Welcome to the October 2013 issue of Fightback.

In September, Unite defeated an effort by fast food giant KFC to sack its disabled workers. This came after a more compromised win in the battle for improved pay and conditions at McDonald’s.

There are some important observations to draw from these partial victories. The first observation is fundamental to what Fightback stands for; collective organisation, collective struggle, are needed to improve our conditions.

Secondly, workers and progressives must stand against all forms of oppression. Disabled workers are often portrayed as having basic mental or physical conditions, impairments that define them as people. In reality, capitalism disables bodies, by structuring society in such a way that only certain kinds of bodies can gain access, by ranking people, setting up a competition best summarised as a ‘race to the bottom.’

Finally, these victories were partial. While unionised McDonald’s workers gained in security of hours, the gain in wages was minimal. Both corporations continue to exploit workers and degrade the environment. This underlines the importance of having a long-term strategy, an aim to eventually out-maneouver and smash the McDonald’s of the world, a collective memory of previous victories and losses. This is why socialist groups like Fightback exist.

2013 October Fightback

Welcome to the June 2013 issue of Fightback, publication of Fightback (Aotearoa/NZ). Fightback is a socialist organisation with branches in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch.

On Queens’ Birthday Weekend, 31st May-2nd June, Fightback held its annual public conference in Wellington. In this issue we include the text of two presentations given during the conference, Grant Brookes’ “Workers, Unions and Class Struggle Today” (page 10) and Daphne Lawless’ “Green is Red: The case for eco-Marxist politics (page 20).

An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory, and Fightback actively supports workers in struggle. From pages 10-15 we cover the struggles of unionised McDonald’s’ workers for improved pay and conditions in Aotearoa/NZ. This includes an overview of the campaign, a response to homophobic bullying by management, reports on a Wellington strike and a report on a Fightback action supporting the campaign. The struggle against capital is international. Therefore we also reprint a report from a union campaign against McDonald’s in Detroit, USA.

In May we highlighted the role of mainstream political racism in fostering working-class racism. In an article originally printed in an Australian paper The Socialist, Jared Phillips reports on the appointment of Susan Devoy as Race Relations Commissioner for Aotearoa/NZ, and argues the need for solidarity in overcoming racism.

Fightback member Polly Peek suggests mental health advocacy and radical politics can be mutually complimentary.

Finally, we cover local government issues in Auckland (page 23) and the need for workers’ action to overcome the failings of the Health & Safety system (page 24).

2013 June Fightback

The Spark February 2013 (PDF)

The Spark has been the magazine of the Workers Party for a number of years. The Workers Party has decided to change its name to Fightback and as of next month The Spark will be replaced by a new paper which will share the new name of the organisation. On page 18 we report more fully on these changes.

This issue of The Spark puts some focus on the struggles confronting teachers. Teachers in Christchurch are set to take a firm stand against the government’s plans for schools in that city. The teachers can win that fight. They are also fighting against the introduction of charter schools. We also give a perspective on that in this issue.The issues of growing unemployment are examined as is the KiwiBuild policy.

Socialists are internationalists and the magazine overviews the formation of a new trade-union based party being formed in Fiji, and then points to two international examples in which double oppression is being challenged. First is an interview with Puerto Rican activist Carlos Rivera, he has led a campaign against homophobic TV programming.  Then there is an article on a new movement for indigenous rights in Canada which is being echoed around the world.

A further international article touches on the New Zealand government’s hypocritical economic policies in regard to smaller poorer countries in the pacific region. Then we look at the connection between the Australian bush fires and climate change.

After the report on the internal conference of the former Workers Party, now Fightback, we publish a letter from former Socialist Worker members to other ex-members, including very experienced militants and activists, inviting them to join Fightback.

The final issue of The Spark includes some analysis of the recent turmoil within a British Socialist organisation. Fightback is not connected to that organisation but we publish the article to show that socialist organisations, while fighting sexism, must also be prepared to maintain a healthy non-sexist culture within their own structures to become successful organisations.

We thank all who have been involved in purchasing, donating, or making guest contributions to The Spark and look forward to producing our new monthly magazine Fightback.

Editorial

In what came as a surprise to John Key and probably no one else, New Zealand’s unemployment rate has hit a 13 year high; 7.3%. Concurrently the underemployed who work part-time but want to work more hours rose to 113,300 from 109,500. The same day the new unemployment rate was announced Christchurch based manufacturer Dynamic Controls announced it would be closing its contract manufacturing business with the loss of between forty and sixty jobs.

In was at Dynamic Controls where some of the technology hailed as examples of New Zealand entrepreneurialism- such as devices made by Humanware and Navman- were built by workers whose names will never be as well-known as the brands. That is over course, until cheaper overseas manufacturers were found.

It was also the place I got my first manufacturing job, at nineteen years old in 2005, a time when getting a job seemed as easy as owning a pair of steel capped boots. Of course this was no economic golden age, getting a job required registering with a temp agency and taking an ‘assignment’ with no job security and typically low pay.

While at that time the factory was taking on a huge number of staff (the temp agencies offered incentives for recruiting our friends, and I helped two co-workers from my previous job get work there) the company was preparing to move the manufacturing of their own product to their new factory in China, keeping the Christchurch plant for mostly contract manufacturing. A few months later I was gone, along with a number of other temps, and in the years since many permanent workers have been made redundant as well.

Other electronics manufacturers have also shed staff, meaning those in the pool of redundant workers with years of experience are competing for the few manufacturing jobs left. Today, there is no easy way in for a 19 year old, even with their own steel cap boots. This is part of the reason youth unemployment is over five points higher than the national average; at 13.4%.

As the government attacks the unemployed the young will become a demonised group, castigated for not trying hard enough to get a job, not spending enough time in education, not looking the part at job interviews or just plain being lazy. The reality is the young are just another group that capitalism has thrown on the scrap heap.

Spark December 2012

By now a number of readers may have seen a letter that originally appeared in Northern Outlook, a small North Canterbury paper. In the letter Jasmine H, a 14 year old home-schooler, articulates her view that the legalisation of equal marriage, and with it a greater acceptance of homosexuality, will lead to ducks overtaking humans on the evolutionary ladder- not that she believes in evolution. The letter, humorous in its absurdity ended up onNew Zealand blogs Kiwiblog and Bipolar Bear and then spread to US based blogs including IO9 and The Huffington Post.  Coming full circle the letters international notoriety was then covered in The Press.

Unfortunately for the parents of home schooled children, the letter hardly paints the practice in a positive light, what good is home schooling if children learn to believe things that are demonstrably false? Of course, not all home schooled children are taught creationism and homophobia. Besides, whatever one’s views on home schooling, welfare reforms that will require beneficiaries to have their children in school and early childhood education should be opposed on the basis that they unfairly target one section of society- these education requirements are not being placed on parents who obtain income though any other means. Barbra Smith of the Home Education Foundation examines this in more depth in an article we have printed in this issue of The Spark.

We also look at the colossal failure of computer security at the ministry of social development, examining what went wrong and why it matters, as well as how one beneficiary activist has reacted to the news. We print a talk given in Wellington by Kassie Hartendorp on the topic ‘Women Class and Revolution’ and ask the question, do we need a rethink on how we view domestic labour? On top of all this, we bring you the past months industrial news (including the possible reintroduction of youth rates) and an article critiquing charity as a solution to child poverty.

Spark November 2012