the Banner Bright

Gary Linnell: “The English overlords and land barons who ruled Ireland with an iron fist in the 19th century may not have created the poison that destroyed the potato crop, but they could have prevented the worst of the famine. They just chose not to. Profit took precedence over lives. There was no shortage of food in Ireland – those rolling pastures produced enormous amounts of wheat and beef. But most of it was destined for lucrative trade and the dinner plates of the London aristocracy. Diverting it to the starving Irish masses was unthinkable. Besides, what was the point of helping all those weak and vulnerable peasants? They were expendable and would probably die anyway. … Can you hear history’s echo? It’s the sound of coffers filling, of fortunes being made, of rich men mocking the poor, of a ruling class laughing and, yes, even revelling in their lack of empathy and compassion. It’s a sound becoming more familiar by the day. … [T]he chasm has now widened between those demanding the end of lockdowns and the resumption of business – and those preferring a safer, lives-first approach. … Empathy is dead. It’s time for the peasants to make way for profits.” The causes of a crisis might be natural, but the consequences are a choice.

David Graeber died this week. Here is something interesting he once said: “There are multiple, contradictory logics of exchange, logics of action, and cooperative logics existing at all times. They are embedded in one another, in mutual contradiction, constantly in tension. As a result, there is a base from which one can make a critique of capitalism even at the same time that capitalism constantly subsumes all those alternatives to it. It’s not like everything we do corresponds to a logic of capitalism. … Communism already exists in our intimate relations with each other on a million different levels, so it’s a question of gradually expanding that and ultimately destroying the power of capital, rather than this idea of absolute negation that plunges us into some great unknown. … You have to make your own relations with your fellow comrades, to be an embodiment of the world you wish to create. … And just as the perfect life cannot be achieved, the process of moving toward it is the good life. … I can’t imagine a world in which we aren’t revolutionary ourselves, and revolutionizing our relations with one another, and revolutionizing our understanding of what is possible. That doesn’t mean that we will not someday—perhaps someday soon, hopefully—achieve a world whereby the problems we have today will be the sort of things to scare children with stories of them. But that doesn’t mean we’ll ever overcome the need to revolutionize ourselves. And the process by which that comes about is the good life.”

Paddy Manning: “News that the Morrison government is planning to fast-track $158 billion in legislated tax cuts in the October budget should sound the alarm for the labour movement. Not only is the Coalition using the pandemic as cover to wage culture wars against its old enemies in universities, the media and the arts, but it is also using the recession to accelerate a neoliberal policy agenda that threatens to permanently undermine workers’ rights, reward the rich and beggar the nation’s finances. This would ensure radical austerity for years to come in what economist Richard Denniss describes as the ‘right-wing ratchet’. Labor premiers who have celebrated the new national cabinet, and the ACTU (which is participating in a rushed round of talks with employers), should carefully consider whether the prime minister’s all-in-it-together schtick has been entirely genuine or whether, in fact, they have been comprehensively outplayed. So far, the national cabinet has functioned as an unaccountable body that has bolstered Scott Morrison and sidelined the federal Opposition. The new labour-market flexibility reforms, introduced along with the JobKeeper legislation at a time of crisis, may prove to be a Trojan Horse for an assault on workers’ rights. Memo to Daniel Andrews and Sally McManus: are you legitimising what looks likely to be an attack on the people you represent?”

Some bad news: “A new report from the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and the University of New South Wales — using the latest available ABS data from 2017-18 — shows how far behind those on the lowest incomes are from the nation’s richest households. The report found the incomes of those in the top 20 per cent were six times higher than those in the bottom 20 per cent. That is worse than 2015-16, when the ratio was five times.” But then some good news [$]: “The government’s extraordinary income support measures have virtually eliminated poverty in Australia, according to new ­research from the ANU’s Centre for Social Research… [T]he number of people in poverty has dropped from 1.6 million pre-COVID to 1.1 million — a reduction of about a third. Moreover, the introduction of the wage subsidy and boosted JobSeeker had ‘almost eliminated poverty for some of the most disadvantaged groups’, reducing poverty rates for households on Newstart from 67 per cent before the crisis to less than 7 per cent.” Bad news again: having stumbled upon a policy that lifted millions out of poverty, the Morrison Government is going to scrap it at the end of the month.

The United Workers Union has produced a thorough report on Technology and Power in Australian workplaces: “At this present moment it is crucial we consider what a more democratic and equitable future of work and technology might look like, and how it can be achieved. A society in which data is held in common, the limits and use of new technologies collectively agreed upon and used by workers to build shared power and solidarity. Workplaces in which innovation can act in service of a broad public good — not just the narrow interests of profit accumulation.” The report makes compelling recommendations, such as the creation of “industry level worker councils to negotiate the use and scope of surveillance and other disruptive technologies in the workplace”, the inclusion of “[p]rivacy thresholds in the national employment standards,” the “[r]edistribut[ion of] productivity gains from technology back to labour via a universal basic dividend”, and a demand that “[d]ata must be held in common and not treated as private property”. UWU’s proposed Ethical framework for workplace technology is excellent, and workers should be aware of it and use it to challenge their employers when they push new tech-based schemes..

Good news: “One of McDonald’s Australia’s largest franchisees will be forced to pay after threatening employees who requested a 10 minute break… The post, which was shared to a private Facebook group by [a general manager], was made in response to staff lobbying for 10 minute breaks.” To be clear, they were lobbying for 10 minute breaks they were entitled to under their EBA! “‘If we implement this [ten minute break] over our current situation on your shift –– this ten minute break would be the only time you would ever be permitted to have a drink or go to the toilet,’ [the manager] wrote. ‘So I hope to god you don’t get thirsty on your next shift because we just wouldn’t be able to allow a drink. Fair is Fair, right?’ The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RFFWU) took [the franchisee] to court over the post, alleging the franchisee had threatened to restrict workers’ drinks and bathroom rights. In the Federal Court of Australia on Monday, Justice Logan agreed that the post did, in effect, threaten to deny workers their rights to a drink or toilet break at other times during their shift. The judgment is the first time McDonald’s has been successfully prosecuted by a union in Australia.”