HUMOUR:

CHRISTMAS DOWN UNDER:

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-NEW ZEALAND:

MELT THE WAGE FREEZE:

Way down south way, at the antipodes, the new anarchism is growing just as it is across the northern hemisphere. Here's a report, via the A-Infos website, from the Aotearoa Workers' Solidarity Movement about their recent involvement in the campaign against their government's wage freeze on the public sector.

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Let’s Melt The Wage Freeze:
On Friday November 27th, thousands of workers took part in rallies and marches in 27 cities and towns across the country, demanding that the Government’s wage freeze for state sector employees was lifted. The protests focused on the struggles of hospital and school support staff, and employees at the Ministry of Justice, but many people from other sectors supported the demand and turned out to show their solidarity. Many of the attendees were on strike for the duration of the rallies. Members of the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement (AWSM) were present at rallies and marches in Auckland, Palmerston North, Levin, Wellington and Nelson. Below is the text of a leaflet handed out by AWSM members at the protests.
Let’s Melt The Wage Freeze

OK, you’re here at the rally about the wage freeze for low-paid government workers. Yeah, the recession has hit us hard, with mass layoffs and pay freezes, and the prices of food and stuff keeps going up and up. At the same time CEOs get hefty pay rises and the banks get bailed out. And bosses and managers still treat us like shit.

So what are we gonna do about it? Passively listen to speeches from union bureaucrats in well-paid, cushy jobs? Clap a bit, yell a bit, and then go home?

It’s time to start organising ourselves in our own workplaces. We don’t need to rely on others to do stuff for us. We can do it ourselves together with our workmates. By looking out for, and supporting each other — we call it solidarity — together we can win. This grassroots action is the key to melting the wage freeze.

Ministry of Justice court workers at Manukau and Waitakere have shown the way recently. During the MOJ strikes, they have gone out of their own accord, in addition to the strikes organised by the Public Services’ Association. Their wildcat strikes have shut down many courts. It is when us — the rank and file — get together and control the strikes ourselves that we are more likely to win (and be harder to break).

Action controlled from above, by union bureaucrats, leads to hollow strikes that are not well-supported. Sure, let’s use them to negotiate more pay for less work (stuff their productivity deals!) for us, but in the process you get the feeling you are being kicked around like a football for their own ends.

SO WHAT CAN WE DO?

That will needed to be worked out by us ourselves. But here are a few rough ideas, based on past successful struggles:

First of all, vote for industrial action where possible and encourage others to do the same. Build a culture of supporting each other at your workplace.

Make links between workers. Invite all staff at your workplace to your pay dispute meetings whether temps, permanent, members of your union or not.

Often you don’t need to strike. You can stay on-the-job and take action like go-slows and work-to-rules, which can be quite effective. Also it is a good idea to take regular common breaks.

Take control of the strikes and actions. Make decisions in open workplace meetings with as many people involved as possible rather than leaving it to union full-timers. Call for mass assemblies of workers to control action. Make sure these meetings are run from the floor and not by union officials.

Visit other workers’ picket lines and discuss how you can help each other. Form support groups if you are not on strike.

Form strike committees or informal groups at your workplace. Think creatively on how you can collectively stuff up your job, as you know your work better than your boss. Take local action against layoffs, bullying and overwork.

Call for all union officials to be elected by and constantly accountable to the membership. Officials to subject to immediate recall, and to be paid the average wage.

Above all, don’t trust bosses, union bureaucrats or politicians. Trust yourselves!
Related Link: http://www.awsm.org.nz

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-NEW ZEALAND:

SUPPORT NEW ZEALAND DAIRY WORKERS:

Here's one from the antipodes, New Zealand to be exact, where dairy workers are fighting a lockout on the part of the Open Country Cheese Company. Reading the following, one has to exclaim, "Cheesus Christ, what some bosses won't do". Pretty cheesey of them.OK, now that I've gotten that little pun out of the way by milking it for all it is worth here's the story and appeal from the international union federation the IUF.

ILILILILILILILIL

New Zealand Dairy Workers Face Vicious Assault on Union Rights:

The New Zealand Dairy Workers Union is engaged in a tough battle with a ruthless employer assaulting fundamental workplace rights, and needs your support.

The dispute is at the Waharoa plant of Open Country Cheese, one of the company's three cheese and milk ingredients plants. Open Country is New Zealand's second largest dairy producer. It was set up in the wake of the government's 2001 industry restructuring which abolished the single-seller status of the Dairy Board, allowing independent dairy companies to produce and export. Open Country has used deregulation to pursue a "low road" model for the industry. At Waharoa, workers recently joined the union in response to management proposals for degrading already precarious working conditions characterized by long and unsocial hours and the abusive use of "temporary" workers - often for years on end.

Open Country's response to the formal start of bargaining, with the union seeking a collective agreement with improved job security and a voice on staffing and hours, was to immediately set up a sham labour hire agency and shift the temporary workers onto its books to exclude them from the bargaining unit. “OCC’s proposals would have turned most workers into seasonal and temporary workers and seen them subject to major and disruptive roster changes at short notice,” according to union National Secretary James Ritchie, The company immediately began aggressively pressuring workers to resign from or not join the union, threatening them with dismissal. In response to the bargaining impasse and management's anti-union aggression, the union filed a 14-day notice for industrial action. Open Country's response to this was to declare a six-week lockout. The day the strike was scheduled to begin at 6:00 PM, the company marched the workers off the site at 1.30pm and began running the factory with management, temporary workers and scabs.

Management viciousness has intensified in the course of the conflict. An Open Country boss slammed one union member's head in a sliding window; the union has filed an assault claim. A temporary worker who was seen on the picket line supporting his striking brother was immediately sacked. On September 21, the company released waste sludge into the Waitoa River - and blamed it on an act of union "sabotage".

On September 25, the Employment Court ruled the lockout illegal and called for a return to work. The company maintains that all workers are suspended pending an investigation of sabotage, though neither the union or any of its members have received suspension letters The Court has not yet ruled on the company's claim that the replacement workers are legal - because they are not directly employed by Open Country Cheese by its parent company Open Country Dairy Ltd.

Effective control of Open Country lies with the Talley's Food Group, a leading New Zealand processor of seafood, vegetables and dairy products with a long history of right-wing political ties and financial support.

“When workers stood up for some basic fairness at work and job security, they were met with aggression", says Ritchie. The assault on the Waharoa workers is an attack on fundamental rights, New Zealand and international law, and basic standards in one of New Zealand's vital industries. New Zealand unions and the IUF have pledged their support - you can support the Dairy Workers' struggle - CLICK HERE to send a message to Open Country Cheese

ILILILILILILILIL

THE LETTER

Click on the link above or go to THIS LINK to send the following message to Open Country Cheese Management.

ILILILILILILILIL

To Mark Fankhauser, CEO Open Country Cheese Ltd.
Sir,
The actions of Open Country Cheese in intimidating workers for joining a union and refusing to negotiate a collective agreement are a breach of New Zealand and international law. Locking out workers and replacing them with strikebreakers in pursuit of individual contracts is deplorable. Please obey the court injunction and lift the lockout immediately. Your false accusations of worker sabotage are a smokescreen as no factual evidence has been produced. We urge you to immediately enter into genuine negotiations with the NZ Dairy Workers Union to conclude a collective agreement.
Yours sincerely

HUMOUR/INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-NEW ZEALAND:

RONNIE COLLECTS CORPORATE WELFARE:

There's one thing about getting older that seems strange to me, and that is the bizarre assumption of many people that each year of sucking oxygen leads one to the conclusion that "there is nothing new under the sun". Personally I think this is due to a gradual sclerosis of the mind that goes along with increasingly poor eyesight and hearing, but is nowhere near as inevitable. For myself, as I approach the Geritol Generation, I continue to be amazed on an almost daily basis by the weirdness of the world. I don't know who said it, but the quote runs something like this, "the world is not only stranger than we imagine; it is actually stranger than we can possibly imagine".

Thus comes the following item from New Zealand via the Anarkismo website. The author is a "Barrie" who is a member of the New Zealand platformist group the Aotearoa Workers' solidarity Movement. The subject, you guessed it, McDonald's has managed to cash in on the present economic crisis by leeching "stimulus funding" from the New Zealand government in terms of subsidizing its hiring of workers at minimum wage. The whole idea is breathtaking in its stupidity from the point of view of everyone but McDonalds. One would be really hard put to try and imagine a greater waste of government money in terms of "value added". It actually goes beyond the image of digging holes and filling them in again because the expenditure is not "new money" but rather shifting disbursements from individual welfare or EI to the McDonald's corporation. It makes no sense from a Keynesian perspective, and it makes no sense from the perspective promotion of industry that has any multiplier effect or potential for innovation. Quite frankly the only thing I could compare it to in terms of sheer silliness would be the ranting that we anarchists all too often hear out of the USA by some down there who think that "civilization should be abolished". No doubt there is a certain amount of financial profit to be made out of that as well, but it pales beside the spectacle of Ronnie collecting welfare.

Here's the item from Anarkismo which approaches the matter in the only way that it could possibly be approached- by humour.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Burgers & Circuses:
The New Zealand Government has announced that it will subsidise the Mc Donalds fast food chain for taking on young unemployed workers. In effect therefore the company is receiving corporate welfare, with the government acting as its Human Resources Dept. Below is a satirical response.

BURGERS & CIRCUSES

(Note: This is the script of a movie due to be played in your town in the near future.)

Scene: Clown in a loud suit stands outside a windswept and much repaired tent. The tent has a broken sign on it labeled ‘Job Circus’.

Promoter: “Roll up folks, roll up! Are you young and unemployed?”

Unemployed Youth: “Um yeah, I guess that would be me”

Promoter: “Looking for an exciting career with a stable and dynamic employer? Need some help getting started?”

Unemployed Youth:” Stable and dynamic eh? That sounds good. The help thing would be great too.”

Promoter: “Step this way. Enter the tent and wonders await you”

Scene: The unemployed youth enters the tent. The promoter smiles as a government car pulls up.

Promoter: [laughing]: “Pulled in another sucker”

Government Minister: “Great! Here’s your $16,000. You’re doing a great job there Ronald…keep it up mate”

Scene: Inside the tent. The youth is given a uniform, name badge and mop.

Promoter: “Ok kid, get pushing on the mop, it’s your new friend so use it well. Anybody out front sees you, don’t forget to smile, this is show business remember! If you do well, we’ll have you out on the counter selling cheap nutritious circus food in colourful packages in no time.”

Scene: Next day at a Parliamentary media conference.

Government Minister: “In these difficult times the government appreciates the need to maintain productivity and has a commitment to investing in the future. We want a well trained and highly skilled workforce that can compete with the rest of the world. We have therefore entered into a partnership with a great circus promoter. We will give them money, they will employ new staff and the economy will get a boost. Everybody wins!”

Skeptical Voice: “But do we really need more circuses? Wouldn’t we be better off with new schools, hospitals, roads and stuff? Why does the circus need our money to do it anyway? They aren’t exactly poor!”

Minister: “We’re all in this together and you can’t get circus monkeys without paying for peanuts you know! Anyway, moving on…”

Scene: 89 days later inside the tent.

Promoter: “What do you mean you want a living wage, the work is repetitive and unrewarding, you are rostered to work at odd times and the food is crap anyway? You’re not a team player are you? How can we keep this place stable and dynamic with your negative attitude?!”

Youth: “Well, um, this circus stuff isn’t exactly what you made out it would be”

Promoter: “Yeah, unhappy eh? Hit the road. You’re outta here! And don’t steal the mop or touch the cycling monkeys on the way out!”

Scene: Outside the tent it’s cold and windy. A governmental car speeds by with its occupants in good spirits.

Government Minister: ”Nice one Ronald. Would you like to upsize your champagne? Need more money? Need more suckers?”

Promoter: “Don’t mind if I do. Anything to help the economy you know!”

Window winds down as the car speeds past newly unemployed youth. Minister pulls out megaphone.

Minister: “Hi! Don’t forget, we’re working for you, so remember to vote next election!”

Mud splashes upwards into youths face.

Screen fades to black.

END

ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS-NEW ZEALAND:

ISSUE #4 OF 'SOLIDARITY':

'Solidarity' is the news sheet of the New Zealand Aotearoa Workers' Solidarity Movement. They've now come out with issue number 4, and the following is their announcement as per the A-Infos website. The paper is readable at their website, and is available in a downloadable pdf version there as well.

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New Zealand, The fourth issue of Solidarity, free news sheet of the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement (AWSM):

Download the .pdf (1.79MB) or read the contents online at the AWSM http://www.awsm.org.nz/?p=156#more-156 site.

-- Contents: --

-- * Women workers push for pay equity

-- * Workers on the flu front line: Fight for respect!

-- * Meet the greedy: Rob Fyfe, Air NZ CEO

-- * Super city hikoi in Auckland

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If you want to make sure you don’t miss an issue of Solidarity, you can subscribe to either the print or electronic version.

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To subscribe to the AWSM announcements list, put your email address in the form on the top right of the page on our website, http://www.awsm.org.nz.

----

Subscribers will be sent pdf copies of Solidarity each month, along with other publications produced by AWSM and occasional information - we promise we won’t spam you with a ton of useless stuff though!

The electronic copy is identical to the print version.

Or, you can subscribe to the print edition to receive a copy of Solidarity in the post. $8 for 12 issues. Mail a cheque to

AWSM, PO Box 6387,

Wellington 6141,

New Zealand,

or contact us to organise an alternative method of payment.

Related Link: http://awsm.org.nz/?p=156

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-NEW ZEALAND:

AOTEAROA WORKERS' SOLIDARITY NEWSSHEET:

In Molly's humble, but not so ignorant, opinion the ideas of anarchism are spreading faster today than in many decades. In addition to this "broad spread" there is an equally rapid spread of the more organization and coherent forms of anarchism, whether they be syndicalist, platformist or otherwise. Once the initial "thrill" of discovering anarchism is over the best amongst its adherents see the need for a more organized long term way to promote the ideal. Here's another recent example, via the A-Infos website from the Aotearoa Workers' Solidarity Movement.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement Newssheet SOLIDARITY #1 - February 2009:

IN THIS ISSUE:

Water Meters, What is AWSM?, 90 Day Act

---- Not our crisis! Resist attacks on workers ----

The current economic crisis has been and will continue to be used as a chance for the bosses and the government to launch attacks on wages and working conditions. ---- Already, the National Government has introduced legislation (such as the 90 Day Hire & Fire Act, see inside for more) that attacks our workplace conditions, and as the recession digs in further we can expect them to bring in more new laws that try to stop us from working together to improve our wages, conditions and everyday lives. Meanwhile, across the country redundancies (both "voluntary" and forced) are being used, both to get rid of staff and as a way of bullying workers into accepting below inflation pay rises (or worse!) Farmers department store workers were recently offered a minuscule 20 cent rise, and this sort of offer is becoming more and more common.Some unionised work sites have stood up to this and refused to accept sub-par offers: in recent times bus drivers in Hamilton and Wellington have both experienced lock-outs (where employers refuse to let staff back to work until they give up their demands) but they both stood staunch and received improved offers. Meanwhile, unemployment is predicted to double to 7% this year, and remain at 7 - 7.5% until 2011. Higher unemployment always means lower wages, as bosses find it easier to replace staff that demand "too much". Unemployment benefits are still set at the same low levels they were reduced to in the early 1990s, meaning that especially in the larger cities (and even more so for people with families) a firing makes it near-impossible to survive without additional assistance from charities such as food banks.Of course, all this puts pressure on workers with mortgages, and as the housing market collapses, people are finding themselves with mortgages they can't afford to pay on houses they can't sell. While the problem hasn't here yet reached the levels seen in the USA, there is no telling how bad it might get. But its not all bad news - collective action can win and has won. Recently,workers at Republic Windows and Doors in the USA occupied their workplace when it shut down, and won payouts and more! In Northern Ireland,a factory was occupied by workers who won improved redundancy packages. If we talk to our workmates and support each other in hard times, together we can ensure that we aren't made to pay for the bosses' crisis

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For more info:A brief history of the crisis

http://libcom.org/library/brief-history-

crisis Analysis and news

http://libcom.org/tags/credit-crisis

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Special Feature - Water Water meters for Wellington?

Recent weeks have seen an increase in discussion about water metering in Wellington, fuelled by Mayor Kerry Prendergast and Chair of the Greater Wellington Regional Council Fran Wilde. They, and others, are attempting to use environmental and conservation concerns as away to push through compulsory metering without opposition, but several groups have seen through their charade and are campaigning against the introduction of water meters. The Wellington Residents' Coalitionis currently having monthly meetings, stalls and planning sessions to organise against this attack on Wellington's poorest. AWSM is working within the Coalition on this. Currently, residential water in Wellington is paid for by a portion of rates - in other words, the more expensive your house, the more you pay towards the city's water bill. Water meters would see the cost of providing water fall disproportionately on those who can least afford it. While there are measures that can be taken to lower household water usage (such as rainwater tanks and greywater systems), their cost is often out of reach for many families, and of course renters and council tenants have no real ability to install them. The Council is quite happy to let Wellington's single largest water user, Taylor Preston Limited in Ngaraunga Gorge, receive a hefty subsidy for their water bill, showing well and truly where their priorities lie - with business and the rich, not ordinary Wellingtonians. If you are interested in finding out more or getting involved in the campaign, visit http://www.righttowater.org.nz / or contact AWSM.

Profile: Auckland Water Pressure Group

The battle against commercialised water services and user charges has been going for over a decade in Auckland City, and there is a lot we can learn from that campaign. In 1997 the Auckland City Council commercialised water services and Metrowater Ltd was established. Metrowater removed the water pipe to a house belonging to a person who refused to pay them for water, which was until then a council run public service. This triggered the formation of the Water Pressure Group, made up of people also boycotting their wastewater bills and later both water and wastewater bills and determined to abolish Metrowater Ltd and return water services to democratic Council control. On 25 November 1998, the Water Pressure Group's Turn On Squad dug up the street and reinstalled the water pipe to a disconnected house for the first time. Over the next few years hundreds of homes had their water cut off and many needed their pipes reconnected. For three years the WPG was a very effective fully democratic group made up of people from very diverse backgrounds with many different practical skills and political views. At its height up to sixty people attended weekly organising meetings where ideas and plans were discussed and voted on by the meetings. Up to 2000 supporters refused to pay their water bills and took part in protest marches, openly digging up streets and installing water pipes, and distributing leaflets across Auckland and holding many public meetings. Despite enormous pressure at times, a succession of city councils ­ both right-wing and "centre-left" ­ have betrayed the people's demands and the despised Metrowater still exists despite an on-going bills boycott campaign.The WPG didn't stop user charges in Auckland but the campaign has played a big part in slowing down the spread of commercialised water services around New Zealand. Also in preparing local citizens for worse to come. Right now, there are imminent plans to entirely restructure Auckland, and an extreme danger exists of water services being commercialised across the region, or even prepared for privatisation, by franchise. We can learn from the experience of the Water Pressure Group as the Wellington and Christchurch City Councils are trying to commercialise and eventually privatise water services. The most effective way to fight this is with non-hierarchical community groups using mass based direct action.

See http://www.water-pressure-group.org.nz/

for more details.

He wai Mori -

Drinking water in Parihaka Local and the national government are currently on a propaganda mission trying to convince us that water is owned by `all of us' (and not Mori). However, this is simply a charade to firstly bring water under state ownership and at a later stage privatise water distribution and commodify water. The Wellington City Council wants to introduce water meters and soon we could find ourselves in a similar situation as the people of Cochabamba (Mexico) where in 2003 even the rain was privatised. In Parihaka, the community has already put a water system in place that is operated and owned by the the community. Parihaka is a small village in Taranaki with a huge history. Invaded by 1,500 colonial troops in 1881 after a direct action campaign to stop the confiscation of land, thousands of Mori were arrested and thrown in jail - some for years - without trial. A 2000 acre block, collectively owned by several thousand people, is all that remains under indigenous control and around 25 people, half of them kids, live in the papakainga. No one pays rates to the council and the maintenance of the road into the pa and the electricity supply as well as rubbish removal and recycling are all organised by the community. In recent years, pipes were laid to a spring a few kilometres up the road. This spring provides the whole village with safe drinking water. A large 2,000,000 litre tank was built into a hill. This water reservoir does not only cater for the village, it stores enough water for drinking, showers and toilets during the Parihaka International Peace Festival in January. The festival lasts three days and around 10,000 people come to listen to music, speakers and participate in discussions on topics such as environmental sustainability, tino rangatiratanga and Parihaka history.

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Glossaryhe wai Mori - fresh water commodify - to turn something into a commodity, something that can be bought and sold on the capitalist market papakainga - village tino rangatiratanga - can be translated as sovereignty / absolute chieftainship

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Say NO to the 90 Day Hire & Fire Act!

Workers in small businesses across the country are soon to be subject to new attacks on their rights at work. The National Party's 90 Day Hire And Fire Act which comes into effect in late March 2009 means that any worker at a business that employs under 20 workers (over 90% of work sites, over 30% of employed workers) can be fired without reason during the first 90 days of employment. The Council of Trade Unions estimates that approximately 100,000 people fall into this category at any one time. While workers at larger work sites are currently not affected, the National Party has shown that it will likely seek to extend this law to all workers at some point and there is no doubt that the powerful business lobbies will be heavily pushing for this over the coming years.Recent years have seen an increase in casualised labour, temp agencies and the like. The 90 Day Act simply takes these moves one step further in reducing job security. The message from the Government and employers is clear - we should be grateful for the jobs we have, and accept attacks without question or we will be fired .In reality however,the capitalist system- the very system that organises the economy at the moment - is based on us workers selling our labour to the employers who make huge profits from our time and effort. And now, in times of economic crisis with diminishing profits, it is supposed to be the workers who pay for the bosses' stuff-up! We can resist attacks by taking collective action with our fellow workers.By linking together (in unions and in other groups) we can better focus our power and fight for better wages and conditions. The only way to stop the 90 Day Act (and any future extensions of it) is by taking direct action, standing up with our workmates and supporting any and all victims of this new law. Employers that attempt to use this legislation must be targeted with pickets, slowdowns, work-to-rule and other forms of collective action in order to teach them a lesson- that it is workers who hold the power and when we act together we can and will win!AWSM will stand alongside unions and other groups fighting against the 90 Day Act- get involved today! Left - An EPMU member at a protest at Parliament against a previous attempt to pass 90 day legislation in 2006

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AWSM Aims & Principles

1: The Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement is an organisation working towards a classless, stateless society: anarchist-communism. We are made up of revolutionary class-struggle anarchists from across Aotearoa / New Zealand.

2: Capitalism is based on the exploitation of the working class by the ruling class. But inequality and exploitation are also expressed in terms of race, gender, sexuality, health, ability, age etc,and in these ways one section of the working class oppresses another. This divides us, causing a lack of class unity in struggle that benefits the ruling class. Oppressed groups are strengthened by autonomous action which challenges social and economic power relationships. To achieve our goal we must relinquish power over each other on a personal as well as a political level.

3: We believe that fighting all forms of oppression and exploitation is necessary. Anarchist-Communism cannot be achieved while sexism and racism still exist. In order to be effective in their struggle against their oppression both within society and within the working class, oppressed groups may at times need to organise independently. However, this should be as working class people only,as cross-class movements hide real class differences and achieve little for those in the oppressed groups. Full emancipation cannot be achieved without the abolition of capitalism

.4: We support Tino Rangatiratanga and stand in solidarity with grassroots indigenous struggle and direct action, while not supporting Mori capitalism and corporatisation (we acknowledge the lack of anarchist theory on the indigenous struggle in Aotearoa / New Zealand and are in the process of researching, debating and discussing a more detailed position on this point).

5: While trade unions can never be revolutionary, we recognise that the majority of collective workplace struggle today occurs within unions and therefore our members should join unions where they exist in their workplace, while being wary of any attempts by union bureaucrats to stifle rank and file struggle. Where unions do not exist we encourage our members to engage with their fellow workers to initiate collective action.

6: We recognise that the general strike is one of the working class' most powerful weapons and oppose all restrictions on worker's rights to take collective action, including strikes.

7: As well as exploiting and oppressing the majority of people worldwide, Capitalism threatens the planet through war and the destruction of the environment.

8: It is not possible to abolish Capitalism without a revolution, which will arise out of class conflict.The ruling class must be completely overthrown to achieve anarchist communism. Because the ruling class will not relinquish power without their use of armed force, this revolution will be a time of violence as well as liberation.

9: We acknowledge that by implementing the organisation section of the The Organizational Platform of the Libertarian Communists- theoretical unity, tactical unity, collective responsibility and federalism - we will be be stable to move forward in promoting the aims and principles of the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement

.=============

CONTACT

info@awsm.org.nz

www.awsm.org.nz

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-NEW ZEALAND:

NEW ANARCHIST ORGANIZATION IN AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND:

Here's one that has been all over the internet today. Anarchists down New Zealand way have formed a new platformist organization, the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement (AWSM). Yes, the acronym is indeed one of the best. As I said this is all over the place, but Molly has taken the following announcement from the Anarchist Black Cat discussion board. All the best to the new group, as they demonstrate, once more, the increasing move of international anarchism towards serious organization and involvement in the struggles of ordinary people.

..............................
New Anarchist-Communist Organisation Launched in Aotearoa:
New Anarchist-Communist Organisation Launched in Aotearoa / New Zealand

A new organisation has been formed with the aim of building a serious revolutionary anarchist-communist movement in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

The Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement (AWSM) is an organisation working towards a classless, stateless society: anarchist-communism. We are made up of revolutionary class-struggle anarchists from across Aotearoa / New Zealand. For now, we are a small organisation with members in Wellington, Christchurch and a few smaller towns across the country.

AWSM came together when a few anarchists saw the need for a coherent and organised group of anarchist communists, inspired by the platformist strand of anarchist thought (amongst other things). Informal chats over the last few years turned into serious planning a few months ago and a little conference at Labour weekend (late October) in Wellington.

As class struggle anarchists our priority is active involvement in workplace struggles and industrial action as well as community based campaigns in our neighbourhoods. We aim to publish a monthly newspaper starting in 2009, and a less frequent but more in-depth theoretical magazine as well.

Being located in the bottom of the South Pacific makes us very isolated, however we hope to maintain a good level of contact with like minded groups overseas, which is why you are receiving this announcement. Our international secretary is mandated to keep up this contact, which we hope will be a two-way street - if we are able to cooperate on common projects, this is obviously worthwhile, as any genuine social revolution must be international.

Our website, http://www.awsm.org.nz, will be kept up to date with our activity.

In solidarity,

Asher

International Secretary

Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement

international [at] awsm.org.nz

Aims & Principles

1: The Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement is an organisation working towards a classless, stateless society: anarchist-communism. We are made up of revolutionary class-struggle anarchists from across Aotearoa / New Zealand.

2: Capitalism is based on the exploitation of the working class by the ruling class. But inequality and exploitation are also expressed in terms of race, gender, sexuality, health, ability, age etc, and in these ways one section of the working class oppresses another. This divides us, causing a lack of class unity in struggle that benefits the ruling class. Oppressed groups are strengthened by autonomous action which challenges social and economic power relationships. To achieve our goal we must relinquish power over each other on a personal as well as a political level.

3: We believe that fighting all forms of oppression and exploitation is necessary. Anarchist-Communism cannot be achieved while sexism and racism still exist. In order to be effective in their struggle against their oppression both within society and within the working class, oppressed groups may at times need to organise independently. However, this should be as working class people only, as cross-class movements hide real class differences and achieve little for those in the oppressed groups. Full emancipation cannot be achieved without the abolition of capitalism.

4: We support Tino Rangatiratanga and stand in solidarity with grassroots indigenous struggle and direct action, while not supporting Maori capitalism and corporatisation (we acknowledge the lack of anarchist theory on the indigenous struggle in Aotearoa / New Zealand and are in the process of researching, debating and discussing a more detailed position on this point).

5: While trade unions can never be revolutionary, we recognise that the majority of collective workplace struggle today occurs within unions and therefore our members should join unions where they exist in their workplace, while being wary of any attempts by union bureaucrats to stifle rank and file struggle. Where unions do not exist we encourage our members to engage with their fellow workers to initiate collective action.

6: We recognise that the general strike is one of the working class’ most powerful weapons and oppose all restrictions on worker’s rights to take collective action, including strikes.

7: As well as exploiting and oppressing the majority of people worldwide, Capitalism threatens the planet through war and the destruction of the environment.

8: It is not possible to abolish Capitalism without a revolution, which will arise out of class conflict. The ruling class must be completely overthrown to achieve anarchist communism. Because the ruling class will not relinquish power without their use of armed force, this revolution will be a time of violence as well as liberation.

9: We acknowledge that by implementing the organisation section of the The Organizational Platform of the Libertarian Communists - theoretical unity, tactical unity, collective responsibility and federalism - we will be best able to move forward in promoting the aims and principles of the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement.

HISTORY/ANTI-FASCISM:

MORE TO REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER:

Molly has already published an article on anarchist and labour memorials of deaths in the month of November, a contrast to the official Remembrance day ceremonies in the Commonwealth. Here's another article about a recent commemoration of such a death that occurred on November 11, 2007 in the Spanish city of Madrid. From the UK Indymedia site....

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Mass Antifascist Demonstration in Madrid Remembering Carlos Palomino:
More than 2000 people demonstrated in Madrid on Tuesday 11th November in solidarity, remembrance and homage to Carlos Palomino, the antifa activist murdered exactly one year ago by a far right member of the Spanish army. The demonstration "Carlos, One Year Without You" marked the first anniversary of the 11th of November 2007, when Carlos Javier Palomino, a 16 year old active antifascist in the Madrid circles, died from the stab wounds caused by the fascist Josué Estébanez de la Hija.

A series of remembrance protests occurred throughout Spain, being Madrid where the biggest and most emotive one took place. As one of the banners in front of the demonstration read: "The best homage is to carry on with the struggle".

Video of the demo here which includes an emotive but combative speech by Carlos' mother (sp)Photo galleries one and two.Timeline of the demonstration (sp) here.

On that day, Carlos was on his way to an antifascist counter-demo to protest against a demonstration that had been called by the neo-nazi party Democracia Nacional (National Democracy) in the popular and very ethnically mixed Usera district of Madrid. In Legazpi tube station he encountered the professional soldier on leave whom quickly produced a knife and stabbed Carlos causing his death. His murder sparkled a series of protests around Europe, including a memorial in London's Jubilee Gardens organised by Antifa Britain and the Anarchist Federation.

This week's demonstration was the third large remembrance protest that has taken place in Madrid since Carlos' murder. Half a year ago, and following the call "Carlos Six Months Without You", hundreds took to the streets of Usera, the city's district where the fascists had tried to demonstrate the day Carlos was killed [Video and Photos] And the week that followed the murder one year ago, thousands took to the streets of Madrid despite heavy police repression [Video] and Barcelona [Video and Photos]

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STILL MORE TO REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER:

There's a discussion going on over at the Anarchist Black Cat discussion board about other events in November worthy of commemoration. Here's a few items that Molly has gleaned from that thread.

-New Zealand, November 12, 1912. Frederick George Evans of the NZ Miners' Union beaten to death by police.

-USA. November 11, 1831. Rebel slave leader Nat Turner hanged by the state of Virginia.

-USA. November 22, 1922. Mexican anarchist leader Ricardo Flores Magon dies under suspicious circumstances while imprisoned in Leavenworth Penitentiary, Kansas USA.

-USA. November 29, 1919. Company goons attack the union hall of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters in Bogalusa, Louisiana killing four organizers.

-USA. November 22, 1886. Between 30 and 100 striking black sugar workers were murdered in Thibodaux, Lousiana.

-Greece. November 14-17, 1973. Uprising against Greek military dictatorship begins in the Polytechnic School in Athens. many killed by the military during the course of the revolt. First public reappearance of the Greek anarchist movement after many decades.

CONSUMER PROTECTION:

MELAMINE IN MILK SCANDAL GROWS-USA AND CANADA STILL DELAY BAN:

As more and more countries worldwide institute total bans on any products containing milk byproducts from China the Canadian and American governments continue to "hold the line" by only calling for recalls on a limited range of products. As Molly has mentioned before on this blog, this is very reminiscent of the actions of the Chinese government in delaying action on the scandal because of the Olympics. In Canada and the USA the reasons are very much elections rather than Olympics. This is especially true in Canada where there is already an ongoing food contamination problem in the listeriosis outbreak, where there are plans afoot to further decrease food inspection and where the Minister in charge has been essentially gagged so that he cannot put his foot in his mouth in the coming two weeks. Sneaky Stevie Harper is nothing if not a master of the idea of "staying on message".

Two more countries that have banned all products containing Chinese milk byproducts in recent days include the Democratic Republic of the Congo and, most importantly, yesterday Russia according to a report by the Russian Novosti News Agency. This should be seen as significant as the country of my mother's birth is hardly famed for decisive action for protection of its citizens in the case of consumer goods. If nothing else the Canadian and American governments should be shamed into action by the fact that even Russia takes the matter more seriously than they do.

Meanwhile the list of high profile "western" brands implicated in the scandal grows by the day. In addition to the Starbucks, Nestlé, and Heinz companies Pizza Hut in Taiwan (in relation to its cheese) , Oreo cookies from Kraft Foods and M&Ms and Snickers from Mars in Indonesia have now come under a cloud of suspicion, according to an article in the Asian News. The reaction of Kraft and Mars has been less than sterling as they disputed the Indonesian findings, claiming that the products in question are "counterfeit". We'll see. We'll see. Denial was an early feature of many companies eventually implicated in the contaminated pet food scandal last year.

The same article also mentions that the British Cadbury Company has withdrawn 11 of its products produced in China and distributed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia. The article also notes the massive size of imports to both the EU and the USA of sweets ,in the case of the EU, and the milk "protein" (maybe) in the case of the USA in the past year. In the EU, according to an article in the VOA News melamine has been found in cookies marketed under the Koala brand. This article also mentions that melamine was found in Ritz Crackers manufactured by the Nabisco Company in South Korea.

According to yet another article in the Christian Science Monitor Lipton's milk tea has had to be pulled from shelves across Asia. Add Lipton's to the list. The article also notes a couple of interesting facts. One is "strong laws" cannot solve the continuing problem of food adulteration in China (or in many other countries such as the USA and Canada) because the "policing" aspect of such laws is missing. China is actually very "strict" in terms of its laws, and execution would be a probable fate of any arrested executive found implicated in this most recent scandal. Yet stern penalties hardly deter opportunists when the chance of "getting caught" are minimal given the state of inspections in that country, a situation that conservatives in both the USA and Canada see as an admirable situation. The second point is that the company most deeply implicated in the problem in China, Sanlu, is actually a joint venture with the New Zealand Fonterra (mentioned before on this blog) and the Chinese state itself. Yup, this problem developed in a situation where the government itself was the major stakeholder. Interesting ! According to an article in the New York Times over 200,000 children have been brought in for examination in the Chinese province of Hubei alone. the Chinese government has not issued any updates about the number actually affected since last week.

Meanwhile back in the USA the Department of Health has responded by finally promising to press for more stringent 'country of origin" labelling , according to an article at the ABS-CNN News. this comes in the wake of the American ban on milk imports from China (a basically nonexistent item) while not addressing the much more prevalent problem of "milk byproducts".Wait a minute here, for those with a memory. Weren't such "requirements" part of the "lessons learned" to be implemented from last year's pet food scandal ???? Love those promises ! Let's see what happens with the latest vows.

If you want to follow this story as it develops Molly can recommend the following blogs:

1)From a scientific point of view the Science Base blog.

2)For the political and "scandal" aspects (and practical recommendations) the Daily Kos blog.

The material on this matter is starting to accumulate in a pile beside Molly's desk. Last year during the pet food scandal the pile of printouts reached about 1.5 foot high in a box . Molly suspects that this matter may exceed that amount when all is said and done.

Meanwhile, here is yet another view from the IUF website, properly referenced this time for those with touchy feelings, on the role of New Zealand's Fonterra Group in these events.

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Fonterra and the China milk scandal - too many unanswered questions:

Share this article.

State media in China first began reporting about babies falling ill from milk formula on September 11, after one baby had died from kidney stones in Gansu province. The first reports spoke of "an unknown number of infants in at least seven provinces and regions suffering from kidney stones after drinking milk formula marked San Lu".

San Lu is the joint venture partner of New-Zealand-based dairy giant Fonterra Co-operative Group.

The following day, as Chinese authorities revealed that the chemical compound melamine had been found in samples of baby milk powders, Chinese media reported that the San Lu Group had issued an immediate recall of milk formula made before August 6. The only comment that could be drawn from Fonterra was, "We understand that the product involved is only sold in China."

On September 15, as the Chinese media reported a second death from melamine-laced milk powder, the New Zealand Prime Minister announced that it was her government that had blown the whistle on the tainted milk scandal and set off the recall following the failed attempt by Fonterra to have its joint venture partner's products removed from sale.

That same day, Fonterra issued a statement which was stunningly ambiguous and evasive. They revealed that they had been advised of the contamination of baby formula at a San Lu Board meeting which had taken place on August 2! The statement goes on to say that they "pushed hard" for San Lu to recall the formula and that San Lu "immediately implemented a trade recall of infant formula" followed by "a full public recall of all infant formula". However, this "immediate recall" didn't happen until September 12 - 5 days after the New Zealand government alerted the Chinese government after having been alerted by Fonterra 3 days before.

What was Fonterra doing between August 2 and September 5, when it took the step to inform the New Zealand government?

At a media conference on September 24 to announce its 2007/08 results and cash distribution to farmer-shareholders, Fonterra management offered an answer to explain its scandalous omission: "We firmly felt the most effective way to get the product off the shelves and away from consumers was to work within the Chinese system".

But did it take one month for Fonterra to realize that working within the Chinese system wasn't working? The long history of official complicity and complacency in the face of food contamination scandals in China should have been taken as a call to immediate action.

Amazingly, company management continues to contend they had done all they possibly could during this period, and are now trying to relativize their responsibility by calling San Lu's handling of the melamine scandal "appalling" and accusing them of having attempted to cover up the contamination since December 2007.

Fonterra's own handling of the crisis can only be called a cover up - not only of the contamination scandal, but of its own negligence. Why was Fonterra not aware that San Lu had been receiving complaints about contaminated milk powder since December 2007? The answer might be found in the company's own admission that only one of its 3 directors on the Board of San Lu is a Mandarin speaker. Unofficial websites had been asking questions about tainted milk powder from San Lu for months. Why was Fonterra not monitoring these blogs about food safety? Why did Fonterra fail to put people and systems in place to ensure standards and product safety? Why did it fail to put any efforts into securing the safety of the supply chain?

It is clear that working within the Chinese system has not brought the hoped-for results. Four babies have died and some 50,000 more are ill from adulterated milk powder; Fonterra has taken an impairment charge of the equivalent of USD 95 million to cover the cost of the product recall and loss in San Lu's brand value; and Fonterra's own goodwill has been damaged as the public continues to ask how the company could possibly have let this scandal for so long without publicly sounding the alarm.

Fonterra have talked about the tragedy of the deaths and the thousands seriously ill. They have talked about damage to the brand and loss to their investment. What they have not talked about is that their negligence in China and damage to their reputation puts jobs and livelihoods at risk, including in New Zealand where their products represent 25% of export revenue.

ANARCHIST MAGAZINES:
THE AUCKLAND ANARCHIST ISSUE # 3 NOW OUT:
Here's another good one from down under. Issue #3 of 'The Auckland Anarchist" is now out and about and prowling for readers. The following is the contents of this issue plus a reprint of the first article. To read more of the magazine go to the websites listed at the end.
.....................................
New Zealand, Issue #3 of The Auckland Anarchist -
AUTONOMOUS IN AUCKLAND
- Thoughts on the direction of the movement
Articulating goals is one of the essential ingredients for a healthy movement to do. We can't keep on saying "have a revolution", "smash the state", "abolish capitalism" are our goals. Why? Because they aren't things that movements aim to do but instead are the outcomes of certain ways of living, of acting and interacting with each other.


---- On the other hand goals that are quickly achieved, end up precipitating the demobilisation of grassroots activism. Witness the disappearance from the streets of protesters once the Urewera 16 were released, or the New Zealand troops left Iraq. Winning as Sam Buchanan has pointed out, is the fastest way to destroy a movement. ("Attack of the Headless Chickens").


So what goal can we use to inspire ourselves and others, beyond the shallow politics of reformist activism? I would like to suggest one here: living autonomously.


Living autonomously as one Argentinean participant in a neighborhood assembly/occupied building/social centre noted is "autogestion(self-management), self-sufficiency, weblike articulations, noncommercial exchange of goods, horizontal organizing, and direct democracy".The goal of living autonomously is to weave these ideals into our everyday lives, to "build and create different things without following the logic of the capitalist system".Autonomy is a concept of collective freedom from institutions like capitalism, consumerism,the state and patriarchy that are reproduced in our everyday lives. It is a way of relating to the world. We struggle for our own autonomy and to help others gain their own autonomy.Articulating our aim as one of living our lives as autonomously as possible, and struggling for autonomy in our basic lives we can draw the connection between our day-to-day campaigning and a vision of an anti-capitalist, participatory society.


Elsewhere in the world autonomous movements focus on gaining autonomy by seeking to strip from their day-to-day lives wage-slavery, rent/mortgages, television, cars supermarkets and live instead by building the infrastructure they need themselves: community gardens, bakeries, social centers, workshops,squats and all manner of co-operative / d.i.y,mutual aid based projects. Autonomists also place high priority on taking action in solidarity with those others struggling for their autonomy; wage workers who want more control at work, students, youth, women, communities defending their environment, indigenous people and refugees.


Lets together think of our role as anarchists not to make a revolution out there, but instead to revolutionise the way we live, instead of waiting for the right conditions we try to create the conditions we want to live in. In the next few months I hope to see a whole host of autonomous projects spring up in Auckland: community gardens, a social centre, more alternative social and educational events,workshops and more, as people begin to struggle for autonomy in Auckland.
Auckland Autonomist
=========================
CONTENTS of The Auckland Anarchist #3
1 * Autonomous in Auckland?
2 * STREET Medics
3 * FREEDOM FIGHTING AT PRISON GROUNDS The fight for freedom on prison grounds
4 * ACORNS + RECIPE
5 * SMOKEY MOUNTAIN PHOTO SPREAD
6 * REPRESSION IN THE PHILIPPINES Philippines photos
7 * ITALIAN SOCIAL CENTER HISTORY - L38Squat: Part 2
8 * GOD BOTHERING 101 AND A RESPONSE: The case against Christian anarchy
9 * BOGUS CONSPIRACY THEORIES


Editors: Tyler, Design: Simon, Issue Coordinator: Tyler, Contributors: Gilly, MZ, Tom, Simon and Ingrid, Miriam, Horus, Tyler. The views of contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the Auckland Anarchists Collective
Related
* http://www.anarchism.net.nz/theaucklandanarchist/3
* http://www.anarchism.net.nz/

ANARCHIST MAGAZINES:

IMMINENT REBELLION #9-NEW ZEALAND:

The anarchist movement in New Zealand is young, but it is vibrant. Here's an announcement for the latest issue of one of their magazines, 'Imminant Rebellion", along with the poetry that they felt had to be sent along with the blurb. (Yeah, Molly hates modern "poetry", but to each their own taste). Anyways....

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Aotearoa (New Zealand), Anarchist Journal Imminent Rebellion #9 - page 1-13 - of the Rebel Press* - Introduction, Content, Ballad of an Ungrateful Immigrant;

Anarchism

---- Anarchism begins from the central insight that social hierarchies are unnecessary and, therefore, oppressive. In place of the systemic violence of power, anarchism seeks instead to expand upon the combined ideals of freedom coupled with equality. Against the centralisation and violence of the State, anarchism proposes the full decentralisation of the political and the economic, the destruction of national borders, and the horizontal organisation of life from the smallest to the largest, from the simplest to the most complex. Against wage slavery and poverty, anarchism seeks the full socialisation of property, shared and worked in common to directly meet the needs of people. And in rejecting hierarchies of identity -- sexual, racial, ethnic, or otherwise -- anarchism seeks an expansive and thoroughgoing egalitarianism. Decentralisation, free association, and mutual aid -- such are the key concepts of anarchism.

An irregular anarchist journal from deep in the South Pacific.

A politics that refuses to reduce the complexity of life to the singular logic of the State cannot be simple, cannot be the domain of easy slogans. Nor can an anarchist politics ever make the risk of believing it has achieved a finality, even if only theoretical. This journal is therefore not propaganda, but a genuine attempt to articulate an anarchist practice and theory, one whose articulation cannot have an end.

hand bound with a hatred of the State infused into every page

Editor + Designer Torrance

Special Thanks - Jen / Ali / Val / Kane / Kim of Rebel Press

Publisher Rebel Press >

PO Box 9263 Te Aro >

Wellington Aotearoa

www.rebelpress.org.nz

info@rebelpress.org.nz

Contributions

Contributions for issue 10 can be sent to our email address.We prefer articles to be kept below 5,000 words. Deadline sometime before the end of 2008 ­ check the website for updates.

*************************

Content of imminent rebellion #9

*t.b., suitcases, frogs and dogs -­ my 15th October 2007 4

*ballad of an ungrateful immigrant 13

*the Tongan riots 14

*know your rights, these are your rights 30

*operation 8 ­ how the police watched us 36

*fuck me like the whore I am 46

*from the streets to the cells and back again 52

*a critique of NGOism 56

*lake Waikaremoana ­ back in Thoe hands 68

*for revolutionary struggle not activism 74

*why is it so hard to support survivors? 79

*towards an anarcho-design practice 84

*behind German borders 91

*dangerous foundations: an argument against the Identity in Identity Politics 98

*letters 107

*****************

Ballad of an Ungrateful Immigrant ---­ Nausea Nissenbaum

So... what're you getting for your birthday?

He laughs at the joke I don't get

Coz yesterday in economics class

He learned just what percent of Jewish girls

Want nose jobs for their sweet sixteens.

And every time I walk past

These boys yell out, `hey Moses,'

Like it's the worst insult they could dream up

And I wonder how do they know?

When my eyes are blue like theirs

And my hair is light like theirs

And my skin my skin is whiter than theirs

That pale Polish complexion so unsuited to this ozone free climate

But something gives me away

Coz my nose is all wrong

And my lips - they are fish lips - that same boy tells me

So I wear a silver star around my neck

Like a big fuck you to their wholesome Anglo paradise

And every time a teacher stops me to talk about uniform regulation

I talk back

I talk about pogroms,

I talk about Jews taking communion and spitting it right back out,

I talk about Jews burnt at the stake and

Jews burnt in ovens

And after all that do you really think a detention's gonna scare me?

And when I talk, they listen

They listen, and they shut up, and they back off

Like the intensity in my eyes and the quivering in my voice

Is a knife that might start slashing

At their Anglo-Celtic-Saxon white white white reality.

In social studies we learn about the holocaust

My grandma's existence on display for these

Wide eyed blonde teenagers

Who stare and whisper as I bite my lip to dam the tears

Tears which burst out later, in drama,

When Wayne Lancaster tells the class how Hitler is his idol

And the AP apologises to me after my mum complains coz

Wayne's entitled to his opinion

But he needs to understand, you can't

say things like that in front of Jewish people.

Of course, most people are nicer

They tell me all about their granddads who fought in World War Two

Like they were fighting for my freedom and I should be grateful

except that my grandad also fought in World War Two

And when it ended he had no home to go back to.

So all I can say is, fuck you New Zealand

Yeah, I'll take your passport

I'll take your dole payments

But your smug gentile pity

Your churches on every corner

And your Christmas lights in every park

That you can shove up your touchas.

==============

* Rebel Press: ... "all our books are proofed, laid out and hand bound by our local black bloc" http://www.rebelpress.org.nz/assets/imminentrebellion9.pdf

NEW ZEALAND LABOUR:

SAY NO TO OFF-SHORING OF KIWI JOBS:

The following appeal comes from Finsec, a New Zealand union for workers in the financial sector via the Labour Start online solidarity site(see our Links section under 'Other Interesting Links). Seems that the ANZ National bank is planning to outsource 500 back office jobs to India. visit the Finsec website to learn more and to send a message of protest to the bank.

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Say NO to off-shoring of Kiwi jobs
ANZ National bank has announced plans to relocate approximately 500 jobs in their back office Banking Operations area to Bangalore, India. This would be the largest off-shoring of jobs from the New Zealand finance sector and ANZ National would start a race to the bottom of banks cutting costs by moving work to developing countries where labour costs are significantly cheaper.

ANZ National is a profitable bank, who have been spending less to make every dollar of its huge profit in recent years, and they can afford to continue employing their staff in New Zealand. The bank says they will redeploy all of the staff but there is no guarantee that there will be secure, comparable jobs for everyone. The jobs are good jobs with good pay and their loss would be bad for the economy and employment opportunities in New Zealand.

Send an email to ANZ National CEO Graham Hodges to voice your opposition to the off-shoring of Kiwi jobs.
Click here to send the following email to Graham Hodges
Dear Graham Hodges, ANZ National CEO
All New Zealanders deserve job security.
Please do not send New Zealand jobs offshore in order to cut costs and increase your already large profits. Sending jobs offshore takes money out of our local economy, denies local workers good jobs with good wages, and threatens the quality of service to local bank customers.
Through sending jobs to India ANZ National would be leading a race to the bottom for cheap labour that can only hurt our country. We want banks that are loyal to New Zealand, and pay fair wages to local staff to deliver good customer service.
Please listen to your customers, communities and staff and do not send good New Zealand jobs offshore.
Better Banks
Agenda for Change
Finsec's goals for fairness in the finance sector:
Pay
*Annual across the board wage settlements of 5%.
*Continue to standardise pay for similar job across the industry through parity settlements.
Staffing
*Benchmark total staff numbers against the number of staff employed by the banks at the end of 1997.
*Increase the calculation of relief cover to 35 days per FTE.
*Reduce staff turnover through an annual retention bonus of $1000.
Targets
*De-link targets from all aspects of base pay and progression.
*Initiate industry talks on changing incentive schemes to make them fairer and reward service, ethical behaviours and have a longer term outlook.
Leave
*Achieve 5 weeks annual leave after 5 years of service.
Training
*To push for the establishment of a finance sector Industry Training Organisation to lead skill development and training within the sector
Legislation
Advance a Fair Lending Act that promotes fairness in banking, gives communities greater access to information about banks and greater control over how banks operate.