Around 400 unionists, motorcycle club members and supporters gathered in Brisbane’s King George Square on 11 February to protest Queensland’s draconian anti-association laws. Called to coincide with the first sitting day of state parliament the rally called for the so-called “bikie” laws to be repealed.
Under the laws, members of any group declared a “criminal organisation” face imprisonment for lengthy mandatory minimum periods for the crime of associating with each other. A recent amendment extends the tentacles of state repression to workers with a license issued by the government. If any such worker is deemed to be a member of a “criminal organisation” they can lose their license and therefore their job.
One of the first to address the crowd was Sam Watson, a veteran aboriginal activist and community leader. He spoke about the parallels between the current period and the fight against the notoriously repressive Joh-Bjelke Peterson state government in decades gone by. “We mobilised then and that’s what needs to happen here, we’re a bit greyer and a bit broader in the bellies, but we’ve still got the fire”, he said.
Electrical Trades Union (ETU) state secretary Peter “Simmo” Simpson spoke about the persecution of ETU members labelled “bikies” as well as charges the union is facing under the Newman government’s anti-union political donation laws. “The ETU and MUA have spoken out against these laws and we’re paying the price”, he said. “But people are starting to move.”
In the crowd Red Flag spoke to Maritime Union of Australia members Sarah and Mark Maguire about why they’re protesting. “The laws are removing our rights and taking us back to the Joh days. We used freedom of association and community support to win the fight in ‘98 and they’re trying to take that away. It’s not just Queensland”, Sarah said. “In Victoria they’ve taken away the right to protest and have pickets.”
Mark said, “Its touch one, touch all and the ETU is just the first cab off the rank. Workers are under attack from the wealthy and when you’re pushed up against the wall you have to fight.” Making the argument that such a fight has to include an industrial response Mark said, “Your only power as a worker is to withdraw your labour”.
While street protests are an important way for the community to express opposition to the Newman government’s agenda they are not enough to land a real blow against the LNP. Only the impact of large scale industrial disruption has the power to stop the government’s assault and put workers on the front foot.

Liam Kay

ETU member

Queensland protest for civil liberties

The Queensland branch of the Electrical Trades Union appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on 6 February. The union faces seven charges under laws introduced last year by the LNP state government. It is accused of refusing to detail publicly political donations and spending on campaigns. Each charge carries a fine of $340,000 (just short of the deputy premier’s annual salary).
The ETU is the first organisation to be charged under the laws, which require that unions open their books to the state and declare any spending over $10,000 made for political purposes. The laws also require that unions conduct a ballot of all members before spending any amount over $10,000 for a political purpose. 
Four other unions and nine employer organisations have also been found to have failed to comply with the laws, but it is unclear if any of them will be charged.
The ETU leadership is not willing to comment on the case while it’s before the courts. Queensland Council of Unions secretary John Battams is quoted by AAP as saying, “They are keeping tabs on unions in a Gestapo Nazi way to try to figure out how much they are spending on various campaigns.”
Battams says there are reports of government investigators scrutinising newspapers and billboards, trying to find grounds to charge unions. “In a democratic society there should be no constraints on a union's ability to campaign for its members”, he said. It is clear that the purpose of these laws is to undermine the ability of unions to mount a political opposition to the agenda of the LNP.
The Queensland attorney-general’s office has released a statement saying that the laws were introduced to “allow the light to shine in on how industrial organisations spend their members’ money”. This type of rhetoric, about transparency and democracy, has been the government’s line on these laws from the start. Rank and file unionists can see these claims for the lies they are. 
State intervention in the trade union movement is never about democracy or accountability. It’s about trying to weaken our strongest unions, financially and industrially. This is why the ETU has been targeted first. There are a host of right wing and industrially weak unions, not to mention anti-worker employer organisations, which these laws will never be used against.
The ETU has democratic structures in place, a developed delegate network and an active rank and file membership. That the LNP government has brought the first charges against a militant union that has been one of it most strident critics should come as no surprise to those who've been following the government’s actions since its election in 2012.

ETU charged under Queensland’s anti-union laws

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.

Queensland protest for civil liberties

ETU charged under Queensland’s anti-union laws

Tradies targeted by Queensland government

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