Solidarity

Put this in your diary: the ABC’s new drama, Bastard Boys, will screen in two parts at 8:30pm on Sunday, 13 May and Monday, 14 May.

The show tells the story of the War on the Waterfront, in which the Howard Government ganged up with a stevedoring company to try to smash the Maritime Workers Union. Union members were sacked en masse and replaced with scab labour. The community united to defend the union and after a protracted struggle the union-busting attempt was defeated.

The drama has been developed based on interviews with key players on all sides of the dispute, and unionists were called in as extras to recreate the picket scenes. It promises to be a very interesting show — and will remind people that WorkChoices is just the latest stage in the Howard Government’s ideological, anti-union crusade.

Update: The Autumn 2007 edition of the Maritime Workers Journal includes an interesting article about Bastard Boys.