Campaign for a living wage
by Ian Anderson
Working people are encouraged to accept the idea they should give a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay. The problem with this is that within the capitalist system – even in the most developed economies – workers do not receive fair wages. This is because the economic basis of capitalism is that the wage rates (the price of a workers’ labour power) paid by employers are less than the amount of value produced by the worker. That is inherent within capitalism, it is how the employing capitalist class makes profit form the working class.
Under genuine socialism the working class majority would control the value it produces instead of that surplus value turned into profits for private capitalists.
While socialists are in favour of getting rid of the capitalist wage system we are also integrated in collective organisation around immediate demands for improved wages. The struggle for improved wages is not just morally correct. It leads to socialist and revolutionary conclusions at junctures where capitalism can’t meet the wage needs and demands of the masses of workers. So while we can’t win a “fair wage” under capitalism, socialists must support campaigns for improved wages and should endeavour to be at the forefront. Recent ‘Living Wage’ campaigns have sought to improve wages for the growing working poor in Aotearoa.
Service-sector unions have a key role to play in campaigns for living wages, as the service sector is particularly affected by casualisation and declining real wages. In recent years, Unite (a relatively newer union for underemployed workers, with its base in the fast food sector) and the Service and Food Workers Union (a more established hospitality union, affiliated to the Labour Party) have run nationwide campaigns for a living wage. [Read more…]
Hundreds turn out against Christchurch School closures
While Christchurch primary school teachers had planned to take industrial action on February 19th this was called off just a few days prior. Under the Employment Relations Act strikes outside of bargaining are outlawed, had this strike taken place it would have been the first one to challenge the anti-strike laws.
In the end however, action took the form of a rally outside of school hours. Over a 1500 people gathered at the CBS arena in Addington, the number were made of up of teachers, parents, children and other supporters include from a number of other unions.
After a number of short speeches attendees voted on a motion of no confidence in Hekia Parata’s record as Education Minister. That motion was then delivered to the ministry of education following a lively march which included chants of “when Christchurch schools are under attack, stand up! Fight back!” and “Hek no- she must go!”
A Fairfax poll released the day after the education rally showed that 71% of people in Canterbury thought Parata should be stripped of the education portfolio. In addition to the “shake up” in Christchurch (seven schools to be closed and 12 to be merged) Parata has presided over the ongoing problems with Novapay and last year attempted to increase class sizes being backing down.
Of course, handing the education portfolio to another minister would not fix the problems faced in Christchurch any more than stripping Paula Bennett of the welfare policy would stop the government’s insidious welfare reforms. Government policy appears to be what has been termed “disaster capitalism” using a natural disaster as an excuse to restructure education in the city, both though the current closures and later through the imposition of charter schools.
The government’s plans can be defeated if teachers and supporters take militant action, particularly in the workplace.
Christchurch teachers take a lead, government’s education plans can be defeated
Jared Phillips
Primary school teachers in Christchurch voted in late January to carry out a political strike in opposition to the government’s decision to close 11 Christchurch schools and put a further 24 schools through mergers. Teachers, parents, and school children want earthquake damaged schools fixed and reopened. A clear majority of teachers voted for the strike action, the vote was carried with 83% in favour.
As well as opposing the closures and mergers the teachers are campaigning against the introduction of charter schools and the continued use of the double-bunking system. Double-bunking refers to the practice of teaching different groups of students in the same classrooms at different times. Double-bunking was used in Christchurch to facilitate classes when schools were damaged by the February 2011 earthquake. Teachers intended for double-bunking to be an interim solution. It leads to classes being held in anti-social hours, which is negative for school children and teachers alike.
In a poll published by The Press 66% of people felt that the closure and merger process has been handled very poorly by the Ministry of Education and 19% felt that it had been handled poorly. Only 1% in the survey felt the process was handled well. A New Zealand Education Institute (NZEI) branch chairperson and teacher said that the support provided to children by teachers after the February 2011 earthquake is recognised by Christchurch parents and communities and is one of the reasons for the popular support that teachers are receiving.
The NZEI says that the government has failed to properly consult teachers. Both teachers and Christchurch communities have had little or no chance for genuine consultation over the government plans. In the same survey (as reported above) 43% of people were not at all confident that the consultation would improve the final outcome and 31% were not confident.
The future of schools, jobs, and children’s education will essentially be dictated by the Ministry of Education. The strike is set to take place on February 19, which is the day after Education Minister Hekia Parata is set to make the government’s announcement regarding the fate of each school.
[Read more…]
Iwi may be compensated for end of seaborne sweatshops
Byron Clark
A government agency has warned that the state may have to pay iwi upwards of $300 million in compensation for losing their access to foreign charter vessels (FCVs). The foreign ships became notorious for paying crews of mostly Indonesian workers less than New Zealand’s minimum wage, despite fishing in the country’s exclusive economic zone.
Last year 32 fishermen aboard the Korean owned Oyang 75 jumped ship in Lyttelton alleging unpaid wages as well as physical and sexual abuse by their superiors on the ship. Another vessel owned by the same outfit had previously sunk causing the deaths of six crew members. In May the government began to prepare legislation for a ban on FCVs after media (largely Sunday Star Times journalist Michael Field) and the University of Auckland Business School began publishing findings on mistreatment of workers. The ban will be implemented over the next four years.
The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) has noted that as the FCVs were being used to fish the mainly Treaty of Waitangi fisheries quota allocated to iwi, the ban would disproportionately impact on Maori and iwi quota holders. Under treaty legislation, iwi are entitled to compensation for changes in government policy. MPI said that a “worst case scenario could result in a loss in export revenues of around $300 million annually.” [Read more…]
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