Red Report Back - Week Ending 24/07/2022

Party Takes the Housing Issue to the People

Members of the ACP in South Australia held another action this week to talk to workers about the housing crisis that is plaguing the country. Members and supporters set up out the front of a local shopping centre to talk to community members about their experiences of the on-going housing crisis.
 
The City of Playford has been hard hit by rent increases, with the cost of rent up by 34% since 2016. This has particularly harsh ramifications for the community as the unemployment rate of 12.8% is more than three times the state average for South Australia.
 
Community members discussed at length with the party their own experiences of the harsh conditions in the housing market, and the toll that the for-profit, capitalist approach to housing has taken on low income earners, renters and those paying off a mortgage. A key theme of discussions was the need for more public housing. 
 
Despite the unthreatening nature of this outreach, security from the shopping centre were quickly on the scene and attempted to move Party members on, all the while punching down on those living and sleeping rough with dismissive comments. Our members held the line and refused to be moved on for the simple act of talking with workers in their community, and despite threats of police action, continued to engage with pedestrians at the location.

Members of the ACP in South Australia, after holding their latest action around the housing crisis.

Santos Action in Sydney

The ongoing fight by the Gomeroi nations and its supporters against fossil fuel giant Santos and their Narrabri coal-seam gas project developed further this week. Gomeroi land-defenders and their supporters rallied in solidarity out the front of Santos’ Sydney office to protest against the company’s attempt to overturn Native Title rights. 

One notable feature of the event was the solidarity it drew from the union movement to support the Gomeroi struggle against the weak land rights framework that the capitalist state has implemented. Members of the Electrical Trades Union and Independent Education Union stood with the Gomeroi and supported their fight against the destruction of their homeland.  

In the wake of the state repression unleashed upon the climate activists of Blockade Australia in recent months, the movement must analyse how it can best go forward. On one hand, there is the legalistic mobilising path centred on petitioning parliamentary members for concessions. On the other, there is the more difficult path of organisation among the communities that are at risk.  

History shows that relying on small groups of dedicated student, climate or land rights activists to take brief protest actions has minimal impact on the actions of the capitalist state and their business partners. If we want to win, we must broaden the struggle to engage workers in affected areas in a way that does not alienate or belittle, but educates, empowers and uplifts. It is only then that we can show by example that climate justice and workers’ rights are one struggle, one fight.

Members of the ACP in New South Wales, pictured protesting against the Santos Narrabri coal-seam gas project in February of 2021.

Nurses Keep the Ball Rolling

State refusal to listen to the demands of workers led nurses in both the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales to take industrial action this week. Nurses who took action over poor conditions and pay in Garran, ACT were joined on Monday by their comrades in New South Wales.  

On Monday, members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association staged a walkout at Westmead and Blacktown hospitals in protest over the continual and chronic understaffing in their workplaces. These unsafe conditions, as nurses have repeatedly emphasised throughout the dispute, jeopardise the wellbeing of not just workers, but the wider community as a whole.  

The issue of understaffing subjects nurses in western Sydney to 18-hour days and extended shifts without breaks, all while dealing with the surge in COVID and influenza hospitalisations after two years under the pump. The General Secretary of the NSWNMA Brett Holmes said that "Gauging the level of frustration and despair, it's quite possible that other branches will look at this and consider whether they need to also take similar action".  

So long as the state refuses to acknowledge that workers understand their own occupations best, along with the needs that are required to fulfil their roles, both workers and the public will continue to suffer. Healthcare should not be run by business-minded vultures, but should be in the hands of the public and run by these workers to meet the needs of their community. Stay staunch, nursing staff. We stand beside you.

Striking nurses pictured at the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association strike, in March of 2022.

Workers Taken for a Not-so-Magic Carpet Ride

Major retail supplier Tuftmaster Carpets kicked the hornets’ nest last week when it threatened to terminate an enterprise agreement it had with its workers. If Tuftmaster is successful, it will see workers’ conditions reduced back to the minimal award levels, scrapping long-standing redundancy packages from a maximum of 70 weeks down to a measly 12. Additionally, this shameful manoeuvre would cut workers’ wages by freezing them for three years while inflation continues to skyrocket.

Nationwide rallies were held by workers and members of the CFMEU Manufacturing division at Carpet Court stores across the nation, with supporters from the union movement and public attending to express solidarity with these workers. Sally McManus, Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, was critical of the move by Tuftmaster noting how the employer was “using the loopholes in our broken workplace laws to try and slash their pay and slash their rights”.

Australian workers must look at events such as these and realise that employers don’t care about the wellbeing or safety of workers. To them, workers are simply profit-making cogs to be squeezed to maximise profits. The legal system in this country is geared heavily against workers like those at Tuftmaster, and works entirely in the interests of the capitalists who control these businesses and the means of production. Our only solution is this – organise and fight.

Inflation and Profit

As it currently stands, inflation is on track to hit 7% by the end of the year in Australia. This spiralling inflation has greatly increased the cost of living for working class Australians, who are finding it more difficult to survive. 

The price of food, fuel, heating, education, healthcare and other essentials have all shot up for workers, whose pay has not kept up even slightly with these increases. The capitalist class has seized upon this situation to boost their profits and increase prices on essentials, and then attempt to blame the inflation, which they themselves created, on workers for demanding a living wage. 

Shortages that have come about from climate destruction, itself caused by the relentless greed of capitalist business, are only partly to blame for these rises in the cost of living. While Australia may seem to be short on fresh produce or housing if one listens to the propaganda in the media, it is businesses seeking to increase their profits that have done the most damage. 

For example, both Coles and Woolworths have recently reported boosts to profits by over 5%, as people struggle to source food to put on the table, and their own workers are subjected to unsafe, unfair conditions and union busting by their employers. Across the board, workers are increasingly worse off as they endure this crisis with their low wages and poor working conditions. So next time you find yourself unable to get as much fuel or groceries as you normally would, know who it is to blame. And if that makes you angry, then do something about it. The working class only has strength in organisation.

Find out how you can get involved in the fight for working class emancipation here: https://auscp.org.au/join-us/