ILWU Statement on MUA Fight

Distributed By LaborNet-IGC
As A Service And In Solidarity With The ILWU And MUA

International Longshore and Warehouse Union
International Executive Board
San Francisco, California
April 16-17, 1998

STATEMENT OF POLICY ON AUSTRALIAN WATERFRONT DISPUTE

The conservative government of Australia, in collusion with Patrick Stevedoring Co. and the National Farmers Federation, a group representing corporate farming interests in Australia, is making a concerted effort to bust the Maritime Union of Australia, which represents longshore workers.

Patrick's effort is part of a global strategy by international shipping and stevedoring companies to destroy unions in ports around the world and part of the Australian governments plan to break the national union movement.

Patrick Stevedoring sacked more than 2000 wharfies at its docks throughout the Australia on April 7 and is trying to operate them with scab replacements. The union workers were run off the docks in a military-style raid and their picket lines have been attacked by police in some cities.

Court injunctions and anti-labor laws are being used by the company and the government to restrict the MUAs industrial action response. The ILWU cannot and will not stand by idly while our brothers and sisters in Australia face this vicious attack.

The ILWU International Executive Board condemns the actions of Patrick Stevedoring Co. and the government in the strongest possible terms. We call upon every ILWU member to join in a national consumer boycott of Australian beef and produce.

We also ask the AFL-CIO and the Canadian Labour Congress to put these Australian products on its national consumer boycott list immediately. We also call on our brothers and sisters in the Japanese dock worker union federation, Zen Ko Ku Kowan, to join in this boycott.