BY LISA MACDONALD
SYDNEY — "The ALP — whose party is it?" was one of the questions addressed in a lively debate between trade union and other left activists at a Socialist Alliance-sponsored seminar held at Parramatta Town Hall on May 11.
The 70 participants included members of the Socialist Alliance, the ALP, the Greens and individual activists.
John Buchanan from the Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training set the scene by outlining the decline in award coverage and union membership in Australia that has resulted from two decades of anti-worker government and employer policy. He added, however, that public attitudes to unions are still positive and there is therefore a basis for rebuilding strong trade unions in Australia.
This session, titled "Howard's attacks on the unions and how to fight them", was also addressed by Michael Bull, a state committee member of the construction division of the Victorian branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).
Bull described how a handful of Victorian trade unions, including the CFMEU, the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), the firefighters' union and the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia, had rebuilt themselves following the mid-1980s assault on militant unionism.
He explained that the renewed strength of these unions, reflected in the better wages and conditions of their members relative to similar workers in other states, is why they are being targeted by state and federal governments. The royal commission into the building industry is the most significant attack on unions now underway, Bull said.
The meeting unanimously passed a motion pledging participants' active support against any royal commission attack on unions, and for the defeat of all anti-trade-union laws. The motion also called on the ALP to condemn the royal commission as a union busting exercise.
The president of the construction division of the NSW CFMEU, Peter McClelland, kicked off the second session by stating that, while the ALP deserves severe criticism for its many betrayals of workers' rights, there is no choice for militants and unions but to remain in and affiliated to Labor. The 60% union representation at ALP conferences must be defended, he said, or Labor would move further towards being a "[British prime minister] Tony Blair-style party".
McClelland's argument was substantially supported by Health and Research Employees Association activist Phil Sandford, who is a member of Workers League and the Socialist Alliance. Sandford argued that without an alternative mass workers' party, workers believe the ALP is the party best able to represent their interests. The ALP, he concluded, must remain the principle arena for political and union struggle by socialists.
Democratic Socialist Party activist Sam Wainwright, who is also a Socialist Alliance member and a militant in the Maritime Union of Australia, argued that unionists should follow the lead of those, such as the NSW firefighters, the ETU's Dean Mighell and the Victorian AMWU branch, which had recently ended or stopped their affiliation to, or membership of, the ALP.
Wainwright described recent union mass meetings in Sydney at which the overwhelming majority of members wanted to break with the ALP, but were overruled by ALP-aligned officials. Socialists, he said, must ally themselves with the most progressive 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ of the working class, not conservative union officials.
A model motion drafted by the Socialist Alliance was distributed to participants. It calls on the unions to: encourage discussion and debate around political representation for the union movement and which candidates the union should support in elections; provide financial and political support for candidates running on a pro-worker, pro-union platform; and make a donation towards the next Socialist Alliance election campaign.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, May 22, 2002.
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