Transport Strikes in Australia

From Our Correspondent

After years of Federal and State government austerity measures, in the main carried out by the Labor Party, the pressures on the industrial relations system in Australia have intensified. The Labor Party, before 1983 considered by many workers to be their one hope against the bourgeoisie’s depredations under Fraser’s Liberal-National government, is in 1990 merely regarded by most as a bosses’ tool. The unions’ pretence of concern for the workers is increasingly being seen as no more than an empty display. Accordingly, “safety-valve” measures such as short strikes over limited issues have become more common as a means of assuring the workers that their interests are still really being defended by the unions.

Although there were many such minor stoppages in the latter half of 1989, two more interesting strikes have recently occurred in the transport sector.

The strike among inter-state airline pilots which began in August 1989 nicely illustrates the methods used by the unions to ensure the isolation and defeat of certain sectors of workers who attempt to restore the wages eaten away by years of government-imposed restraint.

At the ACTU Congress of September 1989, the primary reason given by other unions for opposing the pilots’ demand for a 30% wage increase was that it was “elitist”. Given their own subservience to the government and employers, this was no more than an excuse for their yellow unionism. The real “sin” of the pilots was not the size of their claim, but the waves they made for the other unions by their vigorous pursuit of it. At a time when wage increases have been so wretched and so rare, the pilots’ preparedness to fight outside the industrial relations system for their demands made it very hard for the other unions to justify their own timidity to their members.

Yet this is not to say that the Australian Federation of Air Pilots warranted the trust which its members placed in it. The pilot’s struggle was never linked to any of the other groups who were fighting to improve their wages and conditions – a good example being the air traffic controllers, who had gone on strike earlier in the year, and who had only recently had their claim of a 42% increase cut back to 7% by the Industrial Relations Commission; at no time did either of the unions involved make anything but noises about spreading the pilots’ strike to other workers in the airline industry. The AFAP leader, Brian McCarthy, even boasted of the fact that pilots would continue to fight in isolation; with the government and airlines strengthening their position every day, the union preferred to play at parliamentary politics by saying that the pilots could “hold out” until the next Federal election, several months away!

Inevitably, given the union stranglehold on this strike, the struggle of the pilots degenerated into what were often amusing but essentially trivial actions, such as hitting Prime Minister Hawke on the head with placards and singing “for he’s a silly old bugger”. Sometimes, more disastrously, there were appeals to Australian xenophobia, with the union condemning the airlines recruitment of foreign scabs.

More positive in its vigour and enthusiasm was the strike wave which broke out on Melbourne’s transport system in December 1989, in response to a Public Transport Corporation (Met) plan to eliminate most conductors from the trams, with the introduction of a new “scratch ticket” system. In the beginning, the only action taken was to refuse to collect fares. However, as the Met then put the tram workers on no pay, the Australian Tramways and Motor Omnibus Employees’ Association (ATMOEA) organised a token four hour stoppage, which obviously had minimal effect.

When “solidarity” strikes were organised by other unions, this true Solidarity tactic of absurdly brief stoppages was repeatedly used. On 20th December, for example, trains, trams and public buses were stopped, but only for five hours – and this when only a few hours before, railway shunters in another dispute had been “encouraged” to return to work. The disputes in the transport system, which had essentially the same underlying causes, i.e. the state government’s cost-cutting drive, were on the whole disconnected. On the other hand, the militancy of the tram drivers and conductors was often impressive: at the Brunswick and Essendon depots, the tram workers didn’t wait for the union’s approval before voting to walk out on 22nd December.

On the 1st January, 1990 the workers turned on management after the latter attempted to enforce the new system. There were violent clashes at several depots: at Essendon, Glenhuntly and East Preston, workers threw buckets of water and turned fire hoses on management staff, and the manager of Essendon depot was locked in his office. Naturally, the boys in blue were called in to protect the representatives of state authority (The Age, 2.1.90).

On the 2nd January, trams were driven from the depots to blockade the city centre. The Met then cut off power to the system. Bus drivers voted for an indefinite strike in support of the tram workers, but at the same time that positive action like this was being taken, ATMOEA was asking for the introduction of the new ticketing system to be postponed, “to allow further talks’.

By 4th January the Melbourne Trades Hall Council was talking of bringing other unions into the campaign. Although Australian Railways Union members met to discuss joining in, their union made it clear that it would give no encouragement until later in the month: in other words, when it was too late to cause such trouble (The Age, 4.1.90). Some other public transport unions were prepared to give support “in principle”, but ruled out action that would further disrupt services (The Age, 8.1.90) – decoded, they rule out anything that would upset the bourgeoisie.

As it happens, many workers did strike in sympathy with the tram conductors, including railway workers from the ARU and Electrical Trades Union on 15th January. Even building workers at some sites went out, but such manifestations of real sympathy were in general carefully managed by the unions.

By the 16th January, ATMOEA was speaking of accepting driver-only trams on condition that work on such trams be voluntary for existing tramways employees (The Age, 17.1.90). Had it been prepared to accept this proposal, that condition would have been a cheap price for the government to pay: but how could the union sell itself dearly when, like all unions today, it’s already been bought completely?

With this sort of sabotage from their own and other unions, it’s hardly surprising that when the leadership recommended a return to work at a meeting on 2nd February, a majority of tram workers, confused and dispirited, decided to accept the motion. What was encouraging was the fury which greeted this decision, as a large minority opposed the decision. The ATM0EA secretary, Lou di Gregorio, was pelted with missiles and called a scab; given that he’d only been voted into office on the 22nd November, 1989 on a platform of resistance to job cuts, it’s hardly surprising!

What was notable in the tram strike was the level of passion aroused, the militancy of the workers involved and the tendency of the strike to extend to other sectors. All of these factors could have led to a general strike had the unions’ grip on the workers been less tight. Although the unions couldn’t play the “anti-elitist” card as they had with the pilots (there was much public support for the tram workers), they were still able to dissipate the energies of many workers in token strikes.

In spite of this, the positive elements noted above augur well for the future of the class struggle in Australia. As strikes of this type multiply throughout the country – while I write, a railway strike against cutbacks in jobs and services is in the offing in New South Wales – the unions will find their servile tasks increasingly hard to perform. When these gentlemen’s firehoses finally yield no more than a trickle, what will the ruling class do in the face of a real proletarian inferno?