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Right to Strike in Australia

Workers Party member Ian Anderson interviews veteran Australian union activist Dave Kieran, on the recently launched Right To Strike Campaign.
The Spark: If you could start with a basic overview of the Right to Strike campaign, and how it started.
DK: The right to strike campaign began about a fortnight ago in its current form, where 6 unions attended a meeting to establish a national campaign, and to work practically towards resolutions in workplaces, up through unions and union executives, approach civil society and civil movements, faith-based communities etc seeking similar resolutions of support.
It’s based very much on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) framework, which indicates that the right to strike actually underpins the will of the people; that is, all of our other rights are protected by the right to strike. Certainly industrially, things like the right to organise, right of entry, are protected by the right to strike. Continue reading “Right to Strike in Australia”

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Occupy New Zealand

On October 15th New Zealand cities joined the global “Occupy” movement which as of this writing is taking place in 1500 cities in over 100 countries as a protest against wealth inequality. The December issue of The Spark will include further coverage of the movement; here we publish the statements issued by the occupations taking place in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
Auckland
Occupy Auckland[Occupy] Auckland is a leaderless resistance movement with people of many colours, genders and political persuasions. We are the 99% and we believe in people and the planet before profit. We will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%.
We are also in solidarity with http://www.OccupyWallStreet.org , http://www.OccupyTogether.org and all of the Occupy movements around Aotearoa New Zealand and the world.
We will be occupying Aotea Square from the 15th of October and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximise the safety of all participants.
We recognise Aotea Square as Ngati Whatua land and that it is also a public space. Ngati Whatua have kindly consented to us ‘occupying’ this land.  Continue reading “Occupy New Zealand”

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We Are The University (Auckland) demands

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWp-C5_169U]
After occupying a university council meeting room on Monday the 17th of October, We are the University came to these conclusions in a democratic process:
1. Free education, Zero Frees (Unconditional).
2. Sack Stuart McCutcheon and Patrick Walsh as vice chancellors of the University of Auckland and Victoria University respectively. Restructure university in a public forum.
3. Remove trespass orders on Marcus Coverdale and Wikatana Popata.
4. Decisions on courses be based on scholarly and social benefits rather than financial.
5. Security guards be employed for the safety of students, not survailliance. Cops not to be called in response to (non-violent) student activism.
6. The University management be bound by the government facilitation with the Tertiary Education Union (TEU).
7. University actively lobby to revoke the VSM bill
8. Government unconditionally fund student unions, allowing them to be a critical voice and conscience of society, so that corporatisation such as advertising is not necessary on campus spaces.
– We are the University Auckland

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Unnatural disaster

Ian Anderson, Workers Party member
The Rugby World Cup finally has a competitor for national coverage,  but it’s unlikely to inspire millions. On October the 5th, container vessel MV Rena ran aground off the coast of Tauranga; within a week, a 5-kilometre oil slick was killing wildlife. To say the least, this does not look good for the current government. In a mystifying sign of the times, capitalist rag the Dominion Post even ran the front-page head-line “People Power,” covering clean-up efforts by citizens in light of reportedly negligent bureaucracy. However for all their populism, the right-wing press doesn’t dare discuss the cause of the problem: a system that alienates the people from the land, for profit.
Like so many unnatural disasters, the spill lays class divisions bare. Rena is operated by the Mediterranean Shipping Company, which this year overtook Maersk as the largest global shipping line in terms of container capacity. In 2007 they were named shipping line of the year for the 6th time, due to their impressive capacity – this means fast, cheap, and plentiful commodities. To achieve this they must cut labour costs, and ignore ecological factors. Rena was a Flag of Convenience ship, meaning that it used a false national flag to dodge regulations, ignoring warnings from three inspectors before running aground. More than half the world’s commercial ships use flags of convenience.
Maritime New Zealand, funded in large part by transport conglomerates such as MSC, shows no interest in challenging the flag of convenience system. Like many so-called ‘regulators’ in bed with their industry, MNZ is far better at PR than implementing anything significant. Only the International Transport Federation and their comrades in the Maritime Union of New Zealand challenge the flag of convenience system, as they have done for decades.
By bringing a stark reminder of the risks of oil, this disaster also further underlines the class division that produced the Mana movement. Acting Minister for Energy and Resources Hekia Parata supports greater investment in non-renewables, including exploration for offshore oil-drilling. However communities particularly in the East Cape oppose exploration, while Mana opposes all further oil exploration and is sending a clean-up crew with the slogan “less hui more doey.”
Many are volunteering to help with the clean-up. Comrades wishing to help out should ensure they obtain access to PPE gear.
While solidarity efforts like this are crucial, they treat the symptom not the cause. Ultimately the coastline must be controlled by affected communities, and by the workers in its ports. Anything less is armed theft.

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Press Release: Overnight Box University set up at Victoria University

Overnight Box University set up at Victoria in opposition to management slash and burn.

Students at Victoria University have constructed a ‘Box University’ within the Murphy Overbridge, overlooking Kelburn Parade, to raise awareness and organise against the cuts and attacks which University management are undertaking against staff and students.

The box university is a rare chance for students to creatively construct and engage with what we want Victoria to look like. The box uni is an environment conducive to critical thinking and free thought, something that management has denied students.

“This University is funded by ten’s of millions of dollars of public money, through taxes or directly through student loans and yet we have no say over what happens in our name and with our money,” says Shannon Keast – student and Site Manager of the Box Uni.

Victoria University management have been cutting resourcing and staffing throughout various university departments for more than half a decade now and students and staff are seeing the effects all around the Uni.

The International Relations programme is being fundamentally reshaped, against staff wishes and in the face of over 1000 students who have signed a petition against the changes. The Certificate in University Preparation, VUW’s bridging course is also being cut, with staff handed out redundancy notices for February 2012.

“People who have tried to engage with the changes or express their thoughts have been bullied by management. I’m really excited to be engaging with other students to find a creative way forward for Vic” says Bronte, student and spokesperson for the group.

Students will be staying overnight and have planned lectures, boardgames and wider discussions about the direction of the university.

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Election series article # 8: Defend MMP in the 2011 referendum

This article by Jared Phillips first appeared in the June 2011 issue of The Spark.
This year New Zealand electors will vote in a national referendum, held as part of the general elections, asking them firstly to indicate whether they want to change from MMP, and secondly to indicate their preferred electoral system. The other options are First Past the Post (FPP), Preferential Voting (PV), Single Transferable Vote (STV), and Supplementary Member (SM). If a majority votes in favour of retaining MMP that decision will be binding. However, if a majority votes against retaining MMP, there will be a further referendum in 2014 whereby electors will decide between MMP and whichever alternative procedure gains the most support in the 2011 referendum. If a new system is selected in 2014 it will come into effect at the 2017 election.
Real advanced democracy can only be imposed and administered by the majority of working people through a workers‘ government. In the current period though, in which the working class has clearly not yet recovered organisationally or politically from the onslaught of neo-liberalism, it is important to ensure that the electoral system offering the most democratic electoral procedure prevails. From this point of view it is in the best interests of the working people and oppressed groups to retain MMP.
Continue reading “Election series article # 8: Defend MMP in the 2011 referendum”

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Wellington Protest: Call for Action on Oil Spill!

The grounding of the Rena containter ship 20kms off the coast of  Taurunga last Wednesday is having an environmental impact across the coastal area of the Bay of Plenty. The government itself has admitted that this is New Zealand’s worst maritime environmental disaster. We encourage all Welllington readers to head to the protest against the government’s response and against policies which put profits ahead of the environment.
When: Thursday October 13, 12pm-1pm
Where: Corner or Grey Street and Lambton Quay
Demands include:
– The immediate deployment of boons and oil scooping equipment around
the ship and around the trailing oil spill at sea – not toxic
dispersants of simple beach clean-ups
– An emergency system for dealing with the containers spilling toxic
waste
– An immediate moratorium on offshore drilling
All groups and individuals welcome, particularly affected iwi and communities. Please distribute this event information widely.