Unions: don't listen to the Greens' Siren Song

There is nothing for trade unions to celebrate from Labor’s loss in the Cunningham by-election.

Local trade unionists, who were instrumental in the victory of a Green candidate in possession of a pure platform, will ultimately achieve little more than a warm inner glow from bashing the ALP hierarchy.

Sure, the Cunningham vote represents a protest against the excesses of machine politics; but it should be seen as no more than that: taking a seat from the ALP will do nothing to promote the labour movement’s long-term interests.

The problem with the Greens is that to build their base they must inevitably weaken Labor’s – with the only long-term winner being the Howard Government.

Whatever their problems with pre-selection, policy or Party personalities, unions should not withdraw from the ALP; rather it makes the need to engage all the more compelling.

If they don’t like the way the party is currently run, unions should get their members active in branches and influence policy from the grass roots; while exercising their institutional influence in a more constructive manner than just bolstering the numbers of their factional masters.

That said, the ALP has a responsibility to select genuine community candidates and develop policy that promotes union values first and then wins over the public; rather than just reacting to the latest poll.

Although the political wing often maddens us with its conservatism and self-focus, unions have a responsibility to its members to work for the election of the party it created more than 100 years ago.

Cunningham is a wake-up call for both wings of the labour movement – the political wing is vulnerable without the support of the industrial wing; but so too does the industrial wing need a political voice.

The Greens will never deliver the unions’ agenda; and by taking seats away from Labor they will only make that agenda more desperate.

In Homer’s Odyssey, the crew are on their long journey home when they encounter the Sirens, beautiful maidens who lure sailors to their deaths with an irresistible song.

Odysseus fills his crew's ears with wax to save them from temptation, while he ties himself to the mast so he can hear their tune without being led astray.

Like the Sirens, the Greens’ song is sweet, but they will not help us get home. We need to show the discipline to tie ourselves to the mast and sail past their promises and back on a course that delivers real benefits for union members.

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As for the recent machinations over the structure of the ALP, they are in danger of missing the fundamental point: Labor’s current malaise is caused not by an excess of core values but through a deficit.

Listen to the Conference rhetoric and you'd think that by cutting the formal union influence in the Party, Labor would somehow become a champion of the people. Talk to the workers of Australia and you get a very different story.

The Transport Workers Union has just completed focus groups - members of the contracting Labor heartland - asking them about their attitude to the ALP.

The findings reflect similar surveys for the ACTU and other unions: working people have lost faith with both sides of politics and are crying out for a champion.

Here's what the TWU members had to say:

• "Personally, I think Labor and Liberal are so close now it's not going to make any difference"
• on Labor politicians: "they've got a good looking CV, they've got a university education and they just want to get elected to that cushy job in Parliament. They don't care too much about the worker."
• and "I reckon there's a lot of union members who say you're not doing anything for me, I'm giving my vote to an independent."

In this context the challenge for Labor is not to water down its commitment to core values, but strengthen them.

With corporate excesses reaching breaking point, a war for Oil in the Middle East and increased pressure in the workplace Labor should be killing it.

That it's struggling is directly linked to the reluctance of the parliamentary wing to move from safety first, white-bread, middle of the road, me-too policies.

That is why the formulation of refugee policy is such a fundamental issue. It is about the way Labor does politics.

Last election, Labor played its biggest card - cashing in its moral soul - in a desperate effort to win an election. It was a turning point for a party of principle; a statement that winning was everything.

This is the end-point of a slippery slope that frames every policy debate as a political opportunity and casts all principles as expendable.

Unionists and rank-and-filers have a similar agenda: they want a successful party but they want a leader who is prepared to take a few hits, even a few falls, to ensure that when they attain power they have an agenda consistent with Labor values.

They don't want a political fix dumped on them and into a Parliament that is devoid of principle, compassion and integrity. In short, they want a genuine say in the Party's direction.

The real test for Simon Crean is his ability to create a political platform for Labor voters. There is a heartland out there wanting to vote Labor; they just need a reason.