Which side are you on, Bill? The following EDITORIAL was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, July 7th, 1999. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. Email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.peg.apc.org/~guardian Subscription rates on request. ****************************** It was to be expected that the death of transport tycoon and multi-millionaire Sir Peter Abeles would make the evening news and front page of the dailies. But among the warm and glowing accolades was one from ACTU Secretary Bill Kelty. But was it such a surprise? "Peter Abeles was a decent and humane person with a vision for this nation that few people have matched ... He was an intelligent, understanding and passionate man who believed in tolerance and fairness", said Bill. He was farewelling a leader of the capitalist class. "He respected those who worked with him, negotiated countless agreements with unions and the ACTU and not once broke his word", said Bill. Bill Kelty conveniently overlooked the fact that his "mate" did break unions. Abeles took a "hands on" approach in the airlines dispute in 1989 when Ansett pilots were seeking a wage rise. At the time Ansett was owned by TNT (with Abeles at the helm) together with Murdoch's News Ltd. Abeles and Murdoch were determined to smash the pilots' union and slash wages and conditions. They used scab pilots from overseas and the RAAF, thanks to the help given by one of Abeles' other "mates" -- Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke. Abeles was confident that Bill Kelty and the ACTU would not intervene to prevent the destruction of the airpilot's trade union that was in conflict with their employer. This was not the first time that Abeles had worked with Murdoch. In 1986 Sir Peter's trucks were Murdoch's key to the distribution of scab newspapers when Murdoch was in dispute with the British print union at Wapping. This was another exercise in union smashing to rob workers of their rights and conditions. Abeles had many other friends, in both Liberal and Labor camps, and was considered to be an extremely influential and generous donor to both parties. And why not both? He had lines into the right-wing of some unions as well as the Labor Party. Labor was in office when executives from TNT were appointed to the NSW State Rail Authority and Maritime Services Board and he was made a Companion in the Order of Australia in 1991. Liberal leader Sir Robert Askin gave him his knighthood while Hawke appointed him to the Reserve Bank Board in 1984. He is paraded as an example of "rags to riches" by hard work -- landing in Australia in 1949, penniless, but one year later running his own trucking company. There have been rumours from time to time, unfounded of course, of organised crime links and reported sightings with mafia connections in the US. "Business Review Weekly" described him as having an "autocratic management style" ("BRW", 200 Rich List 1994). Not all of his business ventures succeeded. An attempt to start a chain of Australian pie shops in Russia and Poland failed. At the time of his death he left behind an estimated $75 million. Abeles is not the only boss that Kelty fraternised with. He was proudly paraded on TV driving around the countryside with truck owner Lindsay Fox. Twenty years ago such close ties between trade union officials and leading capitalists would not have been something to boast about or flaunt publicly. As social-democratic parties such as the ALP moved more and more to the right, class consciousness was replaced by class collaboration. Labor Party leaders such as Hawke and Kelty found no problems in getting into bed with leading members of the capitalist class -- the savage exploiters of the labour of all workers. How did Abeles accumulate $75 million except by the exploitation of the workers he employed? Bob Hawke at Abeles' funeral quoted him as saying that "we have to make it [the system of capitalism] work better". Hawke, Kelty, Abeles and many others have been trying to put that one over for decades. The fact is that Abeles ended up a millionaire while the airpilots got the sack. But that's capitalism as it is. The Guardian 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. 2010 Australia. Email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Website: http://www.peg.apc.org/~guardian -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
