2000 Union Delegates Meet To Defend Noel Washington

 Thanks to Solidarity Online



2000 union delegates attended a mass meeting to defend Noel Washington, CFMEU official facing 6 months jail for refusing to be interrogated by the Howard era Australian Building & Construction Commission (ABCC). The ABCC wanted to question him about what was said at a union meeting that took place outside of work hours.





Noel Washington received a standing ovation. He spoke of his determination to stand up to the ABCC, because of the personal impact he had seen it have on other workers in the industry - particularly Brodene Wardely, who was threatened with jail, because as a OHS rep she had called a halt to work at building site after a near accident.



Members of the Greens turned up & handed out a leaflet calling for the abolition of ABCC & promoting the Green's charter of workplace rights, which includes the right to strike.



Noel Washington’s court case has been scheduled for next Friday August 1, but unions are currently trying to get an adjournment.



The substantive resolution was moved by Mary Bluett, AEU President and seconded by Lisa Fitzpatrick ANF. The full text and other accepted resolutions can be found here http://www.vthc.org.au/index.cfm?Category=135§ion=2&contentid=2361&viewmode=content



Solidarity moved 3 amendments, the first was accepted: This mass meeting calls on the federal government to instruct to DPP to drop the charges against Noel Washington. We also call on the federal government to tear up the rest of the WorkChoices legislation; and enshrine, in Australian law, the internationally recognised right of workers to take industrial action in defence of their economic and social interests



Solidarity moved two other amendments for 24 hr stoppages which were debated, but effectively not put through bureaucratic manoeuvre.



Ammendment 2

This mass meeting supports the calling of a 24 hr Statewide stoppage on the day of the court case being forced on Noel Washington by the ABCC.



Ammendment 3

This mass meeting supports the calling of a 24 hr Statewide stoppage if Noel Washington is jailed.



These amendments were well received. One argument put by Tim Gooden Secretary of Geelong Trades Hall Council against the amendments was that if 24 hr stoppage was called some building workers wouldn’t turn up to the rally & would just take whole day off. There is some truth to this argument, but in that case and what is required is a concerted attempt to win a political argument with building workers to attend the rally. If that was the main reason for not calling a 24 hour stoppage, a 4 hour stoppage to allow all workers to attend the rally to defend Noel Washington could easily have been proposed instead.



Strikes also have an impact beyond numbers at a rally, and this battle can’t be left to the CFMEU alone. Workers in unions outside the construction industry have shown before with the rallies against Workchoices, that if Trades Hall calls official stoppages, so workers feel protected and all in it together, they will come out in massive numbers.



Interstate unions need to follow Victoria’s lead and call delegates meetings to defend Noel Washington. We are going to need to continue to build support for Noel Washington in every workplace, and if he is jailed, we will need mass strikes nationally like that that succeeded in freeing Tramways union official Clarrie O’Shea 40 years ago in similar circumstance.

Chris Breen

You are invited...



Public Forum



DEFEND NOEL WASHINGTON



6pm Wednesday 13 August



University of Melbourne

Union House (Student Union Building), Parkville Campus



Speakers:



Noel Washington

Rob Stary, Civil Rights lawyer

Judy McVey, Solidarity

Mark Peart, G20 campaign



Presented by Solidarity

Www.solidarity.net.au

Ring David Glanz: 0418 316 310

 

Stop the attacks on building workers: Union Solidarity extraordinary meeting

Union Solidarity will hold an extraordinary meeting:

Thursday 6pm
June 28th
New Council Chambers
Trades Hall
Corner of Lygon and Victoria St Carlton.

The meeting will discuss the serious situation in the construction industry where the CFMEU and other unions are under enormous pressure from the building task force.

Approximately 90 investigations leading to possible prosecution, fines and or jail
terms is currently running Australia wide with approximately 56 of them affecting Victorian building workers and unions.

Specifically we will outline the situation on a large building site in Melbourne where shop stewards have been sacked and workers are denied the representative of their choice. We will discuss possible responses to this; concretely one item will be the organising of a phone tree for a rapid assembly/picket if the need arises.

Recently construction workers in Port Campbell building the Woodside gas plant who attended a mass meeting in defense of a sack shop steward have been summered to appear before the ABCC(Australian Building and Construction Commissioner). If the workers refuse to attend they face heavy fines and a jail term.

Construction union members are afforded less rights than accused criminals (they are denied the right to silence), at least if you rob a bank you have the right to remain silent in court.

Even discussing matters raised in the commission with partners and family could result in fines and a jail term.

These outrages must stop. Behind the recent hysteria in the media about what certain union officials have said is the reality that employers in the building industry (and in general) want to smash some of the most militant and effective unions in Australia.

Government backed and funded agencies like the ABCC are merely a tool to allow employers to get their way, deny working people basic democratic rights and increase the employer’s massive profit
margins.

You can make a difference, please attend this vital meeting and pass this message on through your networks. If you can’t attend the meeting and wish to be included on the phone tree ring the
number below.

More info: Dave 0412 484 094


Yours in Solidarity

Union Solidarity

Related

* http://www.unionsolidarity.org/