By Melanie Sjoberg
ADELAIDE — A United Trades and Labor Council rally at Morphettville Racecourse on February 10 set the tone for the union officialdom's intervention in the election. The turnout of around 500 was probably a little disappointing given the ambitious size of the venue.
UTLC officials are determined that campaigning for the return of Labor is their main — if not only — responsibility. There is no word of the need for unions to defend themselves against both major parties.
All delegates were handed a folder titled "United We Bargain, Divided We Beg", which contained a selection of leaflets detailing how Coalition policies would affect workers' conditions, jobs and services.
Feature speaker John Halfpenny, from the Victorian Trades Hall Council, related the horrific nature of the Kennett attacks in that state.
"If you reckon there are some things wrong with Labor, then you should experience a Liberal government", he told the rally.
He referred to the thousands of jobs slashed, the axing of funding to schools and hospitals and the increased charges. He compared Kennett's agenda to similar experiences in New Zealand from what Halfpenny called the "new right". In particular, he was scathing about the use of individual contracts and the complete dismantling of the award system.
Halfpenny told the rally, "We (Victorian unions) are resisting by industrial and political action", but admitted that "to date we have not forced substantial change".
He said the Victorian experience "highlighted what Liberal governments are capable of." South Australian workers should "look upon and learn from these experiences".
Halfpenny referred to what he termed substantial differences between Liberal and Labor. He said that Hewson's zero tariffs policy would decimate industries. "Keating offers some salvation", he concluded, without providing any concrete examples of how this might occur.
Wendy Caird, representing the ACTU and Public Sector Union, also
condemned the potential impact of Liberal policies, especially on women.
Caird said "one reliable prediction is that things will be worse than promised" under a Liberal government.
Caird said "the safety net is the difference between the parties' political positions". She argued that the Labor Party has a philosophy based on "values and principles" which included a "collective way of thinking". Caird neglected to mention the erosion of the "safety net" that has been steadily carried out over the last decade of Labor.
Caird saw a major threat from the Liberals in their attack on the industrial relations and award system. She said that women needed the protection of an award because they are in a more vulnerable bargaining position. The irony of such comments from a PSU official seemed lost on Caird: despite several years of pushing from women employed part time by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the PSU has still not obtained award coverage for those workers.
Similarly, the PSU now acts as the front-runner for the introduction of enterprise bargaining within the public sector.
Several rank and file unionists had been lined up to speak by their respective unions. Most expressed their justifiable fears about the effect of Liberal policies on their areas of work.
The representative from the Public Service Association (state government housing authority) unwittingly acknowledged that the Labor government had also created problems. He said that the Liberals were likely to cut public housing funding by 35%. He argued that this would put enormous pressure on the system because the ALP had already cut spending by 42% in the last six years, creating a waiting list of more than 40,000 people.
Dave Thomason, an organiser with the CFMEU, said that the trade union movement should not spend time waiting for politicians but that direct action was necessary. "I disagree with the TLC leadership tactic of providing collective despair", he said. The hard fought struggles of working people had built the award system, and the way forward was to use the tactics that had been successful in the past.
"The difference between the ALP and Liberals is almost nil ... what we need is an independent trade union movement."
Mick Talbot, a shop steward with the BLF, continued the theme: "Lest we forget the deregistration of the BLF federally by the Labor Party. Lest we forget Workcover in South Australia was
ruined by the ALP. The UTLC are holding our heads back from the fight. Best we forget the Labor Party", he said. After ridiculing the TLC slogan of "united we bargain", he finished, "Dare to struggle, dare to win".
Halfpenny stated several times that the lessons and experiences from New Zealand were very valuable. There is no doubt that workers here should draw from those experiences, but speakers at this rally gave only half of the story.
They failed to mention that in both Victoria and New Zealand the ground for the vicious attacks on workers and social services was laid by Labor governments trying to comply with the economic agenda of big business. It was not mentioned that the Liberals are winning elections because 10 years of Labor at state and federal levels have left workers, women, young people and other oppressed groups worse off.
No-one referred to the significant political developments in New Zealand — to the formation of a NewLabour Party and then the Alliance of third parties which is fighting to defend the interests of ordinary people. Speakers failed to tell the rally that a large proportion of trade unions had disafilliated from the New Zealand Labour Party.