Unions hold government hostage after NSW elections

Electricity privatisation is in the coffin, on its way to the funeral, with the resounding defeat of the NSW Liberals in the state election on March 28.

Labor had withdrawn Treasurer Michael Egan's plans to privatise, after unions mobilised within the Labor Party, to get the numbers to vote it down at State Conference in 1997.

Conventional wisdom is that Labor can't win elections if it seems to be dominated by union interests. But Labor now has an increased majority. The unions made a case that electricity privatisation was against broader common interests, as well as against the specific interests of power industry workers. And the unions conducted a determined campaign to beat privatisation. They didn't limit themselves to a run of the mill, protest and then end up tolerating defeat. This was a rare group of public sector workers, in that their key unions are affiliated to the Labor Party.

Carr's main election plank mantra was law and order, and the best thing about Carr on this, is that he wasn't as punishing as Chikarovski and the Liberals. NSW Industrial law is the most favourable in Australia to the unions at the moment, not to be sneezed at either, and something which a Liberal government would certainly have tried to change. However, Carr is unashamedly pro-business, has made cuts in the public sector, and puts a high priority on a balanced budget, so we can expect there will be issues to take up with NSW Labor.

So, AWL raises some questions for readers to consider.

What other issues could we campaign for a Labor commitment on, during this term in office?

How about a campaign for more public sector unions to affiliate to the ALP, and have a say in effective policies to defend and develop the public sector?

What dirty tricks could the NSW Government come up with, to make power generation in public ownership work as if it were privatised?

How can we help prepare to defend against those dirty tricks?