BY DOUG COOPER AND MARNIE KENNEDY
SYDNEY, Australia - Nearly a month of rock-solid picket lines paid off May 5 when unionized dock workers around the country were told to return to work the next day by the administrators of Patrick Stevedores. Patrick sacked its entire work force, members of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), in a middle-of-the-night, military-style eviction April 7. This union-busting move was carried out with the open backing of Prime Minister John Howard.

Peter Meegan, an MUA member from P&O's CTAL docks at Port Botany, told the Militant on the picket line May 4, "This fight has really strengthened the union, especially the young blokes. Now we are united, solid."

The union is maintaining its picket lines, however, in the face of a May 5 announcement by Patrick boss Christopher Corrigan that security guards hired to carry out the initial assault will remain on site.

Around 100,000 people took to Melbourne's streets May 6 to back the MUA, in a statewide action planned in the first days of the dispute.

The administrators' announcement came a day after a 6-1 decision by the High Court largely dismissed Patrick's appeal of an April 21 Federal Court order to reinstate the sacked wharfies.

Reacting to provocative statements by Corrigan and Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith, MUA National Secretary John Coombs said there would be "no return to work unless every single one of our people is back ... in every port." He added, "Once we are back at work we are prepared to sit down and discuss what it will take to make [Patrick] productive."

Tens of thousands of unionists rallying May 4, Queensland's Labour Day, were told of the High Court decision as it was being handed down and responded with jubilation. Ten thousand marched in Brisbane, led by 700 MUA members and their families. Organizers said the turnout was three times larger than the previous year. Record turnouts were also reported in Rockhampton, Townsville, and the mining town of Blackwater. May Day marches a few days earlier drew 6,000 people in Melbourne and 4,000 in drenching rain in Sydney. The turnout was marked this year by the upbeat mood already set by weeks of successful picket line mobilizations that have involved thousands of unionists and others.

The High Court reaffirmed that there was an "arguable case" that Patrick and the federal government had engaged in an unlawful conspiracy to injure the MUA and its members. The Federal Court is expected to hear the full case in a few months' time.

Seizing on minor amendments by the High Court to the April 21 decision, Corrigan, government spokespeople and headlines in the big-business press claimed a victory against the MUA. But scab outfit P&C Stevedores was forced to remove all nonunion labor from Patrick wharves within hours of the High Court decision.

The bosses' disarray was the subject of opinion pieces in every big-business daily. Brian Toohey commented in the May 5 Australian Financial Review, "By now the waterfront was only supposed to be lingering in the public consciousness as the source of a magnificent victory for the Workplace Relations Minister, Peter Reith.... Instead, the government remains mired in an extremely messy court action as well as damaging public anxiety about the tactics used to sack the wharfies."

Small advance crews of MUA members entered some Patrick terminals May 6 to carry out safety inspections, damage assessments, and maintain refrigerated containers.

MUA members at Port Botany told the Militant they expect to work unpaid for around two weeks. They were unconcerned, however, since they anticipate receiving these wages along with other back pay still owed. The wharfies remain firm, emphasizing their determination to resume work with no concessions on working conditions and in the strongest position to fight.

Marnie Kennedy is a member of the Australian Workers Union. Doug Cooper is a member of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union. Bob Aiken and Linda Harris contributed to this article.  
 
 
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