Officials from the NSW Public Service Association (PSA) were conspicuously absent from the historic March for Humanity on August 3 on Gadigal Country/Sydney, which many unions endorsed and mobilised their members for.
While the NSW PSA has endorsed the聽鈥檚聽statements on Palestine, the leadership does not support members taking anti-war initiatives around Israel鈥檚 genocide.
Hundreds of members have joined, supported or liked the聽,聽sharing its social media posts. They also marched with the other 300,000 people over the Harbour Bridge, with their flags and banners.
The PSA鈥檚 leadership, which is close to Labor, attempted to use members鈥 concerns about Gaza to try and discredit its opponents in the recent elections.
The election of delegates to the State Public Service Federation/Community and Public Sector Union NSW Branch, a PSA body that provides the union with a national structure, has just finished.
The Rank and File incumbents were challenged by the Members Coalition (MC) for president, three vice presidents and 10 branch councillors. The Rank and File鈥檚 official how-to-vote incorrectly described the MC team as 鈥淢C 鈥 PSA for Palestine鈥, despite it being a diverse group of activists and delegates, including Labor members.
MC鈥檚 focus is on union democracy, including those who take seriously the message on the poster that hangs in the PSA鈥檚 main meeting room: 鈥淧eace is union business鈥.
The results on August 15 confirmed that MC鈥檚 Deanne Hill from TAFE won a vice president position and three other MC members won branch council positions: Ellen Hrebeniuk, Kim Spurway and Ed Kirby. MC member Nicholas Wright from TAFE also won a third of the vote for president, running against prison officer Nicole Jess.
聽[Steve O鈥橞rien is the outgoing聽 of the State Public Service Federation/Community and Public Sector Union NSW Branch.]