Un(der)employed People's Movement
Organising the unemployed

On October 31 the Un(der)employed People's Movement against Poverty (UPM 
against Poverty) will officially be launched in Adelaide (see box for 
details). Recent initiatives in South Australia around the United Trades 
and Labor Council (UTLC) and the UPM against Poverty have begun to gather 
momentum. The aim is to begin serious organisation of the unemployed and 
enable them to become a fighting force within the labour movement.

It is no surprise that these initiatives have taken root in South 
Australia.

South Australia has been hit especially hard by unemployment. In the past 
20 years a total of 40,000 jobs have disappeared from the manufacturing 
sector of the local economy. Economic growth, throughout the period, has 
been extremely limited.

The industrial base has shrunk. There are very few jobs with prospects 
available and even fewer apprenticeships and traineeships. The growth of 
part-time and casual work has hidden a great deal of unemployment and 
under-employment. For those in work, the threat of redundancy remains a 
very real fear.

The state has also experienced a general depopulation with many of the 
unemployed with exportable skills travelling interstate for better 
prospects.

The spectre of long-term unemployment is the daily reality for thousands of 
workers.

The general decline of health and welfare provisions and the introduction 
of "user-pays" far-right political philosophies throughout the state has 
had a dramatic impact upon those on the receiving end of government 
policies, both federal and state.

Initiatives such as the UTLC with its Jobs First document by 
Secretary, Chris White, reflect concerns about the deterioration of the 
local economy.

It has provided a rallying and lobbying point for activists to demand 
government intervention into the SA economy.

Organising the unemployed and under-employed in SA has become the main 
focus of the UPM against Poverty. The movement builds on a strong 
historical tradition, especially in SA. It draws on lessons from the 
Unemployed Workers' Movement (UWM) and the Squatters' Unions during the 
inter-war period.

Thousands of people supported the movement, and each other, against 
evictions, for work at full award rates, a doubling of the dole money and 
an allowance for rent.

During the 1860s and '70s unemployed people demonstrated in Adelaide and 
100 years later the Unemployed Workers' Union stepped into the long 
tradition of activists in SA with occupations of the Premier's Office, job 
hunts and other campaigns.

Today UPM against Poverty aims to continue the tradition and become an 
unfettered voice for those on low incomes, the unemployed and people who 
have to sign short-term contracts to make a living.

Harsh measures

Work-for-the-dole and other measures taken by the Howard Government to 
introduce more stringent regulations to limit benefits for the unemployed 
have already affected large numbers of unemployed.

These measures form part of an anti-working class political agenda. The 
next round of "reforms" will hurt thousands more unemployed people.

As the government attempts to crush trade union opposition and introduce a 
low-wage economy, social security and the rights of the unemployed become 
even more pressing issues.

Forcing the unemployed to accept low-wage jobs forms part of the neo-
liberal strategy aimed at maximising profits by the undermining of wages, 
conditions and awards for organised workers.

UPM against Poverty realises that the growing numbers of unemployed, who 
remain on the fringes and margins of society, are central to important 
struggles in the coming period. It is crucial that the labour movement 
effectively challenges the repressive policies of the Howard Government.