Politics in Australia has long been a battle between the socialist way of thinking, backed by the Australian Labor party and the Conservatives at both the Federal and state levels. The Labor party has had the backing of the trade union movement.
This arrangement is now in disarray here in New South Wales with one of the biggest unions, representing Health Services, voting to disaffiliate from Labor and cease paying the $ 250,000 in affiliation fees that it contributes annually.
The reason it gives for this decision is that " the party is not improving in performance " and " the voters are walking away in droves ". A meeting of the union's council agreed " there was little prospect of improvement ".
The leader of the Labor party in New South Wales is Jodi McKay and she hit back angrily when this decision was made public. She unwisely tried to connect union discontent with the progress of the feminist movement by claiming she had " been attacked by men ". She was obviously referring to both the union's boss and its national secretary.
They were quick to point out that Labor was heading for one of its worst defeats in a hundred years in New South Wales if an election was held now. The decision was made democratically and after careful consideration.
Joining a union has lost appeal to many men and women in recent years. Politics is no longer just a battle between Labor and the Conservatives. The voting pattern has widened with the appearance of a number of new political parties backing green issues and which are not getting the needed attention from the main political contenders.
It is obvious to many former supporters that the union movement has diverged from the old issues of worker's pay and worker's rights and taken on a manifesto of its own. In some cases leaders have emerged to employ strike tactics that are not in the workers interest and seem more interested in consolidating their power than listening to their membership.
The defection of the big Health Services Union is a savage blow to Labor prospects in New South Wales and raises the question of whether other unions may follow this lead. The issue of global warming is not receiving the attention it deserves and is fresh in the minds of many people from both sides of politics. It will probably be indicative in future voting patterns.
Union men and women dislike their funds being allocated to a political party without their individual consent. Many hold different political views as is evidenced by the wide support for a range of political parties at election time.
Jodi McKay is unlikely to restore Labor's fortunes by tying this rejection to her gender. The women of Australia have found their voices and demanded change on many issues that directly affront women, and politics is not one of these.
She needs to look at the real reasons the union movement is expressing discontent by walking away from support for Labor.
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