Jenny Long, Sydney
Preliminary results for the 2004 election for the seven-member executive and 45-member central council of the NSW Public Service Association (PSA) indicate that no single faction will dominate these bodies and that the left-wing Progressive PSA group has significantly increased its representation.
The PSA covers the state's 45,000 public servants, some workers in NSW utilities and universities and school administrative staff. Three main teams contested the election for executive and council positions — two ALP-aligned teams (the incumbent Rank and File team and the Members First team) which are currently running the union, and their main challengers in the Progressive PSA team.
Results for the executive ballot were announced by the State Electoral Commission on November 17. The Rank and File team's candidates for president and general secretary were elected with 68% and 63% of the votes, as against 32% and 37% for the PPSA's candidates. The Rank and File team will have four of the seven executive positions, Members First will have two and the PPSA one (one of the three vice-presidents).
While ballot counting for central council positions has yet to be finalised, it appears that 14 Members First candidates, 14 Rank and File candidates and 13 PPSA candidates have been elected. In the last election, fiour years ago, seven PPSA candidates were elected the union's central council.
The Progressives' candidate for president, Leon Parissi, said the election results were very encouraging for the future of the union. "It appears that the stranglehold of a single faction is diminishing and there will be greater opportunity for a broader range of opinion to be heard in the leadership positions of the executive and central council."
The two Labor-aligned teams claim to have quite different agendas for the union. The Labor "left" Rank and File team campaigned mainly on their experience in running a union, while the ALP right Members First team campaigned on a "reform" agenda with many features similar to the Progressives' platform.
The public sector in NSW has suffered a long process of contracting out, outright privatisation, job and service cuts — initiated under the Wearn Labor government in the 1970s and continued today under Labor Premier Bob Carr's government.
Many PSA members blame the current union leadership for failing to make more than a token attempt to stand up to the government's attacks, particularly with the raft of "reforms" agreed for discussion as a condition of the last major pay deal for the public service and the unfunded "productivity" components of the deal, which opened the door wider to job cuts. This pay deal was recommended by the union leadership in a pay ballot, and despite the PPSA's urging, the "No" case for the deal was not included on the ballot papers mailed to members.
[Jenny Long was a Progressive PSA candidate for PSA vice-president and is a Socialist Alliance member.]
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, November 24, 2004.
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