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Why we need fewer cops

Talk given by Workers Party Manukau East candidate Daphna Whitmore at an election meeting at Otahuhu College, Auckland 29 October 2008

I want to talk about law and order and police in South Auckland. The Workers Party believe we need fewer cops, not more cops as most of the parties are saying.

I work for a union that is organising worksites such as McDonalds.

For the past month McDonald’s workers have taking strike action. There have been over 40 strikes in the past 30 days. These McDonald’s staff work hard; they are on their feet all day and get just over $12 hour. It’s a poverty wage and the hours of work are uncertain, going up and down each week.

McDonald’s workers at Auckland Airport went on strike a couple of weeks ago. It was a perfectly legal strike and they stood outside in the carpark to hold a peaceful picket. But the security bosses at the airport tried to stop the strikers and called the cops who were there in minutes.

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Health workers on strike

Workers at Counties Manakau District Health Board Sterile Supply Unit are taking strike action from 22 to 24 October 2008. Their collective agreement expired on 1 July 2007, and they are still waiting for a decent offer from the employer. The staff have rejected the Health Board’s offer on the basis of: the term of the agreement, their refusal to pay back pay and the failure to include a fifth week of annual leave.

The workers, who are members of the Northern Amalgamated Workers Union held a high spirited picket outside the DHB’s headquarters on the first day of action. The constant toots of support from South Auckland drivers was near-deafening, so hopefully the bosses over the road have got the message.

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Don Franks’ address to election meeting at St Anne’s Northland-Wilton Anglican Parish 21/10 /08

Good evening and thanks for inviting the Workers Party to speak at this parish.

The parish I originate from myself is St Albans in Eastbourne. That was quite a long time ago and for the last 40 years I’ve been resident and working in Wellington.

Every election we hear some politicians claiming to uphold and defend Christian values.

The party I belong to, the Workers Party, makes no such claim, and we see religion as a private affair. However, as a former Sunday school pupil from St Alban’s parish, I’m sometimes drawn to wonder how the carpenter of Nazareth might have related to Workers Party policies.

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Workers should be running the country

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1427625006007341758&hl=en]
Sanitarios Maracay, a Venezuelan factory under workers control, holds an assembly. Topics covered include the previous boss’s acts of sabotage, logistics of workers control, and socialism of the 21st century.

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Wellington bus drivers fight back

– Spark Editors

Over the last couple of decades, workers have taken significant hits to their pay and conditions. The last nine years of Labour-led government has seen no significant improvement for the great majority of working people. That’s why some groups of workers, like the bus drivers, have started fighting back.

On 25 September 2008, the bus company Go Wellington locked out all its bus drivers, mechanics and controllers for 24 hours, in response to limited industrial action in support of the drivers’ pay claim. This is the first time that Wellington city bus drivers have been locked out. As this issue of The Spark goes to press, negotiations are continuing.

The Workers Party fully supports the Wellington bus drivers. Workers Party member Nick Kelly was recently elected president of the Wellington Tramways Union, the union of Wellington bus drivers.

Public support for the workers affected in this dispute has been strong. For example, a street collection for the drivers by Brass Razoo Solidarity Band and Workers Party members the day after the lockout raised $260 in less than an hour.

By contrast, there has been little public sympathy for the management of NZ Bus who locked out the drivers, and have constantly lied in the media about the drivers’ pay claims and what drivers currently earn.

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Countdown trolley wrangler wants workers’ control

– Alastair Reith

Defenders of capitalism often claim that it is the most efficient, productive and effective system on offer. That for all its flaws (such as the misery that most of humanity is forced to endure), capitalism is at least capable of ensuring that everything operates the way it should, and all the jobs get done. However, this doesn’t stack up to reality.

I spend every Sunday pushing trolleys in the Countdown carpark. It’s a boring, monotonous job with very little to stimulate my mind – I walk outside, get trolleys, take them back inside, and repeat the process. Every now and again I shake things up a bit by taking a trolley into the store, collecting baskets and taking them out to the foyer.

Last Sunday, though, something was different. I don’t enjoy my job that much, and I don’t exactly pour every drop of energy I have into it, but over time I have become reasonably good at it. I can usually ensure that at all but the busiest times there are trolleys and baskets in the foyer and no major problems to do with supply of shopping bags, till rolls, etc. I can pretty much just zone out and let the day take its course as I get into my usual routine.

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Casino strikes continue into third month

– Laurie Garnett

Auckland’s SkyCity casino workers have been striking since August. In the last issue of the Spark we looked at the creative tactics of the strikers who were in for the long haul. With the company not budging from its 4 percent offer, workers are keeping the pressure on the management.

In the twenty or so different casino departments union members use varying tactics. Some go out on half-hour strikes, some organise a whole shift of strike action. Others turn up to work late, while some leave early. If the company increases staffing levels in anticipation of strikes the union members stay on duty to maximise the cost to the company. When negotiations at the end of September ended with the company refusing to improve its offer, 80 staff immediately walked off the job. The strikes are called by rank and file union members with the element of surprise being a key tool. As 40 percent of the workforce is not unionised the method of intermittent skirmishing is favoured over attempts at all out strikes.

The new management team which was appointed earlier this year had hoped to quickly make their mark, but now their plans for the business have been stymied by a culture of defiance.

If they expected to win over hearts and minds with a few pizzas and movie passes they should know better by now. The strikes are about having decent wages and recognition of service. Save the pizzas for the managers who have to get out of bed in the middle of the night when a strike is called.