If you are inconvenienced by a strike, blame the boss, not the workers.

Today in Parliament, Abigail spoke against an absurd Liberal motion attacking union members taking protected industrial action while striking for a fair pay deal.

Abigail said:

Here we have yet another attack on the working class by the Liberal Party, but it is also full of inaccuracies. First things first: Transgrid members stopped taking protected industrial action over a month ago, so the member bringing this motion—the Hon. Damien Tudehope—does not have the first clue what he is talking about. Even when those members were taking action, it was protected industrial action. Protected means that they jumped through all of the hoops and hurdles placed in front of them, and it is legally sanctioned. Opposition members love to cast legitimate industrial actions as lawless activity undertaken by union heavies but, once again, they only prove their own ignorance. They are participating in protected industrial action that every worker has a right to engage in. It is, in fact, their only way to exercise their power in the face of declining real wages, and that is the right that the Liberals are choosing to go after.

Let's face facts and ask why exactly Electrical Trades Union members have been taking action. Wages for power workers at privatised power networks have declined across the board. Real wages at Transgrid have declined 10.3 per cent since privatisation in 2015. At Ausgrid, there has been a 9.4 per cent decline since its privatisation in 2016. There has been an 8.9 per cent decline at Endeavour Energy since 2017. Essential Energy, despite remaining publicly owned, suffered active wage suppression, led at times by the member bringing this motion, and their wages have declined 13.3 per cent since the introduction of the wage cap in 2011. If that was happening to my wages and I saw how much money the company I worked for was raking in every year and how much the executives got paid, I reckon I would be voting to go on strike as well.

Let us turn to the assertion of the supposed cancellation of 1,800 planned outages and the supposed maintenance backlog. Respectfully, I am not sure what strange, dark recess the member pulled those numbers from, but they do not pass the sniff test. More importantly, the Electrical Trades Union does not have the power to cancel jobs; only the bosses have that power. Electrical Trades Union members have the legal right to take protected industrial action, and what the bosses choose to do with that information is their problem.

I turn to the prospect of project delays as a result of delayed connections. What a load of nonsense. Again, the member has no credibility. It is a good thing he is not a sparkie; he would be trying to install downlights before the roof had been put in. While he asserts that the John Hunter Health and Innovation Precinct is delayed due to refusal to connect, the John Hunter Hospital is still pouring concrete for the floors. It is not even a twinkle in the eye of any distribution companies. The rest of this motion is all equivalent levels of absurdity, and it does not warrant being taken seriously. I hope I can impart some small piece of wisdom to the mover, and that is this simple rule: If you are inconvenienced by a strike, blame the boss, not the workers.

Read the full debate in Hansard here.

13 November 2024

A UNIVERSAL WELLBEING PAYMENT FOR NSW

No matter who you are or what you do, everyone has the right to share in the wellbeing of our country.

But at the moment the essentials so many of us need – a place to call home, food on the table, and everyday essentials like electricity, internet, medicine and water – are simply out of reach.

Instead of supporting us, our government is choosing to prop up huge corporations with massive subsidies, and to give away our collective wealth through record tax cuts for the wealthy. Meanwhile, the rest of us are left to live paycheck to paycheck or trapped in the dehumanising bureaucracy of our existing welfare system.

Now, in the midst of a pandemic, and following quickly on the heels of the bushfire crisis, more of us than ever before are experiencing what it’s like to lose our jobs, be without a home, or worry about where the food for our next meal will come from.

It’s time for us to choose to prioritise the wellbeing of everyone.

And that’s exactly what the Universal Wellbeing Payment will do.

It’s a regular payment made to each of us to ensure our minimum standard of wellbeing. No means testing, no bureaucracy, no strings attached.

It’s the amount you’re owed simply for being a participant in our society.

It means you are free to live your life and contribute to society as you see fit, whether you’re a carer, an artist, a student, a parent, an entrepreneur – you can get on with what you need to do, knowing that you will always be supported regardless of your income.

It means that we’re choosing to structure our economy for the benefit of all of us, not using our collective wealth to prop up the interests of big business and the wealthy few.

It means you will always have what you need to live a good life, no matter what.

The Universal Wellbeing Payment is for everyone. Help us make it happen.

For more information, head to universalwellbeingpayment.com.au

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If you are inconvenienced by a strike, blame the boss, not the workers.

A UNIVERSAL WELLBEING PAYMENT FOR NSW

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