[back to June-July 2001 front page]
By Leon Parissi
The fight in NSW against the Carr government's slashing of workers' comp has led to unprecedented scenes such as the blockade/picket of Parliament House on 19 June. It might be hard for some to imagine a worse relationship existing between the organised workers' movement in NSW and 'its' ALP government.
The Australian on 21 June overstated the situation when claiming that: "The union movement today began withdrawing support from the NSW branch of the ALP over the state government's push to reform the workers' compensation scheme."
This observation was prompted by the announcement that the NSW Fire Brigade Employees Union (FBEU) would disaffiliate from the ALP. Many on the left hailed this as correct move. The example of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) of Great Britain is also cited. The FBU is incorrectly said to have disaffliated from Britain's New Labour. In fact the FBU chose to use its political fund differently. Matt Wrack of the FBU and a Socialist Alliance supporter explains in a letter to the British Socialist Alliance Executive Committee:
"I believe that posing the question in terms of democratising the Political Funds can greatly strengthen a campaign on this issue. Democratising the funds means firstly that the union should no longer give unconditional support to Labour. This is an argument we can win with the rank and file. It is based on allowing the fullest debate within the union on the politics of the various organisations asking for support without pre-judging that debate. If Labour supporters want to argue for support for their candidates then so be it, as long as the same rights are granted equally to other working class organisations. In this way we can argue that politics within the union should become a real area of debate and discussion rather than simply a process of handing cheques over to Labour without any discussion with the members."
The FBU motion reads in part: "Conference agrees that the Fire Brigades Union Political Fund will in future be used to support candidates and organisations whose policies are supportive of the policies and principles of this Union. This may include candidates and organisations who stand in opposition to New Labour so long as they uphold policies and principles in line with those of the Fire Brigades Union." NSW Fire fighters
There have been many examples of union disaffiliation or withholding of affiliation fees in Australian labour history. Many of these fall into the category of bureaucratic posturing to the membership, of appearing to stand up to the latest 'sell out' ALP government. Often these same officials will maintain their own positions in the ALP hierarchy. This posturing reveals the real purpose of such manoeuvres. Many union officials are only interested in maintaining the well-worn path to parliamentary sinecure. A good example is Minister for Industrial Relations and chief architect of the government's Workers' Comp legislation, John Della Bosca, who hails from the same Labour Council that today he is doing battle against. Over the Workers' Comp issue in NSW the Fire fighters have taken a stronger position from the FBU in Britain and said they will disaffiliate from the ALP. While this action does not appear to fall into the category of posturing according to the Australian newspaper on 21 June the real situation reveals a tactical consideration similar to their British comrades:
"NSW Fire Brigade Employees Union state secretary Darryl Snow said a meeting of firefighters had voted to disassociate the union from the NSW ALP until Premier Bob Carr was no longer at the helm. "We will disassociate ourselves until such time that Bob Carr is no longer the parliamentary leader of the NSW branch of the Australian Labor Party," he said."
Some right-wingers in the ALP would welcome the end of union affiliation for they want to take the same road as Britain's New Labour and become US-style Democrats, an open party of business. A victory for such forces would be an enormous defeat for the working class. But the question remains for the fire fighters - where will they put their efforts at political representation? (Continued on page 19) T
Unions picket NSW parliament
For unions to take the organisational step and disaffiliate from the ALP is not necessarily a forward step for the class. To be outside the party which unions established in order to give them political representation and in which unions still control 60% of the vote at policy making conferences is a big decision to take. The ALP is still the only party which avowedly claims to represent workers' interests which can realistically form a government. It would make sense to fight within the ALP and within the Labor Council for campaigns and policies which advance workers' interests. For instance the fight to hold a special ALP Conference to decide the issue could have been fought more vigorously and that fight is not over yet. Would those on the left who welcome union disaffiliation argue against the holding of a special conference on the Workers' Comp issue? To do so puts them in the same camp as the ALP right-wingers.
The General Secretary of the Public Service Association in an open email to delegates suggested that the PSA should affiliate to the ALP. He implied that the fight to defend Workers Comp would be strengthened from within the ALP. The impact of a 40,000 member union, nominally left-wing, could tip the balance of forces in the NSW ALP conferences. This would be opposed by the right-wing who now dominate. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be a serious move as the membership most likely would defeat affiliation - from a conservative, apolitical position.
The call for a special conference of the ALP on workers' compensation should be supported by all socialists. It is sectarian clinging to a shibboleth about the death of the ALP as part of the labour movement to refuse to support this call, and to counterpose disaffiliation. The reason that the electricity industry in NSW is not privatised is precisely because the unions who opposed it managed to defeat Carr and Egan at a NSW ALP Conference.
No small victory. Workers' Comp 14 years ago
NSW Labor lost government after the 1987 workers' compensation amendments that it imposed, cutting workers' entitlements to reduce the cost of the scheme to employers. South Coast Labor Council workers struck for 24 hours then too. Two key differences between 1987 and 1991 are that this time NSW Labor Council opposes the deal and has organised against it, whereas last time they helped to impose it. And last time there was a representative of the workers in parliament, George Petersen, member for Illawarra, who was expelled from the Labor Party for crossing the floor to vote against the legislation. It was partly because of George's stand that the South Coast workers took their decision to strike despite being isolated by the NSW Labor Council.
If the two sources of opposition were simultaneous - both the workers' representative in the Labor caucus, and NSW Labor Council organising workers action against the changes - then the mix would have much more explosive potential for radicalising the face of working-class politics in NSW, than either source of opposition has had by itself.
George Petersen did not appeal against his expulsion from the ALP, he said "because in my view, the ALP organisation is now so corrupt and bankrupt that such a move would not mobilise the mass of workers." (letter to Socialist Fight, August 1987). He went on to say, "It seems to me that the way forward is to organise the workers outside the ALP structure rather than pursuing the chimera of appealing against my expulsion. For that reason I am taking steps to form the Illawarra Labor Party (ILP), to be based upon a socialist program as a field where socialists can work. Formation of such a party is feared by the ALP establishment. If we are successful we will certainly extend to other areas. We will just have to wait and see."
Unfortunately the ILP was not a great success. George, even with his personal following and strong record of supporting workers in the Illawarra, did not get close to winning enough votes to be elected to parliament for the ILP. The simplistic calls by the DSP to disaffiliate from the ALP, even with a socialist platform, do not provide a basis to transform the actually existing labour movement. The unions and their delegations to ALP conferences are not properly accountable to the workers they are supposed to represent. Accountability and democracy within the movement that has the loyalty of workers is an important part of changing working-class consciousness about politics. An organisational split with Labor in anger at an obvious betrayal is an empty gesture if it is not accompanied by a perspective of challenging the politics of accommodation to capital, and the lack of democracy and accountability within the labour movement. At present neither the Socialist Alliance nor its affiliated organisations hold the possibility of being an alternative government to the ALP or a pole of attraction for affiliation
What we said in 1987:
Socialist Fight wrote an open letter to George Petersen urging him to appeal against his expulsion from the ALP for breaking caucus and voting against ALP Premier Barrie Unsworth's reduction of workers' compensation entitlements. Here is an excerpt.
"The campaign to defend workers compensation is opposed by the NSW Labor Council, and has been carried out by union branches on the south Coast in isolation from their whole unions, even though many of them reject the legislation. "You are helping to break down that isolation because you are in the largest forum of the labour movement, the ALP. "You are in a position to help mount a campaign to tackle some of the central problems which the Australian working class faces in defending it self during these hard times. The working class needs unions and union leaders who are resolute in standing up for the interests of the rank and file, and not giving in to blackmail from Labor Governments. And the working class needs a party which can rule in its interests, not the interests of the profiteers behind the destruction of workers compensation.
"Union leaders are hiding behind the Labor Governments, when they should be standing up to them. Union leaders would have us believe that they can't do anything about Labor's attacks and sell-outs. Some talk of disaffiliation, others like the Miners don't even send delegates to conferences. But in combination the unions have hundreds of votes on ALP state conferences, on ALP committees, and union leaders even have votes in ALP factions. They could and they should insist that Labor defend the interests of the working class. Even a few union leaders prepared to do this now, could build enough support to win some important issues within the ALP relatively quickly.
"You could provide an opportunity for these union leaders to show where they stand by taking your expulsion to ALP state conference. Rank and file members of affiliated unions could invite you to address meetings to ask for them to pursue a policy of committing their unions to vote against your expulsion at next year's State Conference. Many ALP branches and bodies would vote to defend you, starting with the 3 who endorsed your stand in advance, Mount Kembla, Warrawong and NSW Young Labor."