In effect the final deal maintained the MUA’s presence on the wharves and was a morale boost to workers everywhere. At the same time Patrick locked out its own unionised workforce, starting what was to become a four-month "peaceful protest" at Webb Dock. The strongest opposition to Corrigan's actions was recorded not in Queensland, where the MUA leadership emphasised a public relations campaign, but in Victoria. For Coombs to declare in the first week of August on reaching a final agreement with Patrick "We took the thing right to the wire, but in the end we got exactly what we wanted"[xix] or for Combet to claim that "Overall, we are extremely pleased"[xx] is an indicator that what mattered to the MUA leadership was its continued industrial role at Patrick's, not what conditions members were now required to work under. Throughout April warehouse workers from the big supermarket chains, building and construction workers, truck drivers, metalworkers, and coal miners all took action and turned up in large contingents to lend support to the wharfies' cause. The deal is also a setback for union power on the waterfront. February-March. Both of these occurred even before the sackings. We are an organisation that fights in workplaces, communities, and on campuses against the exploitation and injustices that working class people face. Instead, as the campaign progressed, Reith's smug pronouncements began to sound phonier. This inevitably meant that power gravitated to the national office. [xxiii] One PCS scab commented bitterly: "The union proved it, didn't they? The second factor that counts against the leadership's strategy was that it was extremely risky even on its own terms. 2 April If the waterfront had been completely shut down, would the Government have simply brought in the army to shift goods? Despite this demoralising experience, a crowd of four hundred showed up at Camp Solidarity on the following morning in the expectation that this time we were going to establish a proper picket to stop all trucks moving in and out of the Patrick's operations. And at business forums, Reith set out his agenda for busting the country's key unions. A gathering employer offensive against unionism was stopped in its tracks. A cobbled-together deal through the courts and administrators was far preferable to the ALP leadership (as well as the MUA and ACTU leaders) than a devastating defeat for Reith and Howard, as it pushed the prospect of open class war back to the margins. Firstly the MUA proved that they were still a serious force to be reckoned with on the docks. February-March It will mean reviving a socialist current within the labour movement that recognises that there is no room for co-operation with employers and their governments (of whatever political description), one that champions the interests of ordinary workers over those of profit, and that understands that only militant and determined struggle can deliver results. Inspiring as the struggle was on the docks, however, the campaign fell short of what was necessary to deliver a stunning victory to the MUA. Available on the web at: www-personal.buseco.monash.edu.au/~svensen/chronol.html. The Government and business mobilisation behind Patrick Stevedores created a situation in which the ACTU leadership simply could not afford to let the MUA be driven into isolation and destruction. The Metalworkers, one of Australia's most militant, had been shifting in this direction since the late 1970s. The MUA members were then reinstated to the wharves. 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