After a long and successful career as a union official, Assistant Secretary Tommy Watson has retired. (Tribute article from December issue of Construction and General Worker)

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They called them the Three Bears. Tom, Dick and Donnie. And everyone said that Donnie should change his name to Harry so they could be Tom, Dick and Harry.

For many years, Assistant Secretary Tom Watson was better known as part of this trio as he organised with Dick Grey from the ETU and Don Calderwood from the Metalworkers’ union.

“Tommy is part of the industrial history of this city and of this state,” Dick says. “He was part of every major campaign in the last thirty years”

Described as loyal, honest and a fighter for working people by everyone who knows him, Tommy is retiring from the CFMEU at the end of the year, after decades of activism as a member, delegate and union official.

Early battles
Tommy migrated to Australia with his family as a teenager. His early battles were in the streets of the western suburbs where he defended himself and his mates against racist gang attacks.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” he says. “It taught me how to fight.”

Tommy’s work history reads like a map of Melbourne’s industrial heartland in the west. He worked in the Altona petrochemical plant before being transferred to the West Gate Bridge. He worked there for nine months before it collapsed and then returned there in 1972 when work resumed.

West Gate Bridge legacy
He credits the experience of working on the bridge as producing a whole generation of union activists – some of whom went on to become officials.

“Danny Gardiner, Pat Preston, John Cummins and John McPartlin are just a few of the men who worked on the project and went on to play significant roles in the movement.”

He believes that the employer’s insistence that the bridge was safe when it wasn’t and the disastrous consequences of that led to a pronounced militancy of workers.

“When work resumed on the bridge we had to go on strike for seven weeks to get shop stewards on the job. But the support was there, because people realised that left to their own devices, bosses couldn’t be trusted to do the right thing.”

Tommy’s first job as a union official was with the Federated Ironworkers Association. He was one of the leaders of the famous ‘Sit in’ campaign for a 35 hour week at the Altona petrochemical plant.

“Fifty one days that campaign lasted. It was the biggest dispute the state had ever seen. Two thousand workers were involved and six unions. We had Christmas on the picket line.”

In 1990 he headed a ticket to take over the union and lost by a few hundred votes. Valued for his experience and skills as a union official, he was quickly snapped up by the FEDFA which later merged with other unions to form the CFMEU.

Mentors
Tommy credits the influence of Jimmy O’Neill, Tony McGuigan and Neville Hill as playing a major role in his activism.

“Neville actually mentored a whole generation of unionists. He was a highly principled, very skilled negotiator. Even after his retirement, many of us would seek his advice if we had a big problem.”

Tommy believes that the struggle for workers’ rights is eternal and the union movement can never rest on its laurels.

“The bosses are always trying to get away with cutting corners and we have to be out there day in day out, pushing the workers’ agenda. The bosses have money and power and if we weren’t there, many things that we take for granted today, would not exist for working people.”

Senior Vice President Noel Washington was a young union delegate on the Shell refinery when Tommy started as an organiser in the late 1970s. He has been alongside Tommy through turbulent times at the Ironworkers and more successful days with the FEDFA and CFMEU and considers him a mentor and a friend.

“Tommy has a saying ‘Even when a mate fucks up, he’s still a mate’ and I’ve never doubted his commitment to his mates or to the union,” says Noel. “He deserves all the accolades that are heaped on him and deserves to enjoy his retirement - he’s earned it”

“And Tommy’s also the world’s greatest authority on Aussie Rules.  If you’re not sure just ask him.”

Tough negotiator
Known by those who've worked with him as an argumentative man, it is a quality that has held him in good stead at the negotiating table.

CBUS official Danny Gardiner says Tommy was always a tenacious negotiator and worked through every detail of a problem.

“It can drive you nuts as a friend, but in a work situation, he can take negotiations forward and get results without effort.”

As far as regrets go, the only thing Tommy says is that he could have done more.

“The worst thing about this job is the fatalities and the serious injuries. Whenever it happens, I always think how could we have stopped this?”

Victorian Secretary Bill Oliver who has worked with Tommy for nearly 20 years says he is deeply committed to the union movement.

“He came to this union with good experience and he has always acted in the interests of our members.”

National Secretary Dave Noonan says that he values Tommy’s common sense approach and no bullshit attitude.

“He continues to be a Rock of Gibraltar for the national union in his position as president.

“His only big failing is his taste in sport: he supports England in the cricket and Melbourne in the footy.”

Tommy considers himself lucky that he was able to spend so many years helping working people.

“I have always loved my job. Despite the heartache and stress that is part of it, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Tommy believes that the challenges ahead for the CFMEU and the union movement as a whole are many. He concedes that it’s harder now for unions than it was twenty or thirty years ago.

“The anti-union policies and the conservative governments make it much more difficult for unions to do their job.

“Unions must stay relevant and keep core values. We have to look after our members social problems too. It’s not just about representing them on the job.”

Tommy believes that action on climate change is a must and there must be a penalty on polluters.

“Global warming is a reality and we can’t put our heads in the sand. For our children’s and grandchildren’s sake, we must all do our bit and the government must do its bit in adopting measures to tackle this problem.

“Unions will have to play a role in this because, as always, someone has to be in there batting for the worker. And no one does this better than the union.”