free Craig Johnston- political prisoner!

The jailing of Craig Johnston: a treacherous act

Friday 27 August 2004, was a very dark day for the trade union movement. It is the day when bosses, governments, the police, the courts and rats from the trade union movement itself, conspired to jail former AMWU State Secretary Craig Johnston. Johnston\rquote s only crime was attempting to save the jobs of 29 workers who were sacked by anti-union company Johnson Tiles.

In an era when almost all industrial action has become ``illegal these forces are combining to make sure that any effort by workers to defend themselves or even dare to improve their lot, is quickly quashed. If these forces remain unchecked, the trade union movement\rquote s ability to retain wages and conditions will be destroyed.

Who are the real criminals?

The real crime began in 2001 when Johnson Tiles sacked 29 workers and ``outsourced their jobs to Skilled Engineering. Several of the workers had worked for the company for over 20 years and some have never worked since their retrenchment.

As a result of the dispute, Craig and another 17 officials and rank and file members from the AMWU and the ETU were charged under criminal law. For this ``crime, Craig gets nine months jail.\par \par The courts are prosecuting trade union leaders for defending workers but no employer ever gets a jail sentence for murdering workers. Companies such as James Hardie Products have killed thousands of people, but still not one James Hardie executive has been jailed for these horrendous crimes.

Johnston singled out

From reading the media reports, you'd think that Craig Johnston was the only person involved in the protests. Many people were involved in the protests and 18 were charged. But Craig's 17 co-accused either had all of their charges dismissed or reduced to the minor charge of unlawful assembly. They were sentenced to a good behaviour bond and a fine.

The prosecutor refused to consider a similar arrangement for Craig, leaving him as the only protester to face charges of verbal abuse, criminal damage and affray. The court never answered the question of how one person can commit affray by themselves.

Craig's immediate jail sentence of nine months is totally out of proportion to sentences in other cases. There have been cases of serious physical assaults against people which have resulted in a suspended sentence. There have also been political protests/occupations which have resulted in far more property damage than in the Johnson Tiles/Skilled Engineering protests which have resulted in good behaviour bonds or community service.

Why the courts, the state government and the employers targeted Craig

Even though the dispute at Johnson Tiles was lost, the AMWU under Craig Johnston's and Workers's leadership won enormous increases in wages and conditions for Victorian manufacturing workers since they were elected in 1998.

In 2000, the AMWU's ``Campaign 2000" saw the introduction of a pattern agreement, putting a stop to the previous leadership\rquote s practice of leaving each workplace to fight for its own EBA in isolation.

For the first time in many years a majority of AMWU members fought side-by-side to successfully win a 15% wage increase, long service leave after 10 years and income protection. This approach was continued in 2003 to win the 36-hour week in many factories.

The industrial successes of Craig Johnston and the Workers First leadership infuriated the bosses. The bosses wanted to lower the wages and conditions of Victorian AMWU members to the level of other states.

Heather Ridout from the manufacturing bosses' organisation, the Australian Industry Group, told the Saturday Age (22/5/04) that "We talked to his own union about getting rid of him [Craig]".

Curiously, AMWU National Secretary Doug Cameron, who has been an ardent opponent of Craig Johnston and the Workers First leadership, has been helping the Australian Industry Group by trying to oust Craig from the industry.

Why Craig pleaded guilty

Many people are asking why Craig pleaded guilty to some of the charges. During the committal proceedings, the AMWU organiser who was in charge of the Johnson Tiles picket line, Zelco Curak, became witness for the state in return for having the charges against him dropped. Curak did this with the blessing of the AMWU national office, despite the fact that participated in all of the Johnson Tiles/Skilled Engineering protests. He was even the person who asked Craig to join the protests.

All the big guns were lined up against Craig - the manufacturing employers, the Bracks government, the Howard government, the media, the ACTU and the national leadership of the AMWU. All of them have stated publicly that they don't want Craig to lead the Victorian AMWU branch and they don't want his example of organised unionism represented in the union movement.

As a result, Craig and his lawyers were not convinced that he would get a fair trial given the political nature of the case and Curaks vastly exaggerated account of the affair.

Media reports had already prejudiced Craig's case before his trial was due to begin in May and the AMWU national leadership openly campaigned against Craig instead of building a campaign to support him.

These were the reasons why Craig decided to plead guilty to the lesser charges once the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) withdrew the most serious and unsubstantiated charge.

After Craig received a suspended sentence, the anti-trade union movement immediately organised a massive media campaign to have the decision overturned. The DPP's appeal to Craig's suspended sentence led to the nine month jail term that he is now serving.

Dangerous precedents

Doug Cameron and the AMWU national leadership have refused to oppose the use of criminal law against unionists instead of industrial law. This sets a dangerous precedent and invites much broader attacks against all unionists.

When organising members for better wages and conditions, any decent union is forced to confront the legal restrictions on industrial action, and risk criminal charges. This is the way it is in Howard's Australia.

Why 15 unions supported Craig

In contrast to the ACTU and the AMWU national leadership, 15 of the country's most effective union leaderships are supporting Craig Johnston. Although some of the 15 unions that are supporting Craig, thought that the run-through protests at Skilled Engineering and Johnson Tiles were a mistake, they all recognised that the run-throughs were part of an industrial campaign to save workers' jobs, and that emotions run high when companies throw workers on to the scrap heap.

They recognise the injustice of Johnson Tiles/Skilled Engineering being able to freely strip away workers' livelihoods, while, the unionists who went in to bat for the workers were confronted with criminal charges.

They support union leaderships that selflessly put their own necks on the line to defend their members.They also support the way Craig unselfishly assists other workers in other industries in their efforts to defend their entitlements, regardless of whether they work in the textile industry, in construction or postal services under the motto ``Touch one, touch all"

The Free Craig Johnston Committee is calling on all workers to:

Photocopy and circulate this leaflet as widely as possible.

Pass motions condemning the jailing of Craig Johnston in your workplace and at union leadership meetings - shop stewards meetings, branch meetings, branch council meetings etc . The motion should ask for your union, the ACTU and the VTHC to initiate or get involved with a campaign to release Craig. (please forward all motions to the Free Craig Johnston Campaign)

Ask your union and union officials what they are doing to secure Craig's release from jail.

Place your name on the Free Craig Johnston Campaign contact sheet and participate in the Free Craig Johnston Campaign meetings.

Be ready for the call to action when announced. Unlike Cameron and Co, honest fair dinkum unionists take disagreements and contentious issues to the members, not to the police and the courts. Union members must decide the fate for Craig Johnston.

Published by the Free Craig Johnston Committee. Send messages of support to Cragi Johnston at: PO Box 12263, A'Beckett St, Melbourne Vic 8006

For information, phone Sue Bolton on 0413-377-978. Fax copies of motions to (03)9341-3427; Email copies of motions to sueb@dsp.org.au