On 17th February, 2010, members of the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement attended a rally of striking cleaners at Parliament in Wellington organized by the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU). The rally was part of the SFWU’s clean start campaign demanding an hourly wage increase from $12.55 to $14.62 for cleaners employed at Parliament and the police college in Porirua, in line with a recent pay increase for hospital cleaners and directly-employed school cleaners.

For many cleaners their job is hard enough even without the poverty wages as it demands working late into the night, which makes it difficult to remain functioning members of their families and communities. SFWU member Allan Gaylard pointed out “I clean Parliament from mid-night to dawn, and I think a lot of these MPs do not know we exist. It is OK for John Key and Members of Parliament to say they will not get a pay rise this year, but they earn more than $130,000 with John Key earning $400,000, whereas I earn $12.55 an hour!”

The protest was a reasonably noisy affair, with the cleaners disrupting business as usual at Parliament by banging their placards with wooden spoons for around 20-30 minutes, followed by speeches from Union representatives, rank and file cleaners and Labour and Green Party politicians. The snug relationship between the unions and the Labour party was plain for all to see, with one Union rep claiming ‘everything will be alright once our friends are back in power’. Contempt for rank and file control couldn’t have been more striking.

But the irony of a system where the Prime Minister earns 10 times the hourly pay of the person forced to clean his office was also lost on no one, with John Key’s own personal cleaner suggesting he should ‘clean his own bloody office’. Of course those who have been forced to work late into the night cleaning up the mess of politicians who clearly couldn’t care less about them deserve far more than the miserable $2.07 increase being demanded by their union, ultimately they deserve control over their lives and their communities – nothing short of full emancipation.

Photos from this protest can be seen here

On Tuesday 16 February, about 700-1000 people marched on parliament in Wellington to protest against proposed increases in accident compensation. The march was organised by a group called the ACC Futures Coalition, a group which includes a broad range of organisations including unions, community groups, bikers, consumer groups, academics and health workers.

Proposed changes to accident compensation will increase levies on all workers’ wages, privatise the Work Account and make further cuts to services, shifting the cost of injury onto the injured person. The changers will pass much of the cost of treating workplace injuries on to working class people, and make it harder for many to receive ACC. Most of us are already struggling to get by on little income as it is.

There are many workplace accidents and deaths in Aotearoa, and these are increasing. Sixty-seven people died in 2008 from workplace accidents. And pretty much all of them are caused by bosses making us work harder and longer. It’s pretty easy for workers to make a silly mistake when you are forced to work fast, and work long hours, and when workplace health and safety is ignored by bosses so that they can make more profit. It is part of the agenda of the capitalist class – currently being carried out with vim and vigour by the National government — of passing the cost of almost everything onto workers, and to make sure we pay for the cost of their relentless speed ups.

The protest turnout was pretty disappointing, given that unions urged members to join the march. There’s been lots of protest against the ACC changes from a broad variety of groups, from feminist groups opposing changes to counselling for sexual abuse survivors (incredibly degradingly, survivors now need to be diagnosed as suffering from a mental illness to get counselling) to bikers. Bikies held a massive ‘bike-oi’ on parliament last year, when over 6,000 bikies biked onto parliament in the loudest protest in New Zealand history. Bikers are opposing hefty hikes in the registration costs of bikes, attempting to pass the cost of road accidents onto bikers themselves. The low turnout of the Feb 16 rally just shows how little support unions have in Aotearoa at the moment.

Pushing for reforms like opposing cuts to accident compensation is necessary, but in the end we need to get rid of the system that causes these accidents and abuse in the first place. Sounds a bit corny, but getting rid of capitalism and hierarchy would mean we would be able to reorganise society and workplaces so that accidents would be minimised to the highest degree possible. For example, in workplaces there would be no drive for profit or production, no speed ups, and people would collectively work at their own pace so that they could produce the stuff people genuinely need. Health care, like everything else, would be freely available on the basis of need. To get there we need to build up working class movements against capital from below, and not in a top down manner like the vast majority of leftists suggest.

Unemployed struggles and dole autonomy
Wednesday 3 March at 7pm 128 Community Centre,
128 Abel Smith St, Wellington

Come along to discuss various tactics used by the unemployed in resisting dole slavery.

All welcome!

With the global recession, and resulting mass layoffs, unemployment is on the rise in Aotearoa. In December 2009, the official rate is 7.3% or 168,000 people. A lot more are unemployed, as the official figures are fiddled to make unemployment seem less. Unemployment is traditionally used to keep wages down, and the dole is paid at such a pittance to make it as unattractive as possible. In short, unemployment is used as a stick to keep people in line.

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The Anarchist-Communist Discussion Group invites you to our first meeting on Wednesday March 3 at 7pm at the WEA, 59 Gloucester Street.

The group meets on the first Wednesday of every month and aims to provide a space for the open discussion of anarchist-communist ideas and practice. Each month there will be a short article to read or a short video to watch, that we can then discuss together.

For the first meeting, we will be watching a video of a talk given by Barry Pateman, a vastly experienced British anarchist now based in the USA. He is one of the editors of the Emma Goldman Papers and a curator of the Kate Sharpley Library (one of the largest anarchist libraries in the world). He is also editor of the book ‘Chomsky on Anarchism’. Barry spoke in Wellington in May last year, and we will be showing the video of the talk at our first meeting, followed by discussion of the ideas raised in it.

It’s free, and tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided.

The group is a joint effort of the Christchurch branch of the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement and Beyond Resistance.

Photos from a protest held at Parliament against cuts to ACC, and increases in ACC levies.

A report on this protest from an AWSM member can be read here.

Anarchism and Ireland
7pm Thursday Feb 18, 2010
at the 128 Community Centre, 128 Abel Smith Street, Wellington

An anarchist from the Belfast branch of Workers Solidarity Movement, Ireland, will be speaking on the history of anarchism in Ireland, the growth of the Workers Solidarity Movement and how the WSM works in Ireland in 2010.

The Workers Solidarity Movement was founded in Dublin, Ireland in 1984 following discussions by a number of local anarchist groups on the need for a national Irish anarchist organisation. At that time with unemployment and inequality on the rise, there seemed every reason to argue for anarchism and for a revolutionary change in Irish society. This has not changed.

In the years since their formation, the Irish WSM been involved in a wide range of struggles - WSM members are involved in their trade unions; they have fought for abortion rights and against the presence of the British state in Northern Ireland, and against the growth of racism in southern Ireland; They have also been involved in campaigns in support of workers from countries as far apart as Nepal, Peru and South Africa. The WSM website is www.wsm.ie

Presented by the Wellington Region branch of the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement.