Brisbane bus dispute: A matter of dignity

Bus driving members of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union walked off the job 
on Wednesday February 6. They established a series of rolling pickets at 
each of the six work locations. The drivers did this in response to the 
dismissal of one of their work colleagues. The colleague, Graham McKean was 
sacked whilst at work on the afternoon preceding the strike. The dismissal 
was delivered in a letter to Graham handed to him at a meeting with the 
management representatives.

At this meeting the management representatives added insult to injury by 
offering the choice of resign immediately or be sacked. Graham had been 
injured at work some 18 months earlier and was only several months away 
from his 65th birthday upon which he had been planning to retire after what 
would have been 20 years service with this employer.

The letter of dismissal summed up the situation in its concluding 
paragraphs "Termination of your employment is the result of you being 
unable to perform the requirements of your role as a Bus Operator due to 
injury. In no way is it suggested that you are guilty of misconduct or have 
been remiss in the completion of your duties.

"Brisbane Transport recognises the contribution that you have made to our 
organisation during your long period of service and regrets the need to 
take this decision."

The letter began with the statement "effective from the date of this letter 
your employment with Brisbane Transport is terminated."The letter was dated 
the same as the meeting with management on February 5 and pre-signed by the 
manager of the department.

The dismissal was delivered despite the fact that Graham was working in a 
position as a customer information officer and was fulfilling that role to 
the satisfaction of the employer. 

Their attitude was that providing customer information was not an essential 
job and besides they had only created the role so that they could fulfil 
the requirements for rehabilitation under the self-insurance guidelines for 
Workcover in Queensland.

This was how the Brisbane City Council, a Labor Party-led council had 
decided to introduce their new attitude to workers injured in the course of 
their employment.

The Beattie Government's industrial legislation provides that injured 
workers who cannot return to their substantive position will not be sacked 
in the first six months of their injury but after that they can be and can 
only seek reinstatement if they can return to their position within 12 
months.''

A taste of things to come

The Brisbane City Council had chosen this moment and this person to 
implement this practice which ran against all previous policy and practice 
in the Council and they chose the bus drivers as the first guinea pigs.

The reaction of the drivers was understandable in these circumstances as it 
was quite obvious that any other worker injured in their employment with 
the Council could expect to receive the same treatment.

This attitude, as expressed in both the behaviour of the employer and the 
legislation, reflects the growing push by employers to reduce their 
obligations to workers.

It is creating a new situation of disposable labour, where employers use 
the legislation to get rid of workers because they are old, sick or simply 
because it is cheaper to have only a casual relationship.

Community support

The bus strike struck a chord in the Brisbane community and many workers 
and even professional workers saw their own story in it.

Graham, who presented as everyone's grandfather and a hardworking loyal 
worker, came to symbolise in an instant the injustices that are being dealt 
out daily in the community under the banner of industrial reform.

The widespread community sympathy overcame any hostility to the strike and 
the union reported receiving many messages of support. 

The Labor Party Lord Mayor Jim Soorley immediately went on the offensive 
trying to label the union as defenders of rorters. His has been 
characteristic of this style of Labor politician, he personally attacked 
the union's leaders.

On the first day this was the bus division secretary David Matters who he 
accused of being an industrial thug and a defender of rorters.

To the union's credit the officials of the union did not descend to the 
level of the Lord Mayor and stayed on the issue -- the question of the 
dignity that had been stolen from this worker by the Council.

At no time did any leading Labor Party politicians, council or state, make 
any comments in support of this worker's rights or even the trade union 
right to act against an employer in this situation.

The field was left completely vacant and the ridiculous position unfolded 
where the forces of the Right were able to exploit the situation.

The Liberal opposition transport spokesman in the Council: "clearly the 
union will be offside with every resident", "this is lord mayor Jim Soorley 
at his bully-boy best". He went on further to state that he is critical of 
the union for not taking a harder stance in previous issues.

This opportunism was made possible by the attitude reflected in comments 
from the Lord Mayor and the Labor Transport Chairperson Maureen Hayes whose 
contributions included such gems as:

* "clearly ratepayers deserve service for payment so we terminated the bus 
driver";

* "clearly we are going to suffer some traffic chaos";

* "people will be able to use bus lanes... we are putting on some extra 
ferries";

* "any of the buses that are subcontracted to the council are still 
running";

* "does the union have the right to hold the whole of Brisbane ... to 
ransom".

The introduction of self-insurance for Workcover had much to do with the 
Council's attitude. The obvious desire was for a reduction in the costs 
associated with workers' injuries.

The Council called the matter on before the Arbitration Commission and 
sought orders for a return to work. After some negotiation the drivers 
accepted a return to work on the basis of the matter being conciliated.

The drivers were reluctant to return but did so on the basis of returning 
to the struggle if necessary. The issue remained unresolved at the close of 
the day and was brought back to a conference the next day.

Meanwhile the dispute remained alive in the media with the Lord Mayor 
denouncing the Secretary of the union, Owen Doogan as a "foreign imported 
trade union leader". 

The Lord Mayor then attacked the members of the union as Terrorist. He re-
emphasised that he would not accept any reinstatement and criticised the 
sacked worker for having an overseas trip (a trip planned before the injury 
and taken on long service leave). 

The union responded with outrage at the attacks of a racist and xenophobic 
character and the attack on civil liberties implied in the later charge 
that workers in action were automatically terrorists.

This outburst is reflective of attitudes and views designed to link 
struggles for workers' rights to the savage atrocities committed by those 
who perpetrated Sept 11 and those who have carried out other actions of a 
terrorist nature.

It should sound alarm bells because this will occur in future when workers 
struggle for rights.

Deserved victory

The handling of this issue by the Rail, Tram and Bus Union has shown that 
the union movement has the capacity to fight back against the attacks on 
workers.

It has also shown that the union movement is capable of mobilising much 
larger community support.

The Rail Tram and Bus union deserved what has been reported widely as a 
victory.

The driver was reinstated and then elected to take a cash payment on top of 
existing Workcover payments as some form of compensation for the harsh 
treatment -- some $8000 plus five weeks' pay. 

The problems still exist in that this legislation is still there and that 
the attitude of the Labor politicians is still anti-worker. The union 
movement through the Queensland Council of unions has called for Soorley to 
apologise to the union or resign as Lord Mayor.

While there is a sense that some justice has been achieved the wider 
questions are still to be resolved and they go to how the Council should 
conduct itself towards workers.

Such dismissals are no doubt occurring in other workplaces, and where 
workers may not have the protection of a union willing to act.

The other side of this is the fact that the strike, despite being proved to 
be just, was declared to be an unlawful action. The strong community 
support and the justice of the worker's demands played a big part in 
resolving it in favour of workers.

The Lord Mayor is widely tipped to be in his final term. Elections are to 
be held for a new Lord Mayor and Council in 2004.

The more telling point has been the unremitting bias towards road building 
and major projects as well as the loosening of the Council workforce's 
connection with the union movement.

The Lord Mayor is well known for boasting to the unions about the decline 
in unionisation of the City Council workforce.

The members of the Rail, Bus and Tram Union are now feeling strongly 
confident in their union and have maintained membership of over 99 per cent 
on the buses including among casual employees. It clearly pays to be union.