Narrow win for New Zealand Tories
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By Mike Kyriazopolous
New Zealand’s Tories, the National Party, have been returned to lead the government, but only by the narrowest of margins.
New Zealand
Survey: intifada in West Bank; union recruitment campaigns; Labour Thatcherites in NZ; Natal's civil war
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In response to the uprising (intifada) in the West Bank, which started in December 1987, Israel should be made to get out of the occupied territories and allow the formation there of a fully independent Palestinian state.
The GMB and TGWU unions have started a scramble to recruit hitherto untapped sources of union membership - public work schemes, young people, part-time workers, especially women.
Roger Douglas, minister of finance in New Zealand's Labour government, introduced a sweeping Thatcherite programme - flat-rate income tax, big privatisations - without even consulting the Labour parliamentary caucus.
Chief Buthelezi's conservative tribal movement Inkatha battled with trade unionists and the United Democratic Front (ANC) for control of the townships in Natal, South Africa.
New Zealand telecom workers' fight
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The Telecom workers’ dispute is heating up. Auckland has seen striking workers marching up Queen St and picketing the Telecom HQ.
New Zealand: Left hopes to score in election
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The eyes of the world may be transfixed by the spectacle of the race for the White House, but there’s another election in November that deserves some attention. New Zealand is going to the polls.
"We can cause the bosses some mayhem"
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Mike Treen is National Director of Unite New Zealand, a union which has successfully organised young workers in fast food. In February 2008 he toured Britain speaking to meetings organised by No Sweat, and we published his speech to the London meeting Solidarity 3/127. After that meeting Mike Treen spoke to Colin Foster.
Organising fast food workers
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Mike Kyriazopolous interviews Jared Phillips, a Unite Fast Food Organiser and Workers Party activist in New Zealand.
MK: How did Unite plan its organising in fast food?
NZ Union wins 35 Hour week
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From Mike Kyriazopoulos in Auckland
The Amalgamated Workers Union of New Zealand (AWUNZ) has achieved a groundbreaking Collective Employment Agreement with Allied Workforce, one of the major players in the notoriously “precarious” Labour Hire Industry. There are about 100,000 casual workers in NZ, and AWUNZ are planning to make the Allied Collective the model agreement for the industry.
New Zealand Left meets
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From 1 – 3 June the Workers Party of New Zealand hosted its annual “Marxism” conference which featured international speakers and interventions by other NZ left groups. Around 60 mainly young people met in a serious-minded, yet lively and comradely atmosphere to discuss the class struggle and the prospects for socialism.
NZ union helps fast-food and hotel workers organise
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From Mike Kyriazopoulos in Auckland
The work of Unite union organising amongst low paid workers in New Zealand continues apace. A couple of initiatives recently have shown some workers in 'precarious' industries to be in advance of even the most progressive union in the country.
New Zealand students learn French
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In the New Zealand city of Auckland, more than 1,000 secondary school students walked out of classes in protest at low pay for young workers, explicitly linking their protest to events in France.