CAMPAIGN AGAINST YOUTH PAY RATES ATTRACTS THOUSANDS
Eyewitness reports of Auckland Youth in revolt by Omar Hamed
“F*** twelve dollars, we want twenty,” rapped Unite union member and hip-hop MC Fyzykl to around one thousand students and workers in Myers Park on Saturday Afternoon (March 18).
The occasion was the Supersizemypay.com
On Monday March 20 at noon in the heart of Auckland’s Central Business District, one thousand high school students who had walked out of school that morning rallied to demand an end to youth rates. The students were demonstrating the power of collective direct action; using their feet to vote for the Green Party initiated Minimum Wage Amendment Bill that will scrap youth rates for sixteen and seventeen year olds, to be passed.
The action was called by Aotearoa Radical Youth; a network of anti-capitalist Auckland students and young people that was established last year, by myself and two other high school students, to provide a means of challenging the injustice in our world. A recent Media Release called the action, a “show of unity and solidarity that was not “whining about politicians” or “an excuse to wag school”, but taking action in a direct manner against discriminatory laws and practices.” Students attending the rally were from up to 20 different schools across Auckland, although other schools that walked out were unable to make it to the rally.
A representative from each school spoke briefly about their experiences with youth rates, and how they feel sick and tired of being exploited and discriminated against because of their age. After the rally, the thousand students marched down Queen Street, making small forays into multinational fast food outlets, to bring the fury of the streets back in the faces of the managers and politicians. The day was a good step for the campaign against youth wage discrimination and a good day was had by all except those who suffered brutal police behaviour directed at marchers. A brief scuffle with police got me arrested, after I attempted to slow a speeding ambulance that I felt was endangering the safety of young people who had seated themselves in the middle of an intersection. The march continued to Britomart and back up to Aotea square before dispersing.
Some schools tried to stop students from walking out. At Takapuna Grammar, my old school, and the only school who had some idea of who Radical Youth are, because I threatened to take them to the Human Rights Commission last year for censoring Anarchist websites, 500 students were about to go on strike until the principal promised in an impromptu assembly, “If you do not walkout today, I will take three of you to Wellington with me next Monday and we will approach Parliament to take up the issue”. The students did not end up going on strike, so it is expected that three students, including the Radical youth member at Takapuna, will be flying to Wellington next Monday to talk to parliament about the issue. This was a result of the action these students were about to take. We know that this trip will add clarity to the unified voices of all the students who walked out demanding the abolition of youth rates.
At Auckland Girls Grammar, teachers stood in a physical line blocking students from walking out. Despite this, around 40 students from Auckland Girls managed to get past and marched all the way to Aotea Square chanting “2 4 6 8 NO MORE YOUTH RATES!” This scene brought to mind the physical line that Prefects formed at Takapuna Grammar to block us walking out in 2003 when hundreds of school students walked out in support of the teacher’s union pay and conditions negotiations. Then like now the majority of teachers and even Principals supported the walkout and were delighted that young people were participating in the world around them.
Radical Youth spokesperson during the walkouts and former Pizza Hut worker who went on strike last December with Unite against the WTO and exploitation of migrant labour, Nista Singh is facing a commendation from her principal at Mt. Roskill Grammar for her work on the Supersizemypay.com
The walkout looks to be paying off, with the Unite union announcing today that McDonalds is looking at phasing out youth rates, something the union says the company were not going to do before the walkout. As youth win over public opinion, for an end to discrimination, more youth are standing up and fighting back against injustice. We are young, we are angry and we are poor. And as the recent insurgency in France shows us, We Are Everywhere.
