Start Date
2-10-1999 10:30 AM
End Date
2-10-1999 11:00 AM
Description
The 1992 Associated Pulp and Paper Mill (APPM) dispute offers a microcosm of 1990s industrial conflict, with large companies attempting to re-establish managerial prerogative through litigation and unions seeing the fight as one of survival.' Also, the APPM dispute presents a microcosm of police-community relations during the processes and procedures of a harsh industrial conflict. It is argued that local and regional factors are vital to the relationship between police and union protesters which in tum can affect the processes and outcomes of an industrial dispute, even one with major state and federal implications. The article is not an analysis of the causes of the APPM dispute but an exploration of the police relationship with the community of striking workers and, as a corollary, with the company. The focus of this paper, the community policing of the 1992 APPM dispute at Burnie, was atypical of the traditional, aggressive and confrontational policing of major industrial disputation in Australian history. Some significant events of this complex dispute have been selected to analyse both police strategy and police-community rapport.
Community Police Peacekeeping Amidst Bitter and Divisive Industrial Confrontation: The 1992 APPM Dispute at Burnie
The 1992 Associated Pulp and Paper Mill (APPM) dispute offers a microcosm of 1990s industrial conflict, with large companies attempting to re-establish managerial prerogative through litigation and unions seeing the fight as one of survival.' Also, the APPM dispute presents a microcosm of police-community relations during the processes and procedures of a harsh industrial conflict. It is argued that local and regional factors are vital to the relationship between police and union protesters which in tum can affect the processes and outcomes of an industrial dispute, even one with major state and federal implications. The article is not an analysis of the causes of the APPM dispute but an exploration of the police relationship with the community of striking workers and, as a corollary, with the company. The focus of this paper, the community policing of the 1992 APPM dispute at Burnie, was atypical of the traditional, aggressive and confrontational policing of major industrial disputation in Australian history. Some significant events of this complex dispute have been selected to analyse both police strategy and police-community rapport.