REBUILD OUR UNIONS FROM
THE GROUND UP! PUSH ASIDE OFFICIALS WHO STAND IN OUR WAY! FOR WORKERS’ POWER!
4-3-15 – It is well past time that some semblance of a
fightback is organised. Workers’ rights in 2015 stand at the lowest point since
Federation. Even before the world crisis of the capitalist economies began in
2008, workers had been hit with three decades of assaults on rights and
conditions won over a century of struggle. Since the crisis, these assaults
have picked up pace. The Victorian Electrical Trades Union (ETU), in the
process of building today’s rally, suggested a list of items to march against.
These included: Removing penalty rates, attacking RDOs, increasing the
retirement age to 70, the Federal Building Code, the reintroduction of the
Australian Building and Construction Commission, dismantling Medicare,
deregulating TAFE and Universities and slashing support for apprenticeships and
training for unemployed youth.
It is of course more than welcome that today’s national
rallies have been called by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).
However, we should be wary of giving the top leadership of the ACTU, and their
associated state bodies, a carte blanche
to steer this campaign in defence of our rights as workers, and as the public.
For the top leaders of the ACTU have allowed the situation to reach the dire
stage we find ourselves in today. For example, around 40% of the Australian
workforce is in temporary, casual or contract work. This is a staggering
figure, but for the employers it means ongoing downward pressure on wages,
conditions and rights of those who are in permanent work. And the working
conditions for those who are in relatively stable work are frequently stressful
and physically and mentally exhausting. The conditions in many workplaces,
especially in the construction industry, are simply unhealthy. Unemployment is
another huge problem, now the highest it has been in 12 years. Unemployment
needs to be fought; we can’t just sit back and wait for better times.
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At left: Graph supplied by the Australian Bureau of
Statistics relating to Unemployment trends. At the start of the year,
official unemployment stood at 6.3%. These are the “official” statistics,
which are widely known to well under represent actual unemployment.
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Workers and their allies know how bad the situation is, but
how do we fight it? First, we have to recognise that some of the conditions we
face are a result of the worst capitalist economic crisis in over 100 years.
This crisis, which began in 2008, is a systemic, rather than a standard
cyclical boom and bust. But this is only half of the story. The other major
reason why Australia’s workers find themselves in ever-worsening circumstances
is the betrayal by our own Union leaderships. There are exceptions, but for the
most part, Union leaders have either been silent about, or have been complicit
with, major assaults on workers’ rights and conditions over a 30 year period.
Many Unions simply don’t have members meetings, the conservative officials
refuse to organise them. Many officials don’t even call meetings at the time
when workers are under attack in the workplace. For example, in Queensland, up
to 15 000 state public servants were sacked in 2012, and no Union leadership
called even one minute of industrial action!
Many of these officials are in very well paid and stable
jobs, which often the members they represent don’t enjoy. This whole
officialdom, the trade union bureaucracy, is a product of economic development
itself, so they can’t be wished away. To rebuild our Unions, conservative
officials need to be pushed aside – but workers can only do this collectively.
Going one out before the Union bureaucracy plays into their hands. But if a
group of workers, or a whole workplace, was to place the pressure on their
Union officials, it’s a different situation. In many cases, it will be
necessary for workers to take action without the sanction of the conservative
bureaucracy.
What is desperately needed in this struggle is workers’ unity. This needs to be
extended to all workers in Australia, whether or not they are on a 457 visa,
and all workers overseas. It is worth noting that workers in the socialist
states in the Asia-Pacific region – China, Vietnam, the DPRK – often have
stable working conditions and stable jobs – given that the victory of socialism
in their country has taken their economies out of the capitalist casino, which
remains in dire crisis. Ultimately, workers’ rights can only be permanently
guaranteed through the establishing of a workers’ republic. In the meantime,
through workers’ unity, the Union movement is capable of pushing aside
treacherous leaders and officials, rebuilding itself, and once again winning
real gains for workers. Some slogans the workers’ movement could put forward
are: Permanent
jobs for all workers! Full Union rights! Fund Universities, TAFEs, Healthcare
and public transport! For workers’ rule!
Marxist-Leninist Front
0421 408 692
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