By Jen Crothers
I'm sure everyone is familiar with our own national anti-hero Shane Paxton. An uproar occurred last month when Shane and his brother and sister wouldn't accept jobs on South Molle Island in Queensland. A lot of media attention was paid to the fact that Shane didn't want to cut his hair and Bindy, his sister, said she didn't like the colour of the staff's uniform.
Not very much attention, however, was given to the fact that South Molle Island is 3000 kilometres away from Melbourne and their families and friends; or to the fact that the business offering them jobs had gone into receivership two days prior and was looking for some free publicity.
Of course this is not surprising. How many times have we heard, "there are plenty of jobs out there, you just have to look" or "young people should be prepared to do anything for a job". If you haven't got a job then you're just not trying hard enough, we're told.
Pauline Hanson, the new independent member for Oxley in Queensland, recently said: "Youth unemployment is at an all time high and affects us all. Perhaps the reintroduction of national service would be appropriate." Perhaps? Perhaps it would be appropriate if you wanted to reduce the appalling statistics on youth unemployment. Perhaps it would if you wanted to force young people into the "service of their country" — at cheap rates of pay of course. Perhaps it would be an easy but superficial answer to a problem whose real solution requires a fundamental change in society.
Shane Paxton now has a job. He works six days a week at a bar washing dishes and sometimes behind the bar. For this Shane is rewarded with the huge sum of $216 a week. Based on an eight hour day, Shane is working for $4.50 an hour.
I hope that Shane is a member of a union. It's unlikely that he would consciously join one himself; he may not even know what unions do. I hope that an older, more experienced worker has talked to Shane about unionism, its history and its future. I hope ... but I doubt this is the case.
Young people have always been at the forefront of mass radicalisations — from the Russian Revolution, to France in 1968, to the anti-Vietnam war movement, to the movement against French nuclear testing last year. Young people are at the forefront because we are less likely to have a stake in the capitalist system; because the repression we face every day in school, and from the family, the church and cops can be radicalising; because it's our future that we are fighting for.
As a young worker, I am frustrated by the fact that young people are one of the most exploited, yet also one of the most unorganised sections of the work force. The increasing casualisation of the work force makes organising young people even harder, but we have to do it. This is why I'd encourage workers to talk to young people at their workplaces. There is so much that we need to learn.
As a socialist youth organisation Resistance fights oppression wherever it can. Its members are involved in campaigning for a free East Timor, to stop uranium mining, for the rights of young workers and the unemployed, and against attacks on education. But there are many more issues that need to be campaigned around — too many.
So on behalf of Resistance I'd like to toast not only May Day, but the spirit of May Day. To those who have fought and to those who continue to fight. To young people and to the continuing struggle to put people before profits ... to the struggle for socialism.
[Jen Crothers is a member of Resistance in Sydney. This is the text of a speech she gave at a May Day toast at the Resistance Centre in Sydney on May 6.]