The trend of government departments and capitalists to severely underestimate
inflation in Australia continued with the announcement on October 26 thatinflation had risen to a whopping 7.3%. ---- Back in June, the Fair WorkCommission's decision on the minimum wage was released. Their report was based onthe expectation of inflation gradually hitting a peak of 7.8% by December, beforequickly falling in the new year. Having weighed up the considerations of variousgroups representing big business, as well as the timid counter-proposals of theACTU, a decision was reached to raise minimum wage rates below $869.60 per weekby 5.2%, and those above it by 4.6%. ---- This pitiful result (which barely keptup with inflation at the time) was quickly out of date. Now, with a general riseof prices of 7.3% (and bound to go higher), it is nothing short of class war.When the bosses and politicians sit back as inflation shows no signs of slowing,they are cutting the purchasing power of our wages, and condemning the poorestworkers to precariousness and poverty.For now, it seems their plan is to simply watch as the Reserve Bank of Australiacranks up interest rates (i.e., increases the cost of borrowing money). For thoselucky enough to have bought a home, this means rising mortgages. For businesses,this means less investment - and that's exactly the point. Many capitalists arenow openly calling for central banks to intentionally induce a recession.Why would capitalists prefer a recession to runaway inflation? Capital is worriedabout inflation for many reasons, but the most important is the fear of classstruggle and a price-wage spiral.Currently, Australia has a 'tight labour market', meaning workers have more joboptions than usual. Because of this, bosses have to adjust to the pressures ofworkers being more willing to quit, or even to organise and demand higher wages,so that they can pay for rising rents, utility bills, and other price hikes. Tomaintain their current rate of profit, capitalists will typically look to pass onthe cost of paying higher wages to the consumer by raising the prices of theirproducts... And so inflation rises again...And with it, the risk of demands foreven higher wages!But raising prices is not always possible - there has to be sufficient demand tobuy the product at the new price. And here the capitalist is faced simply with adeclining rate of profit, and therefore their very survival in the market.Because of this, the ruling class are increasingly willing to intentionallyinduce a recession, and restore the power of capital over labour through highunemployment.So where are things headed and how do we respond? The crisis in the UK is awarning of things to come, and the MACG believes that we should be looking at howthe working class of that country is fighting back.A grassroots direct action campaign called Don't Pay UK has been organised inresponse to soaring heating bills, with a non-payment strike set for December 1.As of today, 235,954 people have pledged to take part. But even before striking,British capital and politicians have taken notice. Leaked documents from theenergy company E.ON show executives warning the British government of the"existential" risk posed by the strike, with projected losses of up to £265million per month across the industry. Government action swiftly followed, withthe then Chancellor of the Exchequer introducing a two year price cap of £2500.This is the power of self-organised direct action - even under right winggovernments! But British workers aren't just stopping at non-payment of bills. Asin the US (and to an extent even here in Australia), there has been a veryimportant uptick in strike action. A lot of attention is rightfully being givento the RMT rail strikes, and we wholeheartedly support their fight. But far lesshas been given to the rapid spread of wildcat strikes across Amazon warehousesback in August. It is worth quoting one of these workers:"We only planned to go on strike two hours before it actually happened. We hadseen the strikes at Tilbury and Rugeley fulfilment centres on TikTok... and itinspired us to strike.[We]started spreading the idea of a walkout through word ofmouth... By 1pm, we had over 300 people who walked out... At the beginning, wehad no help with the strikes from any trade unions. We organised it all ourselves."Like the RMT struggle, the fight of the self-organised Amazon workers is far fromover. But through their example, we can see the way forward for turning the classwar back in our favour.INFLATION IS CUTTING OUR PAY!RANK AND FILE STRIKE ACTION NOW!https://melbacg.wordpress.com/2022/11/06/inflation-explodes/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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