The steelworks, which dominate the life of this town an hour’s drive south of Sydney, were idled by strike action for a third day after the workers met again at the end of the 48-hour period and voted to continue the action for another 24 hours. The workers, who belong to a number of unions, decided that only essential services would be allowed to function, such as the coke ovens and the continuous casters, which produced scrap during the dispute. Today the mill employs some 6,000 people, down from 22,000 in 1985.

"This is our first-ever plant-wide strike in my 16 years here," said Mark Kuczwal, an Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) member and a union delegate in the Plate Finishing mill, at the North Gate picket line, May 24. Other pickets said that the last time combined strike action took place was in 1982.

"These picket lines are very important. They help us learn how to fight," Kuczwal said. A construction worker in his native Poland, he was deeply involved in the workers movement there, known as Solidarity, in the late 1970s and early 1980s until forced to leave by police and government repression. Kuczwal had spoken to big applause earlier that day at the mass meeting when he encouraged more workers to join the picket lines. "Bring your families, bring your kids!" he said.

According to Carolyn Austin, an occupational ambulance officer for the last four years who hired in as an operator in the now-closed stainless steel works, BHP wanted to contract out the work of Protective Services workers--ambulance officers, fire safety workers, and gatekeepers and other security guards--to Serco, a notoriously antiunion outfit. Serco had announced that some of the 75 workers affected would not be offered jobs and those who were would have to sign individual contracts by June 18, when the company’s agreement with BHP takes effect.

Asked why thousands had voted to walk out in support of the Protective Services workers, Kuczwal, Austin, and others explained that the time to stop antiunion individual contracts was before they gained a foothold. BHP has been successful in imposing individual contracts on nearly half the workforce in its iron ore operations in Western Australia. "These contracts are like cancer. They could spread all over," said Kuczwal.

In addition, steelworkers are worried about possible jobs cuts and attacks on working conditions in the wake of the recently approved merger between BHP and United Kingdom–based Billiton. Moves by BHP are also afoot to contract out all maintenance work on the site in a few months’ time.

By dividing up its operations at the Port Kembla works into separate companies and divisions so it can use laws that block "secondary boycotts," BHP has avoided plantwide industrial action for nearly 20 years. This time, however, workers refused to be intimidated or cross picket lines set up by the 75 Protective Services workers. For example, 80 Maritime Union of Australia members who work for BHP refused to cross the picket lines, idling a number of ships, including the BHP-owned steel slab carrier Iron Monarch.

Union officials from the AWU and the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) told thousands at a mass meeting at Brandon Park on May 24 that BHP had backed off considerably in the face of the workers’ action. For example, AMWU official Wayne Phillips reported that Serco had agreed to negotiate a collective agreement. "I think our action was a shock to BHP," he said.

Later that day, the workers were ordered back to work by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and the two companies were ordered to negotiate with the unions. The workers complied after voting at a final mass meeting on May 25 and immediately resumed work.

Kuczwal described the outcome as a "good victory," and said, "I have a feeling it’s not over yet." Summing up the collective effort, he noted, "You can’t win by speeches, you win by action."

Doug Cooper is a member of the Maritime Union of Australia in Sydney.  
 
 
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