BY SHANE BENTLEY
NEWCASTLE — The state Labor government's determination to push ahead with the Workers' Compensation Amendment Bill has forced thousands of unionists in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley to reconsider their allegiance to the Labor party.
Angry meetings were held across the Hunter as part of the June 27 state-wide stopwork called by the NSW Labor Council.
Over a thousand unionists attended the stopwork at the Newcastle Workers Club, with similar numbers at meetings at Club Phoenix in Mayfield, the Cardiff Workers' Club and the Toronto Workers' Club.
While the stopwork only lasted for two hours, 1500 workers at OneSteel, 600 workers at Comsteel, 340 workers at Port Waratah Coal Services and another 300 at ADI voted to stay out for 24 hours.
Rank and file unionists were angry at NSW Labor's betrayal. Plumbers' union militant Steven McCarney even made the front page of the June 28 Newcastle Herald, saying "My father told me when I was 18 that any working man who didn't vote for the ALP had rocks in his head. Well, things have changed now, haven't they?"
The most serious repercussion to date for NSW Labor has been the June 26 decision by the the Newcastle, Central Coast and Northern Regions branch of the Australian Workers Union to disaffiliate from the Labor party.
The Newcastle branch of the AWU, with around 8000 members, has been a traditional stalwart of the ALP Right and has only recently reaffiliated to the Newcastle Trades Hall Council after decades on the outside.
Controlled by the ALP Left, the NTHC and its traditionally more militant unions have retained their ties with Labor while the AWU has severed theirs.
The AWU's Newcastle branch secretary, Kevin Maher, said "I believe the only way the Carr government can be brought back to earth is for all affiliated unions to withdraw both financial support and support for ALP candidates seeking election to parliamentary office.
"This is an extreme measure but the welfare and best interest of workers in NSW is the trade unions' number one priority, not the survival of an uncaring, arrogant ALP state government."
The union's disaffiliation will cost the ALP $35,000 in affiliation fees, will end AWU election support for local ALP candidates and will lead to the removal of 10 AWU delegates from ALP state conferences.
The three local Labor MPs who crossed the June 19 picket of state parliament — John Price (Maitland), John Bartlett (Port Stephens) and Richard Face (Charlestown) — have come in for heavy criticism.
The construction union's regional division has vowed not to give the "three bastards" any support at the next election.