Thousands stand up for workers’ rights

There’s comprahensive coverage of yesterday’s trade union protests against the government’s attacks on workers’ rights at the CTU’s Fairness at Work facebook page. Here’s a brief and enthusiastic summary from that site:

Awesome! By lunchtime more than 15,000 workers had attended stopwork meetings and rallies. 7,000 packed the TelstraClear Stadium in Auckland and 4,000 piled into Parliament Grounds. 1500 rallied in Hamilton, 800 in Hastings and 750 in Nelson. Thousands more are expected in events throughout the afternoon in many centres!! Woop Woop!

I can’t give my own report, because there was no rally here in Christchurch, but I hope you will leave your thoughts and comments about the protests in your area in the comments section.

- David

CTU releases Alternative Economic Strategy

Council of Trade Unions media release
11 October 2010

The Council of Trade Unions has released an alternative economic strategy.

Peter Conway, CTU Secretary, said that this strategy has been developed over the last 12 months through discussion and debate among union members.

“It responds to the long run economic problems facing New Zealand as well as the impact of the global financial crisis. The economy is failing to meet the needs of people and the environment and it is a time for serious consideration of alternatives. This is a union contribution to that process.”

Bill Rosenberg, CTU Economist said that the Alternative Economic Strategy is based on six principles: Fairness; Participation; Security; Improving Living Standards; Sustainability; and Sovereignty.

It is framed around three pillars: Sustainable economic development; Decent work and a good life, and; Voice: real participation in decisions in the workplace, economy and community.”

Bill Rosenberg said: “The strategy includes over 100 specific policy recommendations across many areas including economic development, education, financial stability, globalisation, the environment, employment, social security, housing, retirement, inequality, worker participation and the media.”

Specific policies include:

- An infrastructure plan including a human infrastructure fund to give longer term certainty for tertiary education and workplace training and buying back Telecom's physical network at a price reflecting its short life and long neglect.

- Stabilise the exchange rate through broader Reserve Bank objectives, international capital controls, an international financial transactions tax and pegging the exchange rate.

- Lift wages through industry bargaining, higher productivity and a boost to the minimum wage.

- A tax-free band and/or tax rebate for people on incomes under $35,000, tax rates of 38 percent on income above $100,000 and 45 percent on income above $150,000  (three times the average wage) and a capital gains or assets tax exempting the primary home.

- A strategic approach to economic development focusing on certain sectors such as ICT and high level processing of agricultural products, and themes such as environmentally beneficial and high productivity. Provide support to firms which are prepared to work within this strategy and principles of decent work.

- “Flexicurity” providing security of employment alongside flexibility for firms including retaining 90% of prior income for up to 12 months unemployment, conditional on commitment to acquiring new skills and job searching, funded through compulsory employer levies and taxation. Active support to acquire new skills and find new jobs including relocation assistance.

- Consider Kiwisaver enhancements after an appropriate inquiry of
         * Compulsory employer contributions of 6% phased in over 4 years
         * Compulsory employee contribution 2%; Government top-up 2%
         * Government contribution for those not in paid work

The full Alternative Economic Strategy document can be downloaded from:
 http://union.org.nz/sites/union/files/NZCTU%20Alternative%20Economic%20Strategy.pdf

A one page summary is also available at http://union.org.nz/sites/union/files/Alternative%20Economic%20Strategy%20-%20one%20pager.pdf

Claiming GST is universally applied today is the biggest lie

Tax Justice media release
28 September 2010

“John Key has accused the Labour Party of lying in their pamphlet on National’s GST hike, but Mr Key is hardly squeaky clean,” says Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator.

“John Key and the National-led government have been spinning untruths about GST,” says Gunson. “Chief among them is the claim that the “beauty” of New Zealand’s GST regime is that it’s universally applied.”

Peter Dunne, Revenue Minister in the National-led government, said in July that “it’s not New Zealand’s policy to have a non-universal GST.” (See Key rules out GST-free food, 21 July 2010.)

“This is not true,” says Gunson. “GST is not applied universally today. The major exemption is for financial services.”

Inland Revenue lists the following financial services as exempted from GST: dealings with money; certain dealings with securities; provision of credit and loans; provision of life insurance; provision of non-deliverable futures contracts and financial options; the payment and collection of interest, principal and dividends; and issuing securities such as stocks and shares.

“The main users of these financial services are rich investors, speculators, banks and other wealthy corporates,” says Gunson.

“Why is it okay for them to get off paying GST, when grassroots people struggling to make ends meet have to pay tax on food?” asks Gunson. “John Key needs to fess up to the people of New Zealand and admit that our tax system has a rotten core.”

“We’re forced to stomach GST on food, while something as destructive to the economy as financial speculation goes untaxed.”

The Tax Justice campaign is promoting a doable solution to New Zealand’s unjust tax system. Over the last few months over 12,000 New Zealanders have signed a petition calling on parliament to:

1. Remove GST from food; and
2. Tax financial speculation.

“The tax revenue the government’s receives from GST on food could easily be replaced by introducing a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT),” says Gunson. “A small percentage tax on financial transactions would net billions from rich speculators and wealthy corporates, who are today enjoying a free ride from GST. We need to move quickly on this now.”

“The issue of tax justice for grassroots Kiwis is not going away. We’re confident the campaign is going to get bigger and bigger.”

CTU video 2: Interview of Florence Coen, sacked under 90 day fire at will law

Open letter to New Zealand unionists by Vaughan Gunson

To New Zealand unionists,

Kick up a fuss!

So says the headline of the latest UNITY leaflet produced by Socialist Worker. (Click here to download).

Kicking up a fuss is what the union movement needs to do in opposition to National's anti-worker laws. The rallies in Auckland, Wellington. Christchurch and Dunedin were the first round of a hopefully ongoing union campaign (more info at http://fairness.org.nz/). The Council of Trade Unions (CTU), which brings together most New Zealand unions, is playing a leading role in mobilising opposition to the law changes.

National's attacks on workers' rights are part and parcel with their commitment to neoliberal economic policies. Since the 1980s government efforts to weaken workers' collective power have gone hand-in-hand with privatisation, financial deregulation and changes to the tax system that have favoured the rich. The result: massive income inequality and generational poverty.


ALTERNATIVE ECONOMIC STRATEGY

We desperately need a change of economic direction. And that’s what a new document drafted by the CTU potentially offers. The CTU's ‘Alternative Economic Strategy' is a fundamental rejection of neoliberal policies.

Because the strategy document has come from the leadership of a mass organisation like the CTU it has a chance of gaining traction in the real world, especially - as our UNITY leaflet argues - if it's linked to popular campaigns like defending workers’ rights and Tax Justice.


TAX JUSTICE

The Tax Justice campaign is an initiative of Socialist Worker and the Alliance Party. The campaign focus is a jointly sponsored petition that calls on parliament to:

1. Remove GST from food; and

2. Tax financial speculation.

Click here to download the petition.

The petition's demands cut to the heart of neoliberalism in the wake of the global financial crisis. The demands are also proving popular. Since the Tax Justice campaign was launched on 22 May over 7,000 signatures have been collected (in the middle of winter) by mainly Socialist Worker and Alliance members. 1,900+ people like the campaign's Facebook page. To join go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/No-GST-on-food/119541161411953?ref=ts

We want the campaign to take off in a big way. To do that we need to broaden the people and organisations actively involved. We are very interested in support from unions and unionists. This campaign could link up with the union mobilisations against National's attacks on workers. As we say in our leaflet: "[W]e have an opportunity to come at them from both sides. Combine the campaign for Tax Justice with mass action to defend workers’ rights and you’ve got the ingredients for a popular fightback."

That would certainly be kicking up a fuss, which is what the times demand.


A WORLD IN CRISIS

Most serious economic commentators (from a variety of political perspectives) recognise that the world economy has entered a period of prolonged crisis which it might be impossible to stabilise. The world's resources are fast being depleted, which will send forth massive economic shock-waves. While the urgency of the climate change threat weighs heavily on us all. The extent of the threats facing humanity are analysed in Grant Morgan's compelling essay 'Beware! The end is nigh!': Why global capitalism is tipping towards collapse, and how we can act for a decent future advertised in our leaflet.

The sobering realities of a world in crisis and transition requires us to organise collectively today to help secure a future. Socialist Worker believes popular campaigns targeting neo-liberalism, which are linked to the holistic economic alternative that is the essence of the CTU's strategy, presents us with a way forward.

We welcome feedback on the ideas raised in our UNITY leaflet. Please circulate it and the Tax Justice petition to your union contacts.

If you would like to give support to the Tax Justice campaign get in touch with me now.

In solidarity,

Vaughan Gunson
Socialist Worker national chair
& Tax Justice campaign coordinator
021-0415 082
svpl(at)xtra.co.nz

2000 in Wellington, but only 600 in Auckland, is this true?

Christchurch rally

 By David

TV3’s estimate of 400 in Christchurch is pretty accurate (I was going to say 500). But I hope their figure of 600 in Auckland is a serious miscount. 2000 in Wellington is respectable, but if these figures are accurate, why were the numbers in the bigger centres so low?

People at the rally I spoke to were clearly pissed off about the attacks, but I didn’t get much sense of a fighting spirit. Attempts to get the crowd chanting were half-hearted and didn’t take off.

The highlight came early, when two marches arrived in the square. They did have their chants sorted out. The traditionally conservative Pubic Service Association calling for “Fairness at Work”, while the slightly smaller radical fringe of the Workers Party and Beyond Resistance, declaring their intention to fight back against the “Class War” waged by the bosses. [I will post videos of both, when I can get it working.] I hope the next protest, on October 20 is a march, not just a rally.

Even double these numbers would not cause the Nats any concern. And it now seems unlikely that the mobilisations will grow big enough, quickly enough to stop the law from passing. Unfortunately, it's at this point that far too many campaigns admit defeat and give up.

The one bright spark is that unions are now naming and shaming the employers who have used the existing 90-day law to sack workers. The CTU’s videos, Unite’s Utu Squads, and the stories of the workers that have been mistreated, could tip the balance of public opinion. And if the Utu protests catch on, they could encourage more workers to come forward, and warn employers off the scheme.

As part of building for the next national day of action on October 20, all unions should get behind the name and shame campaign. You can play your part by forwarding the CTU’s video, or the TV3 link below, and asking around to see if anyone you know has been unfairly treated under this law.

No 90-day trial periods for Hutt City

Media release
VAN – Valley Action Network
19 August 2010

Union members and supporters will be taking action around the country this weekend in support of Fairness at Work. Candidates and supporters from VAN – Valley Action Network will be joining Saturday's rally in Wellington.

 “This is a major issue for voters in the upcoming local body elections”, said VAN spokesperson Grant Brookes, “especially in Lower Hutt.

 “The Hutt City Council elections are about what sort of city we want to create. The actions of the council set the tone for the whole community.

 “Hutt City Council has a responsibility to set a positive example in how it treats the many hard-working people providing its services – not just for the sake of council employees, but for all residents.

 “The government is planning more than a dozen law changes to undermine everyone’s rights at work, including 90-day ‘trial periods’ when all new workers can be sacked unfairly, and restrictions on the ability of union organisers to support union members on the job.

 “VAN supports Fairness at Work, and opposes the impact that the law changes will have on the grassroots residents of Lower Hutt.

 “Unfortunately, many of the current councillors privately support these changes. One Harbour Ward councillor even wrote an article in the Hutt News last year publicly supporting 90-day trials.

 “The good news is that some employers are giving commitments now that even if the laws are passed, they won’t be using 90 day trial periods and won’t stop unions from supporting their members at work. 

“If VAN candidates are elected, we pledge to make Hutt City Council a fair workplace and give these same positive commitments.”

See more at: www.huttvan.org.nz www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=128328787200169

CTU video: Interview of Heather Smith, sacked under 90 day fire at will law

 

This is the first in what promises to be a series of videos from the CTU revealing the real impact of the 90 day fire at will law.

These pesonal stories are exactly what's needed to counter the government's lies that making it easier to sack people will magicly produce jobs in the middle of a recession.

It would also be good to do some interviews with people who have benefitted from the union campaigns over the past few years, to show the positive work that unions do

Currently the law can be used only by businesses with fewer than 20 employees, but the government plans to give this abusive power to all employers.

Heather Smith - unfair dismissal story. 

Heather Smith tells the story of how she was unfairly dismissed under John Key's new 90 day law. www.fairness.org.nz

RALLY 21 & 22 August
Auckland * Wellington * Christchurch * Dunedin

Auckland
1pm, Saturday 21st August
QE2 Square (bottom of Queen St, opposite Britomart)

Wellington
1pm, Saturday 21st August
Civic Square

Christchurch
1pm, Saturday 21st August
Cathedral Square

Dunedin
11am, Sunday 22nd August
Assemble at Dental School, Great King Street
March to rally at the Octagon

Workers rights: what will it take to win?

By David

What will it take to defeat the government? Big, big protests for one thing. So the Fairness at Work protests called by the CTU for Augsut 21 are good next step. The 40,000-strong anti-mining march has shown that a big mobilisation can force National to back down.

However, there is more at stake for the government and the employers on this issue, so it is likely they will be more willing to endure protests. Their side knows that the long-term gains from beating the unions will out way short-term damage to National’s popularity. So it’s going to take more than one big rally.

We need a campaign of escalating mass protests until these plans are dropped. The starting point has to be educating and then mobilising the existing union membership, some 350,000 people. But the campaign must look to go beyond them and reach out and win over the unorganised majority.

If the ruling class fear this campaign is drawing in, politicising and organising previously unorganised workers, they will back down.

I’ve heard (and read) various people on the Marxist and anarchist left talk about the likely inadequacy of the response from the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) and big unions, and the need for the socialist / anti-capitalist left to offer some sort of alternative. As Wellington unionist and Workers Party activist Don Franks put it in a comment here on my previous post on this issue, “Workers who really want this legislation stopped in its tracks will have to go beyond the politics of the CTU.”

I don’t see any point in counter-posing the two. Even if we all pull together, the socialist left is in no position to organise the mass mobilisation of union members that must be at the heart of this campaign. So we have to work with the CTU-led campaign, even as we seek to go beyond it.

What can the radical left achieve?

The question is what can we do to make this campaign more successful, to increase the chances, not only of beating the government, but of building a workers’ movement that is politically and organisationally stronger?

One way is for socialists who are union members or organisers to work together to push for a stronger response from their union.

Another is to work to involve those outside the union movement. Officials, necessarily, will be focussed on their own members, but I don’t believe we will win this campaign if it’s seen simply as a struggle between unions and the government. We need to convince the majority of the working class that this is a battle for their rights (and for their pay and conditions) against a government and an employing class that profits from grinding them down.

If currently non-unionised workers see the union movement successfully defending their rights, it could open the doors for a surge of union recruitment. So the more forward-looking union leaders should support this strategic approach.

What can socialists do to involve more non-union workers and to provide a more radical political and organisational lead for union and non-union members alike?

Here in Christchurch the Workers Rights Campaign was established as a coalition of radical left activists when the first Fire at Will law was passed last year. Now an enlarged group of leftists is organising against the new attacks. Following from the first protest the Sunday before last, a second protest has been called for August 8.

It sounds like similar radical coalitions are forming in other parts of the country.

Many within this group share the general desire to link this struggle with an anti-capitalist analysis of why these attacks are happening and what workers can do about it.

So a joint leaflet (and or posters and billboards) is one possibility. Let’s say we agreed on a leaflet combining an a notice about the upcoming actions with arguments against the attacks and an anti-capitalist analysis. We’d need to distribute a fair number to have any real impact on the political consciousness of the Christchurch working class. How many could we afford to print? How many could we distribute? Could we do 30,000? 30 people letter-boxing 1000 each? What would that cost $1000?

It seems to me that’s the sort of scale (on the upper limits of what’s possible) that we need to be looking at, if we’re serious both about reaching out to the working class and pushing the political boundaries of this campaign.

CTU calls Fairness at Work Rallies for 21st August

Please note that the CTU is holding Fairness at Work Rallies in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin on Saturday 21^st August from 1 pm to 3 pm.

 

Exact venues for the march and rallies are to be confirmed.

 

These rallies are aimed at:

 

(a)   Demonstrating our concern about employment law changes proposed by the Government.

(b)   Reaching out to the wider community to get support for Fairness at Work.

 

At a planning meeting today, we have discussed advertising for the rallies, a leaflet aimed at the general public to be distributed prior to the rallies, placards, flags and banners for the rallies, on-the-ground organisation for each rally including marshals, speakers, sound system, and so forth.

CTU leaflet: ‘Demand fairness at work’ 20,000 leaflets to be printed

So this is what the CTU’s come up with so far…
This is the text from a leaflet. They will be printing 20,000 copies. Comment from the EPMU delegate who forwarded it to me: “Not what I was looking for, but worth a look.”

SIDE ONE:

DEMAND FAIRNESS

AT WORK

Your rights are under attack

The National Party promised change – but change should be for the better

They have attacked workers’ rights from the start and it’s serious

Contact your union

Go to www.fairness.org.nz

for more info

SIDE TWO:

We didn’t ask for:

X the 90 Day Fire-at-Will Law

The Government is going to remove everyone’s right to appeal against unfair dismissal in the first 90 days of a new job, not just those in small companies

CTU: Unions do have evidence over 90 Day trial

Council of Trade Unions media release
19 July 2010

Unions do have evidence of workers being dismissed unfairly under the 90 day provisions that operate for small firms.

Helen Kelly, CTU President, said today that the public has been made aware for instance of the worker at Dunbar Sloane auctioneers and also the worker sacked from Take Note Stationery in Waikanae detailed in Saturday’s press who was fired five minutes before the end of her 90th day.

Protest greets attack on workers rights, but what comes next?

by David

Prime Minister John Key announced a new attack on workers’ rights at the National Party conference in Auckland on Sunday July 18. (Could there be a more appropriate place for the Nat’s get together?)

Of greatest concern are plans to extend the 90-day fire at will law to all workers and restrictions on the rights of trade union officials to visit their members or access a sight to recruit members. These attacks on workers rights are designed to cower New Zealand’s already timid, disorganised and poorly paid workforce even further.

Step out of line in the first three months, perhaps by complaining about poor health and safety or joining a union, and you could be out the door, no questions asked, no reason given.

In response, 500 trade union members protested outside the National’s conference. Here’s a report from one protester:

Despite a heavy police presence, a group of about 40 managed to push through lines of police and Sky City security guards, to enter the lobby of the conference building.

Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly addressed the protest and commented on the large size of the crowd considering the short notice. She announced an emergency meeting of all trade union leaders on Thursday to discuss a campaign against the proposed law changes.

The head of the Dairy Workers Union speaking to the crowd, made a statement that the DWU have decided that if any new worker in the Dairy industry is dismissed under the 90 day law, that the union would immediately call a stopwork meeting, “Where we will then decide what we would do.”

“If you remove due process you can expect that we will take direct action.” he said.

This militant declaration, from a union not noted for its militancy was met with loud cheers and applause. Of course such action would be illegal under the current Employment Relations Act.

All in all this protest was a tremendous success and a great first start to this campaign.

A protest in Christchurch, called on Friday night, brought together 40 unionists and called an organising meeting for Monday. A Wellington protest is also due to take place on Monday.

The fire at will law was first introduced early last year, but can only be used by bosses with less than 20 employees. Unions made a token protest at that time, but at lot less than they had a few years earlier, when the idea was first raised in a private members bill by National MP Wayne Mapp. One apparent reason for this was that some unions were, at the time trying to cooperate with National around the so-called Job Summit. That spirit of partnership got them about as far as John Key’s cycle way.

Sunday’s spirited protest was a good first response. But what comes next? Will this be the start of a sustained fight to defend workers rights? Or do we just wait for the next election and campaign for a Labour-led government?

Chris Trotter is optimistic union leaders will follow through with their bold words at Sunday’s protest and take to the streets.


Sue Bradford has warned that both the unions and the Labour Party leadership will need to do a better job than they did in response to the benefit cuts and Employment Contracts Act back in 1991.

UNITYblog welcomes readers ideas on how workers and their unions should respond to the government’s attacks.

Protest this Sunday – stop National’s attacks on workers

from Facebook page

Date: Sunday, July 18, 2010
Time: 10:00am - 1:00pm
Location: Sky City Hotel, Auckland CBD

The National Party will announce drastic attacks on workers rights, seeking to curtail Unions rights to Bargain, access greenfield sites, access existing sites, slash education and training leave, and cut back on Holidays.

Unions will vigourously resist these attacks from the outset. If National are declaring war on workers, they should prepare for Resistance.

The Battle starts this Sunday. 10am. Sky City Hotel.

The National Party Conference is happening there this weekend.

The official announcement on the attacks will be made at 11am.

We aim to disrupt this session.

Stand up for Workers Rights.

The land of 15% GST

John Key’s other New Zealand flag

by Vaughan Gunson
Tax Justice campaign coordinator
10 June 2010

On 1st October a long black cloud is going to descend on the lives of grassroots New Zealanders. GST will increase from 12.5% to 15%, making everything more expensive. The new rate puts New Zealand in the top bracket of countries with equivalent taxes on goods and services (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_added_tax).

On the same day, the National government’s other tax changes will come into place, including across-the-board lowering of income tax rates.

For low-to-middle income people the small improvements in take home pay resulting from the tax cuts will be mostly wiped out by the increase in GST on food, electricity, clothing, rates charges, and other items that must be accounted for in weekly budgets. As has been widely reported, it’s the rich and wealthy corporates who get the most out of the tax cuts.

New strategy from NZ union leaders

by Grant Morgan


Last week, the NZ Council of Trade Unions released a second draft of their Alternative Economic Strategy.

Sound boring?

Actually, the CTU’s document could flag a major leftwards turn by the peak leadership of our union movement.

After a quick read of their revised strategy paper, here are some of my initial thoughts:


HOLISTIC ALTERNATIVE

The CTU is looking to embrace a holistic alternative to neoliberal capitalism, which is exploiting workers and nature to breaking point.

And their alternative vision seems to be growing more staunch over time. In the eight months since the CTU’s first go at crafting an Alternative Economic Strategy, its content and tone have become stronger.

For instance, the CTU has zeroed in on financialisation, the central pillar of neoliberal capitalism. The CTU is now calling for the immediate reduction and gradual elimination of GST, the introduction of a “financial activities tax” and other measures to curb the power of the speculators.

The second draft still contains structural weaknesses which flow from the CTU opposing capitalism’s neoliberal agenda without rejecting capitalism as a system.

Such weaknesses, however, should not obscure the positive potential of the CTU’s Alternative Economic Strategy. A finished manifesto is scheduled for signoff by CTU affiliates within the next month.

Top union leaders appear to be equipping themselves for a strategic showdown with neoliberalism.

That may well herald a historic break with the CTU’s past practice of ducking a frontal battle against neoliberal orthodoxy despite grumbling about market extremism and skirmishing around specific issues.


POPULAR DISCONTENTS

Two days after the 2010 budget’s hike in GST, Socialist Worker and the Alliance launched a tax justice petition. Calling on Parliament to axe GST from food and tax financial speculation, the petition is already drawing wide support.

Our crowded street stalls allow me and other petitioners to hear the voices from below.

What do we hear? Rumblings of discontent over belt tightening, rising prices, lowly status, community breakdown, corporate greedies, unfair laws and deaf politicians.

These popular discontents indicate the broad constituency for change that could be mobilised by a CTU showdown with market extremism. The union movement would start to regain a central role in New Zealand society.

And the CTU’s strategic shift has the potential to reshape New Zealand politics in ways that benefit the multitudes, such as:

    •    Bolstering the Labour Party’s network of left activists and sympathetic MPs.

    •    Eroding the Labour Party as an institutional barrier to mass political action.

    •    Growing the institutional basis for a broad left party that fights neoliberalism.


JOINT EFFORTS

So will the CTU’s new words be followed by inspiring deeds? We cannot know for sure until after CTU affiliates endorse the Alternative Economic Strategy and CTU leaders have the chance to make it fly.

Meanwhile, there’s plenty the rest of us can do to help the CTU rise to the occasion.

For instance, the CTU’s revised strategy paper recognises that tax policy is becoming a key social battleground.

To fund tax breaks for the rich, John Key’s government is hiking GST to 15%. This unjust imposition on modest income families has been damned by the CTU. How about telling the CTU that you back their stance, and ask them to lead protests on 1 October when the rise in GST takes effect.

The Labour Party’s recent Auckland regional conference voted unanimously for GST-free food and a financial transactions tax. That internal party pressure, itself fueled by public sentiment, led a reluctant Phil Goff to say that Labour in government might consider removing GST from fresh fruit and veges. How about telling Phil, and other Labour MPs, that you want much more, for sure.

A Maori Party bill to remove GST from healthy food will soon get its first reading in Parliament. How about telling Labour and Green MPs that you expect them to vote for this bill, no ifs, buts or maybes.

Socialist Worker and the Alliance are fronting a tax justice petition that’s in harmony with the CTU strategy. How about telling the CTU that you support our petition, and ask them to promote it hard. Likewise with MPs from the Labour, Green and Maori parties. And how about you joining our team of petitioners.

Joint efforts to remove GST from food and tax financial speculation will undermine financialisation, the heartless heart of neoliberal capitalism. That’s got to be good for the grassroots. And for the success of the CTU’s Alternative Economic Strategy.

CTU: Alternative Economic Strategy – final draft

An economy that works for everyone

NZ Council of Trade Unions

26 May 2010

Introduction 

People are the heart of the real economy. People work to produce the goods and services, innovate, save and invest. And it is for people that the economy should work to provide our needs. It should enable us to create better lives in terms of our welfare and happiness as individuals, community and wider society. 

But the New Zealand economy has failed to do this in crucial ways. 

Workers are not receiving the benefits of economic growth in their wages.

Poverty is blighting a society that produces enough for everyone but fails to share it fairly.

The economy is failing to thrive and is badly unbalanced.

The ever more visible limits to the Earth’s resources and the misuse of our natural resources highlighted by global climate change are unsustainable.

And the economy fails to make best use of the skills and experience of its workforce by excluding most of them from meaningful participation in the decisions that shape their work, industry and economy.

Capitalism has never been fair nor cared for the environment. But under the neoliberal policies followed in New Zealand for the last quarter of a century not only have these conditions got worse but the policies have failed in their own terms. 

 Those policies are rooted in the idea that less government is better government and that “the market” if left to itself will lead to faster economic growth and better outcomes for society. New Zealand has had slower growth rates and has failed to keep up with the rest of the world.

The policies have enriched a small number of people, and have accelerated the migration of New Zealanders overseas. The economy has growing imbalances of household and international debt, of investment based on speculation rather than production, and of interest and exchange rates at levels that worsen rather than resolve these problems. 

Friday 27 November: day of action for low-paid public sector workers

A series of protest rallies will take place across the country on Friday 27 November to protest wage freezes in the public services, in particular the health, disability care and education sectors, and to build wider public support for the freeze to be thawed. 

The action will primarily involve members of the SFWU, NZEI and PSA but all other affiliates are encouraged to participate and show their support for this cause. 

The rallies are timed to take place for one hour at lunchtime on the 27th between 12.30 pm and 1.30 pm. 

Please circulate this notice widely and encourage your members to join the rallies where they can and ensure a significant public display of support for the messages to the Government about low-paid state and state-funded workers opposing the wage freeze. 

In some locations transport will be arranged to help members attend. 

For further information contact the local SFWU organiser or call 0800 UNION1 (0800 864 661). 

Fliers and branding for banners etc is in preparation to ensure unity and consistency of message across the country and will be forwarded soon. Please use the attached notice and list of venues to inform members. 

Regards  
Peter Conway 
 

Secretary
 New Zealand Council of Trade Unions – Te Kauae Kaimahi 


P O Box 6645
 Wellington
 

+64 4 8023816
 

mobile 0274 939 748 

peterc@nzctu.org.nz
 www.union.org.nz  

Venues for 27 November Lift the Freeze rallies 12.30pm-1.30pm  

Kaitaia: Cnr Redan/Commerce St  
Whangarei: Main mall in the centre of the town – Cameron/ James St Cnr  
Auckland: Methodist Church on Queen Street  
Thames: Outside the Civic Centre on Mary Street  
Hamilton: Garden Place, Victoria St  
Taumarunui: Next to library on “One Way Street”  
Rotorua: Cnr of Arawa St and Ranolf St  
Taupo: State Highway One – near Council Buildings  
Tauranga: Red Square at bottom of town – Devonport St/The Strand/Spring St Cnr  
Whakatane: The Strand/Commerce St (near roundabout)  
Gisborne: Cnr of Gladstone Rd/Reads Quay (near the bridge)  
Hastings: St Johns Hall Southland Rd  
New Plymouth: If sunny, meet between centre city and Devon St. If wet, St Josephs Church  
Hawera: Salvation Army Hall Regent St, marching up High St to Chester Burrows office.  
Whanganui: Majestic Square on Victoria Ave  
Palmerston North: PSA House King Street and then march to Square  
Levin: Adventure Park Pavilion, Main Highway and then march down main street  
Wairarapa: Old Folks Hall Cole Street  
Wellington: Parliament  
Nelson: Top of Trafalgar Street  
Westport: Outside Hospital  
Greymouth: Outside Grey Base Hospital, High Street  
Christchurch: Victoria Square (march from TUC)  
Ashburton: Checkerboard Town Centre
Timaru: Town Square cnr Strathallan and Strafford Sts  
Dunedin: Octagon (march from Hospital)  
Invercargill: Cnr Tay and Dee Streets

Council of Trade Unions turning towards class struggle?

Could a column by Helen Kelly in last Monday's Dominion Post (below) signal a turning point for the union movement?

 

There's no doubt that the opinion piece by the Council of Trade Unions president is significant – both for what it says, and for what it doesn't say.
 

First of all, Helen Kelly's column connects three separate attacks on groups of workers and explains them in terms of wider economic and political forces.
 

Her analysis is correct. Of course the disputes at Telecom, at Open Country Cheese and on the Auckland buses are related.
 

But for decades now, it's been rare to hear union leaders to treat disputes this way.
 

Fundamentally, what Helen Kelly is talking about is a common cause shared by different groups of workers – and a common mindset among employers. She's talking, in other words, about a class struggle.
 

As she acknowledges, this is a shift in perspective from the leaders of the union movement. 
 

And yet, after announcing this shift in bold terms her concluding paragraph seems oddly out of place. It's an appeal for the employers (and the National-led government) to start "working cooperatively" with unions again.
 

The jarring inconsistency is because of what the column does not say. Having explained the forces leading employers to use bully boy tactics – forces which are not about to go away – the CTU president says nothing on what unions are going to do about it.
 

This much has not changed. For many years, the CTU has focused its energies on appeals to the government to solve the union movement's problems, rather than organising independent working class action to achieve the movement's goals through its own collective strength.
 

It might be argued that the business pages of a daily newspaper are not the place to lay out the strategy of the union movement, and that behind the scenes the CTU is doing a lot to organise opposition to bullying employers like Telecom, Open Country and NZ Bus.
 

But you can't rally workers, and the broader public, around a banner that's kept hidden behind the scenes. Class struggle demands mass organisation, which takes place out in the open.
 

Somewhere, sometime soon, union leaders will have to lead. The analysis contained in Helen Kelly's column calls for a strategy of coordinated, mass resistance by the union movement as a whole.

Employers quick to use bully tactics

Helen Kelly

BUSINESS FORUM

INDUSTRIAL relations in New Zealand seem to have taken a turn for the worse in recent months. Bus drivers and dairy workers find themselves locked out by their employers and Telecom engineers have been made redundant en masse and are refusing to buy back their jobs while the network rapidly crumbles.

Until recently the reaction to the global downturn in New Zealand was characterised by a willingness on the part of workers, unions and employers to work together to mitigate the worst effects of the recession.

The jobs summit and the nine day fortnight are examples of that. Is there some reason why it has all gone sour?

Each of these disputes has different origins. Only one is straightforward, about pay and conditions. Another is about every worker's right to bargain collectively, and the last is about an attempt to shift cost and risk on to a workforce at the expense of their job security, livelihoods and bargaining power under the cloak of "contracting out" through a third party.

On the face of it the global crisis has nothing to do with any of these disputes. Significantly, none of the three employers – Telecom, Talley's and NZ Bus – is in any way struggling financially. But there is little doubt that the recession is a factor in the way they are handling the disputes.

Although redundancies are not being forced on any of these employers, there is an implication that workers should feel damned lucky to have a job in the current economic climate and should accept whatever wages and conditions are tossed their way.

There's a recession on, don't you know? Belts must be tightened.

I don't know how many holes Telecom boss Paul Reynolds has on his $5 million belt but I don't see much tightening going on there.

That's not boardroom bonus jealousy. I think it's legitimate to ask why these companies are taking such a hard line against the workers who are delivering their respectable profits in tough times.

The truth is that they are looking at the unemployment figures and thinking that now would be a good time to stamp on wages, hours, and workers' bargaining power. Workers will not put up a fight, they think, while fear of the lengthening dole queues prevails.

Unfortunately, the employers got it wrong. Workers are perfectly capable of understanding the situation of their employer and acting accordingly. Hence the many settlements that have been reached in recent months where unions have acted reasonably and responsibly and employers have offered fair and realistic terms.

Unemployment is a real fear for many New Zealanders. But there are plenty who know that their companies are doing well enough, and they are not about to bow down to employers who throw their toys out of the pram at the first sign of resistance to their plans. Both of the current lockouts are gross over-reactions.

The actions of Talley's-owned Open Country Cheese in particular, where a wholly disproportionate and illegal six-week lockout has been accompanied by intimidation of union members, use of strike breaking outside labour and misinformation, are reminiscent of the bad old days of industrial strife.

All this in response to the employees simply exercising their legal right to union representation and to bargain collectively. Someone is living in the past here, and it is not the Dairy Workers' Union.

The union has worked harmoniously with employers and has not been engaged in any serious industrial action for more than 20 years. It is sad and so unnecessary and you have to wonder why Open Country acted with such unwarranted ferocity.

Could last year's change of government be an influence? The Government wasted little time when it carne into office before forcing through its removal of unfair dismissal rights from new employees in small firms in the first 90 days of their contracts. There was no good economic reason for this move, but it immediately set a tone for its attitude to workers' rights. Cuts to public sector payrolls, moves to make the fourth week of annual leave sellable and other policies that have negative impacts on working people seem to confirm the impression of an administration more behind the cause of the employer than the employee.

None of these moves would have any positive effect on the country's productivity, its ability to pull out of recession or the length of the dole queues.

The Jobs Summit and support for the nine-day fortnight present a different face of the Government, albeit one which has had limited effect. We would all be better off if employers took their lead from this approach. What will be positive is employers dealing honestly and openly with unions and employees, working cooperatively in the best interests of each enterprise and not reaching for the factory keys as a negotiating tool.

Lockout flu spreads unchecked - CTU campaign needed

by Pat O'Dea

Earlier this year, when the swine flu dominated the headlines, though dangerous I predicted that it would blow over, especially if the authorities took proper safeguards.

At the same time I also predicted that like a contagious disease, the spreading use of lockouts would get worse if left unchecked. I felt then and still do that the growing readiness of employers to use lockouts needed to be addressed by the Combined Trade Union movement.

As I predicted then the rash of lockouts would grow unless the CTU decided to act against them with a campaign for militant union wide solidarity actions.

As I said then, any employer who reaches for the lockout weapon needed to be smacked down hard to discourage others.

Employers have just announced twice in one day, their preparedness to use of this once rare tactic against dairy workers and concrete workers. See http://business.scoop.co.nz/2009/09/16/employer-militancy-grows/

Added to these two new lockouts, the threatened lockout against the bus drivers, and the Telecom campaign to dismiss and starve out of their network engineers, till they agree to take jobs at much reduced wages and conditions (a lockout in all but name). The Telecom campaign gathered pace last week, when their subcontractors closed the gates on another 200 engineers. See http://business.scoop.co.nz/2009/09/16/employer-militancy-grows/

Individual worksites and unions are almost powerless in the face of lock outs, As the progressive dispute showed, only a CTU wide call for wide solidarity from all affiliated unions blunted this attack...

I think that a mass union campaign against lockouts needs to be mounted again.

Further, I think we need to deal with this growing emergency before it becomes an epidemic.

I would like to suggest a mass rally of all trade unionists be called outside one of the guilty employers on a Saturday, to reopen the gates, and get the workers back inside.

I would like to suggest that with the agreement of the NDU, that Bridgeman Concrete be the first target for such a Combined Trade Union campaign.

Because: A. The Bridgeman lockout was completely unprovoked. B. The Bridgeman lockout is the one that is presently ongoing now.