BY PAUL OBOOHOV
CANBERRA — Left-wing public service unionists in the national capital have been stymied in their attempts to prevent a union restructure which would dissolve the ACT branch of the Community and Public Sector Union.
The ACT branch conference of the CPSU on November 15 failed to mandate the branch's secretary to vote against the restructure at a national executive meeting scheduled for November 20.
The restructure would massively change CPSU rules, replacing state and territory branches with smaller "regional councils", strengthening the department-based section structure and making all key positions subject to the direct control of the national secretary.
The rank and file group Members First opposed the abolition of branches, arguing that the regional councils will be less representative, will lack control over their own budgets and will be less able to discuss public service-wide issues at the local level.
But it failed to get the required support, with the majority of delegates voting instead to give the union's branch secretary, a supporter of the restructure and a member of the national secretary's faction within the union, the right to vote as he sees fit at the national executive meeting.
The national executive is now expected to approve the restructure and send it back to branch conferences for ratification in December.
Also due for debate at the national executive is the union's attitude towards the war in Afghanistan.
An amendment put by the left at the ACT branch conference to add condemnation of the deaths caused by the bombing and in Iraq by UN sanction was defeated, as was another amendment, proposed by a union supporter of the Greens, that the war should be waged under UN auspices. But an amendment expressing concern at extra powers for the intelligence services was accepted.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, November 21, 2001.
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