Union leader walks out on Labor

AN influential union leader has quit the Tasmanian Labor Party’s powerful administrative committee and his union may also disaffiliate from the party.

John Short (pictured) walked out of a meeting on Friday and said he had lost confidence in the party’s ability to deal with procedures and policies.

“It’s basically a dictatorship,” Mr Short said. “The Parliamentary Labor Party has made some very poor decisions in the past few months.

“There has been a lack of natural justice and procedural fairness and it was too difficult to sit back and let that continue.”

Mr Short condemned the ALP national executive’s “disgraceful and appalling” decision to postpone the Tasmanian conference, which was to be held this month, saying it had treated members with “contempt and disdain”.

He said the AMWU had two crucial motions to be debated at the conference, including having silica dust exposure brought down to the same level as other states.

“This motion was to be moved by one of our long-term AMWU members that has been tragically affected by exposure to silica dust. It is tragic this won’t happen now,” Mr Short, a former Senate candidate, said.

“We also wanted support to scrap the proposal for the second Basslink to keep our valuable resources here in Tasmania. It is outrageous that people interstate can dictate what happens in Tasmania.”

Health and Community Services Union secretary Tim Jacobson, whose 9000-member union has disaffiliated from the state ALP, also resigned from the administrative committee on Friday. A third committee member is also said to have resigned.