BY SUE BOLTON
On November 20, ABC Radio's PM program and most TV network news programs reported that Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary Doug Cameron had been punched on the nose outside his home on November 18. On November 21, ABC Radio's AM program, the Australian and the daily papers in Sydney and Melbourne also ran the story.
Cameron did not know his attacker. There is yet no evidence to indicate who might be behind the attack. However, the media reports consistently implied that the attack was likely to be connected with a militant group within the AMWU that is opposed to the Cameron leadership. Without any evidence, media have implied that the militant Workers First grouping in the Victorian branch of the AMWU has used violent tactics.
On November 21, Australian journalist Michael Bachelard reported that Cameron had speculated the attack could be an attempt to intimidate him into not standing for national secretary again next year.
AM reporter Alison Caldwell said on November 21: "Doug Cameron says the incident may be part of a leadership struggle in his own union. As its national secretary, he's taken a strong stand on violence and intimidation in the union movement, one which he says has put him in the firing line of so-called ultra militants across the country".
While conceding that it was too early to tell who had attacked Cameron, Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Greg Combet said on the AM program: "There's no doubt that Doug Cameron's taken some strong stands over the last couple of years, particularly in relation to some people who've opposed him in his own union, and he's taken strong stands in opposition to intimidation and violence."
Victorian AMWU metal division secretary and Workers First member Steve Dargavel responded to the innuendo that Workers First might be behind the attack.
Dargavel told 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly "We did not carry out this assault and were not involved. Workers First opposes politically motivated violence to resolve union disputes. We resolve our disputes within the structures of the union and where necessary, through the ballot box.
"The attack on Doug Cameron at home should be condemned by anybody that associates themselves with the left and we do so. All sorts of forces and individuals have tried to stand over, threaten and, from time to time, assault active unionists, including members of Workers First. We know what it's like to be on the receiving end. We condemn the behaviour no matter who it is directed against within the union.
"The idea that Workers First carried out this assault to scare Doug Cameron from standing [again] for [national secretary] next year ignores the well-known fact that Workers First has no plan to contest the position.
"Cameron has his share of enemies, like anybody, and not all of his enemies are from the left. There are plenty of forces who simply hate unionists, irrespective of whether they are moderate or militant", Dargavel concluded.
Bronwyn Halfpenny is the Victorian secretary of the food and confectionary division of the AMWU and a founding member of Workers First. Halfpenny told GLW: "Hitting someone can't solve any dispute. All it does is create more antagonism and anger.
"Workers First opposes those sorts of things. We have pretty regular dialogue with the likes of Doug Cameron about trying to bring the union together and work in a cooperative way.
"On the other hand, we also have a lot of differences with Doug Cameron. We think it should be members making the decisions about what sort of union we want. We don't think the union should be top down. That's why Workers First would never stoop to sorting out differences by carrying out assaults like this."
Geelong and Region Trades and Labour Council assistant secretary and Socialist Alliance member Tim Gooden told 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly that "socialists and militant unionists should under no account settle differences in the union movement through violence as that just takes unions further out of the hands of rank and file union members.
"However, unionists also have to ensure that they don't get conned into joining a campaign to drive militants out of the union movement on the basis of totally unproven allegations. What is happening in the media is an old-fashioned smear campaign against Workers First."
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, November 26, 2003.
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