On 4 August 2009, teachers and other staff members at Wellington High School in New
Zealand’s capital walked off the job to protest the National government’s
gutting of Adult and Community Education (ACE) night classes. Despite heavy rain, hundreds
of students, parents, ACE participants, trade unionists and political activists marched
with the teachers to Parliament. The demonstration, which was extensively covered in the
media, succeeded in focusing national attention on the government’s attacks on ACE,
which provides training for 220,000 working-class New Zealanders every year. While
slashing ACE funding from $16 million to $3 million, the government simultaneously
increased private school funding by $35 million.
The teachers’ action was initiated by Adaire Hannah, an IBT supporter in the Post
Primary Teachers Association (PPTA), with a motion that was passed unanimously by the
Wellington High School PPTA branch. The union’s national leadership, which had paid
scant attention to the ACE cuts, was alarmed by the prospect of an “illegal”
job action originating from the ranks. Hannah was immediately summoned to the
union’s headquarters, where PPTA President Kate Gainsford and five other officials
unsuccessfully tried to bully her into scuttling the walkout. Hannah’s intransigence
on the issue was endorsed by her fellow teachers at a subsequent branch meeting, where the
plan to walk out in collaboration with the school’s ACE staff was reaffirmed.
In the lead-up to the action, press releases were sent out, community groups were
notified and placard and banner-making sessions were organized. In the face of the
teachers’ determination, the Wellington High School Board of Trustees—their
employer—reluctantly sanctioned the protest, effectively removing the threat of
legal repercussions.
After walking out, the teachers and their supporters marched to Parliament. Halfway
along the route, Gainsford and several PPTA staffers joined in. During the rally, Hannah,
who was acting as MC, was approached by a union official with a request that Gainsford be
permitted to address the crowd. Hannah replied that the PPTA president was welcome to
queue up for the open mic after the scheduled speakers had finished. When Gainsford did
speak, her failure to propose any serious resistance to the government’s
anti-working class attack was noted by many of the protesters.
The issue of the PPTA News that appeared after the walkout announced that the
union would participate in a number of events during the 12 September 2009 National Day of
Action against the ACE cuts. The Wellington rally, which again took place in the rain,
drew 200 people and featured Gainsford on the speakers list along with a local Labour
Member of Parliament, two ACE officials and Hannah. In her remarks, Hannah called for
militant action on a national scale: “We need to stand up and say that when the
government attacks any section of our colleagues we will fight back.” She
also warned against electoralist illusions and pointedly reminded the audience of the
Labour Party’s record of imposing austerity:
“The Labour Party has promised to reinstate Adult and Community
Education. But we had better remember that when it was the government it underfunded
education too, and all other social needs. And it did not reverse the restrictions on
workers’ right to strike. Labour is just as opposed to workers’ solidarity as
National.
“Don’t put off fighting for our real needs today because it may
harm Labour’s [election] chances. No government—National or Labour—will
be generous unless we are determined to fight.
“As a socialist I believe that the sort of problems we are experiencing
internationally can only be solved through a radical reorganization of the entire economic
order. These attacks are part of a more general assault on working people and the poor by
those who own and control most of the wealth.”