We're not in this boat together.

Guest Commentary: Louis Riel

And so it begins...

Somehow, despite John Key's optimism, the real world is arriving on Aotearoa's doorstep. Today, workers in Wellsford and Nelson have faced massive layoffs--105 jobs lost at Irwin Industrial Tools, and 60 at Nelson Pine Industries. This on top of the nearly 350 other jobs lost nationwide in less than one week.I read this news piece today right about the same time I was reading some other blog entries on last week's Job Summit (what was the purpose of that again?) where I was told that "We are all in this boat together". If that's the case, then can somebody tell me why I haven't heard about any CEO's facing redundancies? Why have I not heard about any bankers (not bank staff, mind you) facing redundancies? And why don't they seem very worried?

Let me tell you how it is in the boat that I'm sitting in.I'm employed, and for now I'm in a "safe" position. That's for now--I can see how things could change overnight. Many of my fellow passengers are, however, sitting on leaks. I've got neighbors who have already been made redundant, and a new job is proving to be the haystack needle. And of the ones that are still employed, they are all starting to get more than a little worried too. And none of us, not a one, seems to be able to find the bail bucket. We also don't see Johnny and his crew anywhere on board.So when I get told how we're all in one lovely egalitarian ship, and simply facing some rough water, I get pissed off. And so should every other worker out there--things are rough enough already, we don't need to be insulted on top of everything else!

We on the socialist left oppose this placating position being put forth by the capitalists, and stand by the mantra "we won't pay for your crisis. As such, I am going to openly call for the occupation the Irwin factory in Wellsford. If anyone there has to go, it should be the CEO and any other over-priced directors at the top that do nothing but take. They have proved that they don't know how to run a sustainable business, so let's turn it over to the workers instead and let them show the capitalists how to do it instead! Let's stand up, and fight back!