The newly elected militants leading the public sector union

Militant unionists elected by a disengaged workforce now face twin battles to activate Victoria’s public servants while taking on a government preparing to slash jobs.

For the first time in 32 years Victoria’s Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has a new leadership, with newly elected state secretary Jiselle Hanna and her ticket swept to power by the base it has vowed to grow.

The rare successful challenge that replaces Karen Batt, whose tenure stretched back to the start of the Kennett years, with a more hardline leadership will be a fresh pain for the Allan government heading into an election year. Labor is poised to announce widespread job cuts and a reshaping of public entities as part of the Silver review to ease pressure on the state’s finances.

Jiselle Hanna has been elected Victorian secretary of the CPSU.Credit: Justin McManus

But Hanna and the new leadership from A Voice for Members are not about to organise a strike. She accepts that low membership rates will limit the CPSU’s ability to fight.

Only 15,000 public sector workers signed up to the union, between 15 and 25 per cent of all the possible workers the CPSU could cover, which is a point of contention. The grouping set a target to increase membership to 20,000, including by cutting fees, by the next union elections in 2028.

“But it’s not density alone. You can have high density, but a de-politicised, demotivated, disengaged membership,” Hanna told The Age on Friday as she prepared to finish her job at Corrections Victoria. Some workplaces within the public services could have high density.

Outgoing CPSU state secretary Karen Batt.Credit: Eddie Jim

“There is a lot of rebuilding of this union required,” the 45-year-old said. “One of the smears that was run against us was that we’re going to organise strikes tomorrow. We’re not idiots.”

The ticket’s campaign statement said members should lead union decisions but promised to “stand ready to take strong industrial action, including strikes, to secure meaningful wins for members”.

That could include challenging the government’s 3 per cent wage cap.

“We’re prepared to lead a fight in accordance with what [members] want, including if they say ‘we’re not prepared to fight’,” Hanna said.

Treasurer Jaclyn Symes last week received former top bureaucrat Helen Silver’s final recommendations on what jobs and public entities could go to ease pressure on the state’s finances. Symes will release the report along with government decisions in the coming months.

A Voice for Members’ successful ticket drew up its own spoof but earnest “Gold review” in response, which Batt’s team had dismissed as the “Fool’s Gold Review”.

The election result was formally declared on Wednesday. Hanna won with 65 per cent of the vote. A Voice for Members swept all five executive positions and the majority of roles on the state branch council.

Only 27 per cent of members turned out to vote for their secretary, which the grouping saw as a strong result given disaffection, voluntary voting and comparative election results.

Outgoing secretary Batt, elected in 1993 and returned eight times, said the number of votes returned didn’t come close to the turnout for recently supported enterprise bargaining agreements.

“The election result from a very tiny voter turnout does not reflect the massive support the union has received from our members and the workforce in 15 recent agreements we’ve negotiated in the last 18 months,” Batt said in a statement.

She thanked members and said it had been an honour and privilege leading the union.

Batt also pointedly said the election result, after 140 years of the CPSU, would be a challenge for the membership.

“I wish our members well meeting this new challenge.”

Mitch Vandewerdt-Holman was elected assistant state secretary as part of the A Voice for Members ticket.Credit: Justin McManus

A Voice for Members has been characterised as militant “trots”, a generally pejorative term for leftists that references communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky. The campaign was launched with Victorian Socialists’ former Senate candidate and housing advocate Jordan van den Lamb, known as “purplepingers”.

Hanna, who is not a member of any political party, said the ticket was made up of people from all sides of politics. The new state secretary, who had drawn on the tactical advice and emotional support from her network in the union movement, was not offended but said the portrayal was designed to denigrate their campaign.

Newly elected assistant secretary Mitch Vandewerdt-Holman responded by quoting back clause 4 of the Australian Labor Party’s constitution – verbatim – about democratic socialism. He is a member of the ALP and has volunteered during election campaigns.

Symes and Premier Jacinta Allan in February appointed Silver to identify billions in savings and as many as 3000 job cuts, including by dissolving and consolidating entities.

Treasurer Jaclyn Symes and Premier Jacinta Allan announce the Silver review.Credit: Justin McManus

Symes on Monday said the report was comprehensive. “I want to make sure that I am acting with empathy and acting appropriately … But yes, there will be a reduction in jobs.”

A Voice for Members prepared its own Gold Review during the union elections. Written by anonymous public servants, it suggests alternative ways to cut state debt, which is projected to reach $194 billion by 2028-29: halve the use of consultants; scale back office footprints; increase online betting taxes and introduce a levy on big banks. (The Victorian government has previously said a tax on big banks, also proposed by the state Greens, would be the remit of the Commonwealth.) The Gold Review also called for all fossil fuel subsidies to end and a new public bank.

Symes is hoping to bring the public service back to its pre-pandemic size, proportionate to the population.

The Gold Review argues the VPS is smaller than its pre-pandemic size as a proportion of the entire public sector.

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