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Security guards with dogs sack
2000 wharfies
April 8, 1998
THOUSANDS of Sydney unionists will march to Darling Harbour in support
of sacked maritime workers at 10am this morning. At 2pm ACTU President
Jenny George will address the picket at Port Botany. Media are
invited.
Hundreds of police and dogs stormed the wharves under cover of dark last
night as Patrick boss Chris Corrigan sacked his entire 2000 strong
workforce in the middle of the night. In Brisbane waterside worker Peter
Thorburn jumped the fence and hid under a spreader before moving out
onto the dock and sitting quietly ‘Ghandi-style’ in protest:
“Security guards asked me to move and when I refused, saying I was
protecting my enterprise agreement, a big guy came up and got me
in a headlock. The men carried me off, one bending my fingers back
until I thought they would break. Another stuck his thumb in my
neck at the back of my ear and a third bent my right arm behind my back.
It hurt.”
Ian Macyon MUA was manning the watch at the Darling Harbour , Sydney
gates, quietly doing his job when a coach full of security guards
and rottweilers flew through the gates and stormed his lookout
post: “A dozen guards and two dogs ran up the steps shoved a piece of
paper under my nose and said I was terminated.”
Laurie Brown, Darling Harbour said: “There were guards and dogs
everywhere. It was like a military operation. ”MUA delegate,
Darling Harbour, Jake Haub: “We were loading a ship, two gangs
of workers when security guards jumped on the moving cranes and
grabbed the keys. The place was crawling with them, about 100 men and
dogs.”
Down driver Andrew Maguire was on the ship directing the crane when he
saw two men jump onto the moving crane and grab the wheel and told
them to get out, they were sacked. First aid attendant Vince
Micallef said he “heard screams from the foreman and thought
someone had been hurt on the job”. He grabbed the oxygen and his
kit, running out to see the wharves being invaded by guards and
dogs.
Lee Smith was on the forklift at Darling Harbour lifting two containers:
“Two men jumped onto the fork and grabbed the wheel, trying to
yank the key out. It scared me. I thought it might be criminals or
thugs I didn’t know what was going on.”
Johnny Walton said he was pulled off the job and “surrounded by about
50 guards and barking rottweilers.” In Melbourne Anthony J
Cassar was chased by a rottweiller skitched onto him, fell and
hurt his back. In Fremantle MUA branch secretary Terry Buck “held
ground inside the
docks with about 60 other waterside workers until police
arrived.” He said they refused to move out when told by guards
who would not show any identification, but agreed to go peacefully
when police arrived.
In Adelaide MUA members worked through the night at the Patrick
enterprise without interference. In Townsville port secretary
Graham Bragg said only two members stayed back to load fertilizer
when 30 security police and dogs ordered them off. “The worry is
that our men can’t clean the empty containers from Papua New Guinea
and they could have giant African snails on them.
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