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Prohibition is not the answer!

The extension of the Wellington City Council’s liquor ban into Aro St and Aro Park is not the answer, says Wellington Central Workers Party candidate Don Franks.

“Banning alcohol in public is not the answer” says Franks

“This is a class issue. As more and more people find it harder to buy a drink in the pub, they find somewhere that doesn’t charge them an arm and a leg.”

“Mayor Kerry Prendergast says that the bylaw will only affect those who display anti-social behaviour. Public drinking is not anti-social behaviour.” says Franks.

“It’s true, there is an issue of homeless people in the parks,” said Franks.

“Many of those people will never afford housing at current costs”.

“We live in an alienating capitalist system, which actually restricts people’s choice”, states Franks.

“If I get elected to represent Wellington Central I’ll restore the option of half a dozen public bars with plastic jugs of cheap draft, damp sticky carpets, bar tables you can lean on and a covered part with a heater somewhere where you can smoke. There will be quart bottles, meat raffles, an old upright piano, a pie warmer and a guitar behind the bar.”

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A cup of tea

Don Franks, Workers Party candidate for Wellington Central opening 5 minute address to Aro Valley candidates forum August 9th 2008:

I’d like to try and be constructive and see if there’s some stuff we all have in common.

Something we all probably have in common is enjoying a cup of tea. On many occasions, there’s nothing better to pick you up or settle you down. First thing in the morning, or after putting in some hours on the job, or later on at night. What’s that old saying ­ “the cup that cheers but not inebriates”. Well, of course a bit of inebriation is definitely called for sometimes.

However, when you feel like a little something, but need to keep going with a clear head and a steady hand it’s hard to beat a nice cup of tea. A cup of tea is such an ordinary routine part of our lives that we don’t think there’s anything all that special about it when we make one. But actually it’s quite a big deal.
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People of Zimbabwe between a rock and a hard place

– John Edmundson

The disastrous election period in Zimbabwe has thrust that country back into the media spotlight over the last few months, with the latest big news being the veto in the UN Security Council of a package of sanctions being sponsored by the United States. Reports of voter intimidation have been added to the ongoing hostile media reports of land occupations by Mugabe cronies, financial mismanagement and economic collapse.

The story of Zimbabwe’s slide into poverty is, of course, more complex than the picture we tend to receive in the media, as is the perceived solution of Western-led international sanctions.

There can be no doubt that the election process in Zimbabwe was rigged by the ZANU-PF (Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front) party led by independence war hero Robert Mugabe. The lead-up to the 29 March 2008 harmonised local government, parliamentary, senatorial and presidential elections saw widespread reports of intimidation, while the vote-counting was inexplicably delayed. Finally a narrow win to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was announced in the parliamentary poll, but in the presidential election it was declared that a runoff election would be required – a result that was immediately challenged by the MDC.

The new poll was set for 27 June but in the intervening period the MDC claimed that over a hundred of their activists had been killed and many more subjected to various forms of intimidation. MDC Presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai, who had himself been beaten and arrested several times during the campaign, withdrew from the contest and took refuge in the Dutch Embassy for nine days.

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How to stop National’s threat

– Don Franks

Under the guise of “giving young, inexperienced people or new immigrants a better chance at a job”, National is proposing a new restriction on workers.

“We will introduce a 90-day trial period for new staff, by agreement between the employer and employee, in businesses with fewer than 20 people,” National party leader John Key announced in a 24 July press release.

During this 90-day trial period, either party may terminate the employment relationship for performance without a personal grievance claim being brought.

National’s proposal should be rejected by all workers and fair-minded people.

The personal grievance procedure is no fail-safe protection against unfair dismissal, but it does provide a narrow avenue for workers to contest injustice. National’s election promise to deny new staff access to their day in court would move the bar even further in the employer’s favour.

National’s industrial proposals have been roundly condemned by trade unionists. NZ Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly says: “Cuts in workers’ rights and entitlements and privatisation are all this party has to offer to date.”

She says National’s industrial policy “really will clarify for workers and their families which parties have their interests at stake”, concluding that “instead of supporting the current approach balancing employer and employee interests, [National] is trying to drag us backwards”.

Helen Kelly is quite right to condemn National’s anti-worker 90-day trial. But she ignores the fact that National promises to retain significant current labour laws which she supports, and will:

*continue to allow union access to workplaces with an employer’s consent, which cannot be unreasonably withheld

*continue to support the social partnership with Business NZ and the CTU to work together on issues of mutual interest

*retain the Mediation Service.

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The environment – what do Workers Party candidates say?

– Byron Clark, Workers Party candidate for Christchurch Central.

As a Workers Party candidate in this year’s election, I am often asked for my opinion on environmental issues. These are important to me as a socialist, as environmental issues are also class issues.

Those who are suffering (and will potentially suffer most) from environmental damage are the poor and oppressed, especially those in the third world. With the climate warming, you get tropical diseases like malaria spreading further north and south, and rising sea levels causing island nations to depopulate, creating refugees. Changes in ocean temperature mean changes in fish migration and breeding, affecting what is a food source for a lot of people; and people world-wide, including in the first world, are currently suffering from rising food prices and lack of decent drinking water caused by drought.

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Election economics: theirs and ours

Winston Peters has been caught out being “economical with the truth”. After months of denials from Peters that NZ First had received a donation from multi-millionaire Owen Glen, Peters finally admitted to accepting a $100,000 donation towards his legal fund for his failed case to overturn National MP Bob Clarkson’s win in Tauranga.

In all probability, this undeclared donation did not breach parliamentary rules, so why was Peters so anxious to make the story go away?

The fact is, NZ First likes to pose as a party of the people, and most voters would regard taking money from a filthy rich tycoon based in a Monaco tax haven as being rather sordid. Yet that is how the game of mainstream politics is played. Owen Glen also contributed $500,000 to the Labour Party before the last election.

We’re counting on you

By stark contrast, the Workers Party has no wealthy backers. Our funding comes entirely from our activist members and supporters. On a shoestring budget, we managed to run four candidates in the mayoral elections last year, winning a total of 4705 votes.

But democracy don’t come cheap! We are currently registering for the party list, which will enable workers across the whole of New Zealand to vote for a revolutionary socialist party for the first time in history. To make the most of this opportunity, we need money to print leaflets, money to upgrade our website, money to pay candidates’ deposits… you get the general idea.

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October 15 Solidarity: Letter to the Editorial Board

To the Spark editorial board:
In your July edition of The Spark, Alastair Reith writes in his article “Armed cops no solution” that “[t]o this day, no charges have been brought against the people that were arrested” in last year’s so-called “terror raids”.

We all wish this were true. However, 20 people are facing charges under the Arms Act! Charges under the Terrorism Suppression Act were never laid because the Solicitor-General did not grant the police permission to do so. The 16 people arrested on 15th October 2007 and the four who have been arrested since have faced Arms Act charges from the beginning.

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Drivers give it back to the boss

– Nick Kelly

Bruce Emson, CEO of NZ Bus, did his “travelling road show” at the Kilbirnie depot last Monday. His mission was to tell us drivers his vision for “our” company, but also to get feedback from the people who are on the ground.

So midway through his bullshit company presentation Bruce goes, “Look, I’m sick of talking, I want to know if this a good place to work at the moment.” To which the drivers and workshop workers replied with a resounding “NO!”.

A bit taken aback, Bruce then replied, “Oh, OK, well actually I knew that already. So guys, tell me what’s wrong with this job.”

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Violent crime in capitalist New Zealand

– Byron Clark, Workers Party candidate for Christchurch Central

Crime has become a hot issue in New Zealand this year. It’s an election issue largely because the major political parties are committed to maintaining the status quo on economic issues; instead they campaign on non-economic issues like “law and order” rather than wages, unemployment or social inequality.1

The government and the opposition’s “tough on crime” stance also results in increased state power and erosions of civil liberties. Politicians have been calling for the police to be armed and patrolling working-class parts of Auckland. We’ve also seen the passage of the Criminal Disclosure Act, which removes the need for a unanimous jury verdicts (replacing it with an 11:1 majority) and creates exemptions to double jeopardy (the legal defence that prevents a person from being tried twice for the same crime on the same set of facts).

These things are certainly something to be concerned about, but it doesn’t mean crime itself should be ignored. While on the whole crime is down, the statistics show that violent crime (with the exception of homicide) is up. A large part of this increase (35%) is in the “threats and intimidation” category, and is probably a result of increased reporting now that more people own cellphones. Increased reporting of domestic violence as a result of the “It’s not OK” campaign is also a possible factor in the increase.

However, it is undeniable that violent crime is occurring, and the reasons for – and possible solutions to – this should be examined.

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Casualisation: real jobs and con jobs

– Don Franks

For those of us in the working class, few things are more important than having a real job. A real job produces stable predictable earnings. It pays enough for us to support ourselves and our dependants, with a bit left over for some luxuries, savings and fun. A real job is also a big part of our social life. For many people their workplace is a sort of secondary family; in some cases the community of an individual’s job provides their main social connections. In every case a proper job gives us a feeling of social worth, a feeling that we belong, and that we count for something because others count on us.

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