Meetings of Community and Public Sector Union on May 16 voted in favour of a national executive proposal to conduct statewide half-day rolling stoppages in the next few weeks and hold a day of national support on May 23, as part of the campaign for an Australian Public Service-wide industrial agreement.
A supplementary motion by the militant rank and file organisation National Challenge called for the stoppages to be backed by rallies and pickets that would involve the membership, and for further meetings in the week beginning June 2 to consider an APS-wide strike. This received a good response in the meetings where it was put.
Val Edwards, National Challenge's candidate for secretary of the union, commented, "It's important now for activists to build the stoppages, using them to involve the members as much as possible in an ongoing campaign to defend the public service".
In Canberra, Michelle Armstrong reports, only one hour was set aside to discuss two national motions, three branch executive motions, the National Challenge motion and two motions from Red Tape.
The limited debate reflected members' anger over the lack of concrete results from the campaign so far, and the meeting broke up after voting on the national and branch executive motions..
Jim McIlroy writes from Brisbane that a stop-work meeting in the City Hall voted by 238 to 31 to call for mass meetings of union members in the week beginning June 2 to consider a 24-hour stoppage.
Discussion on the National Challenge motion centred on the need for united and effective nationwide action, escalating the union's campaign, while making sure the membership were fully involved.
Speakers stressed that the government was stalling on negotiations, and that the CPSU faced "its most serious challenge ever" from this campaign to defend the public service.
The motion to set a time frame on calling a 24-hour stoppage was supported by CPSU state secretary Claire Moore. A further motion calling for a single, united campaign for an APS-wide agreement, and withdrawal from negotiations for agency-level agreements "dealing with APS award conditions" was passed by 139 to 78.
In Hobart, Ben Courtice reports, a stop-work meeting of 105 members voted overwhelmingly to continue and step up the industrial campaign. The motions put by the union officials calling for a half-day strike on May 29 were adopted nearly unanimously.
A motion from the floor, moved by supporters of CPSU National Challenge, was adopted by 56 votes to 48. It called for another stop-work meeting to be held on June 2 to consider a motion for a 24-hour strike.
In Sydney, the stop-work meeting passed, by a vote of 176 to 174, a motion from Red Tape calling for a strike on May 23 and for national mass meetings not later than June 3.
In Melbourne, Chris Slee writes, the official motions were passed almost unanimously by the 650 members present at the Town Hall meeting.
The National Challenge motion, for a 24-hour strike motion to be put to mass meetings in the first week of June, was also passed overwhelmingly, with only about 25 people voting against. The state officials on the platform voted in favour of it.