Actualité - Howard, hands off young workers' rights!
Franc-Parler publie un article sur une importante mobilisation de la classe ouvrière et de la jeunesse australienne contre l'offensive antisociale et l'assaut contre les droits des travailleurs du gouvernement australien. Depuis dix ans, le gouvernement de John Howard mène une opération de destruction sociale sans précédant. En ciblant principalement la classe ouvrière et la jeunesse, il vise la désorganisation des masses.
The June 1 student strike against the federal government’s anti-union “Work Choices” legislation has struck a real chord around the country, with students responding enthusiastically to the call to strike and organising for the action at their schools and campuses. The initiative has received support from a broad range of trade unions, student associations and progressive community groups.
Brianna Pike, the Melbourne strike coordinator and an activist in the socialist youth organisation Resistance, explained to Green Left Weekly, “I think the reason the strike is being well received in the community is because young people are turning the widespread opposition, resentment and anger towards the government into a public demonstration of resistance”. She said many in the wider community are excited that young people are fighting Work Choices.
In 2003, the Books Not Bombs student strikes against the Iraq war inspired many people, including older people, to be part of the struggle. Pike told GLW that Resistance is hoping June 1 can help play a similar role. “The central message we want to convey on June 1 is that everyone, of all ages, should join the trade union protests against Work Choices on June 28".
Sydney strike coordinator Simon Cunich told Green Left Weekly: “Everyone can see the injustice of this legislation, but there is an urgent need to build the movement against it. We believe that this fight can’t just happen at the ballot box in the next elections — many young workers who are going to be adversely affected by the laws do not even have the right to vote. The struggle needs to happen in the streets.” Cunich gave the protests in France, against the anti-youth First Employment Contract (CPE) law, as one of the inspirations for the protest. “In France, students and workers forced their government to back down by building a mass movement that drew millions into the streets in ongoing demonstrations and strikes.”
Youth at work: disposable?
The June 1 strike will demand that the Howard government repeal the Work Choices legislation, and will call for more rights for young workers. Young people, who will be affected particularly badly by Howard’s legislation, already suffer severe exploitation in the workplace.
Young workers are often viewed as being “worth less” than older workers, putting them in a very weak bargaining position. Lack of work experience and the need for training is often given as justification for paying them “youth rates”. Young people are forced to do the same work for less pay than older employees — some teenagers earn as little as $4 per hour — and are often dependent on penalty rates for weekend and night shifts to make up their income.
Because many young people are working to augment another source of income while they study — usually from their family or welfare — casual work, with its insecurity and lack of rights, is common.
A youth poll commissioned by the Democrats last year found that almost three-quarters of those surveyed believed the Youth Allowance age of independence should be 18 or younger, rather than the current 25; half of the respondents thought it should be 16.
As well as poor wages and working conditions, young workers are often subjected to bullying, sexual harassment and physical and verbal abuse, and are more likely to put up with it than other workers because of their weaker position in the workplace.
The proportionally higher unemployment rate among youth contributes to their weak bargaining position, as there is a reserve pool of potential employees to hire if a worker refuses to accept bad conditions or bullying. In May 2005, the Dusseldorp Skills Forum found that the teenage unemployment rate was 3.5 times greater than that of people aged 25 and over.
If young workers’ didn’t already have a high enough degree of job insecurity, Work Choices means that 90% of all workers are no longer legally protected from being unfairly dismissed.
The government has made a concerted effort to ensure that young people stay dependent on their families to survive for as long as possible. This creates the situation where it is “acceptable” for young people to have insecure jobs and be paid youth rates, because their families will have to assume responsibility for their welfare — and if they can’t, or won’t, too bad.
Students from wealthier families may not need to work while they are studying, but the majority of students do. Attacks on free education and the welfare system have contributed to this. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 60% of those studying for a qualification in May this year were also working.
In February, Rose Jackson, president of the National Union of Students, compared the state of higher education before and after Howard’s decade of power: “The comparison shows that most students are paying much more to study while the Commonwealth has been reducing its contribution. Financial assistance is harder to get and students are spending less time on campus because of the increased need to do large amounts of part-time paid work just to survive.”
Ten years of Howard’s offensive
Work Choices is already dramatically worsening young people’s rights at work. Now more young workers will be forced to sign an individual contract — an Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA) — with their boss before they are given a job, and only a few minimum conditions are legally protected. Survey results released by the Youth Action Policy Association on April 25 showed that less than one in five young people believe they will be better off on an AWA than under the award system.
Trade unions have historically been vital in informing workers in vulnerable situations of their rights and standing up for them, but Work Choices is restricting unions’ ability to enter workplaces and workers’ rights to strike.
Cunich told GLW that the ideas behind the legislation are “sickening”. “The idea that our only point of living is to make money for some boss, for some corporation. That we aren’t entitled to a voice, to have the right to secure employment with decent working conditions, that we’re disposable.”
Fred Fuentes, the national coordinator of Resistance, explained that Work Choices “is sending a signal to young people that society doesn’t value them, their contribution, their time or their future”. “These extreme attacks on our rights are the latest in a decade-long offensive by the Howard government, which has been a decade too long for young people. Everything that is important to our lives — education, health care, welfare, our rights at work — is under attack by the Howard government. Howard represents a small, greedy elite that’s only interested in profits.”
Unsurprisingly, the mental health of young people has suffered. Coping with stress, often related to study and work, is a major concern for young people. A 2005 Mission Australia survey of people aged 11-24 found that suicide and self-harm were among the top three concerns of 41.3% of respondents (up 7.6% from 2004). Two in five were significantly concerned about suicide, and one in three about depression.
Fuentes commented, “Most young adults in Australia today have grown up in the grip of neoliberalism. Their whole lives have been lived against a background of wars for profit, privatisation, corporate scams and environmental destruction, with political 'leaders’ cynically propagating racism and individualism. We can see that something is seriously wrong with this society, with this system, and young people are suffering the most. Many have become disillusioned, depressed and alienated. But many are also determined to not give up our future without a fight. We’ll fight Howard — and everything he stands for — all the way.”
Despite the ideological war that the Howard government has conducted against left-wing ideas, most young people today have progressive views on a number of important issues, such as the “war on terror”, racism and the environment.
The Democrats’ 2005 youth survey found:
-71% of young people believe the government should enter into a treaty with Indigenous Australians;
-60% do not support the mandatory detention of asylum seekers (compared to 42% in 2004); and
-55% support marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
A 2004 ALP-commissioned youth survey found that two-thirds thought that Australia had made a mistake in going to war in Iraq and shouldn’t maintain such a close relationship with the United States.
Cunich told GLW: “I think it’s a credit to young people who’ve grown up in ‘Howard’s Australia’ that they can see through the bullshit and spin we get every day in the media, from the government, even in our schools. Despite all of it, young people are willing to put up a fight against unjust laws like Work Choices, to lead the way and dare to struggle when some others in the community lack the confidence and political will to do so.”
Fuentes said, “Ultimately Resistance’s vision is for a lot more than just the repeal of Work Choices and for better wages and conditions. We want to organise young people to create a completely different sort of society, one based on cooperation instead of competition and guided human need rather than private profit.
“We take inspiration from the international struggles for justice and we are in complete agreement with the call made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on the need to create a ‘new socialism for the 21st century’. It is through resisting attacks on our rights like Work Choices that the struggle to create such a society can begin.”
He concluded: “On June 1, we can demonstrate our real value, show what young people are ‘worth’, when we lead the fight-back against Work Choices. We hope everyone will support us, and then join us on June 28 when we march shoulder-to-shoulder with the trade unions for our rights and our future.”
(Green Left Weekly - 31 mai 2006)
The June 1 student strike against the federal government’s anti-union “Work Choices” legislation has struck a real chord around the country, with students responding enthusiastically to the call to strike and organising for the action at their schools and campuses. The initiative has received support from a broad range of trade unions, student associations and progressive community groups.
Brianna Pike, the Melbourne strike coordinator and an activist in the socialist youth organisation Resistance, explained to Green Left Weekly, “I think the reason the strike is being well received in the community is because young people are turning the widespread opposition, resentment and anger towards the government into a public demonstration of resistance”. She said many in the wider community are excited that young people are fighting Work Choices.
In 2003, the Books Not Bombs student strikes against the Iraq war inspired many people, including older people, to be part of the struggle. Pike told GLW that Resistance is hoping June 1 can help play a similar role. “The central message we want to convey on June 1 is that everyone, of all ages, should join the trade union protests against Work Choices on June 28".
Sydney strike coordinator Simon Cunich told Green Left Weekly: “Everyone can see the injustice of this legislation, but there is an urgent need to build the movement against it. We believe that this fight can’t just happen at the ballot box in the next elections — many young workers who are going to be adversely affected by the laws do not even have the right to vote. The struggle needs to happen in the streets.” Cunich gave the protests in France, against the anti-youth First Employment Contract (CPE) law, as one of the inspirations for the protest. “In France, students and workers forced their government to back down by building a mass movement that drew millions into the streets in ongoing demonstrations and strikes.”
Youth at work: disposable?
The June 1 strike will demand that the Howard government repeal the Work Choices legislation, and will call for more rights for young workers. Young people, who will be affected particularly badly by Howard’s legislation, already suffer severe exploitation in the workplace.
Young workers are often viewed as being “worth less” than older workers, putting them in a very weak bargaining position. Lack of work experience and the need for training is often given as justification for paying them “youth rates”. Young people are forced to do the same work for less pay than older employees — some teenagers earn as little as $4 per hour — and are often dependent on penalty rates for weekend and night shifts to make up their income.
Because many young people are working to augment another source of income while they study — usually from their family or welfare — casual work, with its insecurity and lack of rights, is common.
A youth poll commissioned by the Democrats last year found that almost three-quarters of those surveyed believed the Youth Allowance age of independence should be 18 or younger, rather than the current 25; half of the respondents thought it should be 16.
As well as poor wages and working conditions, young workers are often subjected to bullying, sexual harassment and physical and verbal abuse, and are more likely to put up with it than other workers because of their weaker position in the workplace.
The proportionally higher unemployment rate among youth contributes to their weak bargaining position, as there is a reserve pool of potential employees to hire if a worker refuses to accept bad conditions or bullying. In May 2005, the Dusseldorp Skills Forum found that the teenage unemployment rate was 3.5 times greater than that of people aged 25 and over.
If young workers’ didn’t already have a high enough degree of job insecurity, Work Choices means that 90% of all workers are no longer legally protected from being unfairly dismissed.
The government has made a concerted effort to ensure that young people stay dependent on their families to survive for as long as possible. This creates the situation where it is “acceptable” for young people to have insecure jobs and be paid youth rates, because their families will have to assume responsibility for their welfare — and if they can’t, or won’t, too bad.
Students from wealthier families may not need to work while they are studying, but the majority of students do. Attacks on free education and the welfare system have contributed to this. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 60% of those studying for a qualification in May this year were also working.
In February, Rose Jackson, president of the National Union of Students, compared the state of higher education before and after Howard’s decade of power: “The comparison shows that most students are paying much more to study while the Commonwealth has been reducing its contribution. Financial assistance is harder to get and students are spending less time on campus because of the increased need to do large amounts of part-time paid work just to survive.”
Ten years of Howard’s offensive
Work Choices is already dramatically worsening young people’s rights at work. Now more young workers will be forced to sign an individual contract — an Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA) — with their boss before they are given a job, and only a few minimum conditions are legally protected. Survey results released by the Youth Action Policy Association on April 25 showed that less than one in five young people believe they will be better off on an AWA than under the award system.
Trade unions have historically been vital in informing workers in vulnerable situations of their rights and standing up for them, but Work Choices is restricting unions’ ability to enter workplaces and workers’ rights to strike.
Cunich told GLW that the ideas behind the legislation are “sickening”. “The idea that our only point of living is to make money for some boss, for some corporation. That we aren’t entitled to a voice, to have the right to secure employment with decent working conditions, that we’re disposable.”
Fred Fuentes, the national coordinator of Resistance, explained that Work Choices “is sending a signal to young people that society doesn’t value them, their contribution, their time or their future”. “These extreme attacks on our rights are the latest in a decade-long offensive by the Howard government, which has been a decade too long for young people. Everything that is important to our lives — education, health care, welfare, our rights at work — is under attack by the Howard government. Howard represents a small, greedy elite that’s only interested in profits.”
Unsurprisingly, the mental health of young people has suffered. Coping with stress, often related to study and work, is a major concern for young people. A 2005 Mission Australia survey of people aged 11-24 found that suicide and self-harm were among the top three concerns of 41.3% of respondents (up 7.6% from 2004). Two in five were significantly concerned about suicide, and one in three about depression.
Fuentes commented, “Most young adults in Australia today have grown up in the grip of neoliberalism. Their whole lives have been lived against a background of wars for profit, privatisation, corporate scams and environmental destruction, with political 'leaders’ cynically propagating racism and individualism. We can see that something is seriously wrong with this society, with this system, and young people are suffering the most. Many have become disillusioned, depressed and alienated. But many are also determined to not give up our future without a fight. We’ll fight Howard — and everything he stands for — all the way.”
Despite the ideological war that the Howard government has conducted against left-wing ideas, most young people today have progressive views on a number of important issues, such as the “war on terror”, racism and the environment.
The Democrats’ 2005 youth survey found:
-71% of young people believe the government should enter into a treaty with Indigenous Australians;
-60% do not support the mandatory detention of asylum seekers (compared to 42% in 2004); and
-55% support marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
A 2004 ALP-commissioned youth survey found that two-thirds thought that Australia had made a mistake in going to war in Iraq and shouldn’t maintain such a close relationship with the United States.
Cunich told GLW: “I think it’s a credit to young people who’ve grown up in ‘Howard’s Australia’ that they can see through the bullshit and spin we get every day in the media, from the government, even in our schools. Despite all of it, young people are willing to put up a fight against unjust laws like Work Choices, to lead the way and dare to struggle when some others in the community lack the confidence and political will to do so.”
Fuentes said, “Ultimately Resistance’s vision is for a lot more than just the repeal of Work Choices and for better wages and conditions. We want to organise young people to create a completely different sort of society, one based on cooperation instead of competition and guided human need rather than private profit.
“We take inspiration from the international struggles for justice and we are in complete agreement with the call made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on the need to create a ‘new socialism for the 21st century’. It is through resisting attacks on our rights like Work Choices that the struggle to create such a society can begin.”
He concluded: “On June 1, we can demonstrate our real value, show what young people are ‘worth’, when we lead the fight-back against Work Choices. We hope everyone will support us, and then join us on June 28 when we march shoulder-to-shoulder with the trade unions for our rights and our future.”
(Green Left Weekly - 31 mai 2006)
Libellés : Asie
posted by Franc-Parler at 6:05 p.m.
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Very pretty site! Keep working. thnx!
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