Action needed to create real jobs!
SP Newsletter No.273
Yesterday Kevin Rudd announced that the Government would create 50,000 new green jobs. Today it has been revealed that most of those jobs will be nothing more than unpaid work experience for young people!
With unemployment now back up to 5.7 per cent, many workers have been disappointed that the Government has not stepped in with a serious plan to protect and create jobs.
While the Government claims their two stimulus plans were about job creation, the figures suggest differently. The Government asserts that infrastructure funding will create tens of thousands of jobs over the next few years. However, with an estimated 1 million people out of work during this period, only a small fraction of those unemployed will find jobs on these projects.
Most of the money from the stimulus packages is going towards propping up big business profits. The cash handouts have been a helping hand to the big retail companies, while at the same time shop workers are loosing their jobs or having their hours cut.
Similarly, car companies have been given millions in bailouts without giving assurances they will not cut jobs. There is no evidence to suggest that bailouts or corporate subsidies result in significant increases in employment, yet this is where much of the budget deficit has been spent.
Even Rudd’s plan to spend money on infrastructure projects is aimed at supporting the big construction companies rather than creating new jobs. Instead of employing construction workers directly, the Government will be engaging in Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) which will be a huge profits boost for the construction bosses.
The problem with Rudd’s plan is that it puts the desires of big business before the needs of ordinary people. The best way to create jobs, and provide for the future, is to invest in an extensive campaign of publicly owned and operated projects. Money needs to be pumped into building and upgrading hospitals, schools, housing, and transport. Investment in renewable technology would also ensure the creation of environmentally sustainable jobs.
Investing in these works not only provides employment now but will improve people’s lives in the future. Unlike Rudd’s plan, the focus should not be private profit-making, but investing in services and assets that will raise our standards of living.
The trade union movement needs to fight for a program of public works alongside fighting to defend every job that is under threat. Resisting redundancies means preserving skills and jobs both now and for future generations.
If companies threaten closures or redundancies, unions should campaign for the company to be taken into public ownership under the democratic control and management of workers and the community. Working hours should be shared out with no loss of pay.
Public ownership is integral if we are to plan production in such a way that provides for all. Democratic planning also allows for factories to be retooled for socially necessary and environmentally conscious production.
A publicly owned and democratically planned economy is the only way to ensure long-term job security. It is also the most effective and sustainable way to meet the needs of everyone in society, not just the super rich.
Upcoming SP meetings
The Melbourne Branch of the Socialist Party meets every Wednesday 7pm at Trades Hall on the corner of Lygon & Victoria Streets Carlton South. Upcoming meetings include:
5/8/09 – CWI world school report
12/8/09 – Gay rights: The 1969 Stonewall riots
19/8/09 – Trotsky’s theory of Permanent Revolution
26/8/09 – Che Guevara film night – Ag Lorg Che
For more information or for details of meetings in other parts of Australia contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111.
News links:
Kazakhstan: Solidarity urgently needed!
http://socialistworld.net/eng/2009/07/2901.html
China: Manager beaten to death in steel privatisation battle
http://socialistworld.net/eng/2009/07/2805.html
Venezuela: Solidarity with workers at SIDOR steel plant
http://socialistworld.net/eng/2009/07/2804.html
Join the Socialist Party
If you agree with what you have read in our newsletter or on our website you should consider joining SP. The Socialist Party has branches in Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Perth as well as members and supporters in all other states.
We are involved in trade union work and student work. We also run community, anti-war and environmental campaigns. But most of all we want to build a party that will fight to get rid of the capitalist system, the system that is at the root of all of these problems. We fight for socialism - a system that will bring an end to wars, poverty and environmental destruction. To join SP contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111 and we will send you a membership application form.
Subscribe to ‘The Socialist’ newspaper!
Support the Socialist Party by subscribing to our monthly newspaper ‘The Socialist’. Subscription rates are only $10 per year or $20 solidarity price. You will receive 11 copies per year delivered to your door every month. You will also receive our email newsletter every week and you will know that you are supporting an organisation that is at the fore of fighting against the capitalist system. To subscribe to ‘The Socialist’ contact our National Office on 03 9639 9111 and we will send you a subscription form.
Socialist Party contact details
Melbourne: Phone Anthony on 0396399111.
Sydney: Phone Gary on 0297287727.
Newcastle: Phone Samantha on 0249681545.
Perth: Phone John on 0894020728.
Rest of Australia: Phone our National Office on 0396399111.
Rest of the world: Phone our International Office on ++ 44 20 8988 8760.
The Socialist Party is the Australian section of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI). The CWI is organised in over 40 countries across the world.
http://www.sp.org.au
http://www.socialistworld.net
http://www.myspace.com/socialistpartyaustralia
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20461960776
