https://melbourneunitarian.org.au/files/beacons/Beacon-2020-11.pdfIn order to understand the propaganda being
disseminated by Patrick Corporation and the
federal government around the waterside dispute in
Sydney, it is important to recall the last time Patrick
Corporation decided to take on the union. There
were hard-to-forget tactics used by this company
against its workers then. Cast your minds back to
1998, when that company decided to sack its entire
waterside workforce.
Remember the hooded thugs,
the vicious dogs,
the lockout, the scabs imported
to take the place of unionised workers? Do you
also recall the generous support offered by the
then Minister for Industrial Relations in the Howard
government, Peter Reith, in all of this illegal activity?
The Australian waterfront dispute of 1998 was
an event in Australian industrial relations history,
in which the Patrick Corporation undertook a
restructuring of their operations for the purpose
of dismissing their workforce. The restructuring
by Patrick Corporation was later ruled illegal by
Australian courts.
– ABC news report on the Waterfront Dispute,
April 1998