Auckland: 1pm, QE2 Square (bottom of Queen St, opposite Britomart)

Wellington: 1pm, Civic Square

Christchurch: 1pm, Cathedral Square

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

Below is the text of a leaflet produced by AWSM for these rallies and the struggle to defeat these laws. It is made to go along with an earlier article, Workers Set To Face More Attacks, which contains more details about the proposed changes themselves.

You can also download a .pdf version of the leaflet, designed to print out on double sided A5. Click here to download it (126kb).

Let’s Kill The Bill!

Like most of us, you too are probably overworked and underpaid. We slave away for 8 (or more!) hours a day, only to head home and find that we don’t have enough money to pay for the things we need to live an enjoyable life. Unfortunately, the Government is now proposing changes to employment law which will only make things worse! If the changes go through, we will all face a future with more unemployment, even less job security, less days off in both sick and annual leave, lower pay and all the stress and frustration that goes with all of that.

But it’s not all doom and gloom - together, we have a huge amount of power as workers and, if we can work collectively and exercise that power, we can not only defeat these proposed law changes, but also improve significantly on the status quo!

All over the country, people have been out on the streets marching and rallying against these attacks on workers. But while mass protests on the streets are worthwhile, they will not be enough to roll back these proposed changes on their own. Mass action, like the hundreds of thousands that protested in the street against the introduction of the Employment Contracts Act in 1991, is ignored by those in power when it suits them. We need to take strike action and hit bosses where it really hurts — their profits.

The Council of Trade Unions is organising protests and probably a nationwide stopwork in October, however we need to go well beyond that if we are to have any chance of stopping these law changes. We need real resistance run by the workers ourselves, not rhetoric and symbolic action. Likewise the Labour Party, which implemented a ban on solidarity strikes and political strikes when it introduced the original Employment Relations Act while it was last in power, is primarily concerned with managing capitalism rather than supporting workers. This means that when push comes to shove, the Labour Party will side with the bosses and make workers suffer - as was most clearly demonstrated during the 1980s when the Lange government introduced the most sweeping right wing reforms this country has ever seen.

What follows are some further ideas for collective resistance to these anti-worker laws.

We need to take industrial action against the bill where possible. This action can be legal or not. If you are not in negotiations, and thus cannot strike legally, push to open up negotiations for variations to your contracts to oppose the proposed laws. In that way, you open up space for legal strike action. Or push for unofficial strike action, like taking a mass sickie at your workplace on the day of the stopwork or protests against the bill. We need to build on these actions, and push for more national stopworks and strike action to defeat the bill.

If you can build a strong supportive culture with your workmates, you can create a situation where action can be taken even when outside the legal restrictions. Support others’ struggles too - we are all in this together, and that means that we need to support and encourage each other to the best of our ability. Ensure that all action is controlled by the workers taking it, not by union officials who are removed from the shop floor and don’t have the same interests as us.

The new laws will make us work more for less pay. We want more pay for less work. We oppose any deals or laws linked to increases in productivity and work hours (such as reducing our leave or ability to take sickies). The bosses already steal countless hours of our lives and countless dollars from our pockets, they certainly don’t deserve even more!

If, at the end of the day, these laws do pass, we need to plan to make them unworkable. Any boss considering firing someone under the 90 Day Bill should know that if they do, they will have pickets outside their business. Likewise for those employers who pressure workers into giving up their 4th week of annual leave. Bosses need to be taught that they cannot use these new laws without there being negative consequences for their profits.

One way to do this is to get involved in creating a network of militant workers in your area. This network could organise the above pickets. It could coordinate action and solidarity to support and encourage those taking industrial action and to resist any repercussions on those going beyond the law. If you are interested in being involved in a network like this, please contact us below.

We want to dump not only these new laws, but the whole sordid Employment Contracts/Relations Act era which has strangled workers’ ability to strike, thus delivering massive profits to capitalists. In the end, there is no such thing as pushing for fairness at work. The capitalist system is at its heart exploitative, and all bosses are exploiters, even the ‘nice’ ones. Ultimately, we need to get rid of the whole exploitative system and bring in a classless, stateless society whereby we freely co-operate to meet our collective needs rather than be wage-slaves for the profit of a few.

This leaflet was produced by the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement (AWSM), a national organisation working towards a classless, stateless society: anarchist-communism. As class-struggle anarchists our priority is active involvement in workplace struggles and industrial action as well as community based campaigns in our neighbourhoods. We encourage working class people to organise themselves against capital and the state. We do not seek to paternalistically organise people from the top down.

Download issue in .pdf format

The eleventh issue of Solidarity, free newssheet of the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement. Download the .pdf above, or click below to read the contents online.

Contents:

• The Fightback Begins
• Beneficiaries Burn Bennet In Rotorua
• Workers Set To Face More Attacks
• On Pulling Sickies
• Upcoming public events

If you want to make sure you don’t miss an issue of Solidarity, you can subscribe to either the print or electronic version.

To subscribe to the AWSM announcements list, put your email address in the form on the top right of each page on our website, http://www.awsm.org.nz.

Subscribers will be sent .pdf copies of Solidarity each month, along with other publications produced by AWSM and ocasional information - we promise we won’t spam you with a ton of useless stuff though! The electronic copy is identical to the print version.

Or, you can subscribe to the print edition to receive a copy of Solidarity in the post. $8 for 12 issues. Mail a cheque to AWSM, PO Box 6387, Wellington 6141, or contact us to organise an alternative method of payment.

The Fightback Begins

About a thousand people recently took to the streets to protest National’s law changes such as the 90 day fire-at-will bill which directly threatens job security for workers and their rights (see inside for details). Protests took place on the 18th of July in Auckland and Christchurch, the 19th in Wellington and the 16th and 24th in Dunedin. Some of the unions present at the mobilisations included the CTU (Council of Trade Unions), NDU (National Distribution Union), EPMU (Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union), and Unite and organisations included AWSM, Socialist Aotearoa, and the Workers Party amidst other left groups and of course loads of indignant individuals.

John Key let off a string of unconvincing lies and double-speak in his announcement of laws designed to cripple the labour movement during the National Party conference in Skycity Grand Hotel in Auckland. At the same time, some 300-400 pissed off workers and unionists picketed the hotel entrance and eventually broke through police lines briefly causing chaos within. No arrests took place but police assaults on protesters were many. A giant rat was inflated at the entrance of the hotel where union heads gave speeches outside.

On the same day about a hundred people took to the streets in Wellington waving banners and placards and chanting class war slogans. A little over than a week later taxi drivers were on their second day of strike action. They demonstrated at parliament, calling for the bill to be thrown out.

In Dunedin, protests took place on the 16th and again on the 24th seeing hundreds of people take to the street and an unplanned march on the 24th disrupting traffic briefly.

Meetings have been taking place in major cities with workers, unions and left organisations dedicated to securing workplace conditions that were won over centuries of workers struggling. Christchurch witnessed one of the largest gatherings of community activists, union officials, delegates and workers seen in recent memory. Around 100 people, with less than 17 hours notice, met at Cathedral Square on Sunday 18th July to make their feelings heard after National’s policies were leaked late last week. Since the initial demonstration, called by Unite Organiser and AWSM member Matt Jones, there has been an emergency meeting held where a group of 40 people discussed further actions as well as what we need to do to get the message out in the longer term.

“This wasn’t some CTU backed structured meeting. It was in fact an open discussion where everyone was invited to engage and debate. The CTU’s silence since the beginning has been deafening. What it has done however is allow space for resistance and action from the bottom up, we are witnessing the strengths of anarchism in action, where we refuse to stand by and be told to tow the line!” said Matt.

The meeting lasted just over an hour and by the end of it plans for action were made: Demonstrate! Sunday 8th August, 12pm Cnr Colombo St & Hereford St, Christchurch City Centre.

“This area is home to McDonald’s, KFC and Burger King, where the staff are some of the most at risk from the newly announced bills. We hope to bring a lot of colour and enthusiasm to the event!” said Matt.

Beneficiaries Burn Bennet In Rotorua

Just like in 1991, National is attacking both the waged and unwaged wings of the working class at the same time. We interviewed Paul Blair of the Rotorua Welfare Action Group about their response to National’s assault on beneficiaries (for example, by cutting emergency benefits and forcing many sickness and domestic purposes beneficiaries to work). They held an incendiary protest on July 12 in Rotorua.

AWSM: Can you give some specifics about the recent beneficiaries demonstration in Rotorua?

Paul: The rally/demonstration theme was chosen so that if only a handful turned out the demonstration could still go ahead without losing credibility. On the other hand if a good crowd turns up we could march on the road. As it turned out we had about a hundred people turn out so we marched around to the National Party Offices with our demands. A good turn out for Rotorua in the middle of winter.

The core aims included to get the issue of attacks on beneficiaries and their children out into the public media to lift the level of debate and to expose the lies and deceit of the National Government and their plans for the future of the Welfare State in NZ.

To continue to build a genuine legitimate and authentic political fight back from the class of people outside the paid workforce and now under attack from Minister [for Social Development] Bennett and John Key’s right wing National government.

To create a media and community platform from which to call for solidarity between the “working poor” and the “notworking” poor or so called social security claimants. To bring out the interconnections and shared experience between low paid workers and beneficiaries.

We burnt minister Bennett in effigy to get media attention to our plight and to put our own militant stamp of “direct action” on the demo. Also Bennett is lying to the media and to the public about the intended welfare reforms and the must vulnerable people in NZ are being attacked by her.

As the march took off from WINZ on the way to National Party HQ in Rotorua some construction workers across the road started yelling out “get a job” etc. Mostly the public just came out of the shops and looked at us in amazement. Good pictures of the burning in Rotorua Daily Post and NZ Herald, Te Karere and some snippets on TV1.

Yes for the reasons given it was a success and the crowd of 100 grass roots people all on social security benefits were militant and powerful. The demo was organised by a loose coalition we called the Rotorua Welfare Action Group (RWAG). My Union the RPU (Rotorua Peoples Union) played a key supportive role in the organisation of the demo. The RWAG was a core group of about 6-8 activists/people. The RPU mails out to about 350 social security claimants.

To read the interview in full, go to http://awsm.org.nz/?p=405

Workers Set To Face More Attacks

The National Government recently announced a series of new attacks on workers across New Zealand. The raft of proposed changes to the anti-worker Employment Relations Act (ERA, brought in by the previous Labour Government in 2000) and the Holidays Act will serve to further cut job security, wages and conditions for hundreds of thousands of workers in both the public and private sectors.

What are the changes?

Perhaps the biggest change is the expansion of the 90 day fire at will scheme. Under this, any worker can be fired within the first 90 days of employment without any way to legally challenge this. When originally introduced following the 2008 election, this only applied to workers in workplaces with 19 or fewer employees (around 1/3 of the total workforce) however the proposed expansion would see it cover all workplaces. Since it was brought in, approximately 22% of workers hired under the scheme have been fired within 90 days, many given neither a reason nor a warning of what was about to occur, leaving them financially screwed.

A number of changes have also been proposed to the personal grievance process and the way the Employment Relations Authority works. All these changes make it harder for workers to challenge harassment, unjust firings and other problems and while making it easier for the bosses to get their way in a system that is already slanted in their favour.

We will also be pressured into working more often. The time honoured tradition of pulling a sickie is under attack (see elsewhere in this issue of Solidarity for details). Meanwhile, the 4th week of annual leave will soon be able to be exchanged (for cash), as will public holidays (for other days). National is declaring that both of these exchanges must be initiated by the employee, but in reality many workers will no doubt be pressured by their bosses into making them, especially those workers in the first 90 days of their contracts who are in constant fear of being fired! This all adds up to more work for an already overworked population.

Workers who want to join a trade union may find it much harder if the proposed changes go through. Unions will require permission from the employer before they can set foot on the property, meaning it will be especially difficult for unions to get onto sites where they don’t already have members. Additionally, companies will be able to communicate directly with workers during collective bargaining meaning yellow unions (unions run by the company) may become more common, with the associated drop in wages and conditions.

Separate from this lot of law changes but also coming up soon is a private members bill from National MP Tau Henare, which would place further restrictions on strike activity. The bill, which would force unions to hold secret ballots for all strike activity, would give bosses another avenue with which to have strikes declared illegal, at a time when workers are already heavily restricted in their choice of industrial activity by the ERA.

What can we do?

• Talk to your workmates: Build a culture in your workplace where you all support each other when there’s an issue, even if it only effects one or two people. Collectivise problems – it’s much harder for the boss to ignore a larger number of workers.
• Take industrial action where possible: Work to rules, go slows, taking lunch breaks at the same time, strike activity and more. As workers we produce the wealth that lines our bosses pockets – by threatening that profit we can force bosses to give into our demands. When we do engage in industrial activity, make sure it is controlled by us, not by trade unions. While unions can sometimes be useful (for legal protection, resources etc), industrial activity is our weapon, not theirs, and should be controlled by us without interference.
• Support other workers’ struggles: We’re all in this together, and one strong workplace won’t be enough. If you hear of another workplace that’s going out on strike, and you can make the picket line, go and stand with them. If you can’t, support them in other ways - there may be a strike fund you can donate to, or even just go in when they’re not striking and let the workers know that you support them.
• Don’t rely on the trade unions or the Labour Party: The response of the Council of Trade Unions (the umbrella body for NZ unions) to these latest attacks has been pitiful. They have announced they will distribute 20,000 copies of a “Fairness at Work” leaflet – not even enough to reach 10% of their affiliate unions’ membership, let alone the millions of ununionised workers. The Labour Party introduced the anti-worker ERA in its last term in power and has shown time and time again that it is no friend to the working class. In opposition it may encourage members to attend protests, but in Government it’ll just be more of the same.
• This is our fight: These attacks impact on all of us who are forced to work to survive. We, the working class, must stand together and fight in our workplaces to not only protect what little we have, but to create a better future for us all. Separate we will fall, but together we have a chance to win.

On Pulling Sickies

An important part of the proposed attacks on workers is the attempt to suppress sickies. Bosses will be able to ask us to get a medical certificate for just taking a day off work. Rabid millionaire PM John Key (pictured above haranguing a journalist) has said chronic absenteeism is wrecking profits, particularly in the meat industry. His industrial reforms are all about restoring the profits of his capitalist mates during a recession. To do this he must further reduce our wages and conditions.

With strikes being outlawed except when negotiations have broken down, taking a sickie is a common and essential form of resistance to the dictates of bosses. Indeed, there is some evidence as that as the numbers of strikes have reached record lows, taking sickies has increased.

We take sickies because bosses force us to work hard and long hours in shitty conditions. Unrelenting work pressure makes us stressed, tired and unfulfilled. So we take a day or two off to relieve this pressure, and to temporarily reclaim our lives from the drudgery of wage slavery. We use sickies not only to look after sick family members, but also to chill out and live a little.

Union bureaucrats have distanced themselves from throwing sickies. They’ve blamed them on a few ‘scallywags’, while the majority of workers supposedly take legitimate sick days. Sure, taking time off work when you’re sick is an essential right. But it’s also just as legit to throw a sickie. Informal resistance, like taking sickies and slacking off at work, is a crucial element of our resistance to bosses. This resistance often requires co-operation between workmates, such as sharing someone’s job when they are taking a sickie, in the knowledge that when you are off ‘sick’ they will do the same for you. Informal resistance and formal resistance – such as strikes – are complementary. They need each other. Indeed, you can’t have a successful strike if you haven’t tapped into the informal co-operative networks between workers.

We need to resist this attack on taking sickies just as much as we need to resist the rest of National’s proposed anti-worker legislation. As we are forced to work some of the longest hours among OECD nations, we need to take more sickies. Some have suggested a national sick-day, which seems a great idea. In the end, we need to push for not only more pay, but also less work!

Upcoming public events

WGTN , WED AUGUST 4, 7pm.
Thistle Hall (downstairs meeting room).
Public discussion on Prisons: Race, Criminalisation and Privatisation. Hosted by Wellington branch of AWSM in conjunction with the Wellington Anarchist Black Cross. All welcome.

CHCH, SUN AUGUST 8, 12pm.
Protest against proposed new industrial legislation. See front page for details.

WGTN , THU AUGUST 19, 7.30pm.
St John’s, Cnr Willis and Manners Streets. Public meeting about proposed new industrial laws organised by a coalition of organisations/individuals.

NATION WIDE , SAT AUGUST
21, 1-3pm. Nationwide ‘fairness at work’ rallies in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin organised by the Council of Trade Unions against the proposed new employment laws. Locations of the rallies to be advised.

WGTN , WED SEPTEMBER 1,
7pm. Thistle Hall (downstairs meeting room). Public discussion on proposed new industrial laws. Hosted by AWSM’s Wellington branch.

CHCH: Beyond Resistance, also hold monthly public discussions on the first Wednesday of every month.

What is your personal and political background?

Working class Catholic grew up in Canterbury/Bankstown area of Sydney Australia. My father was a member of the Australian communist party in the early fifties when it was banned by the State. Came to NZ in 1969 basically to dodge the draft into the Vietnam war and then ended up staying. Worked as a truck driver, labourer, and in low paid jobs. Learnt lessons of unionism as a unionised driver with the Coca Cola company in Sydney in the sixties.

Benefited from free University education in Auckland in the seventies, turned on by Marxist thought, and worked as a teacher and later graduated in law from Waikato Uni and admitted to the bar in 2009. Went on first political march in 1976 against attacks on DPB’s. Politicised by the 1981 Springbok tour and lost all respect for “Law” and “State”. I describe myself as a left socialist-anarchist-atheist.

Can you give some specifics about the recent beneficiaries demonstration in Rotorua?

The rally/demonstration theme was chosen so that if only a handful turned out the demonstration could still go ahead without losing credibility. On the other hand if a good crowd turns up we could march on the road. As it turned out we had about a hundred people (see photos) turn out so we marched around to the National Party Offices with our demands. A good turn out for Rotorua in the middle of winter.

The core aims included to get the issue of attacks on beneficiaries and their children out into the public media to lift the level of debate and to expose the lies and deceit of the National Government and their plans for the future of the Welfare State in NZ.

To continue to build a genuine legitimate and authentic political fight back from the class of people outside the paid workforce and now under attack from Minister Bennett and John Key’s right wing National government.

To create a media and community platform from which to call for solidarity between the “working poor” and the “not-working” poor or so called social security claimants. To bring out the interconnections and shared experience between low paid workers and beneficiaries.

We burnt minister Bennett in effigy to get media attention to our plight and to put our own militant stamp of “direct action” on the demo. Also Bennett is lying to the media and to the public about the intended welfare reforms and the must vulnerable people in NZ are being attacked by her.

As the march took off from WINZ on the way to National Party HQ in Rotorua some construction workers across the road started yelling out “get a job” etc. Mostly the public just came out of the shops and looked at us in amazement. Good pictures of the burning in Rotorua Daily Post and NZ Herald, Te Karere and some snippets on TV1.

Yes for the reasons given it was a success and the crowd of 100 grass roots people all on social security benefits were militant and powerful. The demo was organised by a loose coalition we called the Rotorua Welfare Action Group (RWAG). My Union the RPU (Rotorua Peoples Union) played a key supportive role in the organisation of the demo. The RWAG was a core group of about 6 - 8 activists/people. The RPU mails out to about 350 social security claimants.

How are conditions for beneficiaries and the employed in Rotorua and the surrounding region?

The Rotorua District has about 7,500 main benefits being paid that’s unemployed, DPB, sickness, invalids etc benefits but some would be married and some single and some would have children associated with them. So approximately 9,000 adults and maybe 4 or 5 thousand children completely dependant on social security payments and directly affected by Bennett’s Future Focus Bill live in the Rotorua District. There would not be anywhere near 900 “jobs” available at any given time in Rotorua let alone 9,000 “jobs”. (These figures do not include those on National Super).

What do you see as the future direction of the country? What do you think can/should be done to remedy future problems?

The direction the National Government is taking the country as a whole is in the direction of right wing neo-liberalism that perpetuates the lie that there are “jobs” for everyone and refuses to admit that unemployment is a permanent structural feature of current capitalism. The attacks are mounting against the employed working class and those on so called “benefits”.

The only way out that I see is for people to organise a fight back for “Life not Jobs”. The welfare state has never been needed more than it is today however this government aims to destroy it and replace it with North American Private Charity models and impose poverty and misery on 12.5% of NZ’s population.

What are the best tactics beneficiaries and supporters can use to improve their conditions?

Organise massive demonstrations and radical and militant alternative creative actions to build significant opposition. Multi-faceted actions that utilise both legal and political/public actions to resist the violence about to be visited on our Welfare Rights.

Anything else you’d like to comment on?

There is an urgent need to continue to build also, a counter - hegemony against the hegemony of language and ideas that both Labour and National have perpetrated and developed for generations against “beneficiaries”. Whether or not NZ claimants and workers will (or can) stand up with sufficient strength against the attacks to make a difference is not at all clear in my view.

The “man” has done an amazing job on the population’s psyche and as a result many workers and claimants of social security are “self-oppressed” as they have absorbed and assimilated the “man’s” ideology as if it were their own. The right wing hegemony has been successful, very successful because like every successful hegemonic project it has managed to mask its own mechanisms.

What are the changes?

Perhaps the biggest change is the expansion of the 90 day fire at will scheme. Under this, any worker can be fired within the first 90 days of employment without any way to legally challenge this. When originally introduced following the 2008 election, this only applied to workers in workplaces with 19 or fewer employees (around 1/3 of the total workforce) however the proposed expansion would see it cover all workplaces. Since it was brought in, approximately 22% of workers hired under the scheme have been fired within 90 days, many given neither a reason nor a warning of what was about to occur, leaving them financially screwed.

A number of changes have also been proposed to the personal grievance process and the way the Employment Relations Authority works. All these changes make it harder for workers to challenge harassment, unjust firings and other problems and while making it easier for the bosses to get their way in a system that is already slanted in their favour.

We will also be pressured into working more often. The time honoured tradition of pulling a sickie is under attack (see elsewhere in this issue of Solidarity for details). Meanwhile, the 4th week of annual leave will soon be able to be exchanged (for cash), as will public holidays (for other days). National is declaring that both of these exchanges must be initiated by the employee, but in reality many workers will no doubt be pressured by their bosses into making them, especially those workers in the first 90 days of their contracts who are in constant fear of being fired! This all adds up to more work for an already overworked population.

Workers who want to join a trade union may find it much harder if the proposed changes go through. Unions will require permission from the employer before they can set foot on the property, meaning it will be especially difficult for unions to get onto sites where they don’t already have members. Additionally, companies will be able to communicate directly with workers during collective bargaining meaning yellow unions (unions run by the company) may become more common, with the associated drop in wages and conditions.

Separate from this lot of law changes but also coming up soon is a private members bill from National MP Tau Henare, which would place further restrictions on strike activity. The bill, which would force unions to hold secret ballots for all strike activity, would give bosses another avenue with which to have strikes declared illegal, at a time when workers are already heavily restricted in their choice of industrial activity by the ERA.

What can we do?

• Talk to your workmates: Build a culture in your workplace where you all support each other when there’s an issue, even if it only effects one or two people. Collectivise problems – it’s much harder for the boss to ignore a larger number of workers.
• Take industrial action where possible: Work to rules, go slows, taking lunch breaks at the same time, strike activity and more. As workers we produce the wealth that lines our bosses pockets – by threatening that profit we can force bosses to give into our demands. When we do engage in industrial activity, make sure it is controlled by us, not by trade unions. While unions can sometimes be useful (for legal protection, resources etc), industrial activity is our weapon, not theirs, and should be controlled by us without interference.
• Support other workers’ struggles: We’re all in this together, and one strong workplace won’t be enough. If you hear of another workplace that’s going out on strike, and you can make the picket line, go and stand with them. If you can’t, support them in other ways - there may be a strike fund you can donate to, or even just go in when they’re not striking and let the workers know that you support them.
• Don’t rely on the trade unions or the Labour Party: The response of the Council of Trade Unions (the umbrella body for NZ unions) to these latest attacks has been pitiful. They have announced they will distribute 20,000 copies of a “Fairness at Work” leaflet – not even enough to reach 10% of their affiliate unions’ membership, let alone the millions of ununionised workers. The Labour Party introduced the anti-worker ERA in its last term in power and has shown time and time again that it is no friend to the working class. In opposition it may encourage members to attend protests, but in Government it’ll just be more of the same.
• This is our fight: These attacks impact on all of us who are forced to work to survive. We, the working class, must stand together and fight in our workplaces to not only protect what little we have, but to create a better future for us all. Separate we will fall, but together we have a chance to win.

The ZSP is an anarchosyndicalist union in Poland. Can you tell us a bit about it, when did it form and has there been similar organisations in Polish history? Where has it drawn inspiration from?

ZSP was formed in 2007 with a small group of people from a few cities and has been growing ever since. Before the war there was an anarchosyndicalist movement in Poland but it was smashed by the Nazis and then by the communists. ZSP was formed because of the need to have such a group in Poland now.

What is the membership like? Where in Poland does ZSP exist and does the group seem to be growing since forming?

There are different people. Recently more young people started joining as well. The two biggest groups are in Wroclaw and in Warsaw, but there are also groups in Szczecin and regional groups in Silesia, Mazovia and in Mazuria. Now some individual members are popping up and trying to form groups in new cities. There is also an education section which is spread around Poland.

Is there a high level of class consciousness in Poland and a strong working class movement?

Class consciousness? Not really. The irony of living in a post-communist country is that, since many people rebelled against the system, people developed a very strong pro-capitalist mindset.

The working class movement exists, although not as strong in some places. Union membership is comparatively high in Poland, but this has traditionally been in the budget sector and state-run or formerly state-run factories and in heavy industry. But high union concentration does not always mean that the workers are involved in any struggles. In some cases, the unions actually prevent the struggles from happening.

What are the main problems for workers in Poland and what is the current focus of the ZSP?

Poland is Europe B. This means that wages are quite low here and working conditions are bad. There is relatively high unemployment and people are expected to really overwork to make ends meet. Then there is the constant threat of losing one’s job or being replaced by somebody who will work cheaper. These are usually people from the countryside or foreigners but they can also be, for example, students.

Right now, ZSP would like to grow as an organisation but also to participate in some real workplace conflicts and get practical organising experience. So our focus is to reach out to working people in various ways: to inform them of their rights and struggles, to help when they have conflicts and encourage them to action.

Judging from the ZSP website, there appears to be a lot of activity, particularly picketing workplaces. Is the ZSP generally very active and is this having an effect?

In the two larger groups, yes. The level of activity is partially related to the size of the groups and the experience it has had.

I think anybody considering anarchosyndicalist activity and workplace organising has got to have a sober look at reality: it is possible to have an effective campaign, but not every campaign is, and some can be, but only after a long period of building and doing consistent work.

This means that, yes, we have had some victories and have helped in numerous concrete cases. The majority of our campaigns bring some results, even if not completely what we were demanding. On the other hand, there have been a few things which haven’t brought any result yet. But we look at the latter also positively because it is about trying, not giving in to the bosses, giving them a headache when they do something wrong, showing opposition and getting the word out about these problems. And that’s the thing: sometimes the effect is not that you win demands but that other workers hear about it and maybe realise their rights were violated or feel encouraged to fight also. And it is sometimes the case that the negative attention scares the business that are violating workers’ rights and they stop - at least for a while.

ZSP has an Educational Section currently holding weekly actions outside schools, can you tell us about that and how its going?

Now there is a break in the summer. Basically, this was to inform students and teachers about the processes involved with the commercialisation of education - something generally supported in Poland. One of the results is that education workers have become largely aware of how their rights and working conditions are changing and some have invited us to lecture on the topic at universities. In some cities, the most precarious workers, doctoral students working as lecturers, have organised or are organising themselves in networks - some are in ZSP. Students have not been too responsive though.

What is the Bologna Process?

It is a process which is implemented slightly different in different countries belonging to the Council of Europe. Basically, it lays our ideas and guidelines for making education a more commercially viable product and for getting education to serve the needs of the capitalist labour market.

Does the ZSP face the problem of police repression or attacks from fascist or others? How is this dealt with?

Rather no. Although of course from time to time some of our members are arrested at something.

The worst things fascists do is spam our webpages.

Many Polish workers have moved to neighbouring countries in western Europe in recent times in search for better wages. After the financial crisis, it has become harder to secure work abroad. Has this changed the situation for workers in Poland and what is the result?

Good question. Some Polish workers moved to different countries which before were less attractive. Others have come back to Poland and, in some areas and jobs, this has depressed wages.

Do you see the class composition and society in Poland as fertile ground for anti-capitalist revolutionary struggle?

The mentality of people is currently quite conservative and right-wing. The class composition is not the only thing that determines whether the ground is fertile.

What are some of the long-term political and organisational goals envisioned by ZSP and its members?

As mentioned before, one of the first priorities is to expand our organisation so that it can function in more places and simply do more. The size of the organisation in part will determine our goals. We concentrate now mostly on short-term goals and of course, we never know what conflicts will appear on our door. But if we’d say anything about the long-term, of course we would like to be an organisation which can fight abuse in the workplaces and which would encourage people to self-organise in a truly grassroots manner.

Like most people of our tendency, of course we would like to overthrow the capitalist system, etc. etc.; we will never give up this dream, but for now, in order to go forward, we like to concentrate on building up in areas where we and the working class in general are weak.

M, ZSP

7pm, August 4th
Thistle Hall, 293 Cuba Street (Entrance on Arthur St side)

You are warmly welcomed to join the Wellington Anarchist Black Cross and the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement for a discussion about abolishing prisons. We invite you to bring along your ideas and experience to share…

We live in one of the most incarcerated countries in the Western world. New Zealand is second behind only the United States in imprisoning its population, and primarily imprisons its indigenous population. Incarceration for Maori men is 6x that for the rest of the population and for Maori women, closer to 8x higher.

The very nature of prisons is being fundamentally changed. Under new ‘private’ prisons, incarcerated people will be commodities sold to the lowest bidder. Meanwhile, the Department of Corrections estimates that 4 new prisons will need to be built to accommodate all the people who are being turned into prisoners by the extension of draconian laws and sentencing policies.

Prisons exist to punish and control the poor / working class, not to stop crime or rehabilitate people. Resistance to the prison-industrial complex and the achievement of real justice is possible. It will take organisation and the recognition that prison ‘reform’ is not genuinely possible under capitalism.