A glaring omission from the strategy debate over how to fight the budget has been any solid discussion from most union leaders about how and when to deploy industrial action.
At the packed out mass delegates' meeting in Sydney on June 12, National Tertiary Education Union activist Susan Price moved two amendments to the official motion that, judging from the room, had they been put would have committed Unions NSW to do just that.
鈥淏ack in 1976, in response to the attacks on Medibank, workers across the country took coordinated industrial action. That is the kind of response we need today,鈥 Price said.
鈥淭his budget is ideological: but it's only class war if we fight back,鈥 Price added to roaring applause from the packed room.
The amendments requested that Unions NSW plan for a NSW-wide strike, and that Unions NSW call on the Australian Council of Trade Unions to organise a national day of action against the budget.
The room was largely in support on Price's amendments, but officials refused to allow the amendments to be put and hastily brought the meeting to a close.
An calling for industrial action has being signed by delegates and union members across the state.
Price told 91自拍论坛 Weekly there's a clear precedent for defeating draconian laws. 鈥淭he Your Rights at Work campaign, which was central to defeating the John Howard government, not only had workplace and local campaign groups, most importantly it also organised mass national days of action and strikes.
鈥淢ore than 600,000 people rallied around the country in 2005 in the largest worker-led protests in Australian history. Many workers risked fines or dismissal to participate.
鈥淭hose strikes and rallies of hundreds of thousands were built out of mass delegates meetings of thousands. This is the sort of action we need now, even though the appropriation bills have disappointingly been waived through by the ALP and Greens.
鈥淲e still have to mount a struggle to defeat the worst of the bills 鈥 the attacks on Medicare, education, welfare and the environment.
鈥淯nions 鈥 which have to stand up for their members, as well as the oppressed and marginalised 鈥 still have a critical role to play in shaping an inclusive and ecologically sustainable society.鈥
A RADICAL BUDGET
Joanne Faulkner, a branch committee member of the NTEU, signed the letter calling for industrial action because, she said, 鈥淚 believe we need to show this government, and reassure the community, that unions are strong and we are willing to flex our collective muscle to stand for a fair go.
鈥淭his is a radical, ideological budget. Its aim is to 'keep people in their place鈥, to consolidate poverty by tipping anyone who could do okay, with a little support, into poverty.
鈥淚t鈥檚 also an attack on unionised labour: if the unemployed are starving, then workers are expendable too, and bosses are emboldened to cut pay and conditions.
鈥淎 national day of action is the only way workers can unite against it.鈥
Shane Bentley, a member of the Maritime Union of Australia, told GLW he supports unions taking industrial action for two reasons.
鈥淭he first is because concerted campaigns of industrial action can defeat the attacks of conservative governments. The examples include the campaign to free union leader Clarrie O'Shea in 1969 or the struggle against the Fraser Liberal government's attacks on Medibank in 1976.
鈥淭he amendments moved by Price at the Unions NSW meeting clearly chimed in with majority sentiment. The way that [Unions NSW secretary] Mark Lennon simply ignored the amendments and steamrolled the official resolution through reeked of petty bureaucratic highhandedness.
鈥淲hat should have been an example of union democracy in action was instead turned into a farce.鈥
CAN'T RELY ON ALP TO PROTECT US
NSW Teachers Federation member John Gauci told GLW that he supported industrial action because 鈥渢he Abbott government has stolen more than two thirds of our urgently needed education funding.
鈥淭hese desperately needed funds were meant to support our most disadvantaged students, the overwhelming majority of whom attend public schools 鈥 including our Aboriginal students, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, students with special learning or behavioural needs, students in regional or remote areas and students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
鈥淭he Your Rights At Work campaign taught us that we cannot rely an ALP electoral victory to protect us. Rather than scrapping Work Choices, the ALP gave us 'Work Choices lite'.
鈥淭here is nothing that Abbott and the big end of fear more than a unified industrial response from working people. United industrial action from all unions is absolutely essential if we are to protect our communities from Abbott鈥檚 savage cuts.鈥
Sharlene Leroy-Dyer, a Wiradjuri woman, university student and lecturer, told GLW that she was encouraged by the response from the NSW delegates meeting.
鈥淲e need to mount this sort of industrial and community support now more than ever.鈥
This was the strategy that defeated the attacks on Medibank, she said, and 鈥渢his budget is far more insidious鈥.
Leroy-Dyer, who is the NSW Division Indigenous Representative on the Indigenous Policy Committee of the NTEU, also said the budget contained a number of 鈥渋nsidious surprises鈥 which have alarmed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
鈥淐uts were expected, even pre-empted, however when the news broke that $500 million had been cut from essential Indigenous services, the community was in shock.
鈥淭he increased costs and deregulation of education will mean that students will no longer go to university to experience university life or become critical thinkers.
鈥淲ith the ever increasing debt, they will do their degree and leave. Students will be less likely to take on PhDs then move into the sector as academic staff.
鈥淭he Abbott government has no commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; things just seem to be going backwards.
鈥淭his is also why I support unions taking industrial action to defend our basic rights.鈥
[Susan Price is a national co-convener of the Socialist Alliance. She will speak at a forum in Sydney on July 8 called "Horror budget: How can we stop it?" hosted by 91自拍论坛 Weekly. Details are in the Activist Calendar on page 23.]