Rank-and-file unionism is being celebrated after the A Voice For Members (AVFM) ticket won the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) election in Victoria.
The Australian Electoral Commission released the official results on July 16 — Jiselle Hanna won the secretary position and other AVFM members won four executive positions and 23 out of the 34 branch council positions.
It was the first time in 32 years that former leader Karen Batt and her CPSU United ballot team have had to contest an election.
Batt and the Jacinta Allan Labor government are said to be surprised, however, given that conditions are being eroded, wage growth is glacial and employment precarious, they should not be.
AVFM built a member-led platform of solidarity and active participation that sought to respond to critical issues.
Dissatisfaction with the recent enterprise bargaining agreement round prompted the AVFM to form. CPSU United described the agreement as a huge success, claiming it had negotiated a significant wage rise and benefits. But it failed to challenge the mandated wage cap and accepted a 12% wage rise over four years, lagging behind inflation.
The Australian Nurses and Midwives Federation (ANMF), the Police Association of Victoria and the Victorian Ambulance Union challenged the unfair wage caps, with the ANMF winning a 28.4% pay rise over four years.
The CPSU not only failed to advocate for its members, its capitulation to the government-mandated wage cap helped undermine other unions in their enterprise bargaining negotiations.
AVFM campaigned for a member-led union willing to take on the fight for better working conditions and to stand with other unions in their battles for just wages.
While wages have fallen behind inflation, public servants also face precarious employment. Helen Silver’s Independent Review of the Victorian Public Service (or Silver Review) is assessing “inefficiencies” and has said she wants to return the public service to its pre-pandemic size. If unchallenged, this will likely lead to job cuts; the 2025 budget has flagged that 1200 jobs will go, with hundreds more expected to follow.
The ticket responded by mobilising union members to attend a series of actions at Victorian parliament. AVFM members then constructed the “Gold Review”, a comprehensive counterproposal to Silver’s.
The Gold Review; How to save public money without cutting the Victorian Public Service, proposed alternative cuts to keep the number of public servants intact. They included a levy on major banks, a rise in online betting taxes, culling public servant executive positions, consolidating government accommodation and ending subsidies for fossil fuels.
The Gold Review highlighted that the public service was already smaller than its pre-pandemic size relative to the total public sector and that, ultimately, large-scale cuts are a false economy.
Its well-researched analysis and rejection of Labor’s proposed job cuts drew media attention.
AVFM coordinated an impressive union member-led ground campaign in June. Government departments in the CBD were leafleted almost daily by AVFM. Members door-knocked thousands of houses across the state, making a particular effort to engage with regional CPSU members in Bendigo, Wodonga and Geelong.
It was the first time in a long time for many to hear from the union. With more volunteers joining each week, the effect was compounding.
AVFM’s sustained effort to mobilise members with its platform led to one of the highest election turnouts in CPSU history. The ticket won about 70% of the total votes cast.
The celebration following the historic win was attended by hundreds of CPSU members and other unionists, further demonstrating the significance of the victory.
[Conor Macleod was part of the A Voice For Members ticket and is a member of the Community and Public Sector Union. This article was updated on July 16.]