In late August, the Albanese Labor government passed legislation aimed
at destroying Australia's most militant union, the Construction,
Forestry & Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU), imposing a draconian regime
of administration that intends to drive down the hard-won wages and
conditions of construction workers. ---- It may seem ironic that a party
founded in the wake of industrial action - the Great Shearers' Strike of
1891 - now eagerly sides with the bosses. But this isn't the first time
the Labor Party has sold out the working class and it won't be the last.
For the Labor party, this is business as usual.
Under Australian capitalism, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) has two
functions. On the one hand, the ALP represents the political arm of the
trade union bureaucracy. Trade union officials are involved within the
ALP at every level of its operation. Of the 20 elected representatives
of Labor's 2024 national executive, 12 are current trade union
officials. At both the State and National level, half ofthe delegates
present at Labor Party Conferences are granted to ALP-affiliated trade
unions.
The internal politics of the ALP is largely driven by a highly organised
factional system. The power of these factions within the party
ultimately comes from the strength of their affiliated unions. The Labor
Left faction is dominated by the United Workers Union (UWU), the
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and the CFMEU. The primary
players in the Labor Right faction are the Australian Workers Union
(AWU) and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA).
In turn, the factional divide within the Labor Party directs how leading
trade union officials act within their unions. For instance, after the
media launched its propaganda attack on the CFMEU, the right wing of the
bureaucracy saw an opportunity to crush one of its rivals.
Representatives of the SDA pushed the executive of the peak body of the
Australian trade union movement, the ACTU, to accept appointing an
administrator to the CFMEU. The right wing of the bureaucracy went on
the attack, and most of the left wing of the bureaucracy simply
capitulated. These are exactly the kinds of problems that we can expect
to emerge when the unions are in the thrall of politicians.
The other key function of the ALP is that of competently managing
Australian capitalism, in the interests of the capitalists. Just like
any other government, the ALP is ultimately beholden to the interests of
capitalists and must consistently demonstrate its reliability to them.
Labor is useful to Australian capitalists for a number of reasons.
First, it is generally viewed by businesses as being a more reliable
source of government funded development. Second, the close relationship
between the ALP and the trade union bureaucracy has established Labor as
the party best positioned to keep class struggle from getting out of
hand. It's no surprise then, that Labor is willing to crush a militant
union like the CFMEU to show capitalists just how well it can defend
their interests. On the other hand, if Labor's policies ever seriously
began to threaten profitability or growth, capitalists would use their
legal ownership and control over the economy to force them to back down.
Combining these two functions of the ALP, we see that it is the vehicle
by which the union bureaucracy attempts to negotiate a compromise with
capital on the overall management of capitalism in Australia. As a
result, Labor's policies will always be more conservative than the
policies of the unions themselves.
Labor's policies are the product of two balances of forces: the relative
power of the trade unions within capitalism and the relative balance in
the unions between the bureaucracy and the membership.
The relationship today between the trade union bureaucracy and the ALP
still lies in the long shadow of the Accord of the 1980s. The Accord was
an agreement between the union officials and the Labor Governments' of
Hawke and Keating, designed to restructure Australian capitalism and
reverse the crisis of declining profits. The Accord narrowly confined
what unions could legally fight for and, in particular, it set an upper
bound on union wage claims. The right to strike was restricted accordingly.
This agreement was a disaster for Australian unions. The Accord
compelled the union bureaucracy to act as a police force over the rank
and file. Any strikes or unions that failed to comply with the terms set
out in the Accord were crushed with the full backing of the ACTU and the
ALP, with few exceptions. The union bureaucracy actively collaborated
with the State to demobilise the movement it supposedly led.
Whilst the bureaucracy enjoyed an exceptionally close relationship with
the government, union membership collapsed. At the same time, the ACTU's
program of union amalgamation created large unions with hundreds of
staff members, further weakening the rank and file while strengthening
the position of the officials. Union rules were re-written to be less
democratic and Left officials closed down the rank and file groups which
had previously been their base of support.
Today, the union bureaucracy is much less susceptible to pressure from
the membership. Not only do the rules give them unilateral control over
decision making processes, but there also aren't the same informal ties
back to the workplaces the officials supposedly represent. No longer do
officials come mostly from the shop floor. Instead, they form a separate
caste from the beginning, getting recruited as organisers straight from
university. Many officials are former student ALP politicians who see
climbing the ranks of a union as a path towards a political career in
parliament.
The Labor Party will always sell us out, but we need to recognise that
even when it does, it is acting in the interests of the trade union
bureaucracy. There cannot be a militant trade union movement in
Australia unless the Labor Party's influence is defeated in our unions.
Fighting the destructive influence of the Labor Party requires fighting
the bureaucracy. We need to build the power of the rank and file and
rebuild democratic processes that the officials have closed down. It is
the only way to defend the interests of the working class and to advance
the revolutionary struggle against capitalism itself.
https://melbacg.au/the-labor-party-friends-of-the-bosses/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
at destroying Australia's most militant union, the Construction,
Forestry & Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU), imposing a draconian regime
of administration that intends to drive down the hard-won wages and
conditions of construction workers. ---- It may seem ironic that a party
founded in the wake of industrial action - the Great Shearers' Strike of
1891 - now eagerly sides with the bosses. But this isn't the first time
the Labor Party has sold out the working class and it won't be the last.
For the Labor party, this is business as usual.
Under Australian capitalism, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) has two
functions. On the one hand, the ALP represents the political arm of the
trade union bureaucracy. Trade union officials are involved within the
ALP at every level of its operation. Of the 20 elected representatives
of Labor's 2024 national executive, 12 are current trade union
officials. At both the State and National level, half ofthe delegates
present at Labor Party Conferences are granted to ALP-affiliated trade
unions.
The internal politics of the ALP is largely driven by a highly organised
factional system. The power of these factions within the party
ultimately comes from the strength of their affiliated unions. The Labor
Left faction is dominated by the United Workers Union (UWU), the
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and the CFMEU. The primary
players in the Labor Right faction are the Australian Workers Union
(AWU) and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA).
In turn, the factional divide within the Labor Party directs how leading
trade union officials act within their unions. For instance, after the
media launched its propaganda attack on the CFMEU, the right wing of the
bureaucracy saw an opportunity to crush one of its rivals.
Representatives of the SDA pushed the executive of the peak body of the
Australian trade union movement, the ACTU, to accept appointing an
administrator to the CFMEU. The right wing of the bureaucracy went on
the attack, and most of the left wing of the bureaucracy simply
capitulated. These are exactly the kinds of problems that we can expect
to emerge when the unions are in the thrall of politicians.
The other key function of the ALP is that of competently managing
Australian capitalism, in the interests of the capitalists. Just like
any other government, the ALP is ultimately beholden to the interests of
capitalists and must consistently demonstrate its reliability to them.
Labor is useful to Australian capitalists for a number of reasons.
First, it is generally viewed by businesses as being a more reliable
source of government funded development. Second, the close relationship
between the ALP and the trade union bureaucracy has established Labor as
the party best positioned to keep class struggle from getting out of
hand. It's no surprise then, that Labor is willing to crush a militant
union like the CFMEU to show capitalists just how well it can defend
their interests. On the other hand, if Labor's policies ever seriously
began to threaten profitability or growth, capitalists would use their
legal ownership and control over the economy to force them to back down.
Combining these two functions of the ALP, we see that it is the vehicle
by which the union bureaucracy attempts to negotiate a compromise with
capital on the overall management of capitalism in Australia. As a
result, Labor's policies will always be more conservative than the
policies of the unions themselves.
Labor's policies are the product of two balances of forces: the relative
power of the trade unions within capitalism and the relative balance in
the unions between the bureaucracy and the membership.
The relationship today between the trade union bureaucracy and the ALP
still lies in the long shadow of the Accord of the 1980s. The Accord was
an agreement between the union officials and the Labor Governments' of
Hawke and Keating, designed to restructure Australian capitalism and
reverse the crisis of declining profits. The Accord narrowly confined
what unions could legally fight for and, in particular, it set an upper
bound on union wage claims. The right to strike was restricted accordingly.
This agreement was a disaster for Australian unions. The Accord
compelled the union bureaucracy to act as a police force over the rank
and file. Any strikes or unions that failed to comply with the terms set
out in the Accord were crushed with the full backing of the ACTU and the
ALP, with few exceptions. The union bureaucracy actively collaborated
with the State to demobilise the movement it supposedly led.
Whilst the bureaucracy enjoyed an exceptionally close relationship with
the government, union membership collapsed. At the same time, the ACTU's
program of union amalgamation created large unions with hundreds of
staff members, further weakening the rank and file while strengthening
the position of the officials. Union rules were re-written to be less
democratic and Left officials closed down the rank and file groups which
had previously been their base of support.
Today, the union bureaucracy is much less susceptible to pressure from
the membership. Not only do the rules give them unilateral control over
decision making processes, but there also aren't the same informal ties
back to the workplaces the officials supposedly represent. No longer do
officials come mostly from the shop floor. Instead, they form a separate
caste from the beginning, getting recruited as organisers straight from
university. Many officials are former student ALP politicians who see
climbing the ranks of a union as a path towards a political career in
parliament.
The Labor Party will always sell us out, but we need to recognise that
even when it does, it is acting in the interests of the trade union
bureaucracy. There cannot be a militant trade union movement in
Australia unless the Labor Party's influence is defeated in our unions.
Fighting the destructive influence of the Labor Party requires fighting
the bureaucracy. We need to build the power of the rank and file and
rebuild democratic processes that the officials have closed down. It is
the only way to defend the interests of the working class and to advance
the revolutionary struggle against capitalism itself.
https://melbacg.au/the-labor-party-friends-of-the-bosses/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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