Red Report Back - Week Ending 10/07/2022

Nurses Catch Breath 

As part of their call for fairer wages, safer working conditions and patient-to-staff ratios, members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association held a Special General Meeting last week to discuss their ongoing dispute with the NSW State Government. Delegates representing the membership came together to plan the next phase of their struggle against the Liberal government and its refusal to address the concerns of members. 

Regarding the government’s continual refusal to express support in the form of fair wages for nurses and midwives, a majority of delegates voted in favour of pursuing a 7 per cent pay increase to cope with rising inflation and extreme working conditions. Acting Assistant General Secretary of the NSWNMA, Michael Whaites, said members would continue to fight until systemic workload, work health and safety issues were involved.  

As we have highlighted throughout this struggle, the fundamental changes that the healthcare system needs will not be achieved as long as we live in a system that priorities profit over health and wellbeing. We support the nurses and midwives in their fight for better conditions. We must also work with them to highlight that, while we can achieve concessions and reforms under this system, it is the capitalist system itself that is the issue. Until we smash capitalism, staff and patients alike will continue to be dehumanised and milked for every last bit of profit.  

The Urban Song of the Revolution – Train Whistles and Crying Politicians  

The Rail, Tram and Bus Union continued to give the NSW government a splitting headache this week. The union launched a series of actions including go slows, refusal to operate foreign-built trains and the sounding of train whistles when departing each station. This, coupled with the tears of right-wing politicians and media puppets, has created an urban song of the revolution.  

In response to the union’s refusal to back down, Premier Perrottet has verbally pledged $264 million to repair the unsafe Korean-built New Intercity Fleet. However, he has refused to put the grandiose promise into writing – conforming to the government’s record of lying through their teeth and doing anything to stifle workers voicing their dissent.

Similarly, Perrottet attempted to weaponise the anti-worker Fair Work Commission to prevent members from taking further action this week, saying that continued industrial action “shows a lack of good faith”. Further embodying the Liberal Government’s hypocritical bad faith, they have refused to budge over enterprise bargaining agreements over wages. 

NSW Secretary of the RTBU, Alex Claasens, responded by saying, “It’s outrageous that we’re being forced to take action in order to get the NSW government to deliver on what should be a basic responsibility of government – providing a safe railway and fair working conditions for its workforce.” As the rail network is faced with the threats of casualisation, privatisation and the implementation of unsafe working conditions, the resoluteness of the RTBU in standing their ground and protecting the interests of both members and the community is an example to all. This government seeks to frame these workers as terrorists. To this we say one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. Up the RTBU. Let the train whistles of rebellion echo across the nation.  

Landmark Deal For Gig Workers 

Following months of discussions, the leadership of the Transport Workers Union signed a landmark agreement with Uber last week. The new agreement protects the flexibility of gig workers and supports the creation of minimum standards and benefits for those working in the industry.  

The move is notable as it marks the first time in Australia that a platform company has struck a deal with a union across both the rideshare and food delivery industries. The two parties have agreed to support the legislating of an independent body by the Federal Government that will create industry-wide standards around several key areas. 

They will centre on minimum and transparent enforceable earnings, dispute resolution mechanisms adjusted to platform work, the rights of platform workers to join and be represented by their union and enforcement mechanisms around these standards.  

National Secretary of the TWU, Michael Kaine, said that the agreement “sends a strong signal to the newly-minted Federal Government that it must act to deliver gig companies regulatory certainty and extend appropriate safeguards to workers across the gig economy.” 

While workers must not be reliant on either employers or the government to protect their interests, these developments highlight the need for the union movement to adjust to changes in the industrial landscape. Every worker deserves to have minimum standards guaranteed and protected so that they can not only survive, but live with dignity. Let us not rest until all workers in this land are afforded these same rights.  

Increased Penalties for Strikes 

This week also saw yet another step towards fascist suppression of free speech in the industrial relations battlefield. The state government of New South Wales announced its intention to dramatically increase the fines and penalties for strike action taken without approval from the Industrial Relations Commission.  

The proposed changes would see unions fined up to $55,000 for strike action taken in defiance of IRC rulings, with fines of up to $27,500 for each day of subsequent action. Unions that are seen to be repeatedly breaching these orders would also face fines of up to $110,000. Currently, the penalties for these ‘unauthorised’ actions are $10,000 for the first day, with fines of $5,000 each day after that.  

Leaders of several unions have condemned the anti-democratic actions of the government, with representatives from the teachers and nurses’ unions slamming the new penalties. With its eyes set on the state election next year, NSW Labor has surprisingly announced its opposition to the move, not wanting to lose favour and electoral capital within the union movement lest it should hurt them at the polling booths.  

The entire discourse around the issue is something that Communists, and all workers, must analyse and critique. The whole concept of ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ industrial action is the outcome of decades of propaganda that have weakened and shackled the union movement. The capitalist government never hesitates to use all forces at its disposal to attack the rights of workers. Yet we are told that we must rely on their benevolence if we wish to survive. Workers must overcome this propaganda and realise that just as they unite to fight against us, so too must we unite to fight against their attacks. This is a battle that won’t be won in the courtroom. It must be waged and won in our neighbourhoods, in our workplaces and in any organisation where workers are present. They may not like us, but we don’t care.  

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CFMEU Fined for Picketing