Labor Party
I read an article sourced from the Australian Associated Press (AAP) on April 17, in which Labor treasury spokesperson Wayne Swan said a number of research projects pointed to the need for an overhaul of the tax and welfare systems. He said researchers with the Adelaide-based Low Paid Project had found the number of low-paid workers had reached 1.8 million in 2003. And by 2005, 27.6% of workers were earning less than two-thirds of median weekly earnings (the most common definition of low pay), up from 24.4% in 1990.
"This research paints a grim picture of life among the low-paid in Australia and refutes the claim that people tend to only spend a short time in poverty", Swan said.
Swan is merely echoing the findings of research projects carried out in Australia. Nowhere in the article did he indicate what the Labor Party would do to help those less fortunate than himself and his parliamentary colleagues.
Those of us who are among the working poor find it extremely hard to believe anything that comes out of the mouths of Labor politicians, especially when it concerns the poor and underprivileged in this "lucky country". The Labor Party is nothing but a joke to the people they claim to represent.
In the federal arena, they seem to be concerned about the well-being of the working poor, the unfair tax and welfare systems. But in the state of NSW, we have a workers' compensation policy introduced by the Carr Labor government on January 1, 2002, under which a seriously injured worker receives a pittance for the sale of his or her labour. The Labor Party in this state has clearly demonstrated its lack of compassion for the working poor and their families in other areas as well.
At the next state election to be held in 2007, the Restore the Workers Rights Party (RTWRP) will be contesting seats in the Legislative Council (the state upper house) with candidates that voters can identify with, someone who truly understands how difficult it is managing the day-to-day living expenses, not to mention the health and education of their children and the protection of workers' entitlements.
Barry Gissell,
Shearers and Rural Workers organiser
Walcha, NSW
IR campaign
Unions NSW secretary John Robertson has been vehemently opposed to a June 28 rally against Work Choices in Sydney. However, a compromise has been struck within the NSW union leadership, with a rally being organised in Blacktown, the most marginal electorate in NSW. While this is terrific for workers in western Sydney, thousands of people opposed to the new IR laws will find it difficult to get there. This approach demobilises people, as it attempts to channel their anger into a "Just vote Labor" campaign.
Unfortunately, sections of the union leadership are diverting our campaign to a "Just vote Labor" strategy. Similar marginal seat campaigns in 1998, 2001 and 2004 all failed. This led to demoralisation and pessimism within the ranks making it easier for the Coalition to deepen its attacks.
If Kim Beazley's popularity and performance is any indication, we are doomed. What's our strategy in the likely event Labor isn't elected? Let me guess, a 2010 election campaign.
If elected, there's no guarantee that Labor will repeal the legislation unless the union movement keeps campaigning to defeat it on the ground. Beazley refuses to abolish AWAs. Without an industrial campaign and mass protests the best Labor will do is to merely ameliorate the worst aspects of the legislation.
Many agree we need national stoppages to defeat these laws. We're warned not to compare the successful French IR campaign with our own. Australia union density is more than double that in France; however their campaign of escalating industrial action, not lobbying, defeated the anti-worker laws within a month. Howard hopes our union movement won't organise national stoppages.
We can defeat Howard's IR laws and rebuild our unions. We must not rely on Labor to do it for us.
John Gauci
Marrickville, NSW [Abridged]
ACTU strategy
The ACTU strategy of a few rallies that direct us to support the ALP marginal seats campaign does not address the issues as they stand. Work Choices is not some sort of threat in the distant future that the ALP could avert. It's too late for that: Work Choices is here, now.
The union leadership have had the opportunity to show leadership. They have wasted our time with ALP politics, instead of allowing workers to speak and propose actions. We can't waste more time: their job is to support and carry out the directives of workers.
What we need from union leaders is for them to carry out their duty. This means helping workers with the practical means to make collective decisions to resist Work Choices wherever it is applied. It also means carrying out the tasks to coordinate and publicise such actions. That's what we pay our dues for.
The June 28 national day of action is a great opportunity to let workers speak to each other in public forums across Australia. We have to have confidence that the Australian public is prepared to act and make the Work Choices legislation unenforceable. We have confidence that by speaking together, we can identify and come up with practical ways to make this happen. We need to take June 28 as the opportunity to make two mottoes real: Ask that your trades hall council listens to and takes direction from the workers and community members, in preparing for the June 28 national day of action. Otherwise, all they will promise us is bigger cages and longer chains.
Niko Leka
Newcastle, NSW
East Timor I
Forget the two sips for East Timor, Mr Howard. What about the $2 billion in oil reserves from the Bayu Udan and Laminara, rightfully East Timor's, that the Howard regime owes to East Timor?
Stephen Langford
Paddington, NSW
East Timor II
If we had given the East Timorese the equivalent in aid money that we have ripped off them in Timor Sea oil revenue over the last five years, perhaps they would not have been the poorest country of Asia with the average person expected to live on one dollar a day.
Sending in unrequested navy ships is "deputy sheriff" posturing. The majority of the 800 Australian aid workers will remain no matter what happens. A helicopter for our Ambassador and her staff would have sufficed if Canberra wants to "cut and run" from a mess they have played a big role in creating — instability in cash-strapped East Timor.
Tax relief for our wealthy billionaires in the federal budget last week indeed! That says it all.
Jefferson Lee,
Australia-East Timor Association NSW
Annandale, NSW
From Green Left Weekly, May 24, 2006.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.