Actors and Writers on Strike: Solidarity and Class Consciousness
What’s Happening On May 2, 2023 more than 11,000 unionised screenwriters went on strike. In April, almost 98% of the membership of the Writers Guild of America (technically an umbrella of two unions) voted to go on strike if negotiations between them and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) broke down. And […]
Fight for the Right to Strike: Nurses Win Against Labour
Te Whatu Ora, under Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall, failed in its bid to get an Employment Court decision that an impending strike by NZNO nurses would be unlawful. The Court’s rejection of the Ministry’s application for an injunction enabled a lawful strike to go ahead on 24 May. Nurses and health care assistants […]
Secondary Education in Crisis
The reality of teaching in 2023 The secondary education sector is on its knees. There is a crisis in the profession and it all stems from wages and conditions. Just ask yourself if you have said this to a teacher friend, “I don’t know how you do it, I wouldn’t want to do your job.” […]
Protect Otago – Save Our University!
Protect Otago – Save Our University Brian S. Roper is an Associate Professor and former Head of the Politics Programme from the University of Otago. He is working on a book entitled – Neoliberalism’s War on New Zealand’s Universities – to be published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2024. Here he responds to four key questions […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Wizards Who Delved Too Greedily
Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is, unfortunately, a commercial product owned by for-profit company Wizards of the Coast LLC (WotC) and therefore by that company’s owners: Hasbro Inc. We say unfortunately because D&D is also an experience, a source of joy, and a source of community for a lot of kids and adults alike. From fantasy […]
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 […]
Book review: Workers Can Win
Legislation such as the Employment Contracts Act in New Zealand and in much of the world has successfully outlawed many of the most powerful tools workers’ unions might wield to improve industrial conditions, and that legislation has remained relatively unchallenged since implementation. Capitalist propaganda has wormed its way into the wider discourse, and many workers […]
