Across Australia, rallies and protests occurred in support of Ark Tribe, the South Australian building worker who had to attend court again in Adelaide on Friday 30 October.
The AUSTRALIAN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION (ABCC), created by the Howard Liberal government and maintained by the Rudd / Gillard Labor government, is taking Ark to court for refusing to participate in an interrogation by the building industry’s industrial police force.
CFMEU member Ark Tribe faces 6 months jail for refusing to provide information against other workers to the ABCC when he was questioned about a safety meeting that occurred in 2008.
In Adelaide building workers surrounded the Adelaide Magistrates Court in a show of support for Ark. CFMEU South Australia secretary Martin O’Malley told the rally that "the ABCC is seeking to penalise workers who’ve committed no crimes, while companies continue to get away with appalling rates of workplace death and injury due to shortcuts on safety. The sickening irony is that workers are regularly killed and injured by company negligence, but it’s workers who face jail if they stop work after a fatality."
In Sydney workers marched through the Central Business District to the ABCC’s offices in Castlereagh Street.
In Melbourne, the Victorian Building Industry unions conducted a rally outside the ABCC Headquarters at 553 St Kilda Road.
All rallies and unions reaffirmed the promise of national industrial action if Ark is jailed. Ark is currently on bail and his next court appearance has been postponed to December.
Send your solidarity message to Ark and the CFMEU
Read more at the CFMEU South Australia site
Read more at the Victorian Trades Hall site
Across Australia, rallies and protests occurred in support of Ark Tribe, the South Australian building worker who had to attend court again in Adelaide on Friday 30 October.
The AUSTRALIAN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION (ABCC), created by the Howard Liberal government and maintained by the Rudd / Gillard Labor government, is taking Ark to court for refusing to participate in an interrogation by the building industry’s industrial police force.
CFMEU member Ark Tribe faces 6 months jail for refusing to provide information against other workers to the ABCC when he was questioned about a safety meeting that occurred in 2008.
In Adelaide building workers surrounded the Adelaide Magistrates Court in a show of support for Ark. CFMEU South Australia secretary Martin O’Malley told the rally that "the ABCC is seeking to penalise workers who’ve committed no crimes, while companies continue to get away with appalling rates of workplace death and injury due to shortcuts on safety. The sickening irony is that workers are regularly killed and injured by company negligence, but it’s workers who face jail if they stop work after a fatality."
In Sydney workers marched through the Central Business District to the ABCC’s offices in Castlereagh Street.
In Melbourne, the Victorian Building Industry unions conducted a rally outside the ABCC Headquarters at 553 St Kilda Road.
All rallies and unions reaffirmed the promise of national industrial action if Ark is jailed. Ark is currently on bail and his next court appearance has been postponed to December.
Send your solidarity message to Ark and the CFMEU
Read more at the CFMEU South Australia site
Read more at the Victorian Trades Hall site
