Critical Times

By Max Oz

To paraphrase – from the title of a children’s story Run! Rabbit Run! – Rann! Labor Rann! is a fitting description of the current Labor Government’s efforts in regards to workers in South Australia. Although the Labor Party ‘Rann’ away along time ago (well before the appearance of Rann) from its working class heartland, Media Mike has contributed splendidly to its pretensions as “business-friendly” and “investment-friendly” rather being ‘champions of working people’. History inevitably catches up with pretenders and they’re a plenty in the Labor Party. Now days most working people don’t need much convincing that the Labor Party doesn’t automatically look after their interests and consequently have little or no allegiance to it throughout the country. For good reasons! There are a plethora of examples of betrayals and about turns from this dismal organization. Consequently, Rann’s Labor relies more on media dominance than the working class heartland to maintain itself in power.

Currently the Rann Labor machine is doing its best to steamroll anti-worker measures such as a revamped Work-Cover, implementation of Public Private Partnerships and cut backs in the Public Sector (increasingly through Enterprise Bargaining process) without a hint of concern that these measures will hurt the community at large. In addition, those that stand in its way in achieving these reactionary goals will be smeared and crushed as enemies of ‘The Party!’

The recent passing of the State Labor Government’s legislation to reduce Work-Cover entitlements will penalise those injured workers, who through no fault of their own, are suffering enough and now have to look forward to sliding backwards financially. Work-Cover’s ‘unfunded liability’, supposedly close to $1 billion, is argued to be the reason why cuts to worker entitlements need to be carried out. This was all a smokescreen for this is not an amount that needed to be paid out at any particular point in time as it is only an estimate of the ongoing costs into the future. Work-Cover is more than able to cover its costs and its assets are nearly doubled that of the so-called ‘unfunded liability’!

Rather than financial prudence, lining the pockets of the business community is closer to the truth of why Work-Cover was mauled. Increasing the profitability of the business sector was paramount to Rann’s Labor, and the business corporations were clamouring and cheering along the Labor Government from the sidelines! Whose side are you on Mr Rann? Class we are told by his ilk is passé. Well, as more working people are pushed into poverty class is coming back into vogue. And class is what the above struggle is all about! When we hear or read that governments and parliaments need to protect the economy or state/national interests, it is really the interests of the big corporations and especially the multinationals that is being espoused.

Capitalism in Australia and throughout the Western World is in diabolical trouble and the capitalist state is working overtime to prepare for the coming storm clouds. With the present financial meltdown arising from the anarchy of capitalism’s, in particular imperialism’s wasteful, destructive and parasitic scams such as sub-prime mortgages, hedge funds, margin lending and private equities whose only enduring feature is their contribution to the cycle of economic crises. Finance capital has become a commodity itself and its institutions have now created a crisis of overproduction of capital as a commodity. Here finance capital malevolently siphons off amongst themselves (through profit, rent and interest) the surplus value that is created by the labour power of the working class, but give nothing of value to the process of production. Their only goal is capital accumulation for its own sake! And what has this accumulation created? Fiat money that has no value except the paper it is written on and certainly has no value that is backed up by production! Now this scandalous financial house of cards like past credit crises, is toppling over with a wapping accumulation of debt and defaults.

In Australia there has been a loss of up to 25 per cent in the value of stock market shares since late 2007. November last year the Reserve Bank provided data on the ratio of debt (private sector and household) to the Gross domestic Product from 1861 to 2007. Commentators point out that the debt level today dwarfs the Great Depression and the 1890’s Melbourne Land Bust. In the 1890’s the debt was 100 per cent of GDP. The 1930’s saw debt at 80 per cent of GDP. From 1963 to 1996 debt as a ratio of GDP climbed to 87 per cent. Between1996 to 2007, debt rose to 157 per cent of GDP.

This is Australia’s economic backdrop that both the Rann and Rudd Labor Governments are operating under. Like Rann, Rudd is just as much a dud over industrial relations and economic matters. The timidity over reigning in Work-Choices, allowing the Australia Building Construction Commission to continue and handing down a huge budget surplus to fight the Corporation’s created inflation demonstrates who Labor is really serving! Corporations, especially finance capital, need all the real money the can squeeze out of working people and their so-called political representatives, State and Federal Governments. As a result sections of the union movement and the Labor Party together with working people are starting to resist and fight-back against the reactionary measures of the Work-Cover cutbacks in South Australia and the attempt to privatise electricity (with the parliamentary Labor party ignoring the NSW Labor Party’s conference decision to reject privatisation) in New South Wales. As the campaigning over these and other events continues to deepen the struggle becomes fierce, arduous and dirty!

The current machinations by ‘Rann Labor Rann’ are a case in point. When South Australian unions and sections of the Labor attempted to prevent the Work-Cover amendments Bill passing parliament by voting to hold a special party convention to decide the party’s position, Paul McMahon, AMWU vehicle division secretary, resigned from his union executive and the state Labor executive to take up a government appointment of Industrial Relations Commissioner. His resignation meant the unions lost Mr McMahon’s vote against the Minister Wright’s/ Work-Cover amendments Bill when the issue was debated by the Labor state executive on April 11. Party loyalty like this is richly rewarded with a $214,110 salary! Going by Adelaide’s rumour mill it is no doubt Mr McMahon was in line for either a parliamentary position or something like what he has received in the state bureaucracy for years of loyal work to the Labor Party and Governments regardless of the Work-Cover controversy. Nevertheless, his appointment was highly convenient!

Only those who obey, play the game call it what you like get rewarded. But the struggles against the cut backs to Work-Cover have gone further than Labor committee meetings. They are starting to take on a life of their own outside the control of the ALP (Alternative Liberal Party) and this is what angers the Labor technocrats! Unions have no choice but to campaign against these Work-Cover measures, after their self inflicted decline of the Hawke/Keating years they have begun fighting for workers interests and their own survival. Past co-options (The Accord, privatisations, deregulation etc), whilst good for future career prospects of many union leaders, if continued with would eventually lead to the destruction of unions. The leadership of the union movement had to do something to arrests its own decline and that of working people. It’s about time this kind of political activity happened, for it will be needed in the looming future. The ‘Your Rights At Work’ campaign is a good example of mass mobilisation that developed into a community movement and played a prominent role in the ousting of the former reactionary Howard Government. This kind of grass root political activity hopefully will develop the kind of class consciousness amongst working people that will be needed in the coming ominous struggles.

With two large demonstrations against the state Labor Governments cutbacks to Work-Cover, incessant criticism of Rann (Past film footage was rediscovered showing the Premier speaking against the liberals move against Work-Cover in 1995 was placed on YouTube and emailed around the Adelaide community) and mobilisation within the community it was inevitable that the Labor powerbrokers would be gunning to kill this campaign off. The easiest way would be to cut the campaign off at its head.

Janet Giles, Secretary of SA Unions who has headed the campaign opposing changes to Work-Cover has come under attack from the leadership for party disloyalty. The ostensible reason is a speech she gave at a fundraiser held by the Communist Party of Australia. It is amusing the controversy senior Labor figures are trying to whip up, so it is worth quoting the Advertiser which ran the story about Janet Giles addressing the CPA meeting. It was reported that, “After taking Government on over Work-Cover she is still a member of our party and raising money for a party which campaigns against us.” And, “The Communist Party is so marginalised, so out of touch with the aspirations of 99.5 per cent of Australians, the idea that leaders of the trade union movement will speak to such an irrelevant group and raise money for them, is embarrassing.”

This Liberal Party style of language is intended to destroy Janet Giles leadership capacity amongst unions and unionists in South Australia. The threat to expel her from the party, regardless of the outcome, is an indication of things to come. Divisions within the union movement will be played on and no doubts attempts will be made to undermine Giles position of secretary of SA Unions. However the aspirations of working Australians would be not to attack Janet Giles but to cast out all the Work Choice agreements straight away and reel back the changes to Work-Cover, something the Labor powerbrokers, due to their servility to big business, won’t do. If the reaction by the community is anything to go by Labor powerbrokers have their work cut out for them. Overwhelmingly support for the SA Unions secretary came through Letters to the editor and comments on The Advertiser site. The Retired Union Members Association also came out in support.

Capitalism is heading down the path of irretrievable economic, political, environmental and social cataclysm. Rann! Labor Rann! is a well deserved epithet for him and his party’s contribution to this impending catastrophe and legacy.