Claud Switzer Aged Care Workers Fight On
On 3 November a post on this website reported on the struggle of aged care workers employed by the Claud Switzer Memorial Trust residential care home in Kaitaia. The struggle is ongoing, as recounted by a 15 December media release by the workers’ union, E tū. Today and tomorrow, 16th and 17th December, E tū […]
The Return of Union Power?
When Labour came to office after the 2017 general election the frustrations built up during the previous 9 years of National Party rule burst forth in a wave of strikes at a level not seen this century. Labour’s electoral rhetoric raised workers’ expectations. In 2016 there had been only 3 work stoppages involving 430 workers. […]
A Survey of Recent Elections
A number of elections held from September to November have seen mixed results for the Left, broadly defined. This brief survey is far from comprehensive, and no conclusions about the state of international Left are offered. Honduras Hondurans went to the polls on 28 November for presidential and legislative elections. At the time of writing […]
The Struggle at Shelly Bay and Memories for Future Fights
Shelly Bay, Miramar Peninsular, Wellington City: a land occupation is heating up. Last Wednesday, a call for support went out; on Thursday, developers stood off against a line of protestors. Arrests have been threatened, but the cops have held off while numbers are strong. What’s it all about? The management of assets from a treaty […]
‘Lets Have This Fight’: Sudan Resisting a Coup
“A sense of relief” is how Sudanese political activist Muzan Alneel, speaking via Zoom from the capital, Khartoum, describes the mood on the streets of Sudan in the first hours of the coup on 25 October. “I remember seeing people come into the street singing, like they’re singing against the coup and they’re singing against […]
Shelly Bay Update – 9th November, 2021
On Monday morning 8th November 2021, news website Stuff reported Motu Kairangi Shelly Bay occupiers were served with an eviction notice from Shelly Bay Taikuru by Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust (PNBST) chief executive Lee Hunter, PNBST chair Holden Hohaia, and development manager Earl Hope-Pearson. The eviction notice apparently stated Shelly Bay Taikuru had exclusive […]
Support the Claud Switzer Residential Care Workers
Once again residential aged care workers are in the front line. Previous actions that come to mind are the 2012 nationwide strikes and the struggle through the courts from 2012 to 2017 for pay equity, led by Kristine Bartlett, which resulted in better wages for workers in residential aged care, disability support services and home […]
Labour and National Agree on Neoliberal Housing Plan
In a nauseating spectacle on 19 October Labour’s Megan Woods and David Parker went on air with National’s Judith Collins to announce their cross-party agreement on a change in the law to allow higher-density building development without the need for a consent process. The fact that National are a partner in the Resource Management (Enabling […]
The Struggle to Defend Living Standards
At the beginning of August, before the current COVID-19 outbreak, I penned an article for this website, Rocky Times Ahead, which noted a rise in consumer prices and predictions of rising interest rates. I concluded that workers would have to be on their mettle to defend their living standards. Then came the COVID outbreak and […]
Roadmap Abandons Māori and Pasifika
The government’s road map moving from elimination to suppression with low vaccination rates abandons Māori and Pasifika, particularly in South Auckland. Already these communities have paid a heavy toll in this outbreak; 80.9 percent of all cases so far in this outbreak have been in these demographics. Māori and Pasifika are in the firing line, […]
