The Unions Fighting Fund

 

 

Every time I drive past my former workplace, it saddens me to see that the demolition crew has moved in and commenced their final, irrevocable task. The plant at which I worked for almost 36 years, and the surrounding petro-chemical plants will, in the coming years, be flattened. This vast area, universally known as the Altona Petrochemical Complex, which once provided employment to thousands of men and women, will soon be home to an assortment of logistics and storage warehouses. In what has become a familiar story Australia-wide, the products which these plants produced are now all imported.

 

There is a book of stories I could (and maybe one day will) write about my three and a half decades at the plant. The good times and the bad; the anger, the frustrations, the personality clashes; the constant running battles between the unions and management. But overall, it is the laughter that I remember the most. For when you work a rotating shift of days and nights in a largely male workforce brimming with testosterone, the thickest of skins is required. And a sense of humour is the most important part of one’s armour.

 

For over thirty five years I was a proud member of the Australian Workers Union, even during the last decade when I was promoted to a management role. My late father was a staunch union man. In the early years we would regularly be “out on the grass”, fighting for rights and conditions. We protested at the gate during the Hoechst dispute in 1990, and stood in solidarity with the MUA members in 1998 during the torrid waterfront dispute. All union members contributed to the ‘Workers Fighting Fund’, a distress fund instituted in 1979 during the famous “sit-in” at our plant which led to the 35-hour week. The fund was set up to assist union members who were on strike for an extended period.

 

Now that all the plants at Altona are gone forever, account signatories Gordon Holdsworth and Frankie Farrugia decided that the monies in the fighting fund should be donated to a worthy cause. First, they had to seek legal and ATO advice that they would not be left facing tax liabilities. Once this was given a ‘pass’ by the appropriate authorities, it was decided that the funds should be donated to the Royal Children’s Hospital.

 

 

I don’t read the Herald-Sun or any other NewsCorp papers, but I would be surprised if the story of this donation was given a run, as it would not fit their generally anti-union narrative. Yes, in recent times there have been a number of crooks and scoundrels that have given the union movement a bad name, but I was proud to be one of the former AWU members invited to the ceremonial handing over of $170,000 to the RCH, a decidedly worthy cause. Representatives of the hospital were thrilled. Former members of the ETU and AMWU were present. It was wonderful to again see former workmates upon whom I had not laid eyes in many years. And I ticked off a bucket list item: I was able to hold aloft a large novelty cheque.

 

 

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