
Issue No 58		16 June 2000

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The Soapbox

John Ducker Looks Forward

The former Labor Council secretary held the floor at a cross-factional dinner to discuss the future of the union movement last weekend.

It is a pleasure to speak at a New South Wales ALP Conference in the presence of a captured audience obliged to treat a pair of old stalwarts like John Benson and myself with respect.

That is a code for no heckling. And to continue with my reputation for balance and fairness, I will reciprocate by not ordering a locking of the doors for a division.

When thinking about putting together a few words this evening, I was of course tempted to use the opportunity to rewrite a bit of history and take a lounge chair view of the labor movement of yesteryear and maybe even pine for some of the old times.

I would rather use the opportunity for a frank appraisal of where the labor movement is at, or to borrow that overused work benchmark the current labor movement against its modern history in terms of meeting the future challenges.

And in thinking closely about it, a positive story emerges.

In New South Wales we are in the middle equivalent of the wran years. A strong and disciplined Carr Government and an Opposition Leader's office with a revolving door.

The party's capacity to constantly re-create itself in a changing environment is perhaps best exemplified in the creation of Country Labor.

There is no doubt the electorate's experiment with One Nation has given way to a great opportunity for any political party to give voice to concerns outside of the metropolitan area.

Whereas the National Party have adopted a strategy of duplicating or attempting to out extreme One Nation, Country Labor is actually delivering on ones concerns.

Some of the smiles on the Country Labor MPs following the recent budget are a case in hand. Funnily enough people outside of Sydney also want decent hospitals, schools and infrastructure.

It is all pretty simple bread and butter stuff. Labor will get more long-term loyalty from improving a school in country New South Wales than belting one of our many minority groups.

In New South Wales, the challenge is one of momentum.

Federally, Labor is in a most interesting period in the electoral cycle. That delicate point where the ball can be dropped or power achieved.

During my time in the laboir movement it is interesting to compare exactly where we are now, compared to other points in our modern history.

We are getting close to five years of being in opposition.

Lets flick back to the same point following the defeat of the Chifley Government in 1949.

All of us know this was perhaps the most tortuous period in our own history, and at least equalling the conscription debate in World War I.

I certainly am not going to revisit the details, but as ugly as the whole episode was for the participants, it left a 23-year scar on the mind of the electorate.

Five years out from Curtin or five years out from Keating and i know which i prefer.

Despite some good times I had in the fifties, sixties and particularly the seventies, I now jump to 1980.

Five years out from the defeat of Whitlam in 1975 and the ALP had undergone considerable rehabilitation.

The party persevered with a defeated prime minister for a further two years. The party drifted for two years. A mistake, but a lesson learned.

Unfortunately for Bill Hayden, it all came together under Hawke in 1983.

In 1980 the party did not have the look of a winner about it.

In the year 2000 we are the same point in the cycle.

In this case we have been through one where the party far exceeded even its own optimistic expectations.

It is now seen as a very credible alternative and there is a noticeable mood shift in the electorate, assisted let me add by the performance of Labor in New South Wales.

In summary, we have gone from a 23-year period of non-government to eight years to what I think will be a maximum of six years by the time the next election is held.

This change is no accident, as I dare say all the party officers remind you.

So in all, it is a rather rosy picture and perhaps I should now just sit down.

But the very thing that keeps the party strong is its capacity to handle (some would say manage) the tensions.

Let's start with the relationship with the trade unions.

It is very much the "New Labor" approach to demark the relationship. It looks good publicly.

That approach not only ignores our history, but separates the party from the core goals of a responsible trade union.

And a trade union is about improving the lot of working people. A simple goal and one often lost to the public.

More workers vote than employers, so why should the party be shy about its relationship!!! In fact is should trade off it to a greater extent.

There is no doubt the capacity of the Hawke/Keating Government to harness the cooperation of the union movement was a fundamental key for its success. And I am not just talking bout affiliation fees.

The trade union movement delivered on the key economic reforms in the eighties and nineties that opened the Australian economy to competitive forces. These forces were kept at bay in the past by protective forces such as tariffs.

Whilst I yearn for the days of certainty when an industry doing it tough could be saved by another tariff, as an export orientated country, we get belted by such actions these days.

I do not embrace the global economy, I accept it.

Whilst John Howard claims credit for Australia surviving the Asian economies meltdown, actually pay real credit to the accord process.

This view may well be out of fashion within the labour movement, but if Labor had dealt a different set of cards to Australia during these years we would be feeling greater repercussions.

Ah but all will tell you union membership would have gone up.

I am not so sure.

I would rather focus on some of the opportunities the unions missed during this period.

Superannuation was a union goal, but became a government initiative. Fair enough, but a membership drive should have accompanied it.

More importantly, the union movement needed to subject itself to the very principles of award restructuring it so effectively negotiated with employers following the 1989 national wage case decision.

Employers made considerable efficiency gains through this decision and others that followed during the 1990s.

It is actually worth having a look at some of these principles some 11 years on, has made a significant impact on how work is performed in this country at the same time, introduced the concept of career paths, skills based classification structures and consultative mechanisms.

In short, smart employers became more competitive through properly using and promoting the skills and contributions of its workforce.

Again, the smart employers were rewarded for changing the way they did business.

Therefore, how smart is the ideologically driven ventures of Peter Reith and the federal government in inciting the return of draconian industrial relations? Do these people want to rewrite history, or are they more comfortable living in the dark ages??

You cannot ignore the benefit of the commitment in respect of a system of conciliation and arbitration has delivered to Australia.

For a country needing to attract overseas investment in order to grow, what better selling point than a system that generates the improbability of a protracted industrial disputation.

Imagine playing the State of Origin without a referee. Although I have heard that recently proposed in Queensland.

Whilst labor in government is the icing on the movement's cake, we need to nurture the substance otherwise we give way to my next problem.

And that is essentially the creation of a labour movement where the icing is the only thing attractive.

In many ways this phenomena today explains some of the contrived factions on sub-factions that now exist in the labour movement.

Please do not get me wrong. I support the faction system. I talk here of a factional system that is based on some form of ideology.

Whilst I am loathe to term Country Labor as a faction, I applaud its capacity to promote a certain viewpoint within the party. I urge all to look towards it.

Where I do have a problem is a grouping devoid of any other motive than self-promotion and often at the cost of the "real" faction or the greater party.

Squeezed between my optimism and I hope mild criticism is the capacity of the movement to deliver the prime ministership to Kim Beazley.

Is it capable after only one election defeat of securing government?

The answer is clearly yes.

I would also draw your attention to another significant milestone and that will come in January. Bob Carr will become the longest serving Labor leader.

It is a tribute to the man who rebuilt the Parliamentary Labor Party from a crushing defeat into the most successful Labor machine in our history.

John Benson's speech will be published next week

View entire issue - print all of the articles!

Issue 58 contents

Interview: After the Gold Rush
NSW building union leader Andrew Ferguson on life after the Olympics and why Che Guevara is his political hero.

Unions: MUA Women's Policy Back on Course
A hard hitting report by the Maritime Union's women's delegate Sue Gajdos prompts the union to, once again, promote its female members.

Politics: Raising the Rafters
Opposition leader Kim Beazley delivered a stirring address to last weekend's NSW ALP State Conference. Here's every word of it.

History: Time and Tide
Greg Patmore surveys the themes of Working Lives in Regional Australia in this introduction to the latest issue of 'Labour History'

International: Fair in the Land of the Free
More than 20,000 immigrant workers, union members and community and religious leaders packed a Los Angeles Sports Arena on June 10 in support of immigrant workers' rights.

Environment: Life's a Beach
Workers are invited to join an environmental campaign to protect the coastal communities and coastline from exploitation by multinationals.

Satire: More Pacific Coups Forecast
The popular holiday resort of Great Keppel Island is bracing itself for a bloody coup, following the rash of rebel uprisings in other parts of the Pacific.

Review: At the Barricades
Denis Evans' photo essay on the Patrick dispute captures the camaraderie on the Melbourne picket lines - solidarity that, like solder, welded workers and their communities together into a human barricade.

Crackdown on Fiji Workers Intensifies
Building Industry Braces for Post-Games Slump
Call Centre Battle Hots Up
More Sackings Spark Entitlements Showdown
Carr Establishes Labor Hire Inquiry
High Court Puts Workers At Reith's Mercy
Miners Hit the Streets Over Death Threats
Unions Urged to Reignite Republic Debate
Tips Rip-Off Sparks Hotel Picket
Community Workers to Lay Siege to Parliament
Water Workers Accept 14% Pay Rise
Counselling for Workplace Accidents
Korean Food Festival is Union Business
Che Helps Doctors Save Lives
Maude Barlow Public Lecture - Sydney June 27