NO
TO CASHLESS WELFARE!
FOR
A LIVING WAGE FOR ALL CITIZENS!
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Left: The basics card, a similar card to that to be used
for the proposed “trial” of cashless welfare cards for those on unemployment
benefits, the disability support pension and some other payments. Any attempt
to control the spending of welfare benefits by governments represents yet
another affront to the dignity of those who are unable to work. The current
benefits are in any case well below any reasonable poverty line, and those
on them live in an ongoing precarious state.
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21-11-2015 – In yet another
attack of the living standards and dignity of those reliant on welfare
benefits, the Federal Government is planning to introduce “trials” of a
“cashless welfare debit card”. Such a card will contain up to 80% of a person’s
welfare payments, which can be used only for prescribed items, and only at
prescribed stores. The government’s stated intention is to prevent welfare recipients
spending on alcohol and drugs, and guide them towards consuming “basics” such
as food. Far from it. This is yet another assault on the most vulnerable
people, who deserve the most amounts of assistance and protection, instead of
being blamed for the economic and political failure of a system designed to
enrich the elite at the expense of the overwhelming majority.
Despite Australia having one
of the highest per capita incomes,
unemployment benefits are notoriously low, at around $167 below the recognised
poverty line.[1]
In economic circumstances where housing is extremely expensive even for those
with full time work, and where the cost of living continues to climb, it is
amazing that those on welfare can sustain themselves. The fact that the
cashless welfare card is the brainchild of billionaire mining magnate Andrew
“Twiggy” Forest,[2]
shows just how craven to big business the Liberal and Labor parties have become
while attempting to administer the for profit system. While the Greens have
criticised the cashless welfare card, it was the Greens who helped pass cuts to
the aged pension, and they were partners with the ALP when it drastically cut
the single parent payment, driving mostly single mothers further into poverty.
The Marxist-Leninist Group
(MLG) applauds the work of the Australian Unemployment Union (AUU) in
organising today’s national rallies against cashless welfare and further cuts
to welfare benefits. The MLG pledges to work alongside the AUU in all campaigns
to protect and extend the rights and entitlements of those who for whatever
reason cannot work, as well as those who are without work due to the economic
recession, now into its seventh year. We maintain, however, that groups such as
the AUU should not be left to fight alone. In particular, the AUU and its work
should have the full organisational and political backing of the entire Trade
Union movement, from the Australian Council of Trade Unions, to the respective
state based Union peak bodies, to the individual Unions themselves. It is in
the direct interests of the Union movement to actually fight against unemployment and to fight for a living wage
for those unable to work. For unemployment is the key whip which the capitalist
class holds against the workers, constantly threatening them with the sack if
they do not accept whatever harsh or unsafe working conditions they supply. The
potential of losing one’s income in economic circumstances where jobs are
difficult to find, is a huge barrier both to workers joining Unions and also
encouraging them to organise on the job. In the main, it is this type of
workplace organisation, officially backed by the Union leaderships, which can
assist in ensuring livable wages and decent working conditions. A strengthened
Union movement should then also be in a position to take up the cause of
ensuring decent welfare and living conditions for those unable to work. In this
scenario, it is much more difficult for employers to keep winning what has been
a one-sided class war for the last thirty-five years in this country.
Yet, here lies the rub. With
a few exceptions, pro-capitalist Union bureaucrats around Australia have
actively collaborated with the employers at the expense of their own members,
to ensure the profitability of the big business class. Three examples will
illustrate this. In Queensland in 2012, the Liberal National Party moved to
sack 20 000 public servants, the largest attack on the right to work in
Queensland history. The Together (formerly QPSU) Union leadership, in response,
did not call for, or organise, one minute of industrial action! In
South Australia, the SDA (Shop, Distributive and Allied Services Union)
leadership agreed to a plan with Business SA to abolish Saturday penalty
rates and halve Sunday penalty rates! Further, recently waterfront workers at
Hutchison Ports in Sydney and Brisbane were sacked by text message and email
overnight, in a planned move towards both de-Unionising and automating their
workforce. The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) leadership did move straight
into action in setting up picket lines. However, they also set about
undermining this action by pushing the dispute into the courts, when what was
needed was a fight for the right not to be terminated. In the end, the MUA
leadership obtained “voluntary” separation packages for
its members, and claimed this was a win because they hadn’t been sacked!
Combine these dire sell-outs with the fact that the Union movement has not
seriously campaigned against unemployment for decades, and we can see the effect
this has on the rights of those who need welfare benefits to survive. If
organised workers can be pushed around by employers, in cahoots with
unscrupulous Union officials, unemployed workers and those on welfare can and
will be open prey for pro-corporate governments.
While the MLG will
contribute to whatever current campaigns for the rights of unemployed and
welfare recipients ensue, we have no illusions in any capitalist state,
especially “our own”. Currently, Australia, the US, Europe and Japan are all
devastated by the ongoing recession, which shows little or no sign of abating.
Contrast this with China, whose powerhouse socialist economy is still producing
economic growth despite the dim conditions elsewhere. Similarly, permanent
rights to a job, a house, healthcare, education and culture can only be secured
with the overthrow of capitalism via the seizure of state power by the working
class, and the founding of a socialist republic. In such conditions,
unemployment will be avoided at all costs, as all available hands will be
needed to build a socialist economy so as to ease the workload of all, and
allow time to pursue arts, science, music, sport or whatever workers’
personality is suited to. Also, those unable to work through disability or
illness will be relatively easily catered for, and will be seen as equal
partners in the socialist project. In the meantime, it is necessary to mobilise
workers and Unions to demand decent treatment of those without work or unable
to work. No to cashless welfare! For a living wage for all citizens!
MARXIST-LENINIST GROUP (MLG)
PO BOX 66 NUNDAH QLD
4012
www.ML-Group.blogspot.com.au
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