Sue Bolton, Melbourne
As the implications of the August 27 jailing of militant unionist Craig Johnston sink in, support has been growing for the campaign to free the former secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU). Some unionists who previously opposed Johnston have decided to fight the decision, which has far-reaching implications for working-class activists throughout the country.
Johnston was jailed on criminal charges relating to an industrial dispute at Johnson Tiles in June 2001. The dispute arose when Johnson Tiles sacked 29 maintenance workers and replaced them with non-union, lower-paid labour hire workers from the notoriously anti-union company Skilled Engineering.
Eighteen people were charged over the dispute. One of them, Zelko Curak, the AMWU organiser for the Johnson Tiles dispute, became a prosecution witness in return for having all charges against him dropped. The other 16 had their charges dismissed or reduced to unlawful assembly. Those convicted of unlawful assembly were sentenced to good-behaviour bonds. Johnston was singled out from the beginning, however.
On May 21, Johnston was sentenced by County Court judge Joseph Gullaci to 12 months' imprisonment, suspended for three years. The prosecution appealed the sentence, and on August 27, the Victorian appeals court massively increased the sentence to two years and nine months' imprisonment — with nine months to be served immediately. Victoria does not allow remissions for good behaviour, so he will serve the full nine months.
Appeal court judges William Ormiston, John Batt and Alex Chernov increased the penalty because they decided that Johnston's previous convictions (minor public order offences relating to protests and industrial disputes), his "commitment to his views", and his previous record of union and community activism, made him "likely to reoffend".
Where Gullaci had considered Johnston's long record of staunch unionism a mitigating factor, in effect, Ormiston et al. argued that he should be punished for it. In doing so, they made it clear that the purpose of this decision was to minimise Johnston's influence in the union movement. [For more discussion, see the editorial on page 3.]
Johnston has not yet decided whether to appeal the decision in the High Court.
Johnston was shifted from the Melbourne Assessments Centre to Loddon jail at Castlemaine in central Victoria on September 3. Authorities moved fast to get Johnston out of Melbourne to forestall protests outside the assessments centre.
Just four days after Johnston was jailed, 100 emotional unionists gathered to discuss a political campaign calling for the release of Johnston. Many of the unionists were upset that their unions hadn't called immediate industrial action in response to Johnston's jailing. The motto of "Touch one, touch all" was the common thread in the debate.
Lawyer Rob Stary told the meeting that Johnston's sentence was wildly out of proportion to sentences previously given to offences resulting from political protests that involved occupying a premises in which office equipment has been damaged. Stary said that, in his 25 years as a practising lawyer, Johnston is the only person he knows of who has been sentenced at 3pm on a Friday afternoon.
The meeting heard reports that motions calling on union leaders to organise a campaign to free Johnston have been flooding in to the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, the Electrical Trades Union, the plumbers union and the AMWU, from construction sites in Geelong and the Western district. Similar motions have also been coming in from construction sites in Melbourne.
It was also reported that a meeting of union secretaries to plan a campaign for the release of Johnston had been called for September 2.
Many of the unionists at the meeting wanted a mass protest to be called immediately. However, many pointed out that the campaign needed to counter the misinformation and fear campaign that had been waged against Johnston by the big business media and by the national leadership of the AMWU. The message that Johnston's prison sentence was a political message to the union movement from Victoria's anti-union rich elite needed to be communicated to union members. This meant taking the time to get out and talk to workers, and union meetings.
The meeting discussed how to involve more unions, a necessary step to building a large enough political campaign to agitate for Johnston's release. If enough political pressure is built up calling for Craig Johnston to be released, the state government can intervene at any time to release him with a petition of mercy.
The meeting voted to set up the Free Craig Johnston Campaign which would organise speakers for meetings, a national leaflet explaining the issue, and raise money both for the campaign and also to support Johnston's children, who were financially dependent on him. The meeting also passed a motion calling on union secretaries to call a mass protest as soon as possible.
Eleven union secretaries met on September 2, followed by another meeting of union secretaries on September 3 to plan out action. The union secretaries set up the Craig Johnston Trade Union Support Committee. Fifteen union secretaries signed the press release announcing the formation. A couple of unions which haven't previously endorsed the campaign, did, such as the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union-mining and energy division.
The committee plans to levy union officials to financially support Johnston's children, campaign amongst union members to win support for the campaign and organise a public meeting at Trades Hall on September 23. A delegation from the group will seek a meeting with Victorian government ministers to express concern about the treatment of Johnston. A proposal to support the campaign will also be put to the next Victorian Trades Hall Council executive meeting on September 10.
The Craig Johnston Trade Union Support Committee is composed of union secretaries whereas the Free Craig Johnston Campaign is open to rank-and-file union members, union officials aND community activists.
Victorian Peace Network activist and Socialist Alliance member Margarita Windisch told 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly that Johnston's jailing has implications for the entire progressive movement and not just the trade union movement.
She pointed out that Johnston had helped secure significant union backing for such progressive campaigns as refugees' rights, feminism, solidarity with East Timor and environmentalism. In particular, whO mentioned that Johnston's staunch support for the September 11, 2000, mass protests outside the World Economic Forum that helped create much-needed alliances between unions and community activists.
"In helping Johnston now", Windisch said, "activists from all these campaigns will not just be assisting one ally — we will be fighting to strengthen all those progressive movements that need support from unionists like Johnston. We will be fighting to defend the right to be political, and be passionate and active around politics. We will, in short, be fighting for our basic democratic rights."
To contact the Free Craig Johnston Campaign, ring Sue Bolton on 0413-377-978.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, September 8, 2004.
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