Nick G.
Recent
legislative changes in Queensland reveal with great clarity the class nature of
the state.
The
state encompasses those agencies, institutions and individuals whose job it is
to obstruct, to restrict, to threaten and to oppress the working class and its
allies in the interests of the minority who own and benefit from capitalist
property relations.
In
the uneven application of tactics against the workers, the state sometimes uses
softer, at other times harder, methods.
In
the current era, Queensland is at the forefront of state use of harder measures
against the people.
Intimidation of union officials
In
2013 the State government amended the Industrial Relations Act.
The
Act now requires the ten highest paid officials of a union to declare on a
public register the assets held by themselves, their spouse and children and
“any person who is totally or substantially dependent on the officer” such as a
dependent parent.
The
officials and their related persons must declare whether they have shares,
investments, property, bank accounts and other assets. The assets extend to gifts, non-cash benefits
and remuneration. It includes
declarations of reimbursements for costs of travel and accommodation used in
the course of the official’s union work.
It
is highly intrusive and treats union officials as nothing better than criminals
placed under a strict parole regime.
The
clear intention is to scare people away from taking on leadership roles within
unions.
Obstructing unions in their work
The
changes also place restrictions on the ability of unions to campaign on behalf
of their members.
Any
amount in excess of $10,000 spent on a political purpose in any one financial
year must be approved through a ballot.
The
ballot will only authorise the expenditure if at least 50% of the union
membership vote, and more than 50% of those voting support the spending.
For
a union of a reasonable size with members spread across the State, such as the
Queensland Teachers Union, this will mean weeks and weeks of dependency on the
electoral commission and payment of costs of the ballot to the commission.
It
may well take such a union $40-50,000 to conduct a ballot for the expenditure
of $10,000.
A
political purpose includes donations to a political party and “publication or
distribution in any way, including through advertising, of material about a
political matter” and even ascertaining “a person’s opinion about a political
matter, including, for example, by opinion polling”.
Restricting unions in their work
Other
amendments to the Industrial Relations Act restrict the scope of “allowable
matters” in Enterprise Agreements.
Employment security provisions and conversion of contract to permanency
requirements must not be included.
Anything that encourages or facilitates union membership such as payroll
deductions or providing resources at the workplace for union activity must not
be included. Any agreement around
funding programs in the workplace must not be included. Anything that addresses union right of entry
must not be included. Anything that
restricts “flexible” work practices must not be included.
On
the other hand, so-called “individual flexibility arrangements” must be included.
The
amendments give the Minister for Industrial Relations power to terminate
industrial action “if the Minister is satisfied that the action is threatening
the safety and welfare of the community, or is threatening to damage the
economy”.
Thus
the window is effectively shut on what little there is in this country of the
right to protected industrial action.
Oppressing the workers and their allies
Although
these legislative changes are written with specific reference to unions and
their officials, they are actually the iron fist of the ruling class around the
throats of all working people.
We
have no illusions about the trade unions and their non-revolutionary nature, of
the fact that they are tied in a thousand and one ways to the continuation of
the social system of capitalism.
Workers
need unions.
The
best of them actually do try to protect workers at work and win better wages
from the employer.
That
is why threatening, obstructing and restricting unions is central to the
oppression of workers by the ruling class.
The
workers of Queensland are the heirs of Barcaldine and the 1890 strikes, of the
great Townsville Meat Workers’ Strike of 1919, of the struggles against
Jackboot Joh, of the SEQEB dispute.
When
push comes to shove, they will fight back, and hard!
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