CPA - The Guardian

Up to 500 delegates from a dozen or more unions are gathering in Sydney on June 25 to work out their response to the New South Wales government’s attacks on public sector workers and to oppose its sell-off of publicly owned property and public services.

The unions, all with members in the NSW public sector, include the NSW Public Service Association, the Manufacturing Workers Union, Maritime Union, United Services Union, Electrical Trades Union, Rail, Tram and Buses Union, NSW Teachers Federation, Nurses Association, Firefighters, Australian Services Union, National Tertiary Education Union and Construction, Forestry and Miners Union.

The delegates’ meeting is part of a growing resistance by organised labour and the community to the Rees Labor government’s intent to divest itself of the management of jails, its attempt, yet again, to sell off the state’s electricity supply and retail agencies, and its intention to shed state responsibility for rail and ferry transport services, and privatise NSW state lotteries, public superannuation management and waste recycling.

Premier Nathan Rees, once regarded as a left within the ALP, is now coming to his most inglorious hour, stirring up the labour movement in opposition to his government, as it acts so obviously against the interests of the people of NSW.

Done deals before ALP state conference

Rees wants the deals signed, sealed and delivered before the NSW ALP state conference in October. This conference blocked former Premier Carr’s plans to sell off energy generation in 1997 and felled Premier Iemma in 2008 when he tried to defy its resolution against privatising electricity. Rees’ attempt shows his government’s desperation to curry favour with the “big end of town” – the corporations that can reward governments that serve them well, and the cronies and spivs that live off government contracts and privatisation of state sector activity and public property.

The government’s justification for selling off prisons (and prisoner escort and court security services) was that it would save up to $15 million a year for the first two jails on the list, Parklea and Cessnock, with prospects of further savings as more jails, such as a new jail at Grafton, were handed over. Such actions are an abdication of a government’s responsibilities and duty of care for its citizens.

The NSW government seeks to hand over state owned and operated prisons to the likes of Global Solutions Limited (GSL), a trans-national corporation that operates prisons in Britain, Australia and South Africa and publicises its ability to get governments to privatise public services such as schools, hospitals, prisons and aged care. GSL has operated Australia’s immigration detention camps and has a history of abusing and having prisoners die in its custody, as happened recently, when it was transporting an Aboriginal Elder to one of its prisons in Western Australia.

Likewise in trying to privatise coal-fired energy generation in NSW the Rees government is forced to turn to companies such as CLP Power (whose local subsidiary TRUenergy owns Yallourn power station in Victoria), and Huaneng Power, China’s largest power producer.

These are the sort of corporations that have flourished under the World Trade Organisation’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) which puts international pressure on governments to hand over government services and public enterprises to commercial operators, inevitably international corporations, and to accept their role as tools for global monopoly capitalism.

Labour, community opposition emerging

The strong reaction of prison workers and local community to the proposed sell off Cessnock jail forced the government to postpone its privatisation plans for that jail; and its refusal to act on a parliamentary recommendation to delay privatising Sydney’s Parklea jail provoked strike action on June 10 by 600 prison officers and workers, who are also picketing Premier Rees’ Toongabbie electorate office.

For the first time ever, both prisoners and prison officers are supporting each other to keep NSW jails under public ownership and management, as a better guarantee against abuse and exploitation of prisoners and to protect prison workers’ jobs and conditions.

Opposition is also emerging within the ALP, as shown by a recent rally of about 800 party and union members outside a meeting of the party’s administrative committee to demand it upholds the NSW party’s position against privatisation, which the government is trying to get the committee to re-interpret.

The current round of privatisations is merely the tip of an iceberg. Labor and Liberal state governments have already off-loaded important public enterprises and assets, but there are still health, education, land, water, transport and other public infrastructure, property and services this government or its successors could sell at any time.

“Public private partnerships” are already being used to fund new investment in public infrastructure, and planning and development “impediments” are removed to suit large corporate investors and operators and to override local opposition. Multi-nationals are offered all assistance to set up and operate in NSW, as a “clever” short cut to generating growth.

The savings the NSW government hopes to gain by selling the people’s assets, and running down public standards of service, will be spent on such priorities as paying millions, yet again, to the Forbes 500 – the world’s 500 richest individuals – to visit and party at the Sydney Opera House for a few days next year, with the tab to be picked up by the NSW taxpayer!

It is almost procedural for government to under-invest and run down public utilities, such as power and transport, to ready them for takeover through asset sales or public-private partnerships.

This is the case with NSW Rail, where rail workers are campaigning to stop further reduction of staff on railway stations and the winding down of service levels. Members of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union have been holding information stalls outside city and suburban railway stations, to warn the public of the cuts.

“Power to the People”

Workers’ solidarity organisation, Power to the People, is playing a pivotal role in building the campaign to “Stop the Sell-Off” and to defend the public sector, continuing the role it played in 2008 in successfully defending publicly owned and operated electricity generation in NSW.

It is co-hosting a public meeting at Parramatta on July 9 with the Western Sydney YourRights@Work group, following a successful forum in the city on April 18 (see Guardian, April 29, 2009).

The “Stop the Sell Off” campaign also staged information stalls in about 20 suburban centres on May 31, to inform the NSW people of the Rees government’s privatisation plans and is planning to continue with these regularly, the next stalls being scheduled for the Saturdays of July 11 and 25. Community activists and workers’ solidarity groups are being encouraged to participate in this work to build a strong campaign.

For more information on the campaign to “Stop the Sell Off” and protect the public sector, contact
colin.drane@amwu.org.au, or visit: powertothepeoplesydney.blogspot.com

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