Re: AUT: parliament house & class composition [a nation of shop-keepers]

[Nate Holdren <nateholdren@xxxxxxxxx>]

hi Nik-
I don't have any numbers (I gotta get better about this...) but I know
there's a trend toward - or at least a strategy by the bosses using -
'individual contractor' status in workplaces here. It means that one
is not covered by minimum wage laws, state insurance for injury on the
job (workers' compensation), and one has to pay more taxes since the
boss doesn't kick in anything for social security. It doesn't really
make people into small businesses, though, folks are doing the same
work they used to do when legally considered workers.
best,
Nate


On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 10:45:38 +1100, nik <fragments@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >When I arrived things were already heating up, there seemed to be at
> >least 1000 people there.
> >So I must have missed some of the initial action that you saw.
>
> ah, I could be completely wrong about the numbers. I often am.
>
> >
> >The other big thing was the confrontation between police and
> >indigenous activists at Old Parliament House near the tent embassy
> >the following day.
>
> If I remember correctly, that happened again just recently (a month
> or so). The powers-that-be really don't like having a visible
> reminder of the indigenous dispossession on their front lawns...
>
> Just as an aside, I've been finding the posts about the changing
> configuration of class in the USA are very interesting. Australia is
> changing in a slightly different way in so far as we have become
> (again?) a nation of shop-keepers - 20% of the employed are small
> business owners (which means everything from small factories to
> corner stores to plumbers with two employees, to graphic designers
> with ABN's). Which doesn't sound too significant a number, but the
> dominate figure of 'the Australian polity' is that of the small
> business person. And on top of that, people are taught to think of
> themselves as 'individual businesses' - sell yourself, make yourself
> an attractive option for employment. Add the high rates of investment
> and property speculation in the general population, and you've got
> the hegemonic figure that walks the myth-scape.
>
> Are there similar changes occurring elsewhere?
>
> nik
> --
> ------| </end>
>
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