Student unions under attack: defend the right to organise
By Wendy Robertson
On December 19, federal education minister David Kemp announced the government would introduce "voluntary student unionism" (VSU) legislation in this sitting of parliament.
Kemp wants people to believe that the Coalition is standing up for democracy by freeing students from the tyranny of "compulsory" student union membership. His media release stated: "University students on most Australian campuses are currently required to join student associations whether they want to or not. The government will legislate to ensure that all students have the same freedoms on campus that they have off campus."
This is a smokescreen. Kemp and his government have not the slightest interest in "freedom on campus". In fact, if it is introduced, VSU will be a body blow to such freedom.
Rhetoric
A Victorian Liberal Party briefing document leaked in 1994 revealed the party's real agenda with VSU. It stated: "We do not want compulsory student moneys flowing out to anti-Kennett and anti-Coalition campaigns and other fringe activities of the hard student left. Compulsory student unions prop up the left."
Despite the rhetoric of "choice", VSU is really about muzzling student organisations. Its real aim is to undercut the funding base of student organisations and thus paralyse students' ability to fight regressive government policies.
Student unions have come under attack because they have played an important role in supporting a range of progressive campaigns around student and broader social issues. Student unions have been amongst the most vocal opponents of government policy and for the government it's payback time.
To destroy students' ability to oppose regressive government policies, the Coalition has to undermine student organisations' funding base. In the first instance, this means making sure that no money is given to students without tight controls over what it is spent on. This will undermine even the "non-political" work of student organisations.
Choice
The government's main justification for VSU is the supposedly compulsory membership of student organisations, but this is not true. Students already have the right to "opt out" of membership and resign from all student unions.
As the Liberals' briefing paper reveals, the Coalition is not interested in abolishing compulsory fees per se. Rather, it is opposed to those fees ending up in the hands of democratically elected student organisations. This is clear also from Kemp's December 21 media release: "Universities will be able to levy fees directly related to the provision of educational service".
Peter Robson, a Resistance activist and member of the National Union of Students' (NUS) Queensland branch education committee, says: "The ambiguity of this statement could open up possibilities for university administrations to charge more and more fees for all students.
"Where is the democracy in allowing services such as child-care and food to be controlled by unelected, unaccountable administrations, rather than democratically elected student organisations?
"If such fees are to be levied, students should control how they're spent. If the choice is between a service fee which allows student unions to exist or the up-front tuition fees Kemp has in store, which would you prefer?"
Robson argues, "The real attacks on student choices and freedoms are not coming from student organisations but the Liberal government in the form of more fees, fewer staff and fewer courses. It hypocritically rails against so-called compulsory fees for student union membership, yet it is the biggest advocate of introducing real, compulsory fees for undergraduate degrees."
Robson believes the fees will be in the thousands and tens of thousands of dollars.
Lobbying
The Liberals will try to make out that student opposition is just about a few student office-bearers wanting to keep their jobs, but there is a lot more at stake. "We need to show up the real aims of VSU and blow their arguments about 'choice' out of the water", Robson said.
He continued: "If the campaign is going to have any chance of success, it needs to defeat the Coalition politically. The media will not give equal weight to our arguments, so our only chance is to put our arguments forward through a grassroots campaign.
"Ideas are persuasive only when they are backed up by mobilisations which show our commitment to those ideas. Rallies, actions and mass meetings all give us a gauge of how many students we have convinced.
"We cannot wait until the bill hits parliament; we need to get on to the front foot and start organising straightaway."
So far, the Labor-dominated NUS has not organised any student mobilisations against VSU. Its rationale for delaying is that the legislation is unlikely to come before the Senate until May and we must not tire out activists before then.
Evelyn Loh, NUS's national education officer, told a NSW anti-VSU teach-in, "This campaign will not be won or lost on the streets; it will be won through lobbying individual politicians".
NUS is staking its hopes on senators Brian Harradine and Mal Colston voting against the legislation. But these senators (and the Democrat senators for that matter) have already shown that they oppose people's right to organise. In 1996, they all voted for the Coalition's industrial relations legislation, which restricts workers' right to take industrial action.
Winning
"The maritime workers' dispute last year showed that large-scale public support is possible when those under attack take a militant stand. The wharfies were able to expose the undemocratic, anti-worker intentions of the Coalition, and the mass pickets on the wharves gave people an opportunity to show their support for the right to organise", Robson explained.
"In this vein, Resistance members on campuses around the country are working to organise broad opposition to VSU. Resistance is supporting student general meetings on campuses to alert students to the dangers of VSU and construct campus action plans. In many cities, activists will be organising an action against VSU on March 31."
There is an old trade union slogan, "If you don't fight, you loose". The flip side of this is that if you do fight, you just might win.
[Wendy Robertson is the national campus director for Resistance.]