Nearly 400 people attended a “Unionists for Palestine” protest outside the Patrick’s terminal at Swanson Dock in Melbourne on Tuesday evening.
A section of the protest at Swanson Dock, Melbourne, on December 19, 2023
The cargo ship, Zim Sparrow, operated by the Israeli Zim shipping corporation that has committed itself to supplying the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, was earlier in the day diverted to Port Kembla but the protest went ahead anyway. Zim operates over 70 cargo ships globally.
On Thursday morning protesters in kayaks attempted to block another cargo ship, the Vela, which is currently chartered by Zim as it arrived in Melbourne. The Vela sailed through the kayakers. Rima Ansarallah who was at the protest said, “Today we’re here to halt business for Zim, an Israeli shipping company that sends weapons and materials to kill Palestinians. Being Palestinian myself, this is something that I want to stop by any means necessary.”
The events reflect a striving by working people to take more direct actions against the genocide, than the mass rallies that have occurred since the Israeli bombardment began in October.
The corporatised trade union leadership, however, is doing nothing. This is most stark on the ports, where the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has rejected any strike action, instead enforcing industrial peace and ensuring the orderly loading of Zim cargo week in, week out.
The MUA leaders cite draconian Fair Work industrial laws, as reason for their refusal to take industrial action. Those laws, however, were drawn up by previous Labor governments, with the active involvement of the unions.
The MUA and most other unions remain affiliated to Labor, whose explicit position is the maintenance of the whole Fair Work framework. The unions use the legislation, not only to block strikes defending the Palestinians, but also to prevent any struggle against the continuous cuts to jobs, wages and conditions, enforced by the bureaucracy itself.
During Tuesday’s protest, dock workers could be seen through the security fence climbing up and down the ladders to the straddle carrier crane cabins that they drive to move shipping containers. The biggest cheers from the crowd erupted when some of the crane operators sounded their horns. Protesters took this as support for the protest.
The event underscored the cynical and duplicitous role of the “Unionist for Palestine” organisation, dominated by the fake-left Solidarity group. The organisation is billed as a “rank-and-file” initiative, but in fact its whole purpose is to cover-up and excuse the refusal of the unions to oppose the genocide.
Matt Abbott, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) president at Federation University, co-chaired the rally. He stated, “We’ve faced attacks from Liberal governments, and from Labor governments. We face some of the harshest laws against industrial action in the developed world.”