Australia, governo, lotte di classe, sindacati, mercato lavoro WSWS 05-11-16
Australia: 500 000 lavoratori dimostrano contro la legislazione sulle relazioni industriali del primo ministro Howard
Rick Kelly
Le
nuove leggi in discussione nel parlamento australiano prevedono la
sostituzione degli contratti collettivi di lavoro con contratti
individuali e l’abolizione delle leggi di tutela contro i licenziamenti
ingiusti.
La massiccia partecipazione è avvenuta nonostante e non grazie alla direzione della burocrazia sindacale.
- Il
sindacato si oppone alle riforme sulle relazioni industriali (RI) solo
per timore di perdere la propria redditizia posizione di collaboratori
del padronato negli attacchi ai salari e alle condizioni dei lavoratori. - Nel
periodo 1983-1996 del governo laburista Hawke-Keating, l’ACTU svolse il
ruolo di polizia all’interno della classe operaia; ora la burocrazia
sindacale vuole convincere il padronato che può ancora servire a
bloccare l’opposizione dei lavoratori contro le future misure della
destra. - In un primo momento il sindacato ha chiesto ai
lavoratori di rivolgersi a senatori della destra come Steve Fielding
del parito Family First, e Barnaby Joyce, del National Party, perché
votassero contro il governo. - Il sindacato ha respinto ogni
richiesta di sciopero di massa, perché non intende «provocare disagi
alla comunità”; ha subito preso le distanze dalla protesta di 3 000
camionisti di Sidney, che hanno bloccato l’autostrada M4. - Il
segretario ACTU, Combet, ha invitato i lavoratori a lavorare per la
vittoria dei laburisti alle prossime elezioni, a fare lavoro di lobby
sui rappresentanti politici nelle rispettive comunità… - Assurda
la convinzione che il partito laburista appoggi i diritti dei
lavoratori: esso ha sottoscritto pienamente l’agenda economica del
governo Howard che sottende le attuali riforme RI. - La manovra
di spostamento verso i contratti individuali è iniziata proprio con il
precedente governo laburista, con la parola d’ordine di «rendere
l’Australia competitiva a livello internazionale», il governo
Hawke-Keating ha sferrato una serie di attacchi alla classe operaia,
con l’appoggio diretto del sindacato. - Le riforme RI del governo
Howard non sarebbero state possibili senza queste misure preparatorie
del precedente governo laburista. - La politica seguita dai
laburisti al governo ha spezzato la fiducia che milioni di lavoratori
avevano nel partito laburista. Il sindacato ha risposto a questo
distacco moltiplicando gli sforzi per evitare una definitiva rottura
dei lavoratori con il partito laburista.
di ieri in Australia contro questa legislazione sono le maggiori della
storia del paese, assieme alle marce di protesta del 2003 contro la
guerra in Irak.
Melbourne (240 000); 100 000 manifestanti nel New South Wales: a Sidney
(30 000), Perth (15 000), Adelaide (10 000), Brisbane (15 000). Hanno
preso parte alle manifestazioni accanto ai lavoratori dell’industria,
insegnanti (20 000 da scuole pubbliche e private), lavoratori del
settore pubblico, ospedalieri, impiegati, professionisti, autonomi,
pensionati studenti.
autobus del sindacato, ma un’ampia parte dei manifestanti ha
partecipato in modo indipendente, in particolare a Melbourne.
di operai dell’edilizia di Melbourne hanno partecipato alla
manifestazione in sfida alle leggi che prevedono il permesso del datore
di lavoro (sono previste multe per gli operai fino a $22 000, e fino a
$110 000 per i sindacati); l’80% dei cantieri è rimasto chiuso.
discorsi sindacali, imbevuti di nazionalismo, hanno trattato solo le
questioni relative alle relazioni industriali, senza alcuna menzione
della legislazione anti-terroristica, della guerra contro l’Irak, o
altri temi politici. Il governo è stato ripetutamente accusato di
“minare lo stile di vita australiano”.
(Australian Council of Trade Unions), la confederazione sindacale
australiana, le manifestazioni sono state poco più che uno sfogo
concesso ai lavoratori, senza impegnare il sindacato se non a
raccogliere i voti per il Labor Party per le prossime elezioni federali.
Il
primo ministro Howard, liquidando sbrigativamente le manifestazioni di
piazza, ha ripetuto che il governo andrà avanti con la legislazione RI;
contemporaneamente la maggiore società di tlc australiana, Telstra, ha
annunciato il licenziamento di 12000 lavoratori.
Australia: 500,000 workers demonstrate against Howard’s industrial legislation
opposition within the working class to the government’s radical
revision of Australia’s industrial relations (IR) system. The new laws
are directed at undermining workers’ wages and conditions through the
replacement of collective work agreements with individual contracts and
the abolition of unfair dismissal laws.
The protests
provided another indication not just of the mass opposition to the
“WorkChoices” IR laws, but the Howard government’s entire agenda. Deep-rooted
class divisions and potentially explosive discontent lie just beneath
the superficial appearance of social stability and the political
dominance of the Howard government.
The
different layers of people attending the rallies was indicative of the
breadth of opposition. Industrial workers marched alongside teachers,
public servants, nurses, professionals, and white-collar workers. Large
numbers of self-employed people, retirees, and university and school
students also participated. Many workers were bussed to the protests by
the trade unions and marched under union banners, but a large
proportion of people attended the demonstrations independently.
evident in the Melbourne demonstration, which was far larger than the
previous anti-IR reform protest held on June 30, that had been attended
by 100,000 people. Yesterday’s turnout far exceeded Victorian Trades Hall Council expectations. Twenty-thousand teachers from both government and private schools in Victoria, for example, went on strike to attend the rally.
turned out in their thousands despite the federal government’s $50
million advertising propaganda campaign, which sought to assure people
that wages and conditions would be “protected by law”. Large numbers of
demonstrators also defied threats from both the government and their
employers. Thousands of building workers in Melbourne defied
laws preventing attendance at the protest without employer permission,
and 80 percent of commercial construction sites were shut down.
Construction workers could be fined up to $22,000, and unions $110,000.
Three maritime workers in Queensland face disciplinary action and may
be sacked by their ship towage employer for attending the rally.
Socialist Web Site reporters interviewed many demonstrators who
indicated their profound hostility to the government, and concern over
the broader implications for democratic rights and mounting social
inequality. There was also a general feeling of disgust and
disillusionment with the Labor Party over its failure to oppose the
government on a series of issues, particularly regarding the
“Anti-Terrorism” Bill, which numbers of people regarded as connected to
the IR legislation. (See “Australian workers denounce new industrial laws”)
of these sentiments found any expression in the speeches and broadcasts
issued at the rallies organised by the trade union bureaucracy. The
hundreds of rallies held throughout the country were linked via
satellite video hook-up, which broadcast pre-recorded messages from
various Labor, Greens and Democrat politicians, academics, and
religious leaders. Speeches by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) president Sharan Burrow and secretary Greg Combet were also broadcast.
of the recorded messages or speeches once mentioned the government’s
terror legislation, the war in Iraq, or any other issue not directly
related to the IR laws. Much of the broadcast, which
began with the singing of the national anthem, was imbued with
Australian nationalism. The government was repeatedly accused of
undermining the “Australian way of life” and the “Aussie fair-go”.
For
the ACTU and its state affiliates, the demonstrations represented
little more than an attempt to allow workers to let off steam while not
committing the unions to anything beyond rallying votes for the Labor
Party at the next federal election. The massive turnout came despite, not because of, the bureaucracy’s leadership.
The
unions oppose the new IR reforms solely due to their fear that the new
system will threaten their lucrative and long-established position as
collaborators with company attacks on workers’ wages and conditions.
The ACTU’s campaign is essentially oriented to reminding the ruling
class of the critical role it played during the Hawke-Keating Labor governments between 1983 and 1996,
when it acted as an internal police agency over the working class. The
bureaucracy now hopes to convince big business and the media that it
can still be of use in clamping down on workers’ resistance against
future right-wing measures.
against the IR laws has consciously sought to block any independent
action by the working class, and confine all opposition within the safe
confines of parliament and the established parties. In the
initial stages of the campaign, the bureaucracy hoped to pressure
enough politicians to reject the legislation in the senate, and called
on workers to appeal to right-wing senators such as Family First’s
Steve Fielding and the National Party’s Barnaby Joyce to vote against
the government. In Brisbane yesterday, the 15,000 demonstrators were marched to the National Party’s headquarters for this purpose.
They quickly distanced themselves from a protest held by 3,000 truck
drivers in Sydney yesterday, who blockaded the M4 motorway. Despite
experiencing lengthy traffic delays, many affected motorists reportedly
honked their horns in support of the drivers.
ordinary workers attending the protests across the country were
desperately searching for a way to fight the government, the trade
unions are already resigned to defeat.
his national address: “After the government rams these laws through
parliament we will work right up to the next election to hold them to
account for what they have done… Take the issues into your local
community. Lobby politicians. Get active in marginal seats. Put at risk
the job security of politicians who don’t support workers’ rights.”
The
conception that the Labor Party in any way supports “workers’ rights”
is ludicrous. Labor fully subscribes to the right-wing economic agenda
that underlies the Howard government’s IR reforms, and it was under the
previous Labor government that the move towards individual contracts
was introduced. Under the guise of making Australia
“internationally competitive” in the global capitalist economy, the
Hawke-Keating government launched a series of attacks on the working
class, with the direct assistance of the unions. The Howard
government’s IR reforms would never have been possible without these
preparatory measures implemented by the previous Labor government.
record in power has forever ruptured the close allegiance that millions
of workers once had with the party. The unions’ response to this
development has been to redouble their efforts to prevent the working
class from definitively breaking with Labor. To this end, they
provided the Labor state premiers with a platform across the country,
while federal Labor leader Kim Beazley addressed the Brisbane rally.
Minister John Howard quickly dismissed yesterday’s demonstrations, and
insisted that his government would press ahead with the industrial
legislation. At the same time, Australia’s largest telecommunications company, Telstra, announced that it was sacking 12,000 workers.
globalisation of production has completely shattered the old
nation-state based reformist conceptions of the labour bureaucracies.
No longer capable of conceding even incremental improvements in
workers’ conditions, these organisations now compete with the Liberal
Party over who can best deliver the goods for Australia’s corporate
elite.
political perspective that challenges the entire framework of the
profit-system can the working class successfully defend past gains, and
fight to secure decent working conditions and living standards for all.
Such a movement will inevitably be directed not just at the
Howard government’s IR laws, but at the entire program of the political
establishment, of which the industrial legislation is but one part.