The Labor Party and the union movement have a unique relationship which has been responsible for many social innovations – from the aged pension to paid parental leave.
There are many in the union movement who do not support everything the current government has done, or wish it would go further to advance workers’ rights.
To me, this is a healthy sign, as both the Labor Party and the union movement are best served when the two work together, not when the unions are subservient to the ALP, or vice-versa. This is a mature relationship which is not dependent on financial affiliation (the ACTU is not affiliated with the ALP, although many of our unions are).
Politics can easily become divorced from reality. Unions give the ALP a reality check through our connections with workplaces across Australia.
Unions are the means by which welders, nurses, shop assistants, journalists, train drivers and thousands of others unite their voices and can be heard in our national policy debate, particularly workers on low-incomes, in insecure work, who are not part of powerful employers lobby groups.
Membership of all political parties is shrinking. People have a lot more options for their decreasing spare time and attending branch meetings in the evening is not the draw it was in the 1950s.
Inactive branches mean that the grassroots of the Labor Party tends to come even more from the union movement and our network of thousands of delegates in workplaces across Australia.
From the union side, affiliation with one of the two major parties in Australia gives working people a voice inside Government.
Unions will use this conference to fight for the interests of Australian workers and their families.
Three recent disputes that centre on the right of workers to have some say over what happens in their workplace have shown the importance of collective action.
At Qantas, workers have fought to stop jobs going offshore, At Baiada poultry they successfully campaigned for workplace safety and to end contract work that is undercutting wages, and in Victoria nurses have taken collective action to support the proper staffing of the health system.
For nurses, work is not just about pay and conditions, it is about the satisfaction of being part of a strong health system. The views of people on the frontline of the health system should not be ignored by bureaucrats or the Baillieu Government.
Watching thousands of nurses march through central Melbourne last Thursday in support of current staff ratios, and the support they got from passers-by, was a demonstration of the way the core values of the union movement are still supported by Australians.
We want the Fair Work Act amended to confirm that workers and unions can be involved in negotiations about issues beyond pay and conditions.
We also want better protections for the 40 per cent of Australian workers that are in insecure work, on casual wages or contracts. It is not acceptable that workers may spend years in the same job, without getting the security of paid leave and other benefits.
Unions will also be pushing for a future for Australian manufacturing. Manufacturing employs 1 million Australians, compared with the mining industry which employs 200,000 but the mining boom-fuelled dollar is making it harder for manufacturers to compete internationally.
It is not enough to say that this is inevitable, or a result of globalisation, when a few bad years could wipe out manufacturers that could stay competitive for decades with some support. Mining is important but it cannot be our entire economy.
We need to support manufacturing jobs, starting by pushing mining companies to use Australian manufactured materials where possible.
We will keep pushing for the abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission and its coercive powers, the last vestige of WorkChoices. The ABCC has wasted millions pursuing an anti-union agenda, while death rates on construction sites have risen.
Unions have been strong supporters of the Government’s move to increase the compulsory superannuation guarantee to 12 per cent, and of the move towards a National Disability Insurance Scheme.
The broader aspirations of the union movement still have resonance in Australia – decent working conditions, a fair wage, a social safety net for the vulnerable, and good schools and hospitals for everybody.
Unions have two million members, and we work to protect millions more through our role in arguing for a fair minimum wage and decent conditions.
We have recently won a commitment from the Government to support pay rises for the female-dominated workforce in the community sector, a major step towards pay equality.
Even workers who do not belong to a union, or are not covered by a union-negotiated agreement often benefit from innovations like paid leave, that were fought for by the union movement. What other organisation had the power and commitment to win a fair deal for victims of asbestos?
Union values of fairness and solidarity, remain relevant in the changing conditions of the 21st century.
This week-end’s Labor Conference should be a reminder to the ALP that the way forward for the party is to develop policies that benefit the working Australians who have been its backbone for the last 120 years.
Via:
No comments:
Post a Comment