ÌÇÐÄTV

Conspiracy: John Howard’s battle for Australia’s waterfront

Speaker, Geraldine Fela, Macquarie University

Short Bio

Abstract 

On 7 April 1998, security guards entered Patrick stevedoring shipping terminals across Australia and escorted the unionised workforce out of the gates. With the backing of the conservative Howard government, Chris Corrigan, the managing director of Patrick Stevedores, sacked and locked out 1400 waterside workers—all of them members of the militant Maritime Union of Australia (MUA). In response to the sackings, the MUA and the broader trade union movement organised a mass industrial, political and legal campaign. Ports across the nation played host to scenes of mass public participation in picket lines, demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience.

As the evidence mounted that that the federal government had not only backed Corrigan, but been intricately involved in orchestrating the lockout, community concern grew - as did pressure for a speedy resolution to the dispute. On May 7, following a High Court ruling, MUA wharfies marched back to work. The MUA had not been broken, but its members returned to the waterfront with diminished conditions. As part of the deal, the union dropped its case alleging that the government had conspired with Patricks to fire the workforce. Both sides claimed victory.

The so-called ‘war on the wharves’ transfixed the public and holds an important place in the collective memory of the trade union movement. Until now however, it is has not been subject to sustained scholarly examination. Drawing on both archival research and interviews with Howard government ministers, this paper will examine the complex political machinations and alleged conspiracy that led to the lockout, consider some of the crucial junctures in the dispute, and offer some preliminary discussion around the legacy and contemporary significance of this landmark moment in Australia’s political and industrial history.