Underpayment Scandal

Capitalists in Australia blame underpayment of workers on the computer program they themselves bought. That’s the same as a millionaire shooting someone and saying ‘the gun did it!’ Expropriation would be a kindness!

The Australian Council of Trade Unions has responded:

Wage theft exists because the rights of working people have been eroded by a Government which has made attacking working people and their unions a number one priority.

The rights of unions to inspect pay records and conduct compliance checks, once understood to be essential to ensuring fair pay and treatment of working people has been stripped back. 

The Fair Work Ombudsman is a woefully inadequate alternative to allowing workers’ representatives to play a stronger role in stamping out wage theft. Only 4 per cent of complaints to the FWO in 2017-18 led to the FWO exercising its compliance or enforcement powers with $40 million recovered last year. PWC estimates that $1.35 billion was stolen from workers over the same period.

It is no coincidence that since unions have been limited in their rights to inspect records and conduct spot-checks in workplaces, wage theft has risen to a national crisis. Unions stop wage theft because they protect the basic rights of working people.

The full text is here https://www.actu.org.au/actu-media/media-releases/2020/government-response-to-billions-in-systemic-calculated-wage-theft-fails-workers

Deputy Leadership Candidates

All of the deputy leadership candidates were invited to answer questions. I was struck by the response of Richard Burgon.


I think open selection is one way to stop the Blairite fifth column from sabotaging the party in the future. I think the focus on a specific number of policies in the past was interpreted by the voters as "these are the ones they will actually do" but that is not what Richard Burgon is proposing.

What is your vision for strengthening the relationship between affiliated trade unions and the Labour Party, and how will you strengthen union members’ involvement in Party activity?

"Our Party members and trade union affiliates ensure we’re rooted in the realities of our communities. As Deputy Leader I will fight to empower members and trade unions to have a much greater democratic say over our party including:

"Ensuring MPs reflect the concerns of local working people: I fully back open selection. I am the only Deputy Leader candidate – and was the first of all the candidates in these elections – to call for this. We need a fully democratic system for members and trade unions to select their Labour candidates at each and every election. If we are to reconnect with lost voters, then Labour members from those areas must be able to choose the parliamentary candidate they think can best connect with their community."
"A greater say for unions in determining our campaigning focus: I will be a campaigning Deputy Leader.  I want party members and the trade unions to have much more in control of the campaigns we launch. As Deputy Leader I will fight to keep the radical policies of our manifesto – but we need to explain our policies better on the doorstep. I am proposing that we focus campaigning around 10 key policies that are easily explainable on the doorstep.  I would ensure a democratic process so that it is members and trade unions who decide these 10 policies."
"A stronger voice for unions on the NEC: I think the Democracy Review made some positive steps forward but there is a long way to go and I would take forward a wider range of proposals for a more democratic party. For example, I would like to see more trade union and grassroots members on the NEC."


The answers of all the candidates are available here

 

Enigma

I am sure it is possible to buy an Enigma Machine, for a small fortune from EBay for example. 

However, there is a website http://enigmaco.de/enigma/enigma.html which enables you to use an Enigma simulation for free. It does deserve the name "enigma".

It is thought that Alan Turing's team at Bletchley Park not only shortened the war but quite possibly altered the outcome.

Advice from Author Publish Magazine

Lots of good advice from Emily Harstone of Author Publish Magazine

Including: 4. Promote other writers’ work

I have always found it easier to talk about others’ work than to speak about my own. However, most authors, particularly new authors, shy away from doing this. It seems counterproductive. After all, why promote another author’s work when you could be promoting your own?

The reason is obvious, at leuast to me. People take you more seriously if you promote other authors’ work. It sends a clear message that you are not just out there to promote yourself. It builds community with other writers, particularly the ones you might be promoting, but others as well. When you start promoting your own work it will be taken more seriously because you have spoken up for others.

All of the established writers I know do this, but most of the writers just starting out, do not.

And today I am promoting Emily Harstone 

Eugenics

Eugenics is a term for the theory that people inherited mental illness, criminal tendencies and even poverty, and that these conditions could be bred out of the gene pool.

A prime advocate, before Dominic Cummings and Andrew Sabisky were even thought of, was Dr Josef Mengele.

During World War II, concentration camp prisoners endured horrific medical tests under the guise of helping Hitler create the perfect race. Mengele, an SS doctor at Auschwitz oversaw many experiments on both adult and child twins.

He used chemical eyedrops to try and create blue eyes, injected prisoners with devastating diseases and performed surgery without anesthesia. Many of his “patients” died or suffered permanent disability, and his gruesome experiments earned him the nickname, “Angel of Death.”

Under the eugenics policies of the Nazis, for example, people who were blind or deaf could be sterilised compulsorily.  Many disabled people found themselves in the death camps. "Caring Conservatism" indeed.

Cummings famously said there was no point in educating the children of the poor because the rich were genetically superior. Eton mess Boris Johnson is a prime example of this superiority. Chapter and verse are available here

The resignation of Sabisky is a step forward and indicates that Cummings is not as all-powerful as he would like to believe. However the refusal of Downing Street to repudiate this vile doctrine tells its own story.

Johnson does not need to pretend any more, now the election is over. The most disgusting racist views have been expressed by Johnson, Cummings and Sabisky. That is why the initiative of Unite and other trade unions to march against racism is so important.

 Mengele is dead. His views would seem to be alive.

Unite against racism

Assemble George Square, Glasgow at 11:00 and Portland Place, London W1A at noon

Organised by Stand Up To Racism

Johnson’s new Tory government has a racist agenda that we must oppose. On UN anti-racism day we want to show our opposition to Johnson’s racist agenda and offer our solidarity to those battling the growth of the far right internationally. Demonstrations in London and Glasgow will be coordinated with protests in the US and across Europe.
Organised by Stand Up To Racism

Tax Amazon

Tax Amazon seems a very modest proposal considering the extensive profits of firms like Amazon and the widespread suffering of working people. In the UK, for example, 6.5 million people who are in work are living in poverty. Remember that when the Tories boast about falling levels of unemployment.

Imagine the possibilities if firms like Amazon were expropriated.

Tax Amazon wrote to me:-

Our movement to Tax Amazon and build thousands of green, union-built, affordable homes has tremendous momentum.
Guess who’s scared?

Amazon. Microsoft. Alaska Airlines. The Chamber of Commerce. And Mayor Jenny Durkan.
They all are petrified after last fall’s election, which served as a repudiation of the corporate attempt to take over our elections. And on the heels of powerful grassroots momentum to Tax Amazon and big business on a scale commensurate with the gravity of the crisis, the political establishment and big business are pushing a new bill in Olympia, House Bill 2907, as an alternative.  
Please sign and share our petition today to say: Tax big business, not working people! No ban on progressive taxation! 
While any serious efforts to build affordable housing with progressive funding should be welcomed, we cannot let this bill stop our movement to make big business pay its fair share.

Peace Plan?

Trump's "peace plan" will inflame Palestinian anger and encourage more illegal settlements. It is a bit like calling the annexation of Austria or Sudetenland a "peace plan".

The CWI has commented on this. The link is here 

"It entrenches the national oppression of the Palestinians and formalises the end of the myth that a genuine Palestinian state is possible under capitalism. It dashes the hopes of Arab and Jewish working people in the region that a peaceful solution is possible." 

The fact the "peace plan" was launched by Trump and Netanyahu with no Palestinian involvement says it all. 

"The building of a democratically organised mass struggle against the Israeli occupation, that also sweeps aside the corrupt Palestinian leaders, is needed for the Palestinian working people to achieve liberation."

"The movement needs to adopt a socialist programme that can guarantee the rights of both the Palestinian and Jewish people, overcome the powerful Israeli capitalist state and promise an end to poverty, insecurity, exploitation, and war, for all, as the only means of securing a decent future."

Derek McMillan's Author Page on Amazon

Labour Leadership

According to half the media, Keir Starmer is the "front runner" for the leadership. However, Long-Bailey is described as "front runner" by the Telegraph because they wanted to use a facetious remark she made about "not ruling with an iron fist". The Express group found it in their interests to say Starmer and Long-Bailey were both "front runners".

This is a dubious use of the English language which only recognises one "front runner".

The likelihood is that Labour Party members (of which I am not one) will vote with their consciences. Being told that someone is a "front runner" will not affect their decision.

In fact, the "front runner" status is a fraud.

Sky News produced the assertion based on the following figures:
Keir Starmer - 31%
Rebecca Long Bailey - 20%
Jess Phillips - 11%
Yvette Cooper - 7%
Clive Lewis - 7%
Emily Thornberry - 6%
Lisa Nandy - 5%

Those are not the present candidates. Jess Phillips, Yvette Cooper, Clive Lewis are no longer in the race.

The left have avoided a showdown with the Blairite fifth column in the Labour Party. Long-Bailey is committed to an "open selection" process which will allow right-wing Labour MPs to be removed from the party. The right wing were never squeamish about removing left-wingers in the past.

One major contributing factor in Labour's defeat was a situation where Tory cuts were being carried out by Labour councils

Another was the Tory slogan "get Brexit done" which influenced some of the less politically savvy Labour voters. People who wanted Brexit because the EU had done nothing for them were attracted by it. People who were sick to death of Brexit were also attracted by the idea of just getting it over with.

In or out of the EU the same problems will remain. Any attempt to water down Labour's response would be disastrous. A small example is the decision to take Northern Rail into public ownership. 

The odious Mandelson is seldom off the BBC deriding the Labour Party and celebrating the Tory victory he helped to bring about by his constant carping and plotting. Whatever you say about Corbyn he had principles and he gave people hope. Mandelson would need a dictionary to find out what those words mean.

The case of Socialism was made by Eugene Debs a hundred years ago. He said, "don't vote for freedom, you might not get it. Vote for slavery, you've got a cinch on that!"

Derek McMillan's Author Page on Amazon