The company has won an injunction against the strikers and other AMWU members from picketing directly in front of the factory gates. Strikers say the court order also prohibits unionist from visiting other workplaces to win support for their strike, calling such solidarity visits “incitement.” Prior to being slapped with this draconian order, the unionists were actively traveling to workplaces around the region to win moral and financial support for their fight.

Despite this, the workers continue to win broad support. In recent weeks hundreds of union members, in particular building and maritime workers, have beefed up picket lines with delegations ranging in size from a few workers to nearly 100. The Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) have both been threatened with court injunctions to stop their members from staffing picket lines.

More than 50 wharfies, seamen, ferry deckhands, and other MUA members joined the picket on May 22. Nearly 100 participated on May 29, delaying a bus loaded with strikebreakers from leaving the factory for three hours. Members of the Australian Services Union, Fire Brigades Employees Union, and others have also come along.

Phil, a striker, when asked by an MUA member if it has all been hard times on the picket line for the first 12 weeks, said, “I can’t believe how much support we’ve gotten. We never knew what it was like [to be in a union]. This was our first time but [this experience will go] with you to your grave.” Laughing lightly he added, “We’ve had some great times, too. There’s been plenty of joking and singing, too.”

He explained that the backbone of the strike are the mostly female assemblers. “The scabs can produce parts but the company can’t get them assembled without these women,” he said.

News of the fight broke into the major media in mid May. Australian Labor Party MPs have spoken in both the state and federal parliaments about the workers’ fight to win a union agreement.

Under growing pressure, the company began negotiations with AMWU National Secretary Doug Cameron on June 3. Negotiations were broadened the next day as the strikers’ rank-and-file negotiating committee joined them. Financial support for the strikers has been crucial to their ability to sustain the lengthy battle. The AMWU contributes $180 per week to each striker and other unionists are taking collections at their workplaces. Members of the MUA at sites around the port of Sydney have raised over $17,000 in contributions.

After hearing reports from striker James Bridge and union organizer Vanessa Seagrove at a May 19 MUA yard meeting at Patrick’s Port Botany, workers at the terminal voted to levy themselves $50. The vote was unanimous and more than $10,000 has been contributed and turned over to the strikers. Other MUA members at the CTAL container facility, P&O White Bay terminal, Patrick’s Darling Harbour wharves, Sydney Ferries and elsewhere have also raised funds.

“There’s been very good support for the levy, especially from some of the casuals,” said John Sotiri, an MUA member with 13 years on the waterfront. He estimated that 75 percent of the permanent workers and half the casuals at Patrick’s Port Botany had paid the $50 as of early June. MUA members have a decades-long tradition of voting to organize such levies.

Commenting on the strike, Sotiri said, “This is just like it was with us,” referring to the 1998 national lockout of wharfies by Patrick Stevedores, which lasted 5 weeks. “Seeing you blokes brought back memories,” he said, not all of them good. The way the cops used force to clear picketers away from the factory gates prior to the anti-AMWU injunction, reminded Sotiri of the MUA dispute with Patrick. “It’s something you never forget,” he said.

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