An interesting change is happening in Australia, and while it may go entirely unnoticed by most – it could be the biggest catalyst in achieving equal marriage rights for sexuality & gender diverse Australians.
Late last year, the leader of the SDA (Shops, Distributive & Allied Employees Union) Joe De Bruyn urged the Gillard Government to “kill off” the issue of equal marriage. While publicly Joe appears to be just another voice in the crowd, Joe’s voice is in fact one of the most influential voices on the Labor party and the decisions they make – as noted by Annabel Crabb on ABC’s the Drum.
In the Australian Labor Party, delegates to the various State & Territory bodies that control party policy and pre-selections of candidates for State & Federal Parliaments are decided on a pro-rata basis of union members affiliated to the party, and individual members voting through local branches.
THE ROLE OF UNIONS IN THE ALP
In the Australian Labor Party, unions as well as individuals can preselect delegates to the policy making bodies, and preselect candidates to stand for election. This tradition dates back to the ALP’s origin as a party that represents the working class, and thus places high value on the collective representation and support provided by trade unions.
The amount of votes that the each union has in the Australian Labor Party is decided by how many voting members it has, and how many of them pay union fees. The amount of the affiliation fees that the union pays to the party is likewise decided by the amount of paid & unpaid members it has. Union affiliation fees make up a large part of the ALP’s income.
Like local member branches, the union elects an amount of delegates to Labor party conferences that is proportional to it’s influence. Under recent national reforms, at least 50% of delegates must come from member branches.
Sources:
WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?
As the largest union in Australia with more than 230,000 members, and as an affiliate of the ALP, this means that the SDA is the single most influential union in the Labor party in selecting the people who decide Labor party policies, and in deciding which candidates get put up for election. Many Labor Party members of parliament owe their seat to the support of the SDA, and risk losing it if they make the SDA unhappy.
The SDA is a strong influencer in creating the right-wing (conservative) movement in the Labor party, and Joe de Bruyn as the leader of the union is extremely influential in the right-wing faction of the Australian Council of Trade Unions and in the Australian Labor Party.
WHY IS THEIR INFLUENCE SUCH A BIG ISSUE?
Unlike most unions, the SDA’s operations are ethically suspect. This was highlighted in recent years when their collaboration with McDonalds to produce a sub-standard workplace agreement (set below the minimum wage) came into public scrutiny. A similar process happened more recently with Woolworths, where they worked desperately to pass such an agreement before Howard’s IR laws were repealed. Such allegedly unscrupulous work without the knowledge or engagement of the disadvantaged workers is possible because of suspect internal election processes.
In the latest publicly available results from the latest SDA elections in Western Australia and Victoria, candidates were elected unopposed – meaning the positions don’t go to election. In addition, there are members who claim that during election periods, SDA office bearers slandered candidates who attempted to oppose them, and used SDA resources to send out campaign material, SMS all members, and call members in efforts to get them to vote for them – resources no other potential candidate could have access to.
This is a significant issue, because office bearers who have potentially not been voted for by SDA members then go on to select the national office bearers – a process which involves no voting by the SDA membership. As a result, extremely conservative people such as Joe De Bruyn have long held the leadership positions in the union, and can use the union’s resources to entrench their hold on the positions, and to further their influence on the Labor party. Because of this system, they were able to pass a resolution for the union to oppose same-sex marriage and abortion without consulting the union membership, reinforcing Joe’s ablity to to publicly pressure and threaten the Labor party on the issue. Further, it has been observed that their elected representatives have actively blocked motions in government that supported same-sex marriage.
BUT TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGING
In response to complaints from members about the union’s policies, Shop Steward Duncan Hart in Queensland is attempting to organize a revolt against the union’s position. He called on members to attend a quarterly meeting of the union to raise their issue with the union’s policy against equal marriage. If this is successful in Queensland, and goes on to happen in other states and territories, then it is possible that this influential union could be forced to change its position as an obstacle to allowing equal marriage.
IT WON’T HAPPEN WITHOUT HELP
Unfortunately many workers who are sales people, in customer service, doing checkouts or other similar work, don’t even know they are members. Those that do, may not know that their union is taking this position, or how to oppose it.
Unless individual workers make their voice heard, Joe De Bruyn and other conservative union leaders will continue to use their influence to infringe the rights of their workers to have their love recognized and celebrated.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
If you think you fall under your local branch of the SDA, the most effective way to make your voice heard is to find out when the next meeting of your State branch is, and ask to attend and move a motion to oppose the union’s position on equal marriage. This may be a daunting task, but if nobody does it, then one of the most powerful obstacles to equality will go on unchecked.
I encourage any members in WA to contact their local branch, or get their local organizer’s details from their workplace, and to find out how they can make their voice heard.
GALEForce 
Thanks very much for this blog post! I agree very much on the necessity of rank and file organisation to hold accountable the leadership of the SDA and to get our union on track to defend our members’ rights, whether they be gay or straight. I would add a few things as well.
Last year the Queensland elections for the State Secretary came and went without the SDA so much as mentioning that they were happening- only a letter from the Australian Electoral Commission about the nomination period informed me. So this is most definitely a national problem.
That being the case I want to argue to SDA members reading this that we cannot wait for the next members’ meeting of the union to show our opposition to the homophobic policy of the leadership. In the recent meeting that happened in Brisbane, despite submitting a number of petitions collected from 4 stores, and despite people attending specifically to raise the issue of same-sex marriage, the union officials were able to sweep the issue under the carpet with a resolution passed without any discussion. Nonetheless, for the first time we were able to show public opposition to the union leadership’s stance.
What we need to do is learn from this experience and continue to build the networks of rank and file opposition necessary to challenge the leadership, informing our co-unionists, petitioning and so forth. It is possible to challenge the leadership. We have the majority of people on our side. We just need to organise ourselves. There are already people involved in this in Western Australia, and elsewhere, so I urge members in those states if they wish to get involved to contact me at duncan_hart09@hotmail.com.