Quote:
Originally Posted by Syndrome
Come on CFMEU - shut down the construction industry! This is what we need to combat the tyrants in the Victorian parliament.
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Mmmm, a union is only as strong as its weakest rank and file members, and John Setka cannot order the members to down tools unless a meeting/s are organised and a members vote taken!
Well that's how it was in my time, 3 members had to approach the Union delegate on the job and ask to have a meeting, about the same issue, I was a co-delegate on one major construction, but only for my company, we were under the auspices of the AWU, why, because the AMWSU had a moratorium on Uranium mining, and wether folk are aware or not, it is against Commonwealth or Federal law to be a member of 2 unions at the same time!
I took the men out the gate, with management threatening to be there with a chequebook, I told him "don't shoot the messenger" he said I know you and un named person are behind this illegal stopwork meeting, lol, don't you just lurve management.....
It was Friday morning, the men voted to go on strike, those with cars went and had a weekend in Dawin with their families, management closed the wet mess, a meeting was called at 9am Monday, and the boys, well they went fishing, I had to hang around a nice office, on site, till knock off at 5pm, got the AWU organiser to fly in from Darwin, he sorted the nitty gritty, and meeting Monday!
I took 45 men out the gate, the flow on was the site closed down, 2500 men got the weekend off, and I never bought another beer, it was a much needed break from long hot, humid 45°C days, the men needed a break, you go "troppo" otherwise!
We voted on Monday to go back to work, went to an office before the meeting and saw a very big boss slip a brown paper envelope stuffed full of 50's over the table to the main AWU delegate for the whole site!
That was a first for me, and I left a month later, end of 6 month on contract, the delegate later that day gave me a smaller white envelope, we lost one of our members a week earlier, I asked my boss to make sure his wife and kiddies got the money, she did and I resigned from the AMWSU when I got back to Sydney, it was 1981, a very good year indeed!
Cheers Billy
