, we should all take heed. The Tories are desperate for success to lift their game and what better way than through short term global neo liberal capitalist crap at the expense not just of workers and their families but the viability and sustainability of our communities. Of that they will have the media half truth tellers at their beck and call. Everyone likes to believe the big bad union bogey is keeping decent folk away from proper 'flexible' working conditions of casual employment and greater employer powers to sack or just not re-hire. Well yes, it is the union that is making a stand against the persistent erosion of working conditions not to mention undermining work place safety. Getting rid of safety officers/committees-are they barmy. The Ghost of past cums back ta haunt! Today MUA...tomorrow, if Hutchinsons win this one...we are all in deep shit...who is that I hear knocking on my door (or should that be inbox) at midnight...

We had better hope so...support the picket!

* See Woolies are Bullies-New Matilda Is there summat in the water-the closure of a warehouse in Melbourne drew the following in the article:

"In making its decision to pack up and leave, Woolworths did not consult with any stakeholders. There was no respect for any worker, any community member. They timed their meetings with the Union, the Victorian Industry Minister's office, the workforce and the media all for the afternoon of June 9.

Most workers were informed of the decision by text message. There was not even a veneer that any Corporate Social Responsibility considerations were taken into account. This is not good enough."