[MELBOURNE — On May 11, the Socialist Alliance sponsored a trade union seminar, discussing, among other things, unions and political representation. This question of relating to political parties, and specifically the ALP, has been an increasing focus of discussion among Victorian unionists, particularly since Electrical Trades Union Victorian Secretary Dean Mighell announced his resignation from the ALP, and the Victorian branch of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union stopped its affiliation to the ALP for six months.
After a plenary of speakers from the political parties, union representatives addressed the forum. Victorian Trades Hall Council Secretary Leigh Hubbard spoke first, followed by Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national council member Chris Spindler and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union's Gareth Stephenson, who is a member of the construction division's committee of management. In the interests of furthering the discussion, Green Left Weekly re-prints below abridged versions of the three unionists' speeches to the forum.]
The view I will present is the outlook of one grouping within the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, including within its leadership. It's not a united discussion. Dean Mighell's resignation from the ALP, and the direction the ALP is heading in, has meant that there is a debate, which is probably a very healthy thing.
In 1998, Workers First won the leadership of the AMWU in Victoria. One of the key prongs of the platform that we stood on then was to stop "outside interference". Now this slogan was aimed clearly at the Labor Party, because the state branch of the AMWU up till that point in time had been used in ALP factional games. And union activists wanted that stopped. The union, we believed, should be there to defend its members and to improve wages and conditions — not to be used in ALP factional games.
Workers' First recently voted 50 to one to support the state branch disaffiliating from the Labor Party. Many ask: "Is that same view held across the membership of the AMWU?". Well, at the recent state conference, for the first time motions for disaffiliation came from a number of workplaces, as well as shop stewards meetings, across the state. So you could there is a general sentiment amongst the membership for leaving the Labor Party.
You've gotta ask the question then, what is the basis for that position? And there's absolutely no doubt there is a certain element of that which is apolitical. That is: what do we have to do with [politics]? Is it union business? Who cares?
But there is also a strong understanding that the ALP does not represent our views, or our needs, or our desires.
And among AMWU activists I think there is an understanding that the Labor Party is actually attacking us — the leadership of the AMWU — and that the ALP would like to see the end of the Workers First leadership of the AMWU.
A few examples: Victorian ALP Premier Steve Bracks sent Doug Cameron, AMWU national secretary, a letter saying that the union should do something about fixing the "rogue elements" in Victoria. When a food production plant was being built, the state government fixed a deal for coverage in that food company with the National Union of Workers. That resulted in an industrial dispute, which saw the state government say that it was going to get the AMWU with sections D and E of the trade practices act.
There's also been several times where we've actually gone to the Labor Party to seek assistance in calling meetings between companies and stewards or companies and ourselves to help solve industrial disputes. But the state government hasn't been prepared to help, even when it means losing jobs interstate.
But the very minute they needed help in fixing an industrial dispute with a major company, they were on the phone the next day. A good example is the Orica site where there has been a number of industrial disputes and each time the state government pleaded for help to fix it. At election time, I got a number of phone calls from MPs or hopeful MPs, saying: "Can I come and visit your site and do a bit of a walk-around?"
So at the AMWU Victorian state conference, as I said, there was a number of disaffiliation motions that came from a shops across the state. This was, and is, a significant discussion, because the Victorian AMWU has the single biggest union delegation to the state ALP conference, and its affiliation fees are $250,000 a year.
Those disaffiliation motions were put aside in favour of a motion which was supported by a majority of delegates in the conference — and adopted by it almost word perfect. The successful motion stopped the union branch's Labor Party affiliation for six months, so that a number of points can be raised with the Labor Party.
Now I'm personally not particularly hopeful that this negotiation process will change anything within the Labor Party. But that will be seen over the next six months and a special state conference will be held in December to discuss the results of those discussions and a possible disaffiliation motion.
At a recent state council meeting there was a debate about attending the 2002 state ALP conference — at which there will be an important vote on who should be the state president of the Labor Party.
We decided not to attend because that's the nature of our motion: to stop our affiliation, not just the money but actual participation in the Labor Party for that period of time.
Our national office, Doug Cameron in particular, wants to send a delegation to that state conference, because it doesn't agree with our decision. And just to let people know, whatever the result of that is, there is nothing in the AMWU rules to suggest that they can actually do that. In fact, the rules state that state council and state conference will decide the delegates to such events. But obviously our attitude to the Labor Party has got up the nose of our national office.
Whether the union is affiliated to the Labor Party or not, we are, and have been since 1998, discussing our left political culture and links with community activists. You can't just paint AMWU moves away from the Labor Party as apolitical — in some ways, it's a very conscious political move.
During the last four years, the AMWU has consciously made decisions to link up with community activists, social activists, social movements and political parties other than the Labor Party. We are seeking to encourage ferment of what we hope to be a progressive movement and hopefully, in the future, a political party.
Four points to conclude on.
Firstly, we don't think that you have to be affiliated to anyone to be political. It is not necessary to be part of a political party to take political positions on a range of social and political questions.
Secondly, we think it is important to find that political party or movement that will represent our members. That's why we want to be part of social milieu that is struggling around a whole range of different questions. That's why we want to support movements and parties.
Thirdly, we'll continue to campaign on a political level because we are interested in who rules society and who wins government. Our members are affected by industrial legislation, by taxes, by welfare, by a whole range of things in society that government decides upon.
And fourthly, in the meantime, until we find a political party that actually acts in the interests of our membership, we have to encourages its development. We take our political representation in the first place from ourselves and our own thinking through, but also from forums and individual activists such as this, from newspapers such as Green Left Weekly, from the Socialist Alliance, from a whole range of social and political campaigns.
While this is a generalisation, at the moment our political representation is part of that milieu, and in future we hope that it coalesces into the political party that we all want to see.
From Green Left Weekly, June 5, 2002.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.