Unions & IR

DEMON DIALLER: Convicted thug Craig Johnston calls 3AW to deny thuggery at West Gate picket, blames “Tongans”

Craig Johnston, a former ultra-left union official at the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, with multiple criminal convictions for crimes of violence at workplaces during industrial disputes, bravely called in this morning on Neil Mitchell’s show on 3AW.

Johnston called in to assure Neil and his listeners that it was “Tongan thugs” employed by the boss who were the only people engaging in any violence.

Mitchell – or more likely one of his crew – came to realise that it was not just “Craig, the building worker” phoning in but the notorious Craig Johnston, whose enthusiasm for going the biff landed him jail for the best part of a year. He was sentenced to two years and nine months, but had a good lawyer and served only nine months with the rest suspended. Despite the two years jail-time still hanging over him, Johnston is apparently still attending pickets where violence reigns.

Johnston hailed from the militant “Workers First” faction of the AMWU Metals division that also supports current ceremonial AMWU Victoria state secretary Steve Dargavel, a former federal MP whose demands to be given another federal seat from the Socialist Left are currently causing all sorts of tensions within their faction.

Dargavel was elected on the old parliamentary pension scheme for two years before losing his Canberra seat. He is hopeful that if he’s elected, say, to the federal seat of Scullin, that he would be able to return to that more generous arrangement, giving him millions of reasons to want to return to politics.

Read on to see Craig Johnston make a complete goat of himself:

3AW Thursday 16 April 2009 – Neil Mitchell
Craig Johnston / union thuggery
NM: Couple of calls on West Gate and then we’ll move on. In the first half hour of the program there’ve been issues of allegations of union thuggery. We’ve got a six week dispute running down on the West Gate, it’s delaying the suicide barriers, it’s delaying work to West Gate which will make Melbourne work properly. I’ve had a former employee say he’s been directly threatened and his family threatened. This is unacceptable, by any definition. You’ll always have union disputes, you don’t have to behave like this. Craig, hello Craig.

Craig: Yeah Neil how ya goin’ mate. Mate, I’m one of those workers down here and the only violence I’ve seen, I can give you some names mate, was (delay button pushed) has hired some Tongan thugs there …

NM: Hang on, hang on Craig, hang on. I’m not letting you put any names to air at this stage. What are you alleging?

Craig: I’m not alleging, I’ll telling you yesterday …

NM: Well you are alleging, alleging means you’re making claims. What are you claiming?

Craig: That (delay button pushed) thugs, that is bouncers, not security people, to break … there was 200 police that pushed people who were peacefully protesting …

NM: Peacefully?

Craig: Yeah peacefully Neil, there’s no-one down here on motorbikes and all that nonsense, and we better get back to the issue – there’s 38 workers who were sacked for the simple reason they signed, their democratic right to say we reject an agreement that Hollands put before us that the specific unit they were working for which was the labour hire company …

NM: OK

Craig: … put an agreement forward, they said we accept it, Hollands weren’t happy so they said, we’re sacking ‘em all.

NM: OK

Craig: … surely you’re entitled to have an opinion and say, we don’t want to work under those conditions.

NM: Of course you’re entitled to have an opinion Craig. What you’re not entitled to do is to threaten people, attempt to intimidate them, attack the buses they’re using to get them to work, and to threaten their families. That’s what you’re not entitled to do and that’s what’s been happening.

Craig: Well that’s not true Neil.

NM: Well the police, the courts will decide in the case of five people but five people have been charged.

Craig: That’s right the courts will decide that.

NM: So you’re saying there’s never been any threats?

Craig: There’s been no threats, there was no buses, we were down there, we’ve been there the last four days, I’ve been down again this morning, I’m on the bridge at the moment, and we’re down there …(inaudible)…police, under the bridge at Sardine Street, where there are four empty Budget trucks, and a couple of security guards – so where are these so-called workers? Where are these workers that have been stopped from coming to work? It’s a nonsense. (inaudible) on a bus.

NM: And you’re just one of the workers are you?

Craig: I’m one of the supporters mate, I’m a construction worker that’s currently on annual leave and I’m coming out here each day to support ‘em. I don’t own a motorbike.

NM: You’re what sort of worker did you say?

Craig: I’m a construction worker.

NM: OK, and you’re in which union?

Craig: I’m in both the AMWU, the metal workers, and the CFMEU.

NM: Have you ever been a union official?

Craig: Have I been a union official? I have in the past, yeah.

NM: Is that Craig Johnston?

Craig: Well what difference does that make Neil?

NM: Well it’s very relevant, given your history.

Craig: Oh, ok, …

NM: You’re a bloke who’s …

Craig: What about your history Neil?

NM: I’ve got a dreadful history, but I haven’t been charged with rushing through a building smashing it up in the middle of a union dispute.

Craig: Well so what?

NM: Well what was the penalty to you Craig? What penalty did you receive for that?

Craig: (hangs up).

NM: Craig hung up because he’s Craig Johnston. I’ll tell you more about Craig Johnston in a moment. This is the bloke who’s telling us there’s no thuggery going on down there. I’ll tell you just a little bit about Craig Johnston.

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