Wayne Hanson's Greater South Australian Branch Delegates Conference Address

Below is the text of the speech delivered by AWU Greater South Australian Branch Secretary to the SA Delegates Conference held on 31 August 2004 at the AAMI Stadium in Adelaide.

AWU SA Branch Secretary Wayne Hanson

One of my proudest experiences as the AWU Branch Secretary was to march down Main Street Mawson Lakes with the AWU delegates the respective South Australian executive members, the National Secretary, the National President and all the National Executive members on Tuesday 18 May, 2004.

We assembled under the AWU banner and flags to remind the "toffs" who have moved in around the lake at the top end of town in down town Mawson Lakes, that when they drive down the main drag each day to their new $26 million transport hub, that they have to drive past the AWU's Jack Wright House, a building dedicated to the "Working Class Struggle". Delegates they can love us or hate us, but they will have to admire us and accept that the workers too can collectively have a union headquarters at the top end of town.

As we marched down Main Street I thought about engendering honour, tradition, spirit and respect into our new union complex, these are qualities that come with the characters of people like Jack Wright, Mick Young and Andrew Knox and on the night we remembered them this way;

Jack Wright: The conciliator, the dealmaker, the fixer and the architect of workers compensation legislation that was friendly to injured workers. In a sentence, Jack Wright was the workers champion.

Mick Young: The creative humorist who could turn tense moments into lighter times, and one who could capture the attention and respect of any meeting or crowded room. In a sentence, Mick Young was the talented likable larrikin.

Andrew Knox: The consummate net worker with the film star looks and appeal, he was a stand out candidate to take public office. In a sentence, Andrew Knox was the gentle giant with a compassionate social conscience.

Each of these people had their own special qualities but all of them had the ticker, the pride and the passion of the AWU to pursue the interests of ordinary people, the workers, the people that we look after.

I also reflected upon proud moments of unity. Like when I was a school kid in Broken Hill working as a newspaper delivery boy for Rupert Murdock. Murdock was sent to town to bust the unions, so we gave him an introduction to regional culture in a union town. We sat on top of the bundles of newspapers at the respective drop off points all over town and refused to deliver them until we got paid an extra penny a paper.

Well I'm here to tell you that us kids sat on our arses for days until Murdock paid what we wanted and we succeeded because we stuck together and we were encouraged by a community that had a Ph.D in industrial achievement. Even as school kids we were union, all of us!

There were other proud moments of course, one I related to at this conference last year when I told you about our important victory at Adelaide Brighton Cement, when we took on the bosses for five weeks and successfully defended workers rights over managerial prerogatives.

But there was one other dispute that I recalled, one that I shared with AWU Riverland Organiser John O'Neill that remains vivid in my mind. This dispute gave us an appreciation of the traditional values of focus, discipline, unity and trust, but it also alerted us to the shift from the sensible industrial relationships of the past to the ever changing newer method of industrial relations that fosters conflict, confrontation and the spiteful aggression that we operate in today.

Of the many events that occurred during that dispute, some were rewarding others were not, but there was one incident that echoed vividly in my mind as we marched down Main Street on Tuesday 18 May.

The dispute had reached a point where the 300+ union members had resolved not to walk off the job but to occupy the factory so they presented themselves as being prepared to work as normal but on the condition that there be continuing genuine enterprise bargaining negotiations.

The unexpected worker occupation of the factory frustrated the bosses to the extent that they couldn't handle the tactic, so they called in the police. They had panicked so much that they continued to negotiate even though the wallopers had arrived. It was at this point that I watched the boss turn to the chief walloper and say. "Arrest these people and get them off my property." The walloper told the boss that his request in these circumstances required the combined resources of the riot squad and the star force including horses and dogs. It was then that the boss turned to the walloper and said. "I don't care if it takes horses, dogs and whips. Round them up and get them off my property."

Delegates this incident did not occur in South Africa or in a third world country, it happened in Adelaide, at down town Kilkenny in 1991 about 8-9 kilometres from here!

So why do I relate to these events? I do it to give you a snap shot of just some of my experiences in a time frame that extends almost half a century. I do it because today we hear the media commentators, the radio shock jocks, conservative politicians and sadly some of our work mates say that unions are no longer relevant. Well if that's the case try this one for size!

FRIDAY 16 JULY, 2004 - SANTOS

Only seven weeks ago our members working in the Oil and Gas Industry up in the Cooper Basin were negotiating an Enterprise Agreement. Our members had resolved to take "protected industrial action" because the bosses wouldn't improve their offer. Within only a few hours the boss had notified the Federal Court and summoned the AWU and organiser Peter Lamps to appear for the purpose of having injunctions issued against us. Santos was preparing to take us to the cleaners, and why? Because Peter and our members wanted to legally advance the terms and conditions of employment for AWU members. Peter was only doing his job, and for that he and the AWU were being threatened by Santos in the Federal Court.

The boss was hoping that they could apply enough pressure on the individual to get the members to accept the Santos offer. Well the boss's tactics backfired and they failed, in fact they couldn't intimidate Peter and it made the members more resolute. In fact my mail is that the boss/worker relationships at Moomba today, have been wound back by at least ten years.

So what is the point I'm making? I want you to know that the boss's attitudes have not improved over the last fifty years, in fact they have gotten progressively worse. And I'm here to tell you, we need unions just as much today, if not more so now, than any part of our working lives.

GROWING THE UNION

From what I've said today you may have noted that a significant portion of our disputes are not resolved in the Industrial Commission, they are argued in the courts. This tactic was designed by the current ultra conservative Federal Liberal Government to reduce the power of the Industrial Commission and force unions and workers onto a judgmental system that uses lawyers, QC's and judges and of course, truck loads of money.

Delegates, if we are going to meet the bosses on their terms in the courts we need to be stronger, not only in terms of membership numbers but in financial strength. One way to have more funding available to fight the boss in the courts is to grow our union membership.

Some of us may not be aware that when I sat on my arse on top of Rupert Murdock's newspapers in Broken Hill in the 1950's, union membership in Australia was 62% of the working population, in Broken Hill it was almost 100%, in fact the only people not in the union were the bosses, because nobody wanted them. By 1992 union membership in Australia was below 42%. Now it is even less.

In a recent discussion with Bill Shorten he said to me, have you ever considered that in Australia today there are workers who are forty years old who have never been in a union or don't know what a union does. Well if that's the case we have a lot of work to do and we have to change all this, because if we don't, it places enormous pressure on union members and their job security. So growing the union is in everybody's interest, and is everybody's business.

Have you ever considered that, with the Australian Workers Union's broad constitutional coverage, (which can cover almost every blue collar worker), if every AWU member in our Branch recruited just ONE, only ONE new member each over the next 24 months, we could double the size of our Branch in two years. That's 100% achievement for a 50% annual effort,............... does that make sense to you?

Some of us may say that this proposition cant be achieved, that its unrealistic and you could be right, but I have a view that. "We are never a failure, until we give up trying."

Let me give you a good example and it's a fact. Bill Shorten and his Victoria Branch Officials grew their branch membership from 16,000 members six years ago, to 21,000 members today (that's 5%+ growth per year), their target is to grow Victoria's AWU membership to 30,000 members over the next 10 years.

So if we were to go back to my proposition and we (us) were only 10% successful we would easily equal Victoria's growth rate of 5% per year, and don't we just love to go one better than the Victorians.

SPIRIT OF THE UNION

On Friday 16 July, I attended a Victorian Branch social function along with over 1100 Victorian AWU members and their partners. In a word the night was outstanding. But to me the principal feature of the nights membership growth achievement celebrations was the life membership presentations to two retired long standing AWU members. Presentations that are indicative of the spirit of our union.

The first to be presented was Ron Collins who now days spends his time in retirement doing charity work driving the diggers wives and widows to their respective functions for the RSL. When Ron received his life membership badge and certificate, he nominated the night as one of his proudest moments, he went on to say that to be a member of Australia's best union made him very proud, but to have his life membership presented by Australia's next Prime Minister (Mark Latham) is the proudest moment of his life. I only hope that Ron's call for Latham as prime minister is accurate. I don't know about you but I'm fed up to the teeth with the Prime Minister who continually tells lies. I just want to see the back of him!

The second presentation was to Wally O'Brian. Wally's an octogenarian, an old bike rider and ex boxer. He and all his family have maintained active links with the Labor Party all their lives, and he is very proud of that. Wally joined the union in 1932 as a fifteen year old kid and over the last 72 years he has watched his union change. Union officials he said, are different today, they are much more talented and skilful. But without doubt he said that the best union Secretary in all his time was AWU National and Victoria Branch Secretary Bill Shorten. Not a bad recommendation Bill, the best Wally has known in 72 years. He has surely placed you right up there in very elite company!

In March this year an AWU officials delegation of National Secretary Bill Shorten, Yossi Berger, Peter Lamps and myself flew into the Cooper Basin to amplify our concerns regarding gas explosions at Moomba. Through a series of union meetings we took the opportunity to address AWU members, among other things we talked to the members principally about O.H.& Safety in a Major Hazardous Facility, and the importance of workers exercising a SHUT DOWN option if and when a plant is deemed to be unsafe in it's operation (and Yossie Berger will expand on this later). But at this point I want to reiterate in part what was emphasized to the members at the Moomba meetings and that is this!

That no matter where they work, workers and their families have every right to expect that when workers return from work the must, at the very least, come home in the same condition that they were in when they left home or presented themselves ready for work on site. The very last thing we could want or need is that they are returned to their families and friends in a body bag!

Delegates, how ever crude it may sound I am hopeful that this message has resonated in the minds of our members at Moomba as much as the expression of gratitude that came to the officials from a long standing AWU member at one of our meetings, when he got on his feet and said;

"As an AWU member who has worked in the Cooper Basin for 17 years, I want to say that this union delegation here today is the best group of AWU full time officials I've seen at Moomba since I've been working here!" and these comments were supported by the members with generous applause, but just as importantly the message that I got was crystal clear. Workers really do care, about being cared about at work but the bosses still can't recognise that, I cant comprehend just how dumb some bosses must be!

As we drove out to the satellite pumping stations in the Cooper Basin I listened to the delegates thinking out aloud and I noted the anxiety, it struck me that they carry so much history, they have so much knowledge and talked so much common sense, if only the boss would take the opportunity to listen, these delegates have so much more to contribute to workplace safety.

I just want to say thanks to the key Santos delegates, guys like Stinger, Dusty, and all the Santos delegates for their organising efforts, its their efforts and the comments that came through the meetings to the officials that makes our job just that little more special. To me its an expression of the spirit that comes from the heart and soul of the union, from the delegates and the members, the people that make our union what it is today!

MAJOR HAZARDOUS FACILITIES LEGISLATION

As we flew out of Moomba and headed back to Adelaide I noted that much has been done in South Australia by the Rann Government in terms of Law and Order, the protection of peoples property and of human life. In some instances stiffer sentences have been sought and applied. At the same time we have made it illegal to kill and consume dogs and cats, but when it comes to bosses who terminate the lives of workers at work, there is little or no personal penalty that applies.

Delegates I am convinced that the only way to stop bosses killing workers at work is to lock them in jail and keep them behind bars long enough to give them time to think about the affects their negligence has on the families and the workmates of fatally injured workers. What we need is effective Major Hazardous Facilities Legislation. Legislation that has some clout and stops bosses killing workers at work. It would be a positive steep indeed if a Labor Government took the initiative and passed legislation to stop these preventable and unnecessary deaths.

GOVERNMENTS AND WORKERS

When Labor was thrown out of office by the Dean Brown Liberals in 1993, the very first move that the Liberals made was to attack the workers in South Australia. You may recall that Graham Ingerson ran a line through journey accident insurance and removed workers protection for when they travelled to and from work each day. Since that time in 1993 workers have not had this protection and notwithstanding the fact that we have a State Labor Government today there has not been a move by Labor to give the workers back what the Liberals took away.

It seems to me that even after having a State Labour Government for more than two years that sadly there may well be a time in the future when we look back and say that we lost an opportunity or even worse we didn't take the opportunity. Even if Labor was unsuccessful in its attempts to give workers back what they already had it could at least demonstrate that it was prepared to "have a go". Like I said, we are never a failure, until we give up trying, and the best barometer to measure when a government is being "fair dinkum" is the ordinary people, the workers and they all get to vote, every one of them.

GOVERNMENT - CONTRACTS

Another area where a Labor Government can help is to be just as blatantly bias towards unions as the Liberal governments are when they support business. Liberal Governments make it crystal clear that when they call tenders for government projects, that unions, awards and certified agreements are out, and AWA's or Common Law contracts are in.

I say its time now for State Labor Governments to say to business, if you want to tender for government projects, the worker comes first and they must have their minimum terms and conditions of employment protected. That businesses must have respondency to Awards and Agreements that are negotiated with the respective union(s) before they tender for jobs. Put simply. If they don't want unions, if they don't want awards, they don't want agreements and they don't want to look after workers ... they don't get the bloody job. They wouldn't take long to get the message!

Over the last twelve months we have done much. We have constructed a new purpose built union complex and relocated to a new venue. We have turned a $60,000 annual rental liability into a conservative $1.5 million dollar asset, an asset that will be owned freehold by South Australian AWU members within two years.

But all of you know that we can have a new building, we can even have a happy hour over at the pub and we can have a procession down Main Street each year but without members there is no character, there is no cause, there is no union.

Delegates, there is much, much more to be done. Our focus for the future is to make our union grow because we need to look after our kids and their kids, to make this happen we need your help and we need your support. Remember, we are never a failure, until we give up trying. So give us your commitment and lets make it happen and we, us, together will make our union grow and get stronger, for longer.

I conclude by saying thank you for your support in numbers today, I hope you all enjoy your conference and that you can take some positive views from us back to your workplace.