Tradies targeted by Queensland government
In a blatant attack on the trade union movement, the Queensland government has enacted amendments to several pieces of legislation targeting some of the state’s most militant unions. The laws, now in effect, take particular aim at the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) and the Plumbers Union Queensland (PUQ) but have implications for union organisation generally.
Under the changes, any electrician or plumber working in Queensland can have his/her licence revoked or renewal refused if the state government declares that he/she is a member or an “associate” of a proscribed motorcycle club or any “criminal” organisation. To date, 26 motorcycle clubs have been proscribed by the government.
Without a licence, electricians and plumbers cannot legally perform their work and will lose their jobs.
The new laws are tied up with the LNP’s law-and-order crusade against bikies. This is a crusade that has never been about “community safety” or criminals but about attacking workers’ organisations and increasing the repressive powers of the state.
“They don’t even mention bikies in the legislation. Striking unionists, picket lines and unions in general are Newman’s main target in our view”, said Peter “Simmo” Simpson, state secretary of the ETU, speaking to Red Flag.
“The government’s own figures show that bikie-related crime makes up 0.9 percent of all crime in this state”, he pointed out.
So far 200 ETU members have contacted the union worried that they will be affected by these laws. Demonstrating that surveillance of unionists is already under way, police have approached electricians to question them about their involvement with motorcycle clubs.
Many have resigned from their clubs in the hope of avoiding persecution. However, advice from union lawyers indicates that any past involvement in one of these groups is enough to have your trade taken away.
“There’s no doubt they’ve singled us out”, said Simpson when asked if he thinks ETU members have been targeted because of the union’s open hostility to the Newman government.
In 2012 the ETU sent members to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Brisbane’s Musgrave Park to help resist police attacks. That same year it had members standing strong on the nine-week Queensland Children’s Hospital picket line. The ETU has also been a vocal critic of the privatisation and anti-worker agenda of the LNP.
“We keep poking them in the eye, and they don’t like it”, Simpson said.
However, plumbers and electricians are not the only groups that could be affected by these laws, so broad are their scope. Any worker who needs a government-issued licence to do their job could be affected – from nurses to construction workers. Many CFMEU members are also motorcycle club members, and there is fear amongst construction unionists that they too will be targeted.
Every night the television news streams images of what governments of all shades will resort to when their system demands it. While governments in Australia have not yet launched an all-out assault on workers’ organisations, these laws are part of the groundwork for just such an attack.
Only a strong and united workers’ movement will have the strength to push back their agendas and win gains for our side. Investing our hopes in legal challenges and Labor governments can only encourage passivity. Already a dangerous precedent has been set by Queensland unions not taking strike action to defend the 14,000 jobs axed by Newman since his election.
Workers and our unions need to be active. We need to rebuild rank and file strength and politically educate unionists about the challenges we will likely face in the near future.
