ILWU International officers led a delegation to the Maritime Union of Australia’s National Conference during the first week of March. The event attracted over 500 rank and file union delegates, including International President Willie Adams, Vice President (Mainland) Bobby Olvera Jr., Secretary-Treasurer Ed Ferris, Local 13 Secretary-Treasurer Mark Williams, Local 19 President Rich Austin Jr., Local 22 member Jairus Brenneise, Local 23 President Jared Faker along with members John Stagg and Brock Graber, and longtime pensioner Rich Austin.
Quadrennial Conference
The MUA Conference is held every four years and includes a tradition of inviting the ILWU and other maritime unions from around the globe. It’s part of a solidarity tradition that pre-dates the MUA’s 2018 affiliation with Australia’s
Construction Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union. With the MUA now one of four CFMEU Divisions, their combined forces now total over 144,000 workers. That’s still just one-percent of Australia’s workforce, but the union’s power is magnified by their militant stance against injustice and advocacy for the country’s working class.
Understanding “Tjungu”
The conference theme was Tjungu, a word used by native people living in the continent’s western deserts, as a way to express the idea of unity and coming together.
The MUA has made a determined effort in recent years to embrace the cause of native Australians and address the many injustices they have suffered. The union created a new position on their Executive Board for a National Indigenous Officer, currently held by native leader Thomas Mayor.
“Tjungu is unity,” he said. “That’s also how we’ve fought-off conservative governments and fought for workers’ rights.”
Delegates were welcomed to the Conference by Yugambeh Traditional Landowners of the Gold Coast, MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin rose to remind everyone about the appalling treatment experienced by Australia’s indigenous people.
“After 200 years of genocide, murder, imprisonment, taking away your rights, it is up to our generation to set things right,” he said – reaffirming the union’s support for constitutional changes supported jointly by native groups and the MUA..
“We don’t want any more deaths in custody or stolen children stripped from their families and cultures,” he said. “What we are meaning to do this week is to come together with one voice, in the spirit of Tjungu that resonates here and beyond.”
Crumlin, who sounded at times like Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, attacked policies led by conservative governments in Australia and other nations that have allowed elites to flourish at the expense of the 99 percent.
“How is it that a handful of billionaires have come to own half of the world’s wealth,” he asked.
“Two thousands of the world’s billionaires now have more money than 4.6 billion men and women on this planet,” he said. “Our health care is being privatized, our communities are being privatized and the water we drink is being privatized.”
“Workers face poverty, war and virus pandemics. They face fire and flood induced by climate change. Politicians have failed us, shipping is deregulated, ports are being privatized.
The land we stand on was just burnt to the ground after indigenous people successfully nurtured it for centuries.”
“The conservative government in our country and many others has disregarded global warming because the big end of the town doesn’t want anything to stand in the way of their profits,” he said. Crumlin concluded by calling for a “just transition” that provides workers with good-paying jobs in renewable industries.
MUA National President Christy Cain spoke, using the conference theme of Tjungu to explain their effort to consolidate Australia’s militant unions into a tighter federation.
“We amalgamated for a number of reasons but the main reason was strength,” he said. “We are one powerful union that is proud to lead the struggle for the working class in this country.”
A similar theme was sounded by nation’s Council of Trade Unions Secretary Sally McMannus. She posed a series of tough questions: “How come there is so much wage theft? Why do we have record low wage growth? Why is inequality getting worse? Maybe it’s because 50% of Australian workers used to have a union and no only 15 percent do.” She said a series of conservative governments had ripped apart worker protections and attacked unions without mercy.
Manus also blamed billionaires in Australia for threatening to destroy democracy, comparing the tycoons in her country with ones in America who are also buying elections with unlimited campaign spending.
An even broader perspective was offered by Steve Cotton, General Secretary of the International Transport Workers Federation that links together hundreds of unions across the globe. He noted the challenge of automation that threatens drivers, dockworkers, warehouse workers and others in millions of jobs that could disappear with no concern for workers and their families.
Together with Paddy Crumlin, who also serves as ITF President, Cotton says the ITF network has launched a more militant strategy to fight for workers’ rights globally – a move that’s attracting more unions to join the organization.
“The global supply chain is where we need to strengthen our position,” said Cotton. “We supported Paddy to change the face of ITF. We wanted to capture the MUA spirit and bring that to a global labor movement. We now have nearly 20 million members – the highest in years. ”
Crumlin, in his remarks, said the fight against corporate greed must be front and center.
“We took-on Chevron on with our Western Australia comrades,” he said. “We went after that company and made them pay up a $800M tax bill,” he added. “Steve and I put action back in the ITF, not just words,” said Crumlin.
“Together with the ILWU, the MUA ILWU delegation builds solidarity at international rank-and-file conference in Australia has turned the ITF into a fighting international force for the rights and justice of the international working class.”
ILWU International President Willie Adams took the podium to explain the struggle in the U.S., emphasizing the need to “look forward” and “build strong bonds of solidarity.”
Adams said “the MUA conference came at a watershed moment in the history of unions around the globe. There was a strong presence from North American unions including the ILWU and ILA. There was good dialogue, painful conversations and solidarity from the ITF, IDC, MUA, Maritime Union of New Zealand and Dutch Dockers Union, the FNV.”
“It’s about moving forward,” said Adams, ”and not looking in the rearview mirror. For the first time, we were all under the same roof and had to get over ourselves.” Adams thanked members of the ILWU delegation for their participation and show of solidarity.
The conference adjourned on March 6 after four full days of meetings.