By Karen Fredericks
BRISBANE — The national executive of the Community and Public Sector Union is proposing a "work-in" as part of a national campaign to oppose the federal government's cuts to legal aid.
Members are being urged to "make appointments for clients" and work for no pay on March 15 to "show the community, management and the government who really cares about legal aid". According to a CPSU flier, "strike action, although it may make a splash, only makes our clients suffer".
At a joint CPSU/Australian Services Union public meeting on March 5, Sean Curley, branch secretary of the State Public Service Federation group of the CPSU (which represents state public servants), said that the union was concerned that members would not participate in a strike.
In contrast, Pat Mullins, representing the Queensland Law Society, told the media that the private legal profession was seriously considering strike action. Barrister and Bar Association representative, Dan O'Connor, also told a public meeting on March 6 that a "strike" or "boycott" action was on the agenda of the association.
A group of Community Legal Centre staff, appalled by the "work-in" proposal, are organising a rally on March 14 to form the Queensland Coalition for Access to Justice.
Karen Fletcher, a solicitor at the Prisoners Legal Service, told Green Left Weekly that legal aid workers already work longer hours than they are paid for and "do not need publicity that suggests these workers can be exploited further".
"We are workers, not volunteers", she said. "The few lawyers in the private profession who will take legal aid cases are already subsidising this work with their privately funded cases. The government wants legal aid to be a charity. We shouldn't be offering them any support in this position.
"Australia has an obligation under article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to provide legal aid", Fletcher said. "This country already pays less than $14 per citizen per year in legal aid, in comparison with more than $50 in England and Scotland. It is not a favour; it's a right."
The rally on March 14 is being supported by the Law Society, the Bar Association, the Queensland Association of Independent Legal Services, individual lawyers, magistrates, judges, law students, academics, clients and potential clients.
"We are also hoping to receive support from the CPSU and ASU", said Fletcher. "There is still time for their losing strategy to be dumped. Many legal aid staff won't participate in the 'work-in', and many more cannot because of family and other responsibilities. We are urging everyone to come to the rally and participate in formulating a protest strategy which will hit the government, not workers."