Susan Price
& Marce Cameron, Sydney
Cross-unions delegates' meetings held across Sydney and regional NSW on May 27 were well-attended, with the largest of at least 1000 delegates at Sydney's Masonic Centre spilling into a second auditorium. The union delegates had gathered to watch a pre-recorded Unions NSW presentation on the federal government's industrial relations agenda.
The Unions NSW strategy was outlined in the video by its secretary, John Robertson, and was clearly not intended to be up for discussion or debate.
The largest contingents of delegates came from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and the National Union of Workers. Australian Services Union (ASU) delegates converged on the venue in a well-organised, visible contingent, with flags waving.
The auditorium downstairs was soon filled to the brim. It was similar picture upstairs, with around 700 unionists filling the room.
As soon as the discussion opened, it was clear that many unionists were concerned with the failure by Unions NSW to organise any public protest action.
One delegate asked what the federal ALP had done about the Coalition government's impending attack on workers' rights. The Unions NSW chairperson, Mark Lennon, replied that the ALP has opposed it publicly, while the state Labor government would challenge the laws in the High Court. A number of delegates expressed scepticism, pointing to Premier Bob Carr's record on NSW workers' compensation laws.
Other speakers asked Lennon why Unions NSW had not called a general strike for July 1. He tried to explain to the meeting that Unions NSW preferred focussing on "community education" rather than on organising industrial action, which he claimed would "alienate the community" (as though workers are not part of the general community!).
Delegates also spoke from the floor about how important solidarity was in supporting unions that are targeted by the federal government. Lennon's standard answer to questions about organising a cross-industry strike was that industrial action was a matter for individual unions.
Discussion was cut off and the meeting closed soon after a motion was put from the floor by Liam Mitchell, a delegate from the AMWU and member of the Socialist Alliance, for Unions NSW to organise a cross-unions 24-hour stoppage, with public rallies following the Sky Channel unionists' meetings on July 1.
Lennon refused to put the motion to the vote. He told the assembled delegates they were attending a discussion-only meeting and, as such, it wouldn't be making any decisions. He said that the decisions had all been made already by the Unions NSW executive.
Lennon did say, however, that he would take the issues raised in the meeting to the executive.
In the upstairs venue, question time was strictly limited and only a few delegates were given the call, with Robertson in practice acting as chairperson and giving himself a right of reply to every question.
One AMWU delegate raised the issue of the need for stop-work action on July 1. Many delegates began to applaud in support of this. Robertson's extended response drew on familiar arguments from right-wing ALP union officials about how unions had to "campaign smarter", lest they "play into the government's hands". This brought on heckles from delegates.
A CFMEU delegate called for the restoration of union branch meetings as an essential component of involving the rank and file in on-the-job organising and decision-making in the new industrial climate. His remarks received strong applause.
After this, the meeting was quickly closed down.
An ASU caucus, which convened after the official meeting, resolved that delegates return to their workplaces to disseminate information about the industrial relations attacks and gather support for a fightback. It also decided that the ASU would facilitate a mass delegates' meeting at the end of June to vote on industrial action.
Up to 120 delegates met in Penrith, and about 150 at Gymea in Sydney's south. At the Gymea meeting, the United Services Union announced it would take stop-work action on July 1.
In Armidale, 30 delegates from 10 unions met at the YCW Club. In a brief discussion at the end of the Sky Channel broadcast, those present decided to organise joint action following the mass meeting and Sky Channel hook-up scheduled for the morning of July 1.
Tom Flanagan reports from Lismore that 80 unionists attended the Sky Channel broadcast. A motion to call on Unions NSW to make the July 1 televised hook-up a stop-work was carried unanimously, as was a motion to set up a campaign committee.
From Green Left Weekly, June 1, 2005.
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