BY MARNIE KENNEDY AND JOANNE KUNIANSKY
SYDNEY, Australia - Thousands of unionists around Australia demonstrated April 8 to oppose the overnight sacking of 1,400 dockworkers - the entire workforce of Patrick, one of two main stevedoring companies in Australia.

At 11:00 p.m., in a coordinated military-style operation, hundreds of security guards with dogs evicted workers from the docks. The federal cabinet held a special meeting earlier that night. The next morning, Minister for Workplace Relations Peter Reith was in Parliament proposing legislation to provide $250 million in loans to stevedoring companies to fund the dismissals.

Prime Minister John Howard said that "these events are a defining moment in Australia's industrial relations history." This latest union-busting plan of the Howard government follows months of attempts to break the Maritime Union of Australia's (MUA) closed shop on Australia's wharves, including the setup of a nonunion terminal in Melbourne.

By 10:00 a.m. 5,000 unionists walked off their jobs in Sydney to march to Patrick's Darling Harbour terminal to support the sacked "wharfies." Most were construction workers from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. Members of the New South Wales (NSW) Nurses Association, Australian Workers Union, NSW Teachers Federation, Communication, Electrical and Plumbers Union, and Public Service Association also joined the action. Later, 100 dockworkers from the P&O docks marched to the picket line at the neighboring Patrick terminal, chanting, "The MUA is here to stay!" Similar protests took place around the country.

Round-the-clock picket lines are being staffed by wharfies. Students from Macquarie and Sydney universities have already joined the pickets. At Darling Harbour an official from the National Union of Workers (NUW) announced financial support from NUW members and a small delegation of state parliamentarians, mostly from the Labor Party, visited the pickets.

Defying a one-week Federal Court injunction against the sacking of its workforce and plans to use replacement workers, Patrick used nonunion labor at its Freemantle wharf to unload a container ship in face of a rowdy protest by 80 union members. The Australian Council of Trade Unions is planning a national campaign to support the MUA. In Victoria a statewide work stoppage is planned.

Linda Harris and Bob Aiken, members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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