Happy Labour Day Aotearoa!

Welcome to our second most disposable public holiday - Happy Labour Day!

That’s right when people suggest “ok, have Matariki but get rid of one of the other ones” or “why are these serfs not working, this is bad for business” they suggest getting rid of Queen’s Birthday and then Labour day.

I guess it should be no surprise that those who represent the interests of profits over people would not want a reminder of Labour Day. All those things that force them to treat employees not merely as business costs but like people, as if they had actual value above and beyond their productive output.

You know the sorts of things - the 8 hour working day, health and safety regulations, paid days off to relax or recover from illness, no more child labour, workers rights, parental leave, etc etc.

The things that have brought a better standard of living to most people so they may have not only their daily bread but also a life beyond working to survive. A life of laugher and love, of time for friends and family, of relaxation as well as work.

No more the drudge and idler
Tender toil where one reposes
But the sharing of lives glories
Bread and roses, bread and roses

Our lives shall not be sweated
From birth until life closes
Hearts starve as well as bodies
Bread and roses, bread and roses

Those things the opposition parties would really rather get rid of like…. the minimum wage. Why have a minimum, surely you should leave it to the market? If people have to sell gum and crappy flowers at traffic lights in order to eat, like they do in other countries - well that just shows the market works everyone.

On this day in 1947 Walt Disney testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believed to be communists. That’s right folks, Mickey Mouse’s dad said those opinions were un-American, those thoughts were not permitted in the land of the free. If you thought like that you would be black listed and punished for your beliefs, not actions, not even for saying something, but for your beliefs - Freedom. I smell a rat

Of course we’re not in a McCarthy era witch-hunt now - but when was the last time you said what you really think or feel about your job or boss or even who you vote for on social media? That might be rather career limiting mightn’t it - saying what you think in you own time.  

For want of a better term “the establishment” have us thinking we should be grateful for all the things the labour movement achieved - aren’t we glad we’re not a 7 year old chimney sweep, as if it were an end point. At the same time they clamour for tax cuts for the people that need it least.

But there is a different narrative - where we are is better but still not very equal is it?

We have a long way to go yet, this was a good start, but there is no good reason for some to have so much more than others - and still be asking for more! At the expense of those who have the least! 

Those dirty rotters - go on make booing and hissing noises.

Coincidentally the Bolshevik Revolution was 105 years ago tomorrow, based on the old calendar dates. I’m not suggesting a return to that sort of direct action, but if we’re to be grateful not to be Victorian era chimney sweeps then fair is fair - others should be grateful we allow them to have so much more than they could ever need and still act hard done by.

On a day like this we should recognise the heroes of the Labour movement, like Helen Kelly - gone six years this month. People that work their whole lives trying to better things for others. Not because they are doing good deeds for some rewarding afterlife but because spending their short existence actually helping others have a better life is what they want to spend their finite time on.

We see protests around the world right now due to the spiralling costs of living, people who cannot pay for these increases in the price of the most basic necessities on the wages they are paid. We also see a class of people with a lot, with a mind blowing amount, multiple houses, great big boats, luxury holidays - and those people have their hands out saying “please sir can I have some more?”

We need the Labour movement more than ever as hard fought for rights are eroded by technology making people into “gig” workers, without the protections of employees.

We need a government that values workers, increases their minimum wages, takes measures to address living costs - even if that sometimes seems like trying to hold the water in a dike back.

A government that believes people should be able to go to work - be it forestry, or construction, or the ports, with a good chance of making their way home at the end of the day, and not o being killed on the job because the bosses are cutting corners.

We have a government that cares about the cost of living, about making things fairer, and about worker’s safety. Many of course would like them to be moving much much faster, and that is frustrating, but at least they are headed in the right direction.

Having a government next Labour day who do not care about these things, who actually want to de-regulate and leave things up to companies would be so much worse than having one that is well intentioned and slowly heading in the right direction to make life better for people.

Enjoy Labour Day, a day to be grateful for what we have and how far the Labour movement has taken us. Also a day to consider how much we need to stand up and protect those things others would take because of their own greed.

Have a good Labour day Aotearoa - looks like a stunner out there.

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This song is about a British politician called Tony Benn who was a hero of mine and died in 2014 after a lifetime of service to the Labour movement: