BY ANNALUCIA VERMUNT
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand - An estimated 5,000 people participated in rallies in a number of cities throughout New Zealand to lobby for delays in cutting tariffs to zero on imported textiles, clothing, and footwear. The rallies were initiated by the Apparel and Textile Federation, an employer group, and joined by trade unions. More than 500 workers in Christchurch were bused by their bosses to the "March for Jobs" on May 1. Union banners prominently displayed at the event included Canterbury Combined Unions and the National Distribution Union (NDU), the main union in the garment and textile industry.

Speaking at the Christchurch rally on behalf of the employers federation, Glenn Keen said, "We're efficient but we're not paying 60 cents an hour like they do in China." Paul Watson, an official of the NDU, echoed these words, arguing that New Zealand companies can't compete with Fiji, Indonesia, and China "employing workers under slave labor conditions. We should be trying internationally to raise conditions for workers." Many of the placards in the rally had chauvinist New Zealand slogans like "Buy NZ."

The government is currently reviewing tariffs on non-car items, which under an agreement by members of the APEC forum are to be reduced to zero by 2010. The textile, shoe, and clothing and carpet industries have been lobbying for an exemption from tariff cuts.

A debate has opened up within the ruling class in New Zealand on how far and fast to move ahead of their trading rivals in removing tariffs. The apparel and textile lobby has won support from members of the New Zealand First party in the coalition government. Treasurer Winston Peters, a leader of New Zealand First, said that New Zealand should not reduce trade protections faster than its trading partners.

The Apparel and Textile Federation is asking the government to stop its tariff reductions between 2000 and 2005. The industry wants tariffs to be reduced in line with New Zealand's trading partners, particularly Australia, where tariffs are due to finish in 2005, and not ahead of them.

In the May 14 budget the government showed its determination to push ahead with tariff removal by announcing the immediate lifting of tariffs on imported motor vehicles. This is much more rapidly than under an APEC agreement to abolish tariffs by 2010. The budget brought forward a schedule of tariff reductions that had been announced last December, reducing them to zero by December 2000.

In the wake of this announcement, last December most current car manufacturers had announced plans to close assembly operations within New Zealand. Over 1,000 jobs will be eliminated in vehicle assembly.

At the APEC summit in Vancouver last November Trade Minister Lockwood Smith considered he had scored a "historic agreement" when APEC leaders agreed to a nine-sector trade deal. The agreement marked a significant acceleration towards eliminating tariffs by 2010 for imperialist nations and 2020 for semicolonial countries.

Two categories of particular importance to New Zealand business were the opening of trade in forest products, valued at $US245 billion, and fish $US57.6 billion. The New Zealand government will hold the chair of APEC in 1999, when it hopes to make progress in "food liberalization" and increase access to markets for New Zealand employers' agricultural goods. It is in these sectors that the New Zealand capitalists think they are best able to compete in international markets. They hope that by leading in the reduction of tariff barriers it will add to their negotiating weight in the trade forums.

Ruth Gray, Communist League candidate for mayor of Christchurch responded to the rallies that were called around the country on May 1 by explaining, "My campaign starts from how we can build a working-class movement independent of the capitalists and their interests. The working class must fight to build unity across borders.

"Backing employers' tariff protections, or advancing their `free trade' has no connection with that. Actions like these tie the interests of the workers to the well being of their employers, and they are a dead end for those looking for a way to fight for jobs for all."

On May 1, Gray visited the picket lines of dock workers in Australia and lent solidarity to the wharfies' victorious fight to win reinstatement to their jobs.

Annalucia Vermunt is a member of the Service & Food Workers Union in Christchurch, New Zealand.  
 
 
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