Comment by Greg Adamson
The latest round of Community and Public Sector Union mass meetings against Howard's threatened 10% cut to the Australian public sector showed that the mood for a fight is strong among broad sectors of public sector workers.
That means that with resolute and intelligent leadership it is possible to win this first, very important, battle against the Coalition's Thatcherite agenda.
To date that vital ingredient has been lacking. The most the resolution presented by the CPSU National Executive to the latest mass meetings did was ask authorisation for the NE to develop "action targeted at government MPs and ministers".
By contrast, those workers most affected by the cuts have been demanding serious action for weeks: on April 19 Environment Protection Agency workers voted to ask the NE for a 48-hour strike; April 29-30 mass meetings in Canberra strongly supported the call for a 24-hour strike.
Fortunately for APS workers, at the last round of mass meetings rank-and-file network CPSU National Challenge developed a proposal based on a list of bans developed by ACT CPSU delegates: some CPSU officials supported this approach, but others played procedural games to try to confuse the membership.
The strong response around the country to National Challenge bans motions shows that there is a broad willingness to confront the government, and that if the CPSU leadership had proposed a bans campaign (even one led off with a 24-hour strike) it would have received overwhelming support, and serious resistance to Howard would already be under way.
Now the CPSU leaders have to get their act together: the bans campaign, which is starting in a piecemeal way, must be generalised nationally, so that individual agencies or delegates' committees are not left to struggle on in isolation. The date for national rallies should be set immediately, and serious preparation undertaken to draw in all Commonwealth public sector workers.
This is the crucial moment: a blow delivered to Howard now will not only help to protect public services and public sector jobs, but will also set back the rest of the Coalition agenda. We must not fail.
[Greg Adamson is the assistant secretary of the ACT CPSU branch.]