|
Terry Costello
Welcome to a one hour May Day edition of Class Actions.
Today’s program of Class Actions will attempt to explore the
origins of and purpose that May Day serves in the 21st
Century both in Australia and overseas. The most well attended May
Day rallies held in Melbourne in recent times were held on May The
First itself and involved workers taking stopwork action in order
to attend the rally. In 2001 over 10,000 workers shut down the
stock exchange and took over the city’s streets to protest at the
excesses and anti worker nature of Capitalism and Globalisation. In
2002 a similar number of workers and activists blockaded the
Commonwealth Immigration Department to protest against the then
Howard Government’s shameful treatment of refugees as well as to
protest against the erosion of workers rights by the Cole Royal
Commission and other aspects of the Howard Government anti worker
agenda. The 2003 May Day rally involved a march from Trades Hall
Council to Federation Square and was attended by thousands of
unionists and community activists. Workers going out on strike on
May First and attending a May Day rally on the day is an important
opportunity to engage with working people about what needs to
be done not only to improve wages and conditions , but to
make the world a better place by pointing out the faults of
capitalism and why it needs to be resisted and ultimately
overthrown. Prior to 2001 the main May Day march was held on the
First Sunday afternoon in May and the numbers attending this event
had dwindled alarmingly. We will be listening in part to some audio
from the 2002 and 2003 May Day rallies.
In deciding whether May Day should be celebrated on May
the First or on the First Sunday in May we need to explore the
origins of May Day.
The Alexander Trachtenberg May Day online archive which is
located at marx.org/subject/mayday/articles/tracht.html gives an
impressive coverage of the origins of May Day and the spirit
in which May Day was both celebrated and used in order to advance
the struggles of working people.
In 1884 the Federation of Organised Trades & labor unions in
the United States & Canada passed a resolution in 1884 that
said ‘8 hours shall constitute legal days labour from May First
1886 and we recommend to labor organisations throughout their
jurisdictions and we recommend to labour Organisations that they so
direct their laws to conform to this resolution by the time
named’
May Day’s origins originated from the 8 hour day struggle with
the first May Day rally being held in Chicago in 1886 which was
attended by over 80,000 striking workers who marched down Michigan
Avenue.
Back in those times resistance by workers in the United States
and around the world was met with extreme violence in the form of
the judicial and non judicial murder of workers and Trade Union
Officials on a regular basis. Agitating for industrial and human
rights that are taken for granted today was an occupational hazard
for workers prepared to fight for a better world in the 1880s as it
still is in some parts of the world today. Three days after the
first May Day march on May 4th 1886 a mass rally in
support of the eight hour day was held at Haymarket in Chicago.
At this demonstration a bomb detonated by an unknown person or
persons exploded and killed one policeman and injured another 6
policemen. Eight trade union activists were arrested and
charged with being ‘accessories to murder’. None of those were
linked to the unknown bomb thrower and some of those charged were
not even present at the demonstration. Four of those charged were
convicted in a sham trial and were hanged in 1887 and they became
known as the Haymarket Martyrs. One of the Haymarket Martyrs August
Spies upon being convicted said this to the court.
"If you think that by hanging us you can stamp out the
labour movement... the movement from which the downtrodden
millions, the millions who toil in misery and want, expect
salvation - if this is your opinion, then hang us! Here you will
tread on a spark, but there and there, behind you - and in front of
you, and everywhere, flames blaze up. It is a subterranean fire.
You cannot put it out".
The Haymarket case became a world wide scandal however the
hanging of the Haymarket Martyrs was carried out on November
11 1887. The case of the Haymarket Martyrs was one of the factors
behind the International Socialist conference held in Paris in July
1889 declaring May 1st as a day to celebrate labor Solidarity. From
this time on many countries have adopted May 1st as
their Labor Day holiday.
The origin of May Day in 1886 had a remarkable impact on at the
very least coincided with a large increase in the level of workers
struggle in the United States in 1886. Alexander Trachtenberg’s May
Day archive published at
marx.org/subject/mayday/articles/tracht.html stated during
1886 on of the Unions that 1886 in the United States saw a surge in
Union membership with one union’s membership The Knights of Labor
increasing from 200,000 to 700,00 in 1886.
‘During the years 1881-1884 the number of strikes and lockouts
averaged less than 500, and on the average involved only about
150,000 workers a year. The strikes and lockouts in 1885 increased
to about 700 and the number of workers involved jumped to 250,000.
In 1886 the number of strikes more than doubled over 1885,
attaining to as many as 1,572, with a proportional increase in the
number of workers affected, now 600,000. How widespread the strike
movement became in 1886 can be seen from the fact that while in
1885 there were only 2,467 establishments affected by strikes, the
number involved in the following year had increased to 11,562. In
spite of open sabotage by the leadership of the Knights . of Labor
., it was estimated that over 500,000 workers were directly
involved in strikes for the 8-hour day.’ All of this militancy
occurred despite the Knights of Labor’s leader terence Powderly and
other officials in the union trying to sabotage the 8 hour
day movement as well as advising his members not to strike.’
The rank and file of the United States Federation of Organised
Trades & labor unions & the Knights of Labor amongst
other workers organisations clearly supported May Day and
were ‘enthusiastically preparing for the struggle. Eight hour
leagues & Associations sprang up in various cities and an
elevated spirit of militancy was felt throughout the labor movement
, which was infecting masses of unorganised workers.”The origins of
May Day indicate that as an event it was a movement that was driven
by Rank & File workers from below instead of by the
bureaucrats of these organisations. For May Day to be succeed it
must be run with at the very least significant input and
involvement from below. Many revolutionaries and working class
warriors internationally have acknowledged the importance of May
Day in galvanising Class Struggle, Class Solidarity and opposition
to Capitalism and other forms of repression.
The origins of May Day in Australia is discussed at http://www.takver.com/history/mayday.htm
and includes an article written by 3CR’s own Joe Toscano who
presents the anarchist world program on Wednesdays at 10AM This
article reveals the origins of May Day in Melbourne.
‘On the 1st May 1886, Australia's first anarchist org *** ation
was formed - The Melbourne Anarchist Club. From 1887 to 1889 the
1st May was remembered and celebrated in Australia only by
anarchists associated with the Melbourne Anarchist Club.
In 1890 May Day celebrations were held in the office of Dr. Maloney
MP in Melbourne, John Chummy Fleming, a well known Melbourne
anarchist, attended these celebrations.
Melbourne held its first public May Day celebration on the 1st of
May 1892.The celebration on the Yarra Bank was proceeded by a march
which began at the Burke and Wills monument.
The meeting at the Yarra Bank was chaired by the principal
organisers of the March, the anarchist John Chummy Fleming. May Day
was celebrated in Australia from 1892 to 1899.
It was not celebrated in Melbourne and the rest of Australia from
1900 to 1927.
When May Day celebrations were recommenced in 1928, Chummy Fleming
the Melbourne anarchist, although not part of the official
organising committee led the May Day March in Melbourne until his
death in the mid 1950's. He normally started marching 30 minutes
before the official march and waited for the main march to catch up
with him.’
We have been discussing the origins of May Day in Chicago 1886
which has since that time become a symbol of workers struggle,
struggles against exploitation and repression locally, nationally
& internationally and the fight to win a better world.
The Alexander Trachtenberg’s May Day archive located online at
marx.org/subject/mayday/articles/tracht.html states “The May
First strike was most aggressive in Chicago, which was at that time
the center of a militant Left-wing labor movement. Although
insufficiently clear politically on a number of the problems of the
labor movement, it was nevertheless a fighting movement, always
ready to call the workers to action, develop their fighting spirit
and set as their goal not only the immediate improvement of their
living and working conditions, but the abolition of the capitalist
system as well.
On May First Chicago witnessed a great outpouring of workers,
who laid down tools at the call of the organized labor movement of
the city. It was the most effective demonstration of class
solidarity yet experienced by the labor movement itself. The
importance at that time of the demand – the 8-hour day – and the
extent and character of the strike gave the movement significant
political meaning
The Alexander Trachtenberg’s May Day archive located online at
marx.org/subject/mayday/articles/tracht.html
states ‘In his preface to the fourth German edition of
the Communist Manifesto, which he wrote on May 1, 1890, Frederick
Engels who co wrote the Communist manifesto with Karl Marx
when reviewing the history of the international proletarian
organizations, calls attention to the significance of the first
International May Day’
Engels wrote ‘ As I write these lines, the proletariat of Europe
and America is holding a review of its forces; it is mobilized for
the first time as One army, under One Bag, and fighting One
immediate aim: an eight-hour working day, established by legal
enactment.... The spectacle we are now witnessing will make the
capitalists and landowners of all lands realize that today the
proletarians of all lands are, in very truth, united. If only Marx
were with me to see it with his own eyes! “
The great Vladimir Lenin the leader of The Russian
revolution in 1917 acknowledged the importance of May Day in
raising levels of class consciousness and class struggle in a
pamphlet he wrote whilst in the czar’s prison in 1896
‘In France, England, Germany and other countries where workers
have already been united in powerful unions and have won for
themselves many rights, they organized on May 1. Leaving the
stifling factories they march with unfurled banners, to the strains
of music, along the main streets of the cities, demonstrating to
the bosses their continuously growing power. They assemble at great
mass demonstrations where speeches are made recounting the
victories over the bosses during the preceding year and lay plans
for struggle in the future. Under the threat of strike the bosses
do not dare to fine the workers for not appearing at the factories
on that day. On this day the workers also remind the bosses of
their main demand: 8 hours work, 8 hours rest, and 8 hours
recreation. This is what the workers of other countries are
demanding now.’
The Alexander Trachtenberg’s May Day archive located online at
marx.org/subject/mayday/articles/tracht.html also
states
‘The Russian revolutionary movement utilized May Day to great
advantage. In the preface to a pamphlet, May Days in
Kharkov, published in November, 1900, Lenin wrote: ‘ In
another six months, the Russian workers will celebrate the first of
May of the first year of the new century, and it is time we set to
work to make the arrangements for organizing the celebrations in as
large a number of centers as possible, and on as imposing a scale
as possible, not only by the number that will take part in them,
but also by their organized character, by the class-consciousness
they will reveal, by the determination that will be shown to
commence the irrepressible struggle for the political liberation of
the Russian people, and, consequently, for a free opportunity for
the class development of the proletariat and its open struggle for
Socialism.’
The Alexander Trachtenberg’s May Day archive then summed up
Lenin’s view of May Day as follows ‘It can be seen how
important Lenin considered the May Day demonstrations, since he
called attention to them six months ahead of time. To him May Day
was a rallying point for "the irrepressible struggle for the
political liberation of the Russian people," for "the class
development of the proletariat and its open struggle for
Socialism." ‘
I could go on and on quoting key figures involved in
revolutionary struggles against capitalism and repressive
regimes concerning the importance of May Day in the fight for
workers rights, a better world & socialism however last but
certainly not least the German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg had
this to say about the importance of May Day where she emphasises
the importance of waging class struggle on a global
international basis and May Day’s part in this when writing an
article to celebrate May Day in 1913.
‘ The brilliant chief idea of the May Day celebration is the
independent action of the proletarian masses, is the political mass
action of the millions of workers.... The excellent purpose of the
Frenchman Lavigne at the international congress in Paris combined
with the direct international mass manifestation, the laying down
of tools, is a demonstration and fighting tactic for the 8-hour
day, world peace and Socialism."
‘the more the May Day idea, the idea of resolute mass
action as demonstrations of international solidarity and as a
fighting tactic for peace and for Socialism, even in the strongest
section of the International, the German working class, strikes
root, the greater guarantee we shall have that from the world war,
which will inevitably take place sooner or later, there will result
an ultimately victorious settlement of the struggle between the
world of labor and that of capital."
The key element to draw from the comments of Engels, Lenin &
Rosa Luxembourg concerning May Day is that for May Day to
maximise the interests of working people, May Day must involve mass
action by as many working people as possible on May
1st.. Mass Action involves walking off the job and
participating in the local May Day Rally. This is what occurred on
May 1st 2001, 2002 & 2003 when progressive unions
called on their members to walk off the job and participate in the
largest and most effective May Day rallies in living memory.
So far Class Action’s coverage of May Day has looked at the
origins of May Day in Chicago in 1886 and have quoted the thoughts
of key revolutionaries, Frederick Engels, Vladimir Lenin & Rosa
Luxembourg concerning the importance of May Day and how may Day
should be conducted. If you are interested in studying the history
of May Day at length you should look at the May Day archive located
on the world wide web at
marx.org/subject/mayday/articles
The most crucial aspect of May Day involves workers taking
industrial action on May 1st to fight for a better
world and to join together the struggles of working people and
wider struggles to create a better world. The more workers involved
in taking industrial action and stopping work to attend May Day
rallies on May 1st the more significant May Day is both
as a symbol of workers struggle as well as an opportunity for
workers to display their power as a class and challenge the
existing order.
As stated previously the origins of May Day in 1886
involved the shedding of the blood of workers who had the temerity
to challenge the injustices, inequalities & hegemony of the
existing order. What follows are some excerpts from the On
the Picket line’s coverage of the May Day rallies held in
Melbourne on May 1st 2002 and May 1st 2003
This excerpt starts with Dean Mighell from the ETU followed by
Michelle O’Neill from the Textile, Clothing & Footwear Union
and Martin Kingham from the CFMEU who explained the
significance of May Day.
Dean Mighell – May Day Rally May 1 2003
To thank the construction workers who built this because no one
ever thanks the people who build our buildings, only the people
sitting there who profit from them. We should take time out when we
go to places like this and think about the Glaziers the
plasterers the plumbers the construction workers the laborers
the sparkies all the people that build them. Give some applause on
May Day because they did the same thing. Too easy too easy to shit
can Trade unions on 3AW remember that stands for Anti Worker, just
listen and you’ll know what I’m talking about but you know we talk
about the MCG the southern stands the docklands the things that
people enjoy our railway lines our schools our health system. Union
members make it go union members care about other people and
each other that is what makes May Day so important.
We need to celebrate the fact that we are union and we are proud
that we have achieved many gains and we are a fighting bunch of
working people. It is an international day on this day right around
the world millions of workers are celebrating the achievements of
labour the achievements of women and men who keep their
factories going who keep our kids educated who take care of us in
our health system and our railways and our construction projects
and our manufacturing and finance industries . We all have a
go . Back in 1884 in the United States the congress of unions to
celebrate their campaign decades after us they organised to have
the campaign celebration on the First of May and over the
years that day has been a
day celebrated by working men and women across the world as a day
marking their achievements . It hasn’t always been a peaceful day
oppressive governments in some countries have sought to kill
workers in violent demonstrations of police and civil forces
against workers around the world 1.22
Dean Mighell ETU May Day 2002
May Day is not just about the Royal commission . Its about the
Refugees its about workers rights in Australia and internationally
and the trade union movement in conjunction with M1 pulled off this
day. Its unions its workers in the community and students have all
come out today and I think we should pay them a bit of respect and
they have done us a treat .
Michelle O’Neil May Day 2003
We’ve got to remember what may Day is about May Day
is about the basics of unionism its about saying that no
worker is alone and its about saying that whether you
are a worker who is locked out at Geelong Woolcombing
and you’ll hear about that in a minute or whether you are a
member of the Building unions that have been attacked by the Royal
Commission or whether you are one of the workers who in
Buenos Aries this week 500 locked out women stormed their
factory to go back in got back inside the factory to
try and go back to work and then were shot at by the
police in Argentina , whether you are one of those
workers wherever you are in the world whether you are
one of the protesters that was killed in Ira this
week by the American forces. Wherever you are
struggling May Day is about coming together.
May Day is about saying that we actually have to stick
together and solidarity is our basic strength , our
absolutely basic strength
Dean Mighell ETU May Day 2002
As Michelle O’Neill said earlier the fight for workers rights
and the fundamental freedoms are freedoms that all people should
enjoy -
Terry Costello – May
Day 2003 Report
That was Dean Mighell from the ETU explaining the significance
of May Day which has been celebrated in Melbourne since 1893 Martin
Kingham who was acquitted of charges laid by the Cole Royal
Commission had this to say about the origin of May Day
Martin Kingham CFMEU– May Day 2003There is a long
tradition of May Day and the reason that the flags of working class
struggle are red . They represent the blood that was spilt by
workers at the very first May Day in Chicago. Women working
in a match factory who had the audacity to go on strike and people
who supported them and they were bashed by agents of the bosses by
agents of the Government and some of them were killed
and their blood ran on the streets and ran in the
gutters of Chicago and that is why we wear Red nothing
to do with anything else it’s to represent what beats in our
hearts the red blood of workers and that is what we
remember today on May Day
Terry Costello
You are listening to the May Day edition of Class Actions. From
2001 to 2003 May Day rallies were held on May the First and
involved unionists taking industrial action in order to attend
the May 1st rally. These rallies were organised by
the M1 Collective which was a broad grouping of left Activists and
organisations and unions. Due to a broad cross section of the left
being involved in the M1 collective these rallies were an
outstanding success with over 10,000 people attending the 2001 may
Day rally, approximately7000 attending the 2002 May Day
rally and over 5000 people attended the 2003 May Day rally.
The 2001 May Day rally blockaded the stock market which led to
the stock exchange in Melbourne being closed for the day. The focus
of M1 in 2001 was Corporate Globalisation, its effect on
working people and the international resistance that was emerging
to fight Globalisation. M1 in 2001 hit the streets with protesters
marching to and demonstrating outside the Liberal Party
headquarters, Shell Petroleum and other organisations whose actions
have harmed workers. John Percy wrote in Green left Weekly on May 9
2001 ‘the May Day protests had another victory. They reclaimed
May Day.’
The 2002 Rally focussed on two issues the first being the then
Howard Government’s appalling racist treatment of Refugees &
asylum seekers which was used by the
Howard Government to prey on the ignorance and prejudices of
elements of the electorate in order to win votes which sadly got
Howard over the line in at least one Federal election. The Howard
Government’s appalling treatment of Refugees which at the time
included denying asylum seekers permanent residency and instead
putting some asylum seekers on Temporary Protection visas
which could be arbitrarily revoked as well as the shameful
practice of the mandatory detention of refugees & their
children was a central focus of M1 in 2002. Construction
workers were also singled out for harsh treatment via the creation
of the Cole Royal Commission into the construction industry which
turned out to be one of if not the most expensive union bashing
exercise in Australia’s industrial history. Despite trawling
through thousands of pages of construction union records and
conducting hearings where unionists were forced to give evidence,
the activities of the Cole Royal Commission ultimately did not
result in any criminal convictions of any union official.
Refugees and Construction workers shared the distinction of
being in the front line when it came to Howard’s war on workers
which was waged from 1996 to 2007. The role of May Day in 2002 was
to defend the rights of refugees and construction workers. If
Howard had of succeeded in trampling over the rights of refugees
and construction workers these attacks would have then been applied
to other minority groups and other workers.
An article reporting on M1 in 2002 written by Graeme Matthews
for Green Left Weekly
‘More than 10,000 people took to the streets of Melbourne on
May Day, protesting against attacks on workers’ and refugees’
rights and in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The protests’
success was a step forward for the struggle for global justice, as
unionists and social-justice activists worked together to oppose
oppression in all its forms. The day’s protests were organised
by the M1 Collective and the Victorian Trades Hall Council
(VTHC).
The protest day began at 7am when around 500 activists converged
on the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous
Affairs (DIMIA) at Cassleden Place in central Melbourne. Opposing
the federal government’s mandatory detention of refugees,
protesters erected a wire fence around the perimeter of the
building to “detain the detainers” and symbolise a “wall of
opposition to war and racism”. The fence was decorated with
flowers, banners and messages to refugees throughout the
morning.
The offices had been closed by centre management. The blockade
was organised by the M1 Collective. Belinda Morrison from the
Australian Nurses Federation pledged that union’s solidarity with
refugees from the platform. Pamela Curr from the Australian Greens
laid a wreath at the building to commemorate the 360 people who
have died as a direct result of the federal government’s racist
discrimination against refugees.
Protesters stood in absolute silence as a taped message from an
escaped refugee hiding in Melbourne was played from the platform.
The unnamed man is a member of the oppressed Hazara ethnic group.
“I think I am in a very good country because my life is not in
danger”, he said, adding, “We came here for protection, not for
detention”.
“The Australian government is killing us every day and
every night. They are killing our minds. The government says that
refugees are criminals. I say that the government is the real
criminal.
“We came here for peace”, the man concluded. “In this May Day
refugees in detention centres want your help and need your
help.”
Terry Costello
The then Howard Government’s appalling treatment of refugees was
about attacking disadvantaged people as well as scapegoating
refugees in an attempt to appeal to the prejudice of voters in
order to get the Howard Government re elected.
The race card is played by bosses and governments in an attempt
to divide working people and appeal to people’s prejudices and
fears. Karl Marx once wrote about the labor movement in the
nineteenth century when racism was entrenched.
‘In the United States of America, any sort of independent labor
movement was paralysed so long as slavery disfigured a part of the
republic. Labor with a white skin cannot emancipate itself where
labor with a black skin is branded.’
One of the themes of May Day is to fight against injustice
and arbitrary actions of governments and the Capitalist
system. Felicity Martin from the M1 collective and then Michelle
O’Neill stress the importance of working class solidarity which
must transcend misinformation and prejudices such as those based on
nationality, race, sex, religion and ethnic origins.
Felicity Martin May Day 2002
One of the reasons why I asked to come up and speak because I am
there are not many women up here on the stage and i want to make
the point that there are many women that are workers, there are
many women who are strong and active unionists and we should be
represented. One of the other things that I wanted to remind people
of in the Free the refugees campaign we want to link
with workers because we want to remind you that alot of people that
are facing persecution in the third world in Indonesia afghanisatan
not just because of war but it is also because they organise they
organise in their workplace they organise as unionists and alot of
them face persecution as Trade unionists in their country. So what
i want to do here is to remind you that an injury to one is an
injury to all and the injury that is happening to the refugees at
Woomera to the refugees at Curtin Villawood and Maribyrnong right
here in Melbourne are injuries that we should all suffer and
acknowledge so I am just going to lead you with a quick chant which
is lock up Howard Free the Refugees Thankyou
Michelle O’Neill – May Day 2002
The only thing I want to say and add to today is --this is
an important day because it is about standing up for workers rights
for justice for fairness . I don’t care what colour’s someone’s
skin is . I don’t care what language they speak and I don’t care
where in the world they came from because we as workers have got to
stand up for every worker for the right to justice and fairness and
every person that arrived in this country no matter how they got
here no matter where they came from having the right to be treated
with respect and dignity every worker applause every person has the
right to respect and dignity applause and if we don’t understand
that as unionists if we don’t get it that fighting for our rights
in a factory or a site or a mill or in an office is not the same
thing as fighting for the rights of people around the world to move
freely to be treated with dignity and respect and to have the right
to look after themselves and their families , the right to find a
job the right to receive benefits the right to be part of our
community then we don’t get it at all .
We’ve got to get over our racism we’ve actually got to realise
that our brothers and sisters wherever they came from
whatever their colour are our brothers and sisters and if we let
corporate Australia and John Howard divide us on the basis of the
colour of our skin, the language we speak or how we got here then
they’ll divide us in the Royal Commission , they will divide us in
our workplace , they’ll divide us on the picket line . Thanks
everybody happy May Day
Applause
Incy Wincy Howard Song
Incy Wincy Howard, kisses Bush’s arse,locks up the refugees and
puts them behind bars, here come the protesters on the Woomera
Bus shut down the hell hole freed them at last
Give me a home away from Ruddock he makes me too sick his racism
and scapegoating the Liberals on our back they all should get the
sack and we will free the refugees
Give me a home away from Howard He’s such a coward his racism
and filthy lies the Liberals on our back they all should get the
sack and we will free the Refugees
Terry Costello
Apart from supporting the rights of Refugees May Day in 2002 and
in 2003 also focussed on the then Howard Government’s war on
workers, and in particular Howard and then Industrial Relations
minister Tony Abbott’s war on Construction workers and construction
unions who were subjected to persecution from the Cole Royal
Commission.
CMFEU legend the Late John Cummins gave a fiery address to
protesters on May Day in 2002 out the front of the Cole Bodgie
Commission whose offices were located in one of the office
towers at the posh end of Collins Street. 0.48
24.41
John Cummins CFMEU
Its really appropriate that we are here today talking about this
because 120 odd years ago which was really the origin of May Day
and that international event that is celebrated world wide. 120
years ago they shot workers down in the street because
they were fighting for the 8 hour day. In many senses although
time has changed the contest remains the same . We think that it is
very arguable that one of the reasons why we have had a Royal
Commission foisted on us in 2001 and 2002 is because of the mighty
fine effort for shorter hours that construction workers put
in for the last industry EBAs. In many ways the contest is
the same the tactics of those who would sort of like to fight us is
a bit different 120 years ago they shot us down the streets .
Me thinks a few of them would like to do the same
again
Terry Costello
The person in charge of the Construction industry Royal
Commission Terry Cole is reputed to be on an annual salary of
800,000 dollars. John Cummins from the CMFEU evaluates the
performance of the good commissioner Cole.
John Cummins CFMEU
We think that Terry Cole in 6 months has exposed himself better
than ever we could do as long as we draw breath. The Royal
Commission as I said has being going for 6 months . Its had a
circus tour around Australia . they still haven’t found anything to
go crook about other than the wages and conditions of
construction workers and our health and Safety
issues.
He pulls out 800 grand a year and this bloke is
having a microscopic look at the hourly rate of construction
workers which is just over 20 dollars an hour , just below 20
dollars an hour . Its an obscenity but that’s what they are really
on about . the other double standards abound . One of the reasons
he is having a go at us is because our efforts with the shorter
hours and in the new Industry Agreement that is up for grabs at the
end of the year we intend to flow those shorter hours to
really make it a fair dinkum 36 hour a week that’s what we intend
to do
applause
The Terry Coles of this world are really on a political exercise
. they get money for false pretences really to do a hatchet job on
the union . they are in the business . they are in the business of
trawling through thousands and thousands of documents to try and
get one little iota that would justify them bringing down a hatchet
job on the union and bringing down legislation that has a crack of
the wages and conditions of the construction
workers.
And Skinner has indicated all around the city Workers united
will never be defeated .We can see what this is all about . We
reckon we’re half way there and they need to be going their hardest
because we’re going our hardest . the wages and conditions that we
enjoy are the wages and conditions that we are going to keep and
improve in the next EBA thanks a lot applause
Union Maid Bodgy Commission Music Woody Guthrie Words
Terry Costello
There once was a union maid who never was afraid
Of the Bodgy Dodgy Royal Commission
Abbott’s phoney mission
Workers have shown their clout, They have all gone out
Dare to Struggle Dare to Win is a virtue not a sin
Oh you can’t scare me I’m out on May Day
I’m out on May Day, I’m out on May Day
Oh you can’t scare me I’m out on May Day
I’m out on May Day till the day I die
Terry Costello
By May Day 2003 many construction workers and some workplaces in
the Metals industry had won the 36 hour week as CFMEU official
Martin Kingham followed by former AAMWU State Secretary Craig
Johnston explained on May 1st 2003.
Martin Kingham CFMEU– May Day 2003
And we particularly acknowledge today the recent achievements of
workers and the recent achievements of construction workers
in breaking through the barrier of working hours in taking an
element of control of the day off the boss and giving it back to
workers and their families the 36 hour week the historic
achievement and today I acknowledge the sacrifices and the
struggles of building workers and those that went
before them that have forced family friendly working
hours out of our crazy industry the construction
industry 0.44 8.26
Craig Johnston – May Day 2003
They are continuing on there has been a break with Steve
Dargaval metals secretary of the AMWU in Victoria a long with
a lot of other officials have just got a breakaway deal in
campaign 2003 which has delivered the 36 hour week in
manufacturing which is a great step forward it
certainly isn’t right across the industry yet but there’s
been several hundred companies that have signed on it
so it is a significant breakthrough that’s going well
and obviously there is always the ongoing work of continuing
to unionise and organise more people get them more politically
motivated as well as industrially motivated
Terry
Costello
Other issues of concern in May Day 2003 included supporting
unionists under attack such as the Skilled 6, workers at Smorgons
in Laverton North, workers at Geelong Woolcombing who were locked
out after not accepting a 25% pay cut.
Lincoln – Food Not Bombs May Day 2003
The war in Iraq is a bogus war its not about liberation
and it is not about weapons of mass Destruction that is
obvious to anyone that reads the papers. What it is about is oil
and US power and these same people who are sending our young men
and women to kill and die in Ira are the same dogs who have
setup the Royal Commission against the CMFEU. These are the same
people who are trying to throw Trade Union leaders the best
we’ve had like Craig Johnston like Martin Kingham. These are the
same people who plotted to smash the MUA on the waterfront and
these are the same people that not only lock up refugees in
our deserts but they strip our medicare they destroy our education
system and they are taking our future right away from under our
feet . People like Howard are pushing their agenda at the expense
of all working people here in Australia In Ira in the
US in East Timor . Are we going to stand for that -
No
To fund this agenda of destroying our working rights
and our basic common rights the government needs a budget and this
May Howard will hand down his federal budget and this budget needs
money to pay for the war and where is that going to come from .
That is going to come from every worker here that is going to come
from your hide your paychecks this is why they smash unions.
The money for the war is going to come from medicare it is going to
come from education and its going
to come from health . Are we going to stand by while the
basic rights of ordinary working people that we have fought for
over 100 years are stripped away by John Howard . Are we
going to do that.
So we must fight back. Just as Howard attacks all working people
here and overseas all working people must unite to fight back in
common and on this day of struggle lets send a clear message
to Howard. The world is going to unite worker and student
black and white man and woman and we are going to
piss these bastards off and we are going to win a world that is
worth living in 2.10 22.43
MayDayWomens Songs
I’ve been waiting for peace since i don’t know when ,
Bush has started to bomb the world again
Time to stand up altogether now
time to fight back build a better world for us all
Black and white we will stand up tall
altogether we are going to win
Bush and Howard just belong in the bin
Woe Woe Mamma Mia here they go again more war just to make their
profits Mamma Mia time to strike again fight back bring down the
system
We will rejoice together get rid of greed forever strike back
join the revolution now
Mamma Mia here they go again more war just to make their profits
Mamma Mia time to strike again fight back bring down the system We
will rejoice together get rid of greed forever join the revolution
now
Mamma Mia here they go again more war just to make their
profits
Mamma Mia time to strike again fight back bring down the system
We will rejoice together get rid of greed forever join the
revolution now
Terry Costello
Despite the rich tradition of class struggle and the spirit of
May Day the union movement and in particular that part of the union
movement which covers the new and growing service industry is
either very weak or non existent which has dire implications for
those workers willing to stand up for their rights and the
rights of fellow workers. Many workers in these new greenfields
industries are young workers who face a brick wall when attempting
to organise on the job and in many instances are persecuted on the
job due to their activism. The Trade Union movement must protect,
energise and empower its workplace delegates and activists as
they are the lifeblood of the Trade Union Movement. Camille a
project worker for the Trades Hall Council Young Unionists network
gave this sober assessment of what many young unionists and union
activists face in the current workplace climate.
Workers in knowledge based service industries such as call
centres and Information Technology aren’t so fortunate. In these
industries unionism due to a number of factors is in deep trouble
. Camille a Youth Officer from Trades Hall Council outlined
to the 2003 M1 rally what workers in non unionised Greenfield
workplaces and workplaces with low union membership are up
against 0.45 9.42
Camille – May Day 2003
The reality for young people is that there are those
that are struggling to reduce us to slavery who wish to
make us work as hard and as long as they want and for as
little money as they can get away with paying us and to
disposing of us when it is convenient. They want a supposed
welfare state where we are forced to compete for crappy jobs
to ensure that those crappy jobs keep getting crappier
to try and keep us divided powerless desperate and
disposable. So far they are winning this war what some
on previous May Days would have called Class War. The
introduction of Youth Wages has made the
institutionalised discrimination of young people law,
and the majority of us work in workplaces where
unionism and collective struggle are all but forgotten
concepts if they ever existed at all. The current
statistics show that there are one in 7 young workers
are members of their union so the future isn’t looking that bright
at the moment. If these trends continue the reality for young
people’s lives both now and in the future are set to get
worse.
The struggle to control the conditions of our lives and to
collectively organise is the basis of Trade unionism the need
for young people to collectively organise to resist all that
is imposed upon us is more urgent now than ever before . The
Young unionist network initiated by the Victorian THC is not
an instant or magical solution to these problems. This
process will only be successful if it involves and finds new
ways to connect with the experiences of young people
well beyond the current Trade union membership . This is both
a challenge and a opportunity to unite and organise the
next generation of the working class and to continue
the spirit of May Day
Terry Costello
Today we have explored the origins of May Day and touched on the
issues of M1 in 2001, 2002 & 2003. The two major issues of M1
in 2002 and 2003 the treatment of refugees by the Federal
government and the continued existence of the successor of the Cole
Royal Commission the Australian Building and Construction
Commission indicate that these issues are still a work in process.
Even though the Howard government has been replaced by the so
called Worker friendly and human rights friendly Rudd Government
the issue of workers rights and the rights of refugees and other
disadvantaged groups still need to be fought for and re fought for.
We have noted that the M1 rallies of 2001, 2002 & 2003 involved
workers walking off the job to participate thus defying Howard’s
anti union laws that make strike action outside EBA bargaining
illegal. Also due to the broad and non sectarian nature of the M1
committee a new layer of young community activists were also
involved in May Day for the first time. The M1 rallies held on May
1st 2001 and 2003 were an outstanding success on many
levels and demonstrated to the bosses and more importantly workers
and community activists the immense power that is in the hands of
working people.
Compare this to holding May Day rallies on the first Sunday in
May which have not involved large numbers of workers and community
activists that participated in the M1 rallies. Many activists have
supported the idea of having Sunday May Day rallies in the past
perhaps on the basis that a Sunday May Day rally is better than no
May Day rally at all, or on the basis that at least the May Day
Committee is having a go but a debate needs to be had about whether
or not it would be in the Trade Union Movement’s best interests to
organise around and celebrate May Day on May the First. The next
May Day to fall on a workday will be Tuesday May the First 2012.
The re establishment of the non sectarian M1 collective that is
open to all interested activists with its first goal being to
convince working people and their unions that May Day celebrations
must be held on May 1st every year instead of the
first Sunday in May. The second goal of the re constituted M1
committee should be to put structures in place that will enable the
M1 Committee to have a widest possible representation of left
groups and tendencies participating in M1 committee decisions and
the third goal of the reconstituted M1 Committee should be to
organise the next May Day rally.
The Alexander Trachtenberg May Day online archive
which is located at marx.org/subject/mayday/articles/tracht.html
stated that it was no accident that
The trade Union Bureaucracy celebrated on May Day on the first
Sunday in May
‘The reformist leaders of the various parties tried to
devitalize the May First demonstrations by turning them into days
of rest and recreation instead of days of struggle. This is why
they always insisted on organizing the demonstrations on the Sunday
nearest May First. On Sundays workers would not have to strike to
stop work; they were not working anyway. To the reformist leaders
May Day was only an international labor holiday, a day of pageants
and games in the parks or outlying country. That the resolution of
the Zurich Congress demanded that May Day should be a
"demonstration of the determined will of the working class to
destroy class distinctions," i.e., the demonstration of the will to
fight for the destruction of the capitalist system of exploitation
and wage slavery, did not trouble the reformists, since they did
not consider themselves bound by the decisions of international
congresses.’
I spoke to Community Legal Aid Lawyer Chris Ryan at M1 in 2002
and I asked him to compare having a May Day rally on May
1st as opposed to on the first Sunday in May.
Interview with Chris Ryan may Day 2002
Terry Costello
Its a different feel to the normal May Days we have had on the
Sunday in the last couple of years alot of Solidarity and alot of
action
Chris Ryan
Yes that’s right and I think that it is great that in the last
couple of years we are actually doing something on the day and you
know the real may Day and its not just a kind of walk in the Park
that I think it has become on that Sunday. Yes this is much more
action oriented this day and I think it is really positive that we
are down here particularly following up the fantastic protest at
Woomera and also the fact that we are going to go to Maribrynong
after the march today which i think is fantastic
Terry Costello
And alot of young people here which is a lot of people put
down the younger generation say that they are apathetic and
that but I reckon most of the people here are quite young
Chris Ryan
Oh yes it is a very young crowd and I am starting
to think to myself that I wish there were a few more older people
we are letting the protest down i think no fantastic alot of young
people here.
Terry Costello
We have come to the end of Class Action’s May Day
edition and it is hoped that the issues raised on this
program especially concerning holding the May Day rally on
May 1st instead of the first Sunday in May will be
discussed and debated on the May Day programming that is
coming up in few minutes on Community Radio 3CR. For
more information about this and other Class Actions programs log
onto the web at www.terrycostello.com and click
on the Class Actions tab. You can provide feedback to the program
by sending an email to classactions@terrycostello.com | 