Alex M and Duncan B
On Monday
April 7th 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
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.
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