8/7/2019 ALP, Howes and the Carbon Tax

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/alp-howes-and-the-carbon-tax 1/2

 

Friendly fire: Unions and the ALP

Over the last few days, union officials past and present have strafed the Gillard

government. Public conflict between unions and the ALP is nothing new. But 

with the besieged Gillard government clinging to office, and unions desperately

needing to prove their value to members, the current conflict brings Australias

oldest relationship closer and closer to the precipice of separation.

Of the two incidents, Senator Doug Camerons criticism of the free trade

agreement with the USA is fairly inconsequential. Cameron said the agreement,

one of the Howard Governments rewards for its support for George Bush, was a

lemon. In economic, rather than national security, circles this is pretty much a

consensus opinion.

Glasgow-born, and retaining more than a trace of that distinctive accent,

Cameron was a long-time national official of the left-wing AustralianManufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) before entering the Senate a few years

ago. Replacing a previous long-time AMWU official, George Campbell, he is

effectively that unions representative inside caucus. Cameron is known to be

one of just a small handful of MPs not intimidated by Rudds unprecedented

control of caucus.

Its hardly news that Cameron is critical of free trade agreements. His union has

put members jobs above free trade for several decades now. Cameron may just 

not have caught up with the fact that his leaders newly minted enthusiasm for

everything American extends to the previous governments dubious free trade

agreement. Or Cameron might have been affirming that manufacturing industry

jobs are still his main priority and should be the Governments.

More seriously, the right-wing Australian Workers Union (AWU) boss, and media

identity, Paul Howes has issued an ultimatum that no reforming government can

possibly meet. Howes says that if the carbon tax results in the loss of just one job

his union will not support it. It is a move that has the potential to bury the Gillard

government.

Howes is close to right-wing faction boss Bill Shorten who he succeeded as AWU

National Secretary after Shorten entered federal parliament at the 2007 election.

Shorten is now Gillards Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation.

Howes shot to prominence on the night Rudds leadership was destroyed last 

year when he announced on television that his union had swung its support behind Gillard. Shorten was one of the key organisers of the challenge to Rudd.

Howes is one of a small group of officials that dominate the ACTU, and his union

is also a key part of the right-wing faction in the ALP. Deputy PM Swan is part of 

the Queensland AWU faction. For someone like Howes, there is little difference

between the party and the union. At age 30, he likes wielding political power,

and he is unlikely to be thinking about a career that doesnt involve following

Shorten into Parliament at some stage.

8/7/2019 ALP, Howes and the Carbon Tax

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/alp-howes-and-the-carbon-tax 2/2

Union members, however, expect their union leaders to draw a sharp distinction

between the union, as defender of their jobs and wages, and the fate of ALP

Governments. This is relatively easy for unions representing nurses and teachers

that are not affiliated to the ALP, and whose leaders rarely win pre-selections but 

for people like Howes and Cameron it grows ever more complicated.

The success of the ACTUs anti-Workchoices campaign, and the UnionsNSWcampaign against electricity privatisation, was built on a unity ticket of unions

acting as a cross-factional group to win public support and influence an ALP ever

wary of its economic credentials. This is an historic shift that has been emerging

in recent decades. Hawke, Kelty and Combet all encouraged factional co-

operation in their stints at the ACTU, as did John Robertson at UnionsNSW.

The wagons have been circled. Old factional battles matter less to todays union

officials than the future of the union movement. Unions lost a lot of members in

the recession of the 1990s. While voters waited on porches with baseball bats for

Keating, union members voted with their feet and left a movement they thought 

was too close to the ALP government. Theyve spent the last 15 years trying to

win at least some of them back.

The lesson was learnt. If unions cant protect jobs and conditions, people wont 

keep paying the dues and they wont keep voting for Paul Howes to be their

National Secretary.