Australia MUA Queensland Report On IDC Conference In Miama "Imagine if a wharfie is sacked unjustly in a Brisbane terminal and longshoremen and dockers around the world took some action in support. “Lifting the foot” in LA, protesting in Le Harve - France, arguing in Aalborg – Denmark, defending each other everywhere. This is what the IDC is about. Looking out for each and everyone of us!"
http://www.mua.org.au/queensland_branch [1]
No. 61 – Friday October 7, 2016
IDC General Assembly - Hutchison Discussions – Branch Industrial/Legal Officer - Argentina’s Merchant Navy - Jailed Shipyard Workers - Qld Member Wins Trainee Award – Vale Whiskey
IDC General Assembly 2016
THE INTERNATIONAL DOCKWORKER’S Council (IDC) General Assembly held in Miami, Florida on September 26 – 29 was one of the finest trade union gatherings I have been fortunate enough to attend.
MUA Delegation with Jordi Aragunde at the IDC General Assembly
The Queensland delegation of Bob Carnegie – Branch Secretary, Paul Petersen – Branch Organiser, Aaron Johnston – DP World, Paul Williams – Patricks, Joseph Tipene – Hutchison, Bill Ross – Maintenance Rep, as previously stated, all did their Branch and respective workplaces proud. All delegates attended every session. They were engaged and this has played no small part in cementing the Queensland Branch of the MUA’s position in the IDC.
Not all Trade Unions but sadly most, overtime, have a tendency to turn into bureaucratic organisations becoming more remote from the rank and file.
The IDC is so refreshingly different. The IDC now represents 97,000 dockworkers around the world and runs on a bureaucracy of just two. For the first time the IDC have a full time coordinator, Jordi Aragunde, a 35 year old docker from the fighting city of Barcelona. Jordi’s unparalleled capacity for hard work, his
love of the working class and dockworkers in particular, is just infectious.
Some members might ask why is the IDC so important? What all this internationalism about? A little more than 50 years ago with the advent of containerisation – the world of trade, transport and logistics was changed forever. The world we live in is totally tied up in the 20 foot or 40 foot tin can we call a container. Ninety percent (90%) of everything in homes, what we wear and what we have are carried by containers.
This give wharfies (dockers, longshoremen) a unique position in the supply chain and one, in my opinion, we have not readily or successfully used the leverage we are capable of to defend and embrace wharfies’ conditions, not just in Australia but around the world.
Imagine if a wharfie is sacked unjustly in a Brisbane terminal and longshoremen and dockers around the world took some action in support. “Lifting the foot” in LA, protesting in Le Harve - France, arguing in Aalborg – Denmark, defending each other everywhere. This is what the IDC is about. Looking out for each and everyone of us!
A new zone, the Oceania/Asia zone was elected at the General Assembly. Bob Carnegie and Paul McAleer – Sydney Branch Secretary, of the MUA were elected as Joint Zone Coordinators in an effort to bring some form of union structure and support to the dock workers in Asia and Oceania who need our support.
This is purely an honorary position both Paul and I have taken on to fight for the rights of working class people and to challenge some of the transport giants in, what is now the centre of the world’s manufacturing, Asia.
Our Branchs’ relationship with the ITF will remain strong as we develop close ties with the IDC. Both organisations have a great deal to offer with different structures and different strengths. This, I believe, is the mature approach to the matter.