On May 5 this year, two days after the Australian Labor Party’s (ALP) federal election landslide victory, tens of thousands of Queensland unionists marched through Brisbane’s streets to celebrate the state’s Labour Day.
The mood was relatively jubilant and the bright, subtropical autumn weather seemed to promise a hopeful spring for organized labor. One unionist was seen carrying an effigy of Peter Dutton’s head on a pike. Several prominent Labor MPs also took the opportunity to don union merch and join the march. Among them were Ali France — who won the seat of Dickson from conservative pposition Leader Peter Dutton — and Murray Watt, who was, at the time of the march, minister for employment and workplace relations.
The mood was such that even David Crisafulli, Queensland’s right-wing Liberal-National Party (LNP) premier, made soothing comments about public sector workers and their rights to organize, noting his government’s intention “to negotiate . . . in good faith,” and affirming that it’s “important that unions are part of that process.” It was a substantial shift away from the rhetoric of former Queensland LNP premier Campbell Newman, whose early 2010s administration had sought to shift the state’s Labour Day holiday from May to October, to undermine its connection with May Day.
Undoubtedly, the spirit and numbers of Queensland’s Labour Day march were indicative of a broader rejection of the neoliberal paradigm that has seen Australia’s union movement decline precipitously since the 1980s. And it’s the same spirit that contributed to Labor’s landslide election victory. However, to make good on the opportunity, trade union members and leaders would do well to approach Anthony Albanese’s second term…
Auteur: Godfrey Moase
