7pm, Monday, July 28
WEA, 59 Gloucester St
Meet local WP candidates Byron Clark (Christchurch Central) and Paul Hopkinson (Christchurch East).
Food, drinks and revolutionary politics.
Jobs should come before profits
July 24, 2008 by
– Workers Party Press Release
As the recession bites, workers are again carrying the heaviest burden.
The layoffs just announced at Silver Fern Farms’ Belfast plant are another sign that the current parties have nothing left to offer workers. The Workers Party thinks jobs for all should come before profits for private companies and supports action by workers to keep their jobs, including occupations of workplaces threatened with closure.
As a first step, the Workers Party of New Zealand will abolish GST because it is a regressive tax that hits workers particularly hard.
We are launching our Christchurch Electoral campaign at 7pm on Monday July 28th. The campaign launch will be held in the WEA at 59 Gloucester St.
The Workers Party is standing two candidates in Christchurch electorates: secondary school teacher and former meat worker Paul Hopkinson in Christchurch East and retail worker and student Byron Clark in Christchurch Central. We also have candidates standing in Auckland and Wellington.
Workers Party applies to register with Electoral Commission
July 7, 2008 by
The Workers Party has today made an application to the Electoral Commission to register as a political party able to contest the list vote in the upcoming national elections.
In the 2002 and 2005 elections (standing as the Anti-Capitalist Alliance) it has contested a number of electorate seats in the main centers, and will be doing so again this year.
In the coming election the Workers Party will be campaigning on issues that are of importance to working people, such as abolishing GST (not just on food), jobs for all with a shorter working week and no loss of pay, no restrictions on the right to strike, and scrapping undemocratic laws such as the Electoral Finance Act and the so-called “Terrorism Suppression” Act.
The Workers Party also stands for workers power and a working people’s republic. All Workers Party candidates pledge if elected to parliament to live on the average worker’s wage and to fight for the overthrow of capitalism and its replacement with an economic system based not on private profit and private ownership, but on human need.
A list of the Workers Party’s 2008 electorate candidates announced to-date is available here.
For more information contact Workers Party national organiser Tim Bowron on 027 715 9178 email tim.bowron(at)gmail.com or Workers Party national secretary and Manukau East candidate Daphna Whitmore on 029 494 9865 email wpnz(at)clear.net.nz.
No ties to capitalism
July 1, 2008 by
This election year the Workers Party is standing candidates in the main centres of the country.
Discussing his candidacy with workmates at smoko time, one of our comrades was challenged:
“If you get into parliament and you’re walking down the road with a suit and tie on and we see you, you might not want to know us any more!”
Our comrade replied: “Mate, there’s not going to be any tie. Look at this publicity photo on my pamphlet. I’m in my overalls like you, and that’s how it’s going to stay. Our party is trying to do something different in this election. We’re not standing for ourselves, and we’re not standing to try and make the system work better. We’re standing 100% for the workers and against the bosses.”
Any Workers Party candidate elected to a position in national or local government will transform their seat into an active organising centre to push workers’ interests. Our members will take a minimum wage sufficient for genuine expenses and put the rest of their parliamentary salary towards the struggle. Successful socialist electoral candidates have already taken this road in Ireland, Australia and other countries.
Socialist parliamentary candidates stand against capitalism, to represent the ideas of the future, and to build the practical struggles of today. Inside this issue of the Spark you can read about some of the ways we’re trying to do that.
If you like the look of our new way with no ties to capitalism, please join us.
Workers Party talks to union officials
July 1, 2008 by
Workers Party Wellington Central candidate Don Franks reports on his recent meeting with NZ Council of Trade Unions representatives.
When the local CTU organiser emailed around to say the Local Affiliates Council was going to discuss General Election strategy, I called back and asked for a few minutes to put our case at one of their monthly meetings. They stalled for weeks and wanted more information in writing before they finally gave me a hearing, at the local AGM.
I explained that the Workers Party is standing several electorate candidates this election and we’re also running on the party list. So, for the first time in New Zealand’s political history, every worker will have the option of voting for a socialist candidate.
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