The Guardian 17 October, 2007
Employers and lawyers:
Is that the front bench you want?
Anna Pha
Prime Minister John Howard is forever warning voters that the Labor Party is union-dominated and that its leader Kevin Rudd does what the unions tell him. Howard was raving about union domination again last week, in between claims of Rudd’s "me too" policies echoing whatever Howard promised.
The union-domination claims are fiction, in fact the converse is much closer to the truth. But accuracy has nothing to do with political electioneering, the intent is to frighten voters. The Coalition has for decades used terms such as corrupt, thuggish "third party" (interfering in workplace relations between employers and workers) when referring to trade unions.
WorkChoices, the contractor laws, the building and construction industry and the Coalition’s other anti-union legislation have deliberately excluded trade unions wherever possible. The new laws have promoted individual employment contracts (AWAs), non-union collective agreements and outlawed many of the former rights of trade unions to enter workplaces, and to recruit and represent their members.
Howard, the corporate mass media and employers always speak of "union bosses", never union leaders or representatives. The term "boss" is alienating to workers, particularly those in less skilled and lower paid jobs. Intuitively or consciously, the reaction of most workers to someone being referred to as a boss is hardly one of trust. Quite the opposite.
Class struggle
A prominent billboard in Sydney combines the two themes of so-called union bosses and union-domination of the Labor Party. "More than 70% of Labor’s front bench are ex-union bosses", it warns.
There is a certain irony in the statement, which in its attempt to frighten workers and other people from voting Labor, gives de facto recognition to the fact that bosses will not represent workers’ interests in Parliament. In reality it states that most of Labor’s front bench have working class roots or have acted on behalf of ordinary working people prior to being elected.
The so-called "union bosses" are democratically elected by the workers they represent, they are accountable to and consult those workers, and the workers — the union members — are involved in the decision making. The role of union officials is to give leadership and represent and support workers in the struggle that takes place against the real bosses and their representatives — the class struggle.
Coalition front bench
There is no doubt as to which side of the class struggle the Coalition front bench is on. The Coalition front bench is made up of employers and lawyers — many of them employers’ lawyers.
They are real bosses and bosses’ agents who exploit workers — bosses that own and run (or ran) businesses, who crack the whip, stand over workers, hire and fire, slash wages, take short cuts on safety. They are members of the capitalist class, the ruling class.
There is nothing democratic about their appointment or methods of work. They are not elected by workers, they do not consult workers before making decisions, they dictate what goes in their workplace, with the Coalition’s Government’s full backing and assistance. The only force capable of limiting their power in the workplace is organised labour — trade unions.
Employers dictate and even draft Coalition Government’s polices.
As for a position on the front bench of the Coalition parties, ordinary workers, sub-contractors, outworkers, self-employed trades people, and trade unionists need not apply. You need a law degree, experience as a company director or manager, banker, farmer (for National Party members), representative of an employer organisation or extremely wealthy and influential parents.
Twelve of the 18 members of Howard’s Cabinet have law degrees and have practiced as solicitors or barristers — almost 70 per cent of Cabinet. Some have worked for law firms, some for corporations or employer organisations. Eight of the government’s ministers (including two of the lawyers) have business backgrounds or represented employer organisations.
Peter Costello, for example, as a barrister represented employers, and as Treasurer still looks after them. He was a leading figure in the New Right movement and HR Nicholls Society and tested the water for what is being done to trade unions today.
He is notorious for representing the anti-union National Farmers’ Federation in its attempt to destroy the Australasian Meat Industry Employees’ Union in 1983-84 at the Mudginberri abattoirs in the Northern Territory. After a long struggle, the AMIEU was ultimately fined $144,000 plus costs and the owner of Mudginberri was awarded $1.5 million damages. This case involved the introduction of non-union individual contracts and threatened the right to picket.
Costello was junior counsel in another historic test case against the Confectionery Union at Dollar Sweets in Victoria in 1985. The case, funded by the Victorian Chamber of Commerce, used common law (not the Industrial Relations Act) in the dispute and the union was directed to pay $175,000 damages to the company.
Tony Abbott, Minster for Health and Ageing, is just as close to workers as Costello. To him industrial action is "industrial treason" and unions are "storm troopers". He also represented employers and was a plant manager at Pioneer Concrete.
Other legal eagles in the Cabinet are John Howard, Nick Minchin, Philip Ruddock, Helen Coonan, Kevin Andrews, Chris Ellison, Peter McGauran, Julie Bishop, Joe Hockey and Malcolm Turnbull.
Alexander Downer did not need a law degree to make the front bench. His parents gave him a good start — his mother Lady Downer and father were not short of a quid and were very much part of the establishment in Adelaide. Apart from his career as a diplomat Downer was the executive director of the employer body, the Australian Chamber of Commerce (Canberra Secretariat).
Mal Brough is another without a law degree. He started out in the military and then became a business manager. "Brough counts among his supporters leading business people in Melbourne and Sydney. People like Bails Myer, of Melbourne’s Myer dynasty, and Peter Coates, chairman of the Minerals Council and chief executive of Xstrata Coal", Julie-Anne Davies noted in an article in the Bulletin magazine (9/7/2007).
Brough is the Minister leading the charge in sending the police and military into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, removed their permit system and taken control of the land of those communities. This removes native title and opens the way for the entry of mining corporations to move in without the consent of the traditional owners.
The outer ministry tells a similar story, except the proportion of lawyers is smaller and that of company directors and managers much higher. Jim Lloyd was a marine master, Peter Dutton was a police officer and Garry Nairn a surveyor before moving on to managing directors.
Not a single member of the Howard Ministry could be described as working class or sympathetic towards working people’s interests by any stretch of the imagination. The Liberal and National Party MPs have no doubts as to where their loyalties lie. It is full of real bosses and bosses’ lawyers.