Just
over two thousand workers took part in a protest rally in Civic
Square in Wellington on August 21st, 2010, against the 90 day “Hire
and Fire at Will” law and other changes, such as the hike in GST
and ACC levies, which have been imposed upon working people by the
current National-led government.
The
protest rally, organised by the Council of Trade Unions, involved
many unions including the Public Service Association, the Nurses
Federation, the Service and Food Workers Union, the Maritime Union
and Unite to name but a few. The many coloured flags, balloons and
barbeques created a family friendly environment that seemed almost
carnival but the mood of the workers was anything but.
Many
speakers spoke with outrage of workers who were sacked under the 90
day law without explanation, often within hours of their 90 day trial
period expiring. Workers were being threatened with redundancy or
dismissal if they refused to accept cuts to their pay and working
conditions. And, workers belonging to a union were being threatened
with dismissal if they remained members of a union.
Though
they were very quick to criticise the National government they failed
to mention that, under Labour, in real terms wages and living
conditions of the working people did not generally improve . Apart
from a few minor increases in the minimum wage and the introduction
of paid parental leave Labour did virtually nothing for the working
people. Most of the more punitive aspects of the Employment
Contracts Act were incorporated into Labour’s Employment Relations
Act, such as restrictions on the right to strike and a ban on
sympathy strikes.
Unemployment
Other
speakers spoke of growing unemployment figures with one speaker
mentioning that the 1999-2008 Labour-led
government had reduced the unemployment rate to around 16,000 but the
National-led government’s policies had led to the unemployment rate
escalating to about 160,000 people. Though these speakers were
trying to claim that Labour had created nearly full employment they
failed to mention that most of these workers were employed in minimum
wage jobs that provided little, or no, job security, few rights and
wages that didn’t even cover the basic necessities of life. Even
before the 2008 recession most of the emergency assistance being
provided by Work and Income (such as food grants and power
re-connections) was being given to working people, not beneficiaries.
The
workers at the protest rally came from a wide diversity of
backgrounds and ethnic groups, including Pacific Islanders, Maori and
women. It is the industries in which these groups are most strongly
represented that have been hit hardest by the recession, mass
redundancies, wage freezes and cuts and the 90 day law: the
government, hospitality, service and retail
industries. The situation being faced
by these workers isn’t being helped by the news that the United
States is facing a double dip recession and the Chinese economy is
slowing down as growth rates decline.
Leadership
Though
the CTU organised protest in Wellington was the largest turnout for a
protest of any sort in Wellington since the Hikoi on the Seabed and
Foreshore several years earlier it simply lacked any fire, any hint
of militancy or real strategy for defeating this attack on workers.
Bus
Dispute
This
was in direct contrast to a small, but determined, group of bus
drivers at the Paraparaumu Railway Station took part in protest on
August 31st in protest at the poor wages the drivers were paid – $14
a hour – and the demand by their employer, Mana Coach Services,
that they work shifts of up to 14 hours a day for 13 straight days in
a row.
These
bus drivers were further incensed by the news that the manager of
Mana Coach Services, Jeff Norman, sacked a driver who was ten minutes
late for work because he had spent all night in hospital with his
seriously ill son. Some of the protesting bus drivers had mentioned
that Mana Coach Services had threatened staff with dismissal if they
did not resign from their union.
Scabs
To
the shame of the company they used scab workers to run the buses on
the Kapiti Coast during the protest but the impact of the protest was
sufficient to result in buses being late and certain services being
cancelled.
However,
the bus drivers had a lot of support from many people driving past on
State Highway One who beeped their horns in support of the strikers
as passenger numbers were lower than normal as some passengers
boycotted bus services in solidarity with the strikers.
If
these protests reveal anything it is that a growing number of working
class New Zealanders are fed up with falling wages and declining
working conditions at the very time when the cost of living is set to
increase due to ACC and GST increases. What is even clearer is that
threatening workers with the sack or redundancy if they don’t
submit to the demands of employers is no longer working as a tactic
because workers know they’ll be made redundant anyway.
If
history has taught us anything it’s that people with nothing less
to lose make the most formidable opponents.
At
the end of the Communist Manifesto Karl
Marx wrote “Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose
except your chains.” Never has this been more true than now.
Workers
have been under attack here in New Zealand and in Greece, South
Africa, and the United Kingdom and only by uniting in solidarity
within trade unions and other workers organisations can they resist
the assault on their freedoms, their working conditions and their
wages.
It is also
time for the CTU to call for a 24 hour General Strike to send a very
clear message to the bosses and the government that the workers are
willing and able to fight back.