April 15, 1998
Jimmy Donovan
Maritime Union of Australia
365 Sussex Street
Sydney, Australia 2000
Brother Donovan:
International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 8 has been observing the activities associated with World Capital's move to eliminate your Union's stake in the shipping industry.
We understand that Australia is just the latest venture where World Capital has utilized its' control of Government to dismember all worker control in the Industry. Sadly, we wittnessed Great Britain, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Panama and others, fall defenseless in the aftermath of such organized aggression.
Local 8 (and we believe the entire ILWU) recognizes that with the demise of one strong monopoly Union after another, country by country,the strength of the few remaining monopoly Unions that are left is severely reduced.
We have watched the MUA in action before and have been proud of the militant stances that have been taken on critical issues of worldwide implication. In our eyes the MUA is one of the most militant docker Unions in the world; and because of that militancy, the MUA is the one Union that can beat back Capital in its effort to eliminate monopoly Unionism from the trade point of production.
Even with such militancy, the MUA can't do it by themselves. World Capital has a mission: To achieve unencumbered free trade without the hinderance of artificial borders or workers' control of the point of production. To stop that mission will require all the militancy that can be mustered by the few monopoly docker Unions that are left. Japan and the United States must make the MUA's struggle their struggle.
Local 8 stands prepared to do just that. We will do whatever it takes to ensure MUA victory because we know that MUA victory is victory for all dockers throughout the world.
In Solidarity,
Norman Parks
International Executive Board
