By Bernie Brian
WOLLONGONG — The trial of two South Coast trade union officials on criminal charges, arising from a picket line at a Kiama construction site, has been adjourned to February.
South Coast Labour Council (SCLC) secretary Paul Matters and Australian Workers Union organiser Neville Hilton are charged with "watching and besetting" (picketing) the Bombo sewerage treatment works in September 1992. The picket had been established to protest against the use of non-union labour and evasion of award conditions.
Matters told 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly that the trial has far-reaching implications for all Australians, not just trade unionists. "What is being tested is whether people are going to be prosecuted under the criminal code simply for picketing."
Australia is a signatory to an international agreement recognising the right to picket peacefully. But a vast array of laws obstruct this right. Section 545B of the NSW Crimes Act was introduced in 1929 to deal with mass picketing such as that which occurred during the timber strike of that year. Until now it had never been used against unionists.
According to Matters, "The NSW government is attempting to criminalise legitimate acts by trade unions and to target and isolate militants. The small picket at Bombo went for some weeks and involved no violence, obstruction or trespass. Court evidence has revealed that five of the alleged victims of our picket were not even present on the site when the alleged offences took place.
"The prosecution case hinges on establishing that we had the intent to close the site at some future time, irrespective of the consequences of the picket, and this has broad implications for future trade union activity or any group picketing."
Matters and Hilton were charged under the auspices of the Building Industry Task Force, which, according to Matters, is becoming a permanent "industrial police force" in the state.
"The trade union movement has underestimated the extremism of [Premier John] Fahey, who has had a long association with small developers in Sydney's south-west fringe. These are the very people who regularly come into conflict with trade unions and environmentalists. There are a number of other cases of both unionists and environmentalists being charged under this same section of the Crimes Act."
If convicted, Matters and Hilton face a $500 fine or six months' imprisonment. Matters says, "It is current ACTU policy that fines not be paid. We need to defy this law and change it, not just through the courts. Alliances have to be built between environmentalists, trade unionists and community activists against this type of misuse of police powers."