BY SUE BOLTON
MELBOURNE — At a March 11 caucus of the national left unions in the leadup to the Australian Council of Trade Unions executive meeting on March 25-26, there was a discussion about whether to propose a motion to toughen up the ACTU's position on the war on Iraq.
The unions present included the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, the Australian Education Union, the Independent Education Union and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union.
The ACTU's current position only opposes a war which is unilaterally declared by the United States — not one that is voted for by the UN Security Council. At the caucus, some unions intended to argue that the left should propose a motion to the ACTU executive which opposed a war on Iraq, regardless of the UN position.
This would seem to be a basic and uncontroversial position. War on Iraq will be no less brutal if it is carried out by the United Nations, and any UN endorsement is likely to be the result of an intense campaign of bullying and intimidation by the United States, Britain and Australia. A more vigorous discussion could be expected around what action unions could take to stop the war.
Surprisingly, however, there was a big debate about whether to push for the ACTU to toughen its position to oppose any war on Iraq and no discussion at all about possible national union action against the war.
The caucus backed off from challenging the ACTU's position of only opposing a unilateral war, after comments by ACTU secretary Greg Combet and other "left" union leaders. Combet argued that the current "unity" in the ACTU around opposition to a unilateral war should be maintained in order to prevent the right-wing unions breaking away and supporting the war. This could happen, it was argued, if a majority of UN Security Council members voted for a war.
Underlying this argument, however, was a rearguard action by the Labor Party to prevent the ACTU from adopting a stronger position than that of the ALP. The ALP only opposes a unilateral war.
It's pathetic that, with the biggest global anti-war movement in human history, the "left" unions couldn't bring themselves to argue for a consistent anti-war position in the coming ACTU executive meeting. It means that the left has refused to challenge the ACTU's long history of support for wars carried out by the rich and powerful.
[Sue Bolton is a member of the Socialist Alliance.]
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, March 19, 2003.
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