A Left Critique of Three Waters after Labour’s Change of Plan
On 13 April 2023 the Minister for Local Government, Kieran McAnulty, announced changes to the “water services reforms.” The main change is that instead of four water service entities running the country’s water services there will be ten. The timetable for the entities taking over from local councils has been pushed back from July 2024 […]
University of Otago: Fight For Every Job
Senior managers at the University of Otago want to slash hundreds of jobs. They want to cut $60 million from their annual budget and today announced voluntary redundancies with plans for more job losses to come. This is not a done deal. It should be opposed. We face difficult days ahead. But the old union […]
Fight for Trans Rights Advancing the Working Class
On Saturday 11th of February 2023, three members of the International Socialist Organisation Te Whanagnui-a-Tara branch attended a rally for trans rights, focused on healthcare demands. The rally organiser, addressing a crowd of about 500 people, spoke passionately about her experiences as a young trans woman in Aotearoa and about how she had been forced […]
Fight Anti-Trans Attacks by Mobilisation, not Calls for Bans
British anti-trans far-right activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, who also goes by the name Posie Parker, is due to complete an Australasian ‘Let Women Speak’ tour with rallies in Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Whanganui-a-Tara this weekend, 25th and 26th March. Both rallies are due to be met by counter protests. The last rally of the Australian leg […]
Fired Up Stilettos – Socialists Support Strippers’ Rights
A large crowd gathered on Dixon Street last night to rally in support of 19 strippers who had been unfairly sacked from Calendar Girls strip club for attempting to renegotiate their contracts. These workers have begun organising under the name Fired Up Stilettos, launching a petition to end labour violations in adult entertainment, a gofundme […]
A Profile on Wayne Brown
Current Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown ran as an independent candidate and won the election for appointment of mayoralty in October 2022. Described as “centre-right” by news publications such as 1 News and RNZ, the self-described ‘anti-establishment’ businessman campaigned on a platform of slimlining council staff roles, reducing rates and replacing all council entity directors. Just […]
Teachers and the Climate Crisis: An Interview With a Unionist
Note that this interview was conducted on the 8th of February 2023. Subsequent events such as Cyclone Gabrielle, which has devastated parts of the North Island, have shed further light on these issues. Simon Hirini is a secondary school teacher, chair of the Taita College branch of the Post-Primary Teachers Association, and Executive rep for […]
Controlling Inflation, or Class War?
The Reserve Bank is tasked by the government to keep inflation low, in the range of 1 to 3 percent, while supporting “maximum sustainable employment.” Having regard for maximum sustainable employment was added to the bank’s remit by Labour in 2018. National’s policy is to abolish it. So is the maximum sustainable employment policy a […]
After Ardern
So much has happened in these past years – the pandemic, the massacre in Christchurch, the disaster at Whakaari White Island, justice struggles at Ihumātao, the Climate Strikes, Black Lives Matter’s enormous mobilisations globally, war in Ukraine, resistance and rebellion in Iran, suppression in Hong Kong – it can be difficult to take stock of […]
Fair Pay Agreements: A Welcome though Imperfect Mercy
The Fair Pay Agreements Bill cleared Parliament on 26 October 2022 and will likely come into law in December. National and ACT voted against and vowed to repeal the new law as soon as they can. That is no idle threat. With a general election due next year any future for FPAs would appear to […]
