Members Coalition (MC), the progressive bloc of unionists that challenged the incumbent Rank and File group in the recent New South Wales Public Service Association (PSA) elections, won 12 of the 39 central councillor positions and one of the three vice president positions on the executive.
The result was similar to 2021, but with less resources for the opposition team. Just 10% of members voted.
Publicity promoting the election to the union’s 40,000 members, most of whom work in the NSW public service and state-owned corporations, was minimal.
Rank and File, the ruling group, seem to tolerate a low turnout and have a history of changing the rules to make it harder to contest elections, as it did again late last year.
According to the NSW Electoral Commission, 826 ballots were returned to sender, presumably because they were wrongly addressed.
MC highlighted the need for protection for members participating in protest actions against the genocide in Gaza. It strongly rejected Labor’s blanket policy that public sector employees return to their workplaces five days a week, arguing that this would deny many women and those with disabilities an income.
This won a good hearing and contributed to the backlash against Peter Dutton’s proposal to do an about-face.
MC opposed a union fee rise and called for the excessive salaries for executive members to be cut.
Its grassroots campaign involved scores of members, interacting face to face with others. MC’s focus on real engagement with members led to the group receiving up to 37% of the vote.