By James Vassilopoulos
Green Left Weekly has obtained documents from the Electrical Trades Union which indicate that the union is not serious about campaigning against the $22 billion privatisation of the NSW power industry. The ETU is controlled by the ALP right-wing faction, the same faction which dominates the NSW Carr government.
So how can the ETU leaders on the one hand show its members it is "waging a war" to stop privatisation and, on the other hand, not threaten its ALP mates in government?
Simple. Talk tough and launch a token campaign bound to fail. Then they can say, "Oh well, mate. We tried really, really hard, but we just couldn't stop it." Then everyone's happy — the ETU retains some membership support, the NSW government gets its privatisation through and big business can buy up big and make super-profits.
Everyone, that is, but the 13,000 or so power industry workers who lose their jobs or suffer worse conditions, and millions of working people who have to put up with a poor service and price hikes.
The ETU sent two notices to members — one on May 26 signed by the ETU organiser Col Harris and the other on May 27 signed by assistant secretary Bernie Riordan — that amount to little more than hollow vitriol, table thumping, voice-raising and finger pointing.
"Deception and treachery by government" was the title of the May 26 notice. It continued: "Labor politicians sitting on the government benches are past their use-by date ... Egan's proposal is a con — he is trying to deceive the people of NSW."
If members are worked up now, thirsting for some action and wanting to be part of "the mother of all battles", as the editorial in the May 24 Sydney Morning Herald describes it, what does the ETU propose to fight the privatisation? Delegate meetings to organise a campaign? Mass meetings to organise industrial action? Disaffiliation from the ALP and an end to giving ETU members' money to support their employer, the Labor government?
Well, no. Members should "contact your local parliamentarians and indicate to them that any who support this treacherous proposal will not get your vote at the next election", the notice says. A NSW election is not due until 1999 and by then the power industry would be well and truly privatised. Nor does the notice propose voting for a progressive alternative to the pro-privatisation Labor and Liberal parties.
The May 27 notice to members reports that after a meeting with the government, Carr and Egan "committed themselves to ongoing, frank and open discussions on the issue". Riordan pours cold water on demands for a serious campaign: "Now is not the time for knee-jerk reactions." Riordan "acknowledges [Egan's] right to have the issue debated."
This implies that if it is Egan's right to have privatisation debated, and the unions lose the "debate", then privatisation should be implemented. "However, the union will only take up this campaign if it is the desire of the membership. Therefore if you do not support the union's opposition to privatisation then I would appreciate being notified." This is the ETU's escape hatch — if the campaign is weak or does not succeed, the union can always blame the membership's lack of desire for an anti-privatisation campaign. In the lead-up to an "aggressive and active" campaign, ETU officials are encouraging members who support privatisation to come forward. Hardly a plan for success.
Some members may support privatisation because they read the bosses' newspapers, which naturally support privatisation. To counter that, the union must take the lead to get members active and convince others that they and the community will lose from privatisation. It is only through such a campaign that attitudes will change.
Riordan ends his notice with the words: "Let the debate begin". Perhaps this should be read: "Let the sell-out begin".