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When Reith Came to Town

Newcastle Trades Hall secretary Gary Kennedy gives the real story behind last week's 'attack' on Peter Reith's car

	Gary Kennedy

***********

On Friday the 13th of July Newcastle witnessed an out-pouring of rage at Peter Reith the ex-minister for Industrial Relations. This is now being used to justify a political assault on the trade union movement.

The images of protestors throwing food and lashing out at Senator Tierney's car in which Peter Reith was travelling are now being said to have convinced the federal Cabinet to call a Royal Commission into the Building Industry.

A peaceful assembly turned ugly within 30 seconds and while the Union movement does not condone or encourage violence an explanation of sorts is required.

The visit by Peter Reith was not made public and in fact the NSW Police were not given any prior warning that Reith would be in town. This was confirmed when a single local officer came to the protest site and enquired as to what was going on

This police officer was then very quickly whisked inside the ADI site by a person who was identified as a Security Officer with the Reith entourage.

There was a definite 20-25 minute lapse before vehicles thought to contain Peter Reith approached the front gate of the ADI complex. The crowd was focussed on these vehicles and most of the Union officials present were at the front gate to control the situation.

Senator Tierney's car then appeared from a side entrance and accelerated down the road which runs parallel to the front entrance. Numerous workers were eating sandwiches, pies etc which had just been purchased from a mobile sandwich van that turns up lunch time every day.

One protester stood with his back to the vehicle and was hit in the back of the legs by Senator Tierney's vehicle. It was moving very slowly but enough to knock him off balance and he rolled onto the bonnet of the vehicle.

The crowd eating lunch immediately started throwing food at the vehicle but when the majority of the protesters turned around it appeared that a protester had been hit by the vehicle and they reacted immediately.

Senator Tierney's vehicle stopped momentarily and then slowly moved forward before accelerating through the rest of the crowd and on down the road.

The original two vehicles now proceeded out of the front gate of ADI and unfortunately a couple of people struck out at those vehicles as well causing some minor damage.

I immediately grabbed the microphone and dispersed the crowd and was then confronted by the assembled media.

The protest was an ad hoc affair organised through e-mails and mobile phones and was not the responsibility of any of the Unions that were present, nor the Newcastle Trades Hall.

The Union officials realised that the crowd were a bit pumped up and that is why we were all at the front of the crowd and not where the incident finally occurred

The violence was not pre-planned and exploded after what appeared to the crowd to be a protester being run into by Senator Tierney's vehicle

The NSW Police confirmed that they were not notified and Reich's security person did not attempt to seek NSW Police assistance despite their only being one entrance to ADI and a single street by which to enter and leave. (NOT a NSW Police problem and no blame attached to them)

All of the Unions present have condemned the violence but are all of the same opinion that this visit was either the worst case of a security stuff up, or an intentional provocation of the crowd for the media.

Despite the allegation that this was an organised attack on Reith by the CFMEU the ad hoc nature of the protest meant there were minimal numbers of CFMEU members present

The Unions present were MUA, CFMEU, AMWU and some other members from other Unions but not in great numbers and the total present was in the order of 150

The Newcastle Trades Hall Council will ensure at all future rallies/protests that if they are not sponsored and controlled by an individual Union we will step in and take control.

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  Issue 103 contents

»	Survey Shows Majority Support for Unions
»	Howard's Union Stooge in Hot Water
»	Unions Cash in on Big Brother
»	Big Boys Bully Over Della Compo Changes
»	Where's WorkCover? Safety Prosecutions Drop Off
»	Telstra's Ultimatum: Stay Away From Kim
»	Workers Win Stake in New Bank
»	Hours Test Case Gets Green Light
»	St John of God Workers Pray for Justice
»	Five-Star Action From Security Guards
»	Howard Plans to Stop the Vote
»	Rio Outrage Heads for Court
»	Nurses To Fight For Pay
»	One Hundred Reasons to Save Aussie Post
»	Rail Track Sell-Off Part of Privatisation Push
»	Coles Myer Abandons Regional Jobs
»	Qld Wage Rise Still Not Enough
»	Activists Notebook

»	The Soapbox
»	The Locker Room
»	Trades Hall
»	Tool Shed

»	Problems with Hunter Decision
»	A Lost Cause
»	High Farce

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