'Rent-a-crowd' Corrigan called us
protesters lamenting diminishing democracy
but on Swanson Dock solidarity.
Picket lines of feisty gran'mas, compatriot mums
and kids who know the ropes
workers strong as tree trunks set up food tents
weld the barricades, light camp fires
build a stage for sound and song
poems and angry speeches
and for the dogged long-night-shifters
Portaloos, old arm chairs
blankets and banana lounges.
Wharfies rise to picket crisis
1400 locked out of their jobs
comrades rally to give support
unions, celebrities, politicians
workers, pensioners, supporters
lend their reputations to fame and history
to unionism's defining moment.
Turkish dancers link hands
circle burning braziers
tribal drums pound to say
'we are strong, here to stay – MUA !
Old-timers sip their tea and yarn
police peer through high-wire gates
count the growing numbers
sausages sizzle, mashed potato
bread rolls shared
giant vats of steaming soup
served up by cooks
called 'food-not-bombs'
always there, lending themselves
to the feeding of multitudes hungry belly.
Names burgeon on the telephone tree
thousands 'on call' at short notice
building numbers, hoping to deter
impending police intervention -
it's unity at the picket.
Billy Bragg blares out
over sprawling grey docklands
reminding all who wait
Australia has not lost solidarity.
Those who care for the unions
who care for our future
lend their bodies
lock their arms in training drills
positive resistance, peaceful protest
and we know the solid ground
on which we stand, is right
is true, is lawful.
Justice Beech calls us 'criminal'
'violent', 'causing mayhem'
serves his order that 'nobody'
(picketers, media, politicians, citizens)
'nobody' is to come within 200 metres
of Patrick's stevedoring docks.
In short, an injunction to ban
freedom of association
excluding everyone on the planet
from Patrick's docks
an injunction, retracted later
by the good judge - amid much ridicule -
when a tug-boat captain waiting to dock
said 'this law prevents me
from bringing my ship into Patrick's dock.
He declines to move his boat
wharfies cheer another small victory.
Around Australia's ports
confrontation erupts
citizens face capsicum spray
police horse, riot squads and batons.
And in Victoria, security in black
black-suited, jack-booted
balaclava'd thugs lock out unionists
escort the 'scabs' in
non-unionists replace wharfies on the docks
with chains and dogs
security vermin stares back mute
from behind a sea of faces
shouting hard questions.
Workers suffer the consequences
of a 'red-neck' government
colluding with 'low-life'
with corporation
and a militant Farmers Federation.
But all the angst fades to joy
when Judge North breathes justice
into our hearts
“reinstate the wharfies” he orders
and we chant John Howard's
own words back to him
“OBEY THE LAW
OBEY THE LAW" -
reinstate the wharfies little Johnny.
Pamela Sidney 1998
