An International Call to Support the Australian Wharfies!

On the 7th of April, 1998 the Patrick Stevedore Co. fired over 2000 Australian Longshore "wharfies". This is another major step in international capitalism's attack on all working people's standards of living.

Using the defeat of the Liverpool dockers to break longshore and other maritime unions everywhere, international corporations are attacking dockers unions in Brazil, Holland, Japan and now Australia. To the corporations and their governments, these attacks are important to boost and maintain the profits they make. To workers everywhere, the attack on the dockers means the beginning of another round of attacks on all of us. If the well organized and often militant dockers unions are broken, it will be easier to impose austerity measures on the rest of the working class.

We must make it stop! We can make it stop in Australia!

The Wharfies have wide support in Australia. In the case of the Liverpool Dockers, the cowardice of the trade unions led to defeat. But the workers of Australia haven't been defeated. In Melbourne over 100,000 people marched in support of the longshore workers. In many port cities, community groups are aiding local longshore pickets.

And solidarity is coming elsewhere. In Japan the national dockworkers federation is refusing to unload Australian cargo. In Los Angeles, longshore workers and 400 community supporters have stopped the unloading of the scab ship Columbus Canada. Support groups are sprouting up along the west coast of the US.

The IWW is calling for international actions of solidarity with the Australian Wharfies. We are asking:

1. Longshore workers: refuse to unload, or go slow unloading, Australian scab cargo.
2. Create support groups to work in conjunction with local dockers unions to prevent unloading of scab loaded ships.
3. Support groups to promote a boycott of all Australian products.
4. Protests in front of Australian embassies and consulates.

The General Executive Board,
Industrial Workers of the World
(IWW or the Wobblies)

The IWW is an international, rank and file, democratic union organized for the abolition of the wage system. We can be contacted at:

Last Modified : May 20, 1998