Rachel Evans
At its meeting on April 30, the ALP-led national executive of the National Union of Students (NUS) voted against organising a national day of protest in August against the Howard government's "voluntary student unionism" (VSU) legislation, which comes into effect on July 1.
Under VSU it will be illegal for universities to levy students fees to support student unions and their activities. NUS's income — $1.4 million last year — largely comes from affiliation fees paid by campus student unions.
Contravening the 2005 NUS national conference decision to organise a national day of action against VSU, the NUS executive decided to focus instead on student poverty and welfare. An April 12 nationwide protest around this theme was markedly smaller than anti-VSU mobilisations organised in 2005.
Instead of addressing the political failings of the April 12 actions, reports to the April 30 executive meeting from office-bearers blamed a "bad date" (some campuses were on holiday) and exams for the lower turnout.
NUS national education officer Louise O'Shea, a member of Socialist Alternative, argued that "it didn't help that NUS sent out a message to students that it had retreated from the campaign to defend student unions by refusing to make 'Stop VSU' a central demand ... Had NUS continued and attempted to escalate the campaign against VSU, rather than backing away from it, the rallies would have most likely drawn larger numbers."
O'Shea proposed another national day of action for mid-August around the theme of "No Howard, no Work Choices, no VSU" and a call for universities to provide full funding for student unions. Nine out of 15 executive members with voting rights opposed O'Shea's motion.
NUS president Rose Jackson proposed that NUS orient to "building trade unionism and community awareness programs highlighting the struggle for students to secure their financial future on campus". That motion was passed unanimously.
Kate Perry, NUS's national welfare and small and regional campuses officer, proposed the production of a free NUS cookbook because, "it is important for NUS to consider our changing role in the student movement". After fiery debate and a divided vote, the cookbook proposal was passed by the executive.
NUS national women's officer Sarah Wickham proposed an anti-sexism campaign, including participating in an international day of action on the theme "Stop violence against women". The proposal raised by the socialist youth organisation Resistance for a June 1 national student strike demanding the repeal of VSU and Work Choices, was not endorsed by the NUS executive.
The executive endorsed the campaign by international students against concession-card discrimination (international students are not eligible for student concession cards), the May 20 "US hands off Venezuela and Cuba" actions and the June 17 young workers' conference in Geelong. It also passed a motion supporting the autonomy of campaigns for queer spaces on campuses.
Executive member Angela Khodeir later told Green Left Weekly: "If the NUS exec had any meaningful connection with what was happening on the ground, they'd know many campuses not only want to continue the VSU campaign with strong, vibrant action, but this action is necessary for the survival of its member student organisations. It's embarrassing that the NUS exec ... can allocate resources to produce a trivial cookbook, instead of focusing on the important issue of anti-student organisation legislation and the action that is required to decimate this legislation."
[Rachael Evans is the NUS national female queer officer.]
From Green Left Weekly, May 10, 2006.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.