En Passant

O’Farrell is not the lone granger. There will be a queue of apparatchiks lining up to take his place as Premier of New South Wales to attack workers and the poor. They will still be cutting workers’ compensation payouts, evicting the tenants from Millers Point, attacking TAFE, closing down firestations and slashing funding for public hospitals, schools and transport.

In the reality of community that the bushfires have bought out in us lies our hope for the future; in the working class and its power to turn society on its head lies the reality of the realisation of a future with hope.

The unions have now effectively been locked out of any say in the process of determining wages and conditions, as they have done for the past century. Because union officials mediate between workers and bosses, seeking compromises within the rules, the current position is not one that unions can tolerate. The struggle becomes not just about the wages and conditions of public sector employees, but also about the very survival and relevance of these unions.

Is there a way to beat O’Farrell’s attacks on union rights and living standards?

Yes. Bring Tahrir Square to Sydney, and in the words of Egyptian blogger and socialist Hossam el-Hamalawy then take ‘Tahrir to the factories, the universities, the workplaces.’