At the end of October, elections in the New South Wales Public Services Association (a union for New South Wales government employees) produced a major overturn.
The left caucus, PPSA, won the general secretary position. With a majority on the union's Central Council, it now has hegemony. The PPSA candidate for PSA president, Leon Parissi, a Workers' Liberty member and a main driving force in the PPSA for many years, was defeated for that post by just 31 votes.
The victory is both an opportunity and a challenge. In discussions before the election, Workers' Liberty and other left activists won an agreement from PPSA that it would continue to organise independently as a rank-and-file network even if it won the union leadership.
In too many other cases left caucuses have wound up once they gained union office, and ended by letting down their supporters.
