We are only as strong as we are united

One more comment on the IR campaign. The workers’ meeting last Friday was an excellent beginning to the campaign for the Unions. In NSW it was held in over 200 venues across the state with the central meeting at Town Hall in Sydney. I attended the meeting in Richmond where approximately 500 turned out. It was an impressive and inspiring presentation and the feeling around the room was electric. Unions NSW must be applauded.

I spoke briefly (and poorly admittedly) asking where Kerry Bartlett was and we truly needed to put pressure on him through petitions and letter writing. Unbeknownst to me, Kerry, I heard, was in the Blue Mountains and may have attended the meeting up there.

Unions NSW look to have a good strategy to tackle this issue. They do not want this to be an aggressive, divisive campaign. That means no general strikes (but targeted, tactical strikes), family friendly actions, a focus on educating the community and avoiding attaching this campaign to any political party.

This last point – refusing to politicise the campaign – is tricky and doesn’t sit well with some people. For example, at the meeting last Friday, Hawkesbury Greens Councillor Leigh Williams asked to put Greens IR paraphernalia on a table but the organiser Michael Want refused us on the grounds that it was a non-political event. Leigh and I felt this was fair and we did not question their decision.

However, a number of things have irked me since. First, the ALP candidate for Macquarie Mark Ptolemy featured prominently in one segment of the Union broadcast. Second, Kim Beazley was seen leading the demonstration in Victoria (who are not worried about politicising their campaign) - see image (from SMH). The ALP are trying their hardest to use this campaign to breath some life into the federal ALP. Thus, unfortunately for Unions NSW, the community will inevitably link the Union campaign with the ALP. Even more unfortunately for the Greens we will likely, as a result, be pushed into the media periphery (again).

The only thing Greens can do is to use our Green triangle (brand recognition) to good use.

We can’t be selfish, the thinking in the Greens never is. We can only be as strong as we are united. And the Greens certainly stand united with the unions and the ALP.