Vol. 74/No. 47      December 13, 2010

Tribe was the first unionist charged under coercive powers given to the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). He had failed to attend a compulsory interrogation by this government agency about a meeting in 2008 when workers stopped work to discuss demands over worksite safety.

An Adelaide magistrate delivered the not guilty verdict on a technicality over who issued the summons.

Tribe’s workmates and other supporters, as well as the media, packed the courtroom and hallway. Outside the court, thousands of unionists rallied in a show of support. A union campaign of stoppages and rallies involving tens of thousands of unionists defending Tribe and calling for abolishing the ABCC preceded the hearing.

Addressing the rally, Tribe said, “We’ve just won one part of the war, but we’ve got the battle to continue.” He declared he would fight to defend other workers facing similar charges.

The ABCC’s power to compel workers into interviews without legal representation was not challenged by the court’s decision.

ABCC chief Leigh Johns responded that the continued use of these powers is “regrettably necessary” due to the “ongoing level of industrial unlawfulness” in the construction industry.

In a related development, the ABCC has threatened prosecution of building workers and their unions at Thiess construction sites in Victoria, Queensland, and New South Wales for an “unlawful” five-day sympathy strike. The workers were supporting a walkout by fellow unionists at Thiess’s construction site for the Wonthaggi desalination plant in Victoria. The company hired professional strikebreaker Bruce Townsend to organize infiltration of the workforce there, spying on employee activities and disruption of any union action.

Townsend has a long history of serving employer and government antiunion attacks: against a 1992 strike at the APPM pulp mill in Burnie, Tasmania; on the meat workers union in 1999 at G&K O’Connor, the state of Victoria’s biggest export abattoir; and against the Maritime Union of Australia in 1998 during the national waterfront lockout.

The workers agreed to return to work after Thiess removed two of its top managers at the Wonthaggi site blamed for hiring Townsend.
 
 
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