Australia: McArthur Express workers face up to 10 years jail for protesting

The charges against Coenradi and Moore—affray, intimidating a police officer and resisting arrest—bear no resemblance to what actually happened on September 26, after the company went into liquidation, locked its gates and sacked more than 700 workers without notice, entitlements or payment of wages owing to them.

On that day, a group of workers gathered at the McArthur Express depot in Seven Hills to seek access to their lockers, as well as obtain information and termination documents from the company, without which they could not apply for unemployment benefits. After peacefully entering the depot, they agreed to leave the premises and assembled at the front gate.

The state Labor government’s response was to mobilise about 30 police, including plainclothes and riot squad officers with dogs, to protect the company and ensure that trucks and other vehicles could leave the property.