Trade union activists from around Australia will gather in Geelong, Victoria, on October 28 to discuss ways forward in the campaign against the Howard government's many assaults on workers and union rights.
The one-day workshop at Geelong Trades Hall, titled "What options for trade union activists in the fight against Work Choices?", will deal with pressing issues such as: Can militant unions survive and thrive under Work Choices? What do we do if Labor wins the next federal election? What if Labor loses?
The questions of what to do about the "Welfare to Work" laws, 457 visas and the exploitation of guest workers, apprenticeships and skills, and jobs going overseas are also on the agenda.
The workshop, initiated by the Socialist Alliance, aims to bring together union activists from a wide range of industries and experiences. Invited participants include activists, delegates and officials from the Maritime Union of Australia; National Tertiary Education Union, Union Solidarity; NSW National Union of Workers; NSW Firefighters; posties; Manufacturing Workers Union; Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union; Electrical Trades Union; Unite; and the United Casual Workers Alliance. Activists from regional areas, such as Latrobe Valley and Portland, from recent industrial disputes, such as Amcor, Hawker de Havilland, Heinemann Electric, Toyota, Finlay Engineering, the CSR construction project, Qantas and Radio Rentals, and the taxi drivers attempting to establish their own union in Victoria will also participate.
The workshop will kick off with a session examining the French workers' and students' victory in 2006, by French academic and activist Stephane Lequeux. The first session will discuss building the campaigns against Work Choices, looking at questions such as do unions have to make themselves a small target to survive? It will also cover how to reach out to unorganised workers and the role of community picket lines.
The second major session is titled "If we could write the ALP industrial relations policy, what would it be?". The workshop organisers hope that a set of demands for workers and union rights to be put to all political parties will be adopted at the end of the workshop, and that all proposals and suggestions for action can be taken back into participants own unions and workplaces.
A memorial to construction union leader John Cummins, who died last month, will be unveiled during the workshop.
All trade union activists are welcome and encouraged to attend. For more information or to indicate attendance, contact Sue Bolton on (03) 9663 7429, 0413 377 978 or <><sue_bolton@hotmail.com>, or phone Tim on 0438 088 112.
[Tim Gooden is the secretary of Geelong Trades Hall Council and a member of the Socialist Alliance national executive.]