Hi David,
Nice hearing from you, I'm glad to hear you're getting by okay in these grim times.
You asked how’s it going for us back here in New Zealand.
You would have heard that the whole country is locked down and with breaks for exercise and shopping, we’re all living under a sort of voluntary house arrest.
The start of the lock down triggered in me an old feeling from past years.
From those car assembly strikes we took back in the ‘70s. The feeling at the strike’s onset; after our vote to stop, the conflicting feelings, the element of excitement, dare I say it, of fun. The usual boring routine suddenly wiped away, all of us together on the brink of an adventure, with a strong sense of collective purpose. A feeling of being vibrantly alive.
Then, as days passed, bills came and arguments at home increased, anxiety. The ‘****, how will we come out of this one ‘ feeling.
Well, this time we can’t hand the dispute over for the Trades Council to save our face, we can’t even call a mass meeting and agree to go back on the bosses terms.
We can only stay staunch and hold out for a win.
Of course a factory strike analogy goes only so far, like the analogies with World war 2 several people have cited.
Today we’re not in a strike or a war but confronted with international spread of a frightening virus with no known antidote.
It’s been quite a ride and we’ve found out some interesting things, even after just three days.
Some of us are much better placed than others. Despite government relief measures, thousands of workers will be struggling desperately. Some will lose their homes, many workers won’t get their jobs back.
The more conscientious union organisers are working harder than usual, from home, fielding calls for help. Hotlines for domestic violence calls are also on the up.
The situation in some deprived overcrowded New Zealand homes right now doesn’t bear thinking about and its still just early days under lockdown.
At the moment there’s understandable faith in the authorities line of march and positive response to the Prime minister’s injunction for everyone to be “kind to each other”. Some people angrily dismiss any questioning of our government over this.
Best to your and yours,
Don
Test
Gaurav Seth 5 years ago
Hi David,
Nice hearing from you, I'm glad to hear you're getting by okay in these grim times.
You asked how’s it going for us back here in New Zealand.
You would have heard that the whole country is locked down and with breaks for exercise and shopping, we’re all living under a sort of voluntary house arrest.
The start of the lock down triggered in me an old feeling from past years.
From those car assembly strikes we took back in the ‘70s. The feeling at the strike’s onset; after our vote to stop, the conflicting feelings, the element of excitement, dare I say it, of fun. The usual boring routine suddenly wiped away, all of us together on the brink of an adventure, with a strong sense of collective purpose. A feeling of being vibrantly alive.
Then, as days passed, bills came and arguments at home increased, anxiety. The ‘****, how will we come out of this one ‘ feeling.
Well, this time we can’t hand the dispute over for the Trades Council to save our face, we can’t even call a mass meeting and agree to go back on the bosses terms.
We can only stay staunch and hold out for a win.
Of course a factory strike analogy goes only so far, like the analogies with World war 2 several people have cited.
Today we’re not in a strike or a war but confronted with international spread of a frightening virus with no known antidote.
It’s been quite a ride and we’ve found out some interesting things, even after just three days.
Some of us are much better placed than others. Despite government relief measures, thousands of workers will be struggling desperately. Some will lose their homes, many workers won’t get their jobs back.
The more conscientious union organisers are working harder than usual, from home, fielding calls for help. Hotlines for domestic violence calls are also on the up.
The situation in some deprived overcrowded New Zealand homes right now doesn’t bear thinking about and its still just early days under lockdown.
At the moment there’s understandable faith in the authorities line of march and positive response to the Prime minister’s injunction for everyone to be “kind to each other”. Some people angrily dismiss any questioning of our government over this.
Best to your and yours,
Don
0Thank You