By Steve Rogers
CANBERRA — Opponents of the ACT branch of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) are attempting to cut their losses following the resignation of one of their supporters from the position of branch assistant secretary. The resignation comes at a time of extreme pressure on the CPSU Challenge leadership, which won branch elections in late 1993.
The branch's opponents, in the union's national leadership and elsewhere, used a report in the November 4 Canberra Times to launch a several-pronged attack.
The resignation of Celia Pollard, elected on the former incumbents' Alliance ticket, was not unexpected. She was not the Alliance's preferred candidate in the 1993 elections, and as such had not been expected to win. Following the rejection of leading Alliance figures at the polls, she was propelled into the limelight by the national union leadership of Peter Robson and Wendy Caird, hoping to groom her as a future challenger to branch secretary Cath Garvan.
Pollard was then placed in a difficult situation, for example being elected as national deputy president in May on non-ACT votes while scoring poorly in her home town. The issues came to a head at the ACT mass meeting to consider the national executive proposal on a 1995 pay and conditions claim. The national leadership left Pollard to present their position to a meeting which rejected it by 66 votes to 317.
For Pollard the alternative to resignation was to spend the next two years doing the national leadership's dirty work in the ACT branch, and then face defeat at the polls.
Agency bargaining
ACT Government Service agency bargaining has been difficult. At the time of the new leadership taking office at the beginning of 1994, the negotiations were well under way. The early versions of those agreements pointed to severe losses of conditions — a result of the close association between the then Public Sector Union leaders and the ACT Labor government.
The incoming Challenge team was forced to fight a rearguard battle to eliminate the worst aspects of the separate service deal, which created an independent ACT public service from July 1.
Throughout the first half of the year, union members made it clear that the separate service issue was much more important than agency bargaining.
With the separate service in place, immense pressure was put on the ACT branch of the CPSU to accept the agency bargain. While the union has been able to modify it in some areas, it still has a number of shortcomings. Members' meetings are currently being held to consider this.
At the same time as members unite behind the union's stand of defending jobs and conditions, an unholy alliance of opposition to the branch has included:
- the ACT Government Service, which is waiting to implement a jobs and conditions-slashing exercise as soon as the February 1995 ACT elections are out of the way;
- several unions led by the AFMEU (Automotive, Food, Metals and Engineering Union) which sought to fund members' pay rises through loss of conditions of CPSU members;
- the Industrial Relations Commission;
- the Australian Services Union, which is waiting in the wings to poach CPSU members;
- opponents of the ACT branch leadership, both within the branch and in the leadership of the national union.
A November 2 combined unions bulletin was prepared by the AFMEU and endorsed by ALHMWU (Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers), CFMEU (Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union) and APESMA (Associaiton of Professional Engineers and Scientists, Australia). This stated, "Members may have been wondering what has happened to their pay rises negotiated from the new ACT Government Enterprise Agreement. Whilst the date of effect in July, 1994, has been guaranteed, we have been delayed and frustrated in getting this wage rise into your pay packet, by the CPSU."
While this and several other charges in the bulletin are groundless, they reflect the determination of the ALP-led unions to begin a public fight with the CPSU ACT branch, including encouraging other unions to poach members.
TLC
A recent contributing factor to the anti-CPSU campaign was the election of a CFMEU-led ticket for ACT Trades and Labour Council full-time positions. The October 22 TLC meeting voted 54 to 53 to elect CFMEU executive member Jeremy Pyner as secretary for the next four years.
This was partly due to the highly undemocratic character of TLC representation. With more than 17,000 members, making up nearly half the total affiliated numbers, the ACT CPSU has 13 delegates, only around 10% of the total.
One proposal for the November 24 CPSU ACT annual general meeting is that the union reduce its TLC affiliation to around 3000 — those employed by the ACT local government. This would save over $50,000 a year affiliation fees but still entitle the union to seven or eight delegates.
According to the November 4 Canberra Times, "Both Ms Caird and TLC secretary Jeremy Pyner said they would be concerned if the union chose to adopt a motion requiring Ms Garvan to prepare a report recommending disaffiliation". Aside from the incorrect reference to disaffiliation, this report suggests that the national CPSU may be planning to intervene once again in the ACT branch on a purely local issue.
Last time the national union intervened in the ACT to change the direction of agency bargaining, then national secretary Peter Robson was forced into a humiliating back-down by unanimous delegate opposition. If Caird launches a further intervention, all indications are she would find a similar response. A number of members are already wondering whether Caird's presence as a delegate to the recent ALP national conference was a precursor to a proposal for CPSU affiliation to the ALP.
At a deeper level, however, the apparently united assault on the CPSU by ALP "hard left" unions is laying the basis for the complete destruction of effective unionism in the ACT.