Fear and Loathing in the Public Sector

July 21, 2012 by

Ben Jacobs, Wellington branch of the Workers Party

One aspect of the government’s spending that was not widely covered by the media at the time of this year’s budget announcements was the reduction in public sector spending by one billion dollars over the next three years. This comes on top of the sinking lid on the number of public servants and raft of more specific cuts made since the National party came to power.

The effect of these cuts has been an increase in the contracting out of public sector jobs, from operational to managerial functions. For example, when Bill English asked government departments to reduce spending by 10%, contractors became a much more attractive proposition – not only because they don’t have the same rights as permanent employees (such as sick leave, holiday pay and collective agreement coverage) but also because it’s much easier to hide this spending from the public eye. The impact of this is to increase the proportion of fixed term workers and reduce union coverage, whittling what remaining culture of solidarity exists in the head offices of government departments. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Privatisation

Wellington event: What is Marxism

July 17, 2012 by
In the era of Occupy, the Arab Spring, and the global financial crisis, the need for fundamental change is obvious to many. However this post-Soviet generation is understandably skeptical of many “Old Left” ideas and approaches.

Does Marxism serve a useful purpose, or is it an outdated label? How do we identify the wheat and the chaff, the baby and the bathwater? Should we aim to revive the Marxist method, historical materialism?

Talk by Workers Party member Ian Anderson, followed by discussion.

6pm, Tuesday 24th July, 19 Tory Street

Filed Under: Events

Pacific migration: Climate change and the reserve army of labour

July 16, 2012 by

Ian Anderson

Climate change hits different regions in different ways. An area scattered with low-lying atolls, the Pacific is particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise. Environmental migration must be a key consideration for socialists in this region.

Nations such as Tuvalu and Kiribati are already affected. Coastal erosion in Tuvalu, a nation comprised of atolls and reef islands, has already forced huge resettlement. Tuvalu has the second-lowest maximum elevation of any country, and it’s estimated that a sea-level rise of 20-40 centimetres could make it uninhabitable. By 2007, 3,000 Tuvaluans had resettled, most of them settling in Auckland. Kiribati is also vulnerable to sea-level rise and extreme weather events; less than a week before the Kyoto Protocol was signed, a “king tide” devastated coastal communities.

Global warming: Responsibility and consequences
Radical labour organiser Utah Phillips is quoted as saying, “The Earth isn’t dying, it’s being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses.” In this case the responsibility lies with the big polluters of imperialist nations, including Australia and New Zealand. With the exception of Nauru, which is subject to heavy phosphate mining by Australia, smaller Pacific nations emit far less carbon per capita than Australia and New Zealand.

While imperialist nations produce the bulk of emissions, the smaller nations of the Pacific will bear the brunt of anthropogenic climate change. As seen in Tuvalu and Kiribati, low-lying islands will be hit particularly hard. Along with sea level rise, climate change means health conditions such as heat exhaustion; depletion of fish stocks; and crop failure, in a region where many still live off the land. Oxfam Australia predicts up to 8 million climate refugees from the Pacific Islands, and 75 million climate refugees in the wider Asia-Pacific, over the next 40 years. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Environment, Pacific

July 14th: Thousands march against asset sales

July 14, 2012 by

Auckland march

Christchurch march, photo credit: Jonathan van der Pennen.

Christchurch. Photo credit: Jonathan van der Pennen.

Previous coverage of asset sales and fightback:

Filed Under: Privatisation

Gay Pride 2012: A brief report from New York City

July 11, 2012 by

This report on NY Gay Pride was irst published on the Kasama Project blog. Ish also writes at The Cahokian.

June 24, this last Sunday was the 42nd annual gay pride parade in New York City. The event commemorates the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising in which lesbian, gay and transgender New Yorkers fought back against a police raid against the Stonewall gay bar.

It’s been a long time since what started out as a “march” was officially turned into a “parade.”

The parade is now shorter than it once was: In recent years the parade route was shortened by request of the city of New York, allegedly to save money. The good news is that the parade is still the occasion for queer New Yorkers to celebrate in the streets. Thousands of people marched, thousands more lined the route, and thousands more went down to the Village — no longer really the gayborhood it once was — to party on the streets and piers.

There were plenty of contingents and floats from the dread corporate sponsors, as well as from the usual spectrum of community and religious organizations. Plastic rainbow gewgaws bearing corporate logos piled up in the streets as the parade passed.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Gay Rights
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