Determination sparks Geelong rally for jobs

Vanguard May 2014 p. 8
Alex M and Duncan B

 

On Monday April 7^th nearly 500 people marched through the streets of Geelong. Many were workers and families protesting about the loss of jobs in Geelong due to the impending closure of industries such as Ford and Alcoa.

According to the Brotherhood of St. Lawrence, about 3000 young people between the ages of 16 and 24 in Geelong and district are unemployed. The youth unemployment rate increased by 29% to 14.7% over the last two years and is tipped to reach 19.1% for 2014.

The closure of manufacturing industries has resulted in the loss of entry-level jobs for young people. The problem will only get worse as Ford and Alcoa close down, further reducing the number of apprenticeships available.

A study by the National Institute of Economic and Industry Research predicts that almost 5000 Geelong residents will lose their jobs over the next three years due to the collapse of Victoria’s vehicle manufacturing industry.

At the same time as unemployment is growing in Geelong, and many workers will be looking for re-training, Geelong’s Gordon TAFE College will struggle to assist these workers thanks to massive cuts in State Government funding to the TAFE sector in 2012.

The Gordon’s share of this was a $17 million cut in funding which resulted in the axing of 27 courses and the loss of up to 100 jobs at the Gordon.

The ‘Geelong jobs rally’ showed that working class people are not only tired of the job losses, but that they are also tired of the promises and hand-wringing that seem to be the only responses coming from local, state and federal politicians.

There is a broad understanding in the community that more needs to be done. Also, if the mood of the rally is anything to go by, there is a quiet determination that working class people, unions and other organisations such as the Trades Hall Council in Geelong will persist to turn the current situation around.

The jobs rally started outside the Trades Hall Council, with the Secretary Tim Gooden leading the crowd through chants that were to be hollered out on the march down Moorabool Street. He attacked the Government over lack of action to assist Alcoa workers who will lose their jobs at the end of July.

Part of the way down Moorabool Street (the main street of Geelong) the crowd was addressed by union officials from amongst others, the Australian Education Union, the Australian Workers Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.

The state secretary of the Australian Services Union Ingrid Stitt pointed out that charity was not what Geelong workers wanted; rather they wanted secure jobs and thus a future for themselves and their children.

State Deputy Labor Opposition leader James Merlino heaped the blame for the current demise of manufacturing and other job losses in the region squarely on the shoulders of the current Coalition government led by Dennis Napthine.

Aside from the usual blame game that the representatives of the mainstream bourgeois political parties childishly indulge in, Merlino did however promise increased funding, training and what he called a jobs plan for Geelong.

Whilst the demands put forward by the speakers, many of whom were union officials, all start from acceptance of the social, political and economic conditions of capitalism, it is important that working class people and their allies in the class struggle fight back against the closures and the job losses.

The rally in Geelong was just one small step in the long march to Australian independence and socialism, where planning for the all round development of Australia and its working people will be the ultimate goal.