A motion calling for a halt to the Queensland ALP government's plans to privatise public rail, port, road and forestry assets was passed with support of 70% of delegates at the ALP's Far Northern regional conference on October 18.
About 60 rail and electricity industry workers protested outside the conference in support of the motion.
The rally and motion were part of the statewide anti-privatisation campaign led by the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union. ALP and Socialist Alliance members are also involved in Northern Queensland.
Cairns provincial Queensland Council of Unions president and local ETU organiser Stuart Traill put the motion.
He told the October 19 Cairns Post he "will always speak out" against decisions that would "impact on our members and on the community … I'm first and foremost a unionist".
Traill told Green Left Weekly an ALP official had earlier instructed him to not campaign about the issue publicly.
He also told the Cairns Post the ALP state government's privatisation drive had caused "a huge divide within the party".
The far-north vote follows a "dozen or more" ALP branches sending protest letters to Premier Anna Bligh, said the October 19 Courier Mail.
A July opinion poll commissioned by ETU showed it was likely Labor would lose the next election because of strong public opposition to the privatisation plans. Thirty-seven percent of Labor voters polled said they would not vote for Bligh again.
The ETU and train drivers' union recently pulled out of government negotiations with unions. In an October 16 statement, the ETU slammed state treasurer Andrew Fraser for misrepresenting earlier discussions with the unions.
An October 21 report on Cairnsblog.net said the Premier's office appears to be behind a push to have Traill expelled from the ALP.
Traill told GLW: "The ETU will maintain the campaign … until the government backs down."
Traill also promised the issue would be taken up with local state parliamentarians, who are all ALP, at every public opportunity.