Union leaders stall DSS campaign
By Peter Webster
SYDNEY — Despite the clear direction given to the NSW branch of the Community and Public Service Union (CPSU) by workplace delegates at the recent combined delegates conference (CDC), the policy of anti-militancy by the national executive of the union has been given another boost.
At the March 27 and 28 CDC, delegates voted to take the DSS to the Industrial Relations Commission and supported a motion to the effect that if the national delegates committee (NDC) failed to grasp the seriousness of the "funding crisis" — job cuts — the NSW branch was to launch an industrial campaign to achieve members' demands.
To counter this, the membership was presented with a national motion on April 13 to be voted on by April 19. Delegates were told by branch organisers that the motion had been formulated by the NDC before the CDC took place and, as is the case with national motions, could not be amended. Only with a vote against the motion would the NSW branch feel any pressure to launch a serious campaign.
The motion was carried nationally since there was no chance of an alternative viewpoint being circulated in time. The motion was vague: it simply stated that the members endorse a list of "outcomes on immediate DSS workload problems", a strategy of workload reduction and that members "determine to reconvene at a later date to consider the impacts of the 1995 federal budget and the Australian National Audit Office DSS Efficiency Report on DSS staffing levels".
The next blow to any campaign initiative was the IRC hearing on April 27. As expected, the IRC directed the DSS and the CPSU to negotiate further. Once again, the membership will have to react to job cuts and work stress after the event.
Given that months of negotiations with DSS earlier this year were totally fruitless, there is no reason to be optimistic about another round. Supporters of the national executive, who contested all talk of action at the CDC in March, must feel well satisfied that their "wait and see" approach between then and July 1 seems to be working.