Socialist media project based in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia
On August the 6th, Korean workers concluded their occupation of a car plant in Pyongtaek. For 77 days, these workers resisted attacks by scabs and police officers, demanding their right to jobs. Now as the state takes them on in court, they’re asking for continued solidarity from international workers.
The Workers Party is organising a picket outside the Korean embassy:
WELLINGTON
ASB Tower, 2 Hunter St
Thursday 13th August, noon
The picket coincides with the Court of Appeal hearing for an anti-war
protester convicted of burning the NZ flag at anti-war protest in 2007. It also coincides with the government’s announcement of the return of the SAS to combat in Afghanistan. All welcome…and please pass it on…
Organised by Peace Action Wellington
By Spark correspondents
Over one thousand South Korean factory workers are currently occupying the only Ssangyong Motor Company car manufacturing plant in the city of Pyeongtaek, near Seoul. The workers have been occupying the plant since May 22nd this year in response to the company announcing it would lay off over two thousand workers. Ssangyong filed for bankruptcy in February this year because of falling car sales which saw it abandoned by its Chinese parent company, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation. [Read more…]
The Spark August 2009
Byron Clark
The government has made a deal with fast food giant McDonald’s in which young people receiving the unemployment benefit will be sent to jobs in McDonald’s restaurants, and have their ‘training’ subsidised by the state. Every beneficiary McDonald’s hires will get the company up to $16,000 which is the equivalent of about 8 months wages for a McDonalds worker. Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett is citing the relationship with the golden arches as an example of “the Government’s commitment to getting beneficiaries into jobs,” but while the growing number of unemployed certainly need jobs, McDonald’s needs workers a whole lot more, and this is what the scheme is really about.
Fast food is a growth industry during this recession, as people who would have previously eaten at more up-market restaurants lower their budgets. McDonald’s in New Zealand is continuing to build on its profits, enough to open a number of new outlets. They need to employ an estimated 6,000 workers over the next few years. The reason? Those workers are where their profit comes from. The company can provide an investment to build a new store with all the cooking and food preparing equipment that requires, but it can’t see a return on that investment until labour (ie, workers) is added. A McDonald’s worker doing an eight hour shift for minimum wage will be paid $100, but by turning raw materials (buns, meat patties, frozen Happy Meals, that worker could produce $200 for the company. Without the worker, McDonald’s couldn’t realise a profit. [Read more…]
The Spark August 2009
Joel Cosgrove
Continuing a precedent followed over most of the last decade, the Australian government has increased the military budget well above inflation, with a 56% increase in the last seven years and 9% in the last year, to $25.66 billion dollars, with expectations that it will rise to $29.47 billion in 2010, a rise of 12.9%.
This is an important development in the attempts by the Australian ruling establishment in their move away from the traditional Australian defence position of border control and response to one of regional projection and incursion to maintain and develop Australia’s interests. [Read more…]
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