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Members of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) Victoria gathered at the Bargoonga Nganjin North Fitzroy Library on January 30 for the launch of A Voice for Members (V4M), a new ticket contesting the Victoria branch elections later this year.

The ticket aims to “strengthen grassroots democracy and empower members to lead the fight for better wages and workplace conditions”. It is the first to contest the branch elections in more than 30 years. 

The CPSU Victoria covers public sector workers at the state level and has about 15,000 members. 

Speakers included former branch councillor Mitchell Vanderwerdt-Holman, V4M organiser Jiselle Hanna and Ellen David Friedman, longtime organiser based in the United States and chair of the Labor Notes board. Victorian Socialists Senate candidate and federal CPSU member Jordan Van Den Lamb MC’d the event. 

David Friedman told the crowd: “I want to say, first and foremost, what you are doing within your union is an allegiance [to your union] and a chance to do the most important thing anyone can do anywhere in defence of personal dignity for workers, collective dignity for you as a group of workers, and also for democratic principles.” 

She described the long decline in living standards for workers, social services and the strength of unions in the past few decades. “All of us have been degraded in this period of time; our individual rights at work to control something about our work, to establish our own independent judgement and autonomy as workers, to protect ourselves against harassment, abuse and racism in the workplace.”

She said it was important for union leadership to be connected with the members. “You have to be in the workplace. You have to know what is happening … what the workers are living, feeling and what they need.” 

Vanderwerdt-Holman spoke about the difficulties facing the union, including a lack of accountability and representation of members’ interests in recent enterprise bargaining (EB) negotiations.

He said the current leadership had tried to “slow down and manage expectations downwards” and that EB agreements had fallen behind inflation. “At the end of our current EBA in 2028, we’re going to be in the same position in real terms as we were in 2018.” 

Hanna encouraged attendees to talk to coworkers about the campaign. “Your presence speaks volumes about what this campaign is all about; a collective fighting union of members, by the members and for the members.

“This is about a voice that truly represents the rank-and-file that fights for what we deserve and that refuses to settle for anything less than justice, dignity, safety in our workplaces and the wages we deserve.”

Hanna described the current EBA as a “sell-out deal” and criticised the union leadership for not challenging the government’s wage cap. “If you don’t fight, you lose,” she said. 

Hanna said other public sector unions had won more significant pay rises.

Hanna said V4M was formed to stop members’ voices being “muted or sidelined” and “decisions [being] made behind closed doors”. 

V4M plans to run candidates across all positions in the upcoming branch elections. 

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