The Community and Public Sector Union held stop-work meetings on July 23 to vote on a National Executive (NE) motion to strike on July 25. Motions calling for an ongoing service-wide campaign against the cuts, and for the ACTU to call a strike to coincide with its national day of protest on August 19, were also put.
The stop-work meeting in Adelaide voted 358 to 21 to strike on July 25. It also adopted the motion for another 24-hour strike on August 19 by 199 votes to 99.
From Darwin, DEETYA delegate Tom Flanagan reports that some 100 members attended the mass meeting. The NE motion was strongly supported (91-13), as was a motion to campaign against the Liberals' proposed new industrial legislation.
The CPSU National Challenge motion calling for an ongoing service-wide industrial campaign was carried 56-9. This motion was put on the basis that the NE had accepted the current round of cuts, and the motion was an attempt to tie the NE to leading an ongoing campaign based on united industrial action across the public sector.
Speakers for the Challenge motion made the point that once redundancies are accepted, the NE's demand to match workload to staffing levels amounts to a demand to cut or privatise services, coinciding with the Howard government's agenda. A motion demanding that the ACTU call a strike on August 19 was lost 22-43.
From Canberra, DEETYA delegate Paul Oboohov reports that the 1600 members who attended the mass meeting on July 23 voted by a ratio of 5:1 to strike on July 25. On strike day, there was an unprecedented turnout at the pickets, which were held outside 94 Canberra buildings. ACT branch secretary Cath Garvan estimates that there was an 80-90% turnout for the strike in Canberra.
From Melbourne, Tax Office delegate Chris Slee reports that more than 1500 members attended the stop-work meeting and voted to strike on July 31. This date was chosen to coincide with a Trades Hall rally against the Industrial Relations Act. The CPSU will have a contingent at the rally.
The meeting voted to picket workplaces during the strike and called for more stop-work meetings within two weeks of the federal budget to discuss further action. The meeting unanimously supported the National Challenge motion calling for an ongoing service-wide campaign with clear goals. A motion for a strike on August 19 was amended to ask the union leadership to consult members about the proposal.
Hundreds of people attended the mass meeting in Newcastle. Most government departments were disrupted and pickets were held outside at least six offices. Fifty people participated in pickets at the tax and CES offices alone. CPSU members converged on the CES office at Wallsend later in the morning.
CPSU members will strike in support of the July 31 trade union rally in Newcastle.
In Wollongong, 140 of the 200 members who attended the stop-work meeting voted to strike on July 25.
In Perth, the motion to strike on July 25 was carried unanimously by a stop-work meeting of more than 700, but motions for an ongoing industrial campaign and to hold another strike on August 19 were defeated.
Mark Cronin and Jim McIlroy report from Brisbane that pickets were set up outside tax, social security, health and human services, customs and CES offices as part of the July 25 strike. Despite government claims that the strike was a "flop", services in a number of departments were sharply reduced.
The strike motion was carried by around 600-20 at a mass meeting in the Brisbane City Hall on July 23. "The strike is about the open attack on the public sector and the government's broken promises", Claire Moore, Queensland secretary of the CPSU, told that meeting. Moore also announced that members in DSS had voted strongly during the previous week to ban the introduction of the Howard government's Jobseeker Diaries and related changes aimed at tightening the activity test for the unemployed.
The CPSU National Challenge motion was also overwhelmingly carried. "This a turning point in the campaign", DSS delegate Jim McIlroy told the meeting, in moving the Challenge motion. "We need a unified approach to bring all our members into the struggle and force the government to back down."
A further resolution was carried calling for another 24-hour strike on August 19.
In Sydney, mass meetings on July 23 of more than 300 in Parramatta, 140 in Penrith and 1200 in the city centre voted to strike on July 25.
All of the meetings voted overwhelmingly for the strike (only 100 voted against between the three meetings). The CPSU National Challenge motion was not put in Sydney or Penrith, but was carried at the Parramatta meeting.
Motions to hold another 24-hour strike on August 19 were also moved and carried at the city and Parramatta meetings.