BY CHRIS LATHAM
PERTH — Members of the electrical division of the Western Australian Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU/ETU) have until August 22 to vote in the division's quadrennial election. All full-time officials, the honorary state president position and 16 state councillor posts are up for election.
Incumbent CEPU/ETU state secretary Bill Game and his team are being challenged by the ETU Recharge team, led by construction industry organiser Les McLaughlan.
ETU Recharge involves serving officials as well as rank and file members. McLaughlan is standing for the state secretary's position, construction industry organiser Peter Carter is seeking re-election to his current position, and shop steward Ian Gill is contesting an organiser's position.
An improved on-the-job union presence and a focus on building an activist membership are the main goals of the ETU Recharge ticket.
Incumbent assistant secretary Jim Murie has been returned unopposed, after his opponent, current organiser Shane O'Byrne, was ruled unfinancial and therefore ineligible to stand. ETU Recharge candidate for state president, incumbent Bob Manhood has also been returned unopposed, as have six state councillors. ETU Recharge is also supporting the re-election of manufacturing organiser Joe Fiala, although Fiala is not supporting Recharge.
What prompted this challenge, the first in the WA union for eight years? "Our union is faced with some critical opportunities", McLaughlan told Green Left Weekly. "We need to urgently re-establish our presence in the north-west [of WA], get an organiser up there to support our members on the construction jobs on the Burrup Peninsula, and begin to rebuild our presence in the mining areas."
"We need to revitalise our delegate structures across the state and ensure that all workplaces have delegates and safety reps elected. We also need to strengthen our working relationship with other unions on the job, especially in contracting [construction]."
The contracting area is the largest section of the union. In 1993, the WA CEPU/ETU membership was more than 8000, with electrical contracting making up 25% of the membership. Since then, the division's membership has dropped to less than 4000 members. Of this, 42% are in the electrical contracting section of the union.
The drop in membership is largely the result of privatisation, outsourcing and defeats in the mining areas. For example, Main Roads used to employ electricians to maintain traffic lights. Their jobs have been contracted out. Railway signalling technicians suffered a similar fate. The water authority was sold off, with all of the workers sacked. Alinta Gas was privatised. Now the WA Labor government is threatening to privatise Western Power.
However, ETU Recharge also believes that the incumbent leadership has to take some responsibility for the membership drop.
Game's election material has accused ETU Recharge of trying to take the CEPU/ETU back into the ALP. The union disaffiliated from the ALP in 1991.
McLaughlan denies the allegation. While the national office of the union is putting pressure on the branch to reaffiliate with the ALP, McLaughlan stated that "any decision about political affiliation will be by democratic vote".
Game also accuses ETU Recharge of being a puppet of Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) state secretary Kevin Reynolds.
"We do not intend to amalgamate with the CFMEU. On the contrary, we want to assert our presence in the contracting area as a union in our own right, winning wages and conditions that our members can be proud of", McLaughlan said. "Of course, we see it as an urgent priority to rebuild the relationship with the CFMEU because they are the leading union in the construction area. But we are talking about a Victorian-style alliance, not amalgamation."
Former electrical division state councillor and Socialist Alliance activist Anthony Benbow has been elected unopposed to the state council, representing the electronics section. He told GLW that unity among the unions in the construction industry is vital, with the federal government preparing legislation to implement the anti-union recommendations of the building industry royal commission. This legislation, if passed by parliament, will severely restrict the rights of construction workers to organise in unions.
"In this climate of renewed attacks, it is vital that we are well-organised on the ground, and the CEPU hasn't been strongly organised in recent years. A union leadership cannot maintain support from its members unless it is well-organised, able to win good agreements and develop strong delegate structures. This has to start with the contracting division. The other, smaller sections can only build if this core foundation is solid", Benbow said.
From Green Left Weekly, August 13, 2003.
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