A grassroots group of Community and Public Sector Union members will contest the upcoming union elections, arguing the executive committee's Labor ties have rendered the union "toothless" in service-wide bargaining negotiations.
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Launching their campaign in the backroom of Turner's Polish club on Saturday night, the Members United ticket vowed to push for a four-day work week, move faster on industrial action, and hold a members' plebiscite to decide whether the union should disaffiliate from the Labor Party.
The election campaign kicks off against the backdrop of escalating industrial action against the government, with the union recently rejecting a pay offer of 11.2 per cent over three years.
The ticket is running candidates in every executive committee seat, as well as in positions across the union's governing and section councils.
![Members United's Will Mudford, left, and Jordana Colvin. Picture by Gary Ramage Members United's Will Mudford, left, and Jordana Colvin. Picture by Gary Ramage](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/212131485/b420926b-ed27-404b-a008-895b1a5bdf9e.jpg/r0_222_4000_2480_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
It says this is the first time a coordinated ticket has contested the executive committee since 2005.
Will Mudford, a legal policy director in the ACT government, will challenge incumbent national secretary Melissa Donnelly for the top spot. A third candidate named Amelio Sarchese - who ran against Ms Donnelly at the last election - is also contesting the seat.
Mr Mudford blamed the existing CPSU executive for the government's pay offer, accusing the incumbent leadership of not having "that true industrial strategy" and failing to fully engage members throughout negotiations
"They've been doing slow polls and being very reactive and we feel that's also in part because of their relationship with the [Australian Labor Party]," he said.
"The union executives have made the union toothless ... the various incumbents have had positions both in the union but also in the ALP, and we feel that that has developed a conflict of interest where they don't want to exercise our industrial strengths".
The Members United ticket was born out of a growing group of around 80 CPSU members, dubbed democracy4CPSU, who in recent months have criticised the union for being "weak" in pay negotiations.
The union announced it would pursue further industrial action last month, after a poll of more than 15,000 found 51.9 per cent of members backed the government's offer - an outcome the CPSU described as "lukewarm support".
Mr Mudford said if it was up to Members United "the CPSU would have organised member-led APS wide industrial action a lot sooner".
![Incumbent CPSU national secretary Melissa Donnelly. Picture by Gary Ramage Incumbent CPSU national secretary Melissa Donnelly. Picture by Gary Ramage](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/212131485/323b6e71-82cc-4e56-9820-6ddf5b7dce7e.jpg/r0_124_4000_2382_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
He added all of their candidates come from the public service or other workplaces covered by the union.
"We're not career union officials. That gives us the experience and fresh perspective to change the union for the better," Mr Mudford said.
The CPSU national executive is made up of six full-time officers directly elected by members.
In addition to Mr Mudford, Members United is running Jordana Colvin for assistant national secretary, Adriana Boisen for national president, Gregory Brown for deputy secretary and Adam Mayers and Bella Devine-Poulos as deputy national presidents.
The ticket has cross-party representation. Ms Boisen currently works as an adviser to Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather, while Ms Colvin works as an adviser to a Labor MLA in the ACT Legislative Assembly.
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Ms Boisen said the ticket was passionate about "broader democratic reform" for the union.
"That means decentralising decision-making and empowering the grassroots membership," she said.
Voting will close on December 6. The CPSU and Ms Donnelly declined to comment.
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