KEY POINTS:
The labour Party has got a big wake-up call from the electorate, with its poll support plummeting in recent weeks.
Despite the fact that Helen Clark and her Government have been good for the middle-class and the rich they have now deserted her for the resurgent National Party under John Key's leadership. Over the past eight years, Labour has been at pains to show itself to be a credible manager of the economy under essentially free-market and pro-business policy.
The death of Folole Muliaga after a Mercury Energy contractor switched her power off has, in some ways, turned a potential disaster for the Government into an opportunity to reconnect to its support base.
Clark's intervention is exactly the right move by a Labour Prime Minister to this sort of tragedy - we could all imagine Norm Kirk doing the same. Critics have, of course, lambasted her for being opportunistic by attending Muliaga's funeral, held in Mangere, where Taito Phillip Field is expected to stand at the next election.
Clark's "temporary" coalition partner Peter Dunne accused her of attending the funeral as a political gimmick. He looked a bit of an opportunist himself when the Muliaga family retorted that they had invited Clark and that Dunne hadn't even sent condolences. As Dunne's party claims to be the political voice of Christians, you'd think a short note saying they were in his prayers might have been a better use of his time than attacking his coalition partner.
While I believe Clark's actions have been genuine, this tragedy may also have some real political advantage. There has been a lot of talk about the Pacific Island vote deserting Labour, and Clark's conduct in the past fortnight should see a turnaround in support, at least in that constituency. Field's absence is surprising, suggesting he is preoccupied with his own problems. His negligence should ensure Labour regains Mangere.
While the Mercury Energy fiasco has had most New Zealanders up in arms at the company's actions, it is disturbing that there are some who are suggesting the tragedy was the family's own fault. This is the reaction that we expect from new-right fanatics, but there is an ugliness creeping through. Thankfully, no politicians have scratched this scab.
What no one has yet focused on was why the Muliaga family was struggling to pay their power bill. I'll tell you why. The Muliaga family, like hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders are being exploited by employers who are returning large profits to investors. Ever since the Bolger National Government deregulated the labour market, wages have been dropping while profits have been rising.
It's true that this Government has passed laws that help the most vulnerable workers. But it has not addressed the real problem of most workers' powerlessness in getting a living wage. Industrial laws favour the employer in negotiations.
Folole's husband, Lopa, is a member of my union and works in the kitchen at the Centra Hotel in Mangere. Like most of his workmates he gets paid $470 for 40 hours' work. After months of fruitless negotiations with their employer, the workers, for the first time in 20 years, voted to strike. Their employer's refusal to pay a living wage isn't credible when at the same time it is spending $10 million on refurbishments.
None of the workers on the picket could afford to strike. But they wanted to show their boss that they were serious, so they walked off their job for a couple hours and then went back to work. Lopa came in on his day off to support his workmates. Ominously, workers said on the picket line they found it very difficult to pay their rent, food and power bills on their wages.
It is a cruel irony that the message of their struggle was tragically underlined when later that day Folole died because of a lack of money. Unfortunately, the Muliagas are only the public face of the situation that tens of thousands of other families face. These are hard-working New Zealanders who have two, if not three, jobs to pay their way.
Mighty River Power, which supplies Mercury Energy, made a whopping $70 million profit this year, having raised the price of power by 20 per cent. If our politicians didn't demand exorbitant profits from these essential services, Folole would still be alive.
If we thought the bosses at Mercury were insensitive, what about the Centra boss? Even though Lopa's workmates are struggling, they are raising money for his family. Their boss gave a whopping $20 to the fund.
Tomorrow, the Department of Justice will hold a Pasifika conference at the Centra Hotel to have a "talkfest" about finding solutions to Pacific Islanders' problems. It's ironic, indeed, that the hotel they chose employs a Pacific Island worker whose spouse died because the family couldn't pay their power bill. The taxpayer-funded conference will, I'm sure, make a tidy profit for Lopa's employer.
But the Pacific Island workers employed at the Centra haven't been invited to give the attendees their advice. They are there to feed them and clean up afterwards.
This time it's different. Tomorrow the conference's "human subjects" will walk off the job at 4pm and picket outside. I suggest the conference attendees who are really interested in learning more about the problems of Pacific Islanders and the working poor come out and talk to them. They will learn more about injustice and poverty there than they could ever inside.
