350,000 US education jobs slashed in September

Renae Cassimeda

K-12 schools and colleges across the United States have issued yet another round of mass layoffs stemming from the economic fallout of the pandemic, with at least 350,000 education jobs slashed in September alone. According to the latest jobs report from the Department of Labor, employment in local government education fell by 231,000 and state government education by 49,000, while employment in private education decreased by 69,000.

The September layoffs come four months after an unprecedented 1.4 million layoffs to education workers throughout the country as a result of the pandemic. As was the case in April and May, the layoffs have affected in most part classified employees such as bus drivers, food service workers, campus assistants, paraeducators and other school employees. These school staff have been added to the growing mass of tens of millions facing evictions, hunger and destitution.

These mass layoffs take place as deadly school reopenings are pushed by federal and state governments across the US, in order to get students back into the classrooms to force their parents back into workplaces. Over 30 school employees and students have already died since schools began to reopen en masse in late July, while at least 42,778 students and educators have been infected and the health and lives of millions of people have been placed at risk.

School districts across the nation are facing financial disaster and ruin. Researchers at the Learning Policy Institute have estimated the pandemic’s financial costs to public schools to be between $199 billion and $246 billion, which includes both the increased costs of dealing with COVID-19 and the loss of state revenue.

Furthermore, there have been record declines in enrollment throughout the country. Though there is not yet comprehensive national data on enrollment declines, a recent report from NPR shows there have been major reductions in dozens of school districts across at least 20 states. Of note, Los Angeles Unified School District in California, the second largest district in the country, has reported a drop in enrollment by 11,000 in students, while Miami-Dade County Public School District in Florida has lost at least 8,000 students, primarily from pre-K and kindergarten students.

Student enrollment is directly tied to the amount of state funding allocated for school districts, and such massive declines in enrollment throughout the US will be used to justify further austerity.

New York faces a $16 billion budget shortfall and the deficit is expected to grow to $66 billion over the next four years. According to a report by the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA), school budget cuts combined with increased costs would leave nearly four in 10 school districts in the state either financially insolvent or unable to provide a sound, basic education to their students.

New York City alone faces a $9 billion debt for the next two years, and Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio has already instituted mass furloughs and threatened layoffs of 22,000 workers if the city is denied funds from the state. On Thursday, city officials announced they will not be paying teachers $900 million in retroactive pay due to budget cuts.

Various financial maneuvers and stop gap measures such as hiring freezes, cuts to programs, and school funding deferments have allowed many districts to stave off greater budget cuts and layoffs, but only in the short term. September’s mass job terminations are but a foreshadow of the looming economic disaster many districts face in the coming months. In many districts there are politicians promoting illusions that federal aid will stave off cuts, but in reality the entire political establishment is determined to destroy public education by starving districts and states of funds. The transition to remote learning, while necessary for public health, will be used by capitalist politicians to justify further budget cuts and mass layoffs.

Empty classroom (Image Credit: Pixelbay)

The mass layoffs in education have largely gone unreported in the mainstream media, while the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the National Education Association (NEA), and their state and local affiliates have done nothing to expose their extensiveness or carry out any struggle in defense of workers’ jobs. A snapshot of some of the recent layoffs include:

• In New York, Schenectady City School District laid off over 100 teachers, social workers and school counselors and over 200 paraprofessionals on September 15 to cover $22 million of a $28.5 million budget deficit. Albany City School District eliminated nearly 220 full-time positions and restructured two specialized schools to cover $16 million of a projected $26 million deficit. Another 220 layoffs were announced at the end of September in Rochester City School District. The layoffs, which include cafeteria workers, custodial staff, and campus assistants, will be effective October 16.
• In California, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest district in the country, has seen nearly 520 job terminations and 265 resignations since August, which includes both school employees and teachers. The Los Alamitos Unified School District eliminated 15 positions last month. Originally planning to lay off 292 workers in the district, the board withdrew its intention after plans were made to reopen elementary and middle schools in the district to in-person instruction. The decision came after teachers were on the brink of strike action and the union backed down from opposition, helping to push through a plan to reopen schools.
• In Florida, Broward County Public School District is offering pay raises to teachers who agree to teach in-person, while teachers who don’t return must apply for a leave of absence, which in most cases will likely be unpaid.
• In Frederick County, Virginia, nearly 600 school bus drivers and food service workers in Frederick County Public School District were laid off, effective September 15.
• In Maryland, Baltimore City School District last month announced layoffs of over 450 temporary employees and imposed a hiring freeze as it tries to make up for a $21 million budget shortfall. The layoffs will affect many full-time employees, including some teachers and teachers’ assistants.
• In Dayton, Ohio, over 240 school employees at Dayton County Public Schools were temporarily laid off last month in order to save $2.4 million over the course of nine weeks. Layoffs included teachers, nurses, counselors, administration, bus drivers and clerical staff. The layoffs have been met by protests from parents, teachers and other school staff.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act allocated only $13.2 billion of the total $2 trillion for K–12 public education, which accounted for less than 2 percent of total public education funding in the 2020–21 school year. This funding, which was stipulated to be used only for additional costs in dealing with the virus and not budget issues, has long since dried up.

Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos recently stated at an online event, “We have continued to urge states and districts to make sure they’re offering [in-person learning] as an option to families. Of course, these are state and local decisions, but we will continue to use the bully pulpit to urge this to happen.”

In July, Trump offered to include $105 billion in a future stimulus package, under the stipulation that if a given local district did not reopen, the money would be withheld, to “follow the child.” These are code words for transferring public funds to private, religious or privately-managed charter schools, with Trump seeking to blackmail schools into reopening with in-person instruction.

A Special Education teacher in Hawaii with a PhD in Education, who has been teaching in Hawaii Public School District for over 20 years, spoke on the conditions in her state. She has been on medical leave since classes began in August and recently put in for leave without pay through December due to the uncertainty of schools reopening.

She declared, “I’m done fighting this. Special Education teachers here are not getting approved to telework. I have not gotten unemployment and my school would rather have an unlicensed teacher as a sub for my kids coming face-to-face than work something out with me for distance learning. It’s beyond shameful what’s happening here.”

Sylvia, a preschool teacher in Queen Creek Arizona with 12 years, is one of a handful of teachers in her district who face retaliation after voicing safety concerns and taking leave at the beginning of the school year. She took two weeks’ leave and was threatened with her position being reassigned just prior to returning to work. Her current position was given to the teaching aide, and her application for FMLA has been denied by the district, which is instead offering only 35 continuous days of leave with no pay.

Sylvia commented, “They are keeping the teaching aide in that position and told my students’ parents that they would be changing the teacher requirements for preschool teachers. I’m not feeling well because my rheumatoid arthritis is really out of control due to the stress.

“Right now I am out until December. The stress has taken a huge toll on both my mental and physical well-being. I absolutely need a job and can’t afford to be out without pay, and they know this. I am not sure what to do. I shouldn’t be working but I can’t afford not to. It feels as if they are going above and beyond to keep me out of my classroom, and it definitely feels like I am being punished for taking leave. I am just so disheartened.”

The struggle against deadly school reopenings and the threat it places on millions of lives is inextricably bound up with the fight for jobs and high quality public education. Under the current structures, neither state or local officials, nor the trade unions are offering any protections for jobs or workers’ lives. This is why workers must form their own organizations, independent of the unions, to fight back.

There has been growing opposition to school reopenings by educators, parents and students across the US and internationally. Its most conscious expression has been in the building of the Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committees, which have already been established in New York City, Detroit, Los Angeles, Florida, Texas, and Pennsylvania, with more currently being developed across the US.

A profile of the conspirators in the Michigan plot

Patrick Martin

There are six men named in the federal indictment charging them with planning to kidnap and murder Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. They face multiple charges that could carry life terms of imprisonment.

Adam Fox

Adam Fox, 37, of Grand Rapids, is a contract worker at Vac Shack, a vacuum cleaner repair shop in Grand Rapids. Fox has worked there for 10 years and recently has lived on the premises, in a basement room where he hosted at least one meeting of the fascist group to discuss plans to attack Governor Whitmer.

Described in the federal indictment and many press accounts as the leader of the group, he is said to have appealed for 200 men to storm the state Capitol in Lansing and take hostages, before downsizing the plot to focus on kidnapping Governor Whitmer, putting her on “trial” for treason and then executing her. He purchased an 800,000-volt Taser for use in the kidnapping.

Six facing federal charges: Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, Brandon Caserta (left to right)

Barry Croft

Barry Croft, 44, of Bear, Delaware, is a self-employed long-haul truck driver who, according to one report, owes $35,000 to the IRS. He is now jailed in Delaware pending extradition to Michigan. Some press accounts portray him as a link between the Michigan conspirators and a nationwide fascistic milieu. The operation against Whitmer reportedly has its origins when Fox and Croft made contact over social media. Croft has a record of right-wing political views going back a decade, and he has been linked to far-right trends like the Three Percenters and QAnon on social media. He supported Trump in 2016, in large measure because he shared Trump’s anti-immigrant views.

Croft was convicted of a series of felonies, including assault, burglary, and possession of firearms during a felony, from 1994 to 1997, when he was 18 to 21 years of age. His longest prison term from those offenses, all in Delaware, was from December 1997 to November 2000, after which he apparently did not reoffend. At least that was the belief of the Delaware pardon board, which accepted his petition for a full pardon “for employment purposes,” which was issued by Democratic Governor John Carney last year.

Once engaged with the Michigan group, Croft was among the most active, attending weapons training sessions in Michigan and Wisconsin, planning meetings in Ohio, and developing a specialty as a bomb-maker. Using a commercial firework and what he called his “chemistry set,” he built the improvised explosive device that the group tested in Luther, Michigan on September 12.

Ty Garbin

Ty Garbin, 24, of Hartland in Livingston County, is an airplane mechanic, apparently now unemployed. He is now jailed in Kent County (Grand Rapids). He or his family own several rural properties, including a house and surrounding land in Luther in Lake County, which was the base of operations for surveillance of Whitmer’s vacation home. Garbin also owns another piece of property in Cadillac, Michigan, and a boat which was to be used to take Whitmer to Wisconsin.

Federal agents and state police staged a massive raid on the night of October 7 at Garbin’s manufactured home at 1662 Lansing Avenue in Hartland, arresting him, Fox, and other co-conspirators. Garbin shared the home with several older people, whose relationship to him has not been disclosed. (They are not his parents, who live in Wyandotte, Michigan, and they were not arrested.) The home has at least four vehicles, two of them pickup trucks, parked around it. The federal charging document claims Garbin was a member of a militia group and met Fox at a Second Amendment rally at the state Capitol in Lansing, presumably on June 18, where he agreed to take part in further direct action.

Kaleb Franks

Kaleb Franks, 26, of Waterford Township, a northwest suburb of Detroit, is a mental health aide at Meridian Health who studied at Washtenaw County Community College. He is also now in Kent County Jail. According to the federal charging document, he initially expressed reluctance at joining an effort to kidnap and kill Whitmer, but then changed his mind and became an enthusiastic proponent, declaring, when the group met in Luther on September 13, “Kidnapping, arson, death. I don’t care.”

While he purchased his home on Holbrook Avenue in Waterford in 2018 for only $11,660—an indication of straitened financial circumstances—he spent $4,000 during the summer on a helmet and night-vision goggles for use in the surveillance of Governor Whitmer’s vacation home. Where this money came from has not been disclosed. He participated in several tactical training exercises in Munith, Michigan, where the two leaders of the Wolverine Watchmen, Peter Musico and Joseph Morrison, lived.

Daniel Harris

Daniel Harris, 23, of Lake Orion, a northwest suburb of Detroit, was a Marine infantryman on active duty from 2014 to 2019, most recently stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. After discharge from the military, he returned to Michigan and was living in his parents’ house while working in construction. He is now in Kent County Jail.

Harris attended a planning meeting in Ohio on July 18 which “discussed attacking a Michigan State Police facility,” according to the federal charging document. Later that month the group decided to focus on kidnapping and killing Whitmer. After a tactical training session in Munith on August 9, Harris reportedly said of the plan to seize Whitmer, that the attack should be straight out execution: “Have one person go to her house. Knock on the door and when she answers it, just cap her.…”

Brandon Caserta

Brandon Caserta, 32, of Canton, in the western Detroit suburbs, lost his job at a Chipotle restaurant some time after Whitmer’s March 16 order closing all restaurants and bars in the state due to the coronavirus, which was later lifted to allow take-out operations, and further lifted to allow limited in-house service. He is now in Kent County Jail.

Caserta had a very active presence on social media, including posts in support of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old Trump supporter who gunned down two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August. He appeared on social media in a Hawaiian shirt, in the style of the fascist “Boogaloo Bois,” and on at least one video attacked Trump from the right-wing anarchist standpoint, while depicting the COVID-19 pandemic as a conspiracy against America.

Seven men were named in state indictments charging them with 19 total counts of terrorism, material support for terrorism, gang membership, and various firearms charges, connected with planning an assault on the state Capitol and targeting individual policemen for attack. All are alleged to be members of the Wolverine Watchmen, a recently formed militia, after in some cases belonging to other militia groups previously.

Seven facing state charges: Joseph Morrison, Pete Musico, Paul Bellar, Shawn Fix, Eric Molitor, Michael Null, William Null (left to right)

Joseph Morrison

Joseph Morrison, 26, of Munith, about 12 miles northwest of Jackson, was a Marine Corps reservist from 2014 until now, most recently assigned to a military depot in Battle Creek, Michigan. He is now jailed in Jackson County on $10 million bail. He is allegedly the “commander” of the Wolverine Watchmen and uses the online title “Boogaloo Bunyan.”

Morrison shares a house on Dunn Road in Munith with Peter Musico and is reportedly married to Musico’s daughter. He has no apparent employment outside of his Marine reservist duties, which were terminated the day he was arraigned on state felony charges in Jackson. The Marine Corps claimed that the termination had nothing to do with the charges.

Peter Musico

Peter Musico, 42, of Munith, shared the home on Dunn Road with his daughter and Morrison. He is now jailed in Jackson County, held on $10 million bail, and described as the other leading figure in the Wolverine Watchmen. The house is run down, surrounded by vehicles in various states of disrepair, and was recently subject to a tax lien of $1,731, which Musico apparently paid off, although like Morrison he has no reported employment. There is a large Confederate flag visible near the house.

Neighbors have called the police in the past about the condition of the property and the firing of high-powered automatic weapons. By one account, there was a regular Sunday weapons exercise from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. involving dozens of men in military-style fatigues. Musico had a YouTube channel on which he regularly denounced Whitmer and praised President Trump.

Paul Bellar

Paul Bellar, 21, of Milford, was in the Army, stationed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, until he was discharged last year with post-traumatic stress disorder. He was arrested in South Carolina, where his father lives, and now faces extradition to Michigan. He had lived in a mobile home park in Milford until he was evicted for non-payment of rent during the summer.

According to the state charges, in the Wolverine Watchmen, Bellar was “appointed the role of ‘Sergeant,’ had specific expertise in medical and firearms training and designed tactical exercises for training.” He now faces charges of providing material support for terrorist acts (a 20-year felony), gang membership (a 20-year felony), and carrying or possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony (a two-year felony).

Shawn Fix

Shawn Fix, 38, of Belleville, is a truck driver, employed at a local trucking company for the past seven years. He is now jailed in Antrim County, where Governor Whitmer’s vacation home is located, with the court setting a $250,000 cash bail on charges of providing material support for terrorist acts and carrying or possessing a firearm during commission of a felony.

Fix lived in an old house on a dirt road near the Lower Huron Metro Park, with two “Truckers for Trump” lawn signs, an American flag, and a flag with a coiled snake and the motto “Don’t Tread on Me.” He was apparently not active on social media but participated in weapons training exercises and in surveillance of Governor Whitmer’s summer home.

Eric Molitor

Eric Molitor, 36, of Cadillac, worked for Adelphia, a large telecommunications company, either as a contractor or direct employee. He is now jailed in Antrim County, also on $250,000 bond. He was active on social media, posting about the QAnon conspiracy theory and the ultraright Three Percenters, and praising Kenosha gunman Kyle Rittenhouse.

Molitor is married and has extensive family ties in the Cadillac area in the northern lower peninsula. His residence was closer to Whitmer’s vacation home than any other member of the conspiracy, and he reportedly participated in the surveillance of it.

Michael Null

Michael Null, 38, of Plainwell, was active in the Michigan Liberty Militia prior to joining the Wolverine Watchmen. He is now jailed in Antrim County on charges of providing material support for a terrorist act and felony firearms, with bail set at $250,000 cash. No information has been made public on his occupation or social media activities, but he was photographed carrying an assault rifle on April 30 at the state Capitol in Lansing along with his twin brother William, and at a subsequent anti-lockdown rally in Grand Rapids in May.

William Null

William Null, 38, of Shelbyville, also active in the Michigan Liberty Militia before the Wolverine Watchmen, is also jailed in Antrim County, with bail set at $250,000 cash. He is believed to work for Long & Foster real estate, but in what capacity is not clear. He was photographed along with his twin brother Michael at the April 30 armed rally at the state Capitol, standing next to Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf.

At a subsequent rally against the coronavirus lockdown in Grand Rapids, Sheriff Leaf was speaking to a crowd and pointed out Null, a large man wearing tactical gear and carrying an assault rifle, and declared, “This is our last home defense right here, ladies and gentlemen.”

The crowd of several hundred chanted “USA! USA!” in response. At the June 18 “American Patriot” rally at the Capitol building in Lansing, William Null was photographed working on the security detail for the event, which was attended by Adam Fox, Ty Garbin, and several others of the future conspirators.

Jobs bloodbath in Australia continues as companies restructure to slash costs

Terry Cook

Thousands of jobs continue to be shed across Australia as companies continue to restructure their operations to slash costs in a bid to offset the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and maintain profits.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the unemployment rate is currently 6.8 percent, down from a 22-year high of 7.5 percent in July. The ABS monthly jobs survey, however, understates the real levels of joblessness by counting as employed anyone who has worked for just one hour a week.

A more reliable indicator of current levels of joblessness is provided by Roy Morgan Research. According to its September survey, 1.83 million people were unemployed or 12.9 percent of the workforce. An additional 1.33 million or 9.4 percent were under-employed—i.e., working but seeking more hours. In total, a massive 3.16 million, 22.3 percent, were unemployed or under-employed.

A section of a Qantas airplane [Credit: pxfuel.com]

The real rate of unemployment is also obscured by the federal Liberal government’s JobKeeper scheme under which employers originally received $1,500 per fortnight to keep employees on their books, even when they have been stood down. The government scheme was introduced in April, when COVID-19 restrictions were being imposed and out of fear that the looming depression levels on unemployment would provoke social explosions.

Unemployment levels are set to leap dramatically as the JobKeeper payment is wound up at the end of March next year, having already been reduced to $1,200. According to Natasha Hawker, director of Employees Matter, the end of JobKeeper will leave workers exposed to a “redundancy bloodbath.” She told the media that for smaller businesses—“for whom cash flow is vital”—JobKeeper “has been like a ventilator but the oxygen is about to be turned off, and some businesses won’t survive without life support.”

Those employees now being thrown out of work will also face increasing financial hardship as the federal government moves to end the JobSeeker unemployment benefit that it introduced in the first months of the pandemic, doubling the previous social security payment. The JobSeeker benefit has now been slashed by $300 to $815.70 a fortnight, and will revert to the old poverty-level $282.85 a week payment from January.

The JobSeeker payment is being slashed to coerce the jobless into low-wage employment and the drastically worsened conditions that have been created during the pandemic. One of these areas is in farm produce harvesting, where the government has reduced its COVID-19 travel restrictions so that the agricultural industry can access cheap backpacker labour.

The “redundancy bloodbath” underway since April has seen thousands of jobs destroyed across the university sector.

According to the latest figures compiled by the National Tertiary Education Union on September 25, nearly 12,500 permanent jobs have been cut at Australian universities or 10 percent of the entire pre-COVID-19 university workforce of approximately 130,000 people. The union estimates that 90,000 permanent, fixed-term and casualised tertiary jobs have been eliminated in the past six months.

Many employers are utilising COVID-19 to restructure and implement sweeping workplace changes that were planned prior to the pandemic, including moving face-to-face customer services to online servicing and opening the way for further outsourcing of jobs.

For example, in September, Suncorp, the Brisbane-headquartered banking and insurance group, announced that it will permanently close 19 stores in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria and one business centre at the cost of 550 jobs. Most of the stores had been shut since April. A Suncorp spokesman said the company was “continuing to realign teams around our new operating model.”

Thousands of jobs have been axed in the airline sector, led by Australia’s largest carrier, Qantas, despite pocketing millions of dollars in government handouts. At the end of August, the company announced the destruction of 2,400 in-house ground staff positions through outsourcing. This came on top of the elimination of 6,000 jobs earlier in the year. Virgin Australia, newly-acquired by corporate raider Bains Capital, has announced another 150 job cuts on top of the 3,000 slashed in August.

Other layoffs include:

Travel agency Flight Centre announced this month it will shut down 91 stores across Australia, destroying hundreds of jobs. The cuts come on top of the 300 store closures and the axing of 4,000 sales and support workers jobs by the company in the past six months.

As part of a global restructure, Chevron will cut 230 jobs, or 10 percent of the workforce, at its Australian operations. This follows the company’s elimination of 1,500 jobs in July.

Australia’s largest meat processing company, JBS, announced last month it will cut 600 jobs at its Dinmore plant in Queensland, or a third of the 1,700-strong workforce. Consultancy company Accenture will cut up to 250 jobs at its Australian operations, as part of an international restructure to cut 25,000 positions worldwide.

Opera Australia has plans to axe over 25 percent of its permanent workforce and terminate the contracts of many others. The company employs over 300 permanent artists and staff, and provides employment opportunities for up to 1,000 people in any one year.

The NRL (National Rugby League) will cut 25 percent of staff, including head office positions, in a restructure to save $50 million per year.

The Australian Defence Department in August said it will cut 111 jobs across multiple divisions, including those of scientific and engineering specialists.

As pandemic surges worldwide, governments resist new lockdowns, step up back-to-work drive

Benjamin Mateus

The past week has seen a substantial shift in the number of new cases of COVID-19 globally. Over the weekend, new highs approaching 360,000 daily cases worldwide were recorded.

The upward trajectory was already evident last month, under conditions where all governments had launched drives to reopen the schools and campuses, with no serious safety measures in place, no approved vaccines and no containment of the pandemic. The result has predictably been a surge in infections and deaths. But the capitalist governments deem the reopening of the schools as essential to forcing workers back onto the job and increasing corporate profits.

Globally there are at present 37.7 million cases and 1.08 million deaths. Active cases now number over 8.3 million, which indicates that the present transmission rate remains remarkably high.

Cemetery workers place crosses over a common grave after burying five people at the Nossa Senhora Aparecida cemetery in Manaus, Brazil [Credit: AP Photo/Felipe Dana]

Whereas over the summer the United States, Brazil and India accounted for the highest number of new cases, over the last two weeks Europe has seen an even more rapid rise in new infections, at levels far higher than those experienced by Europe previously. Spain, France and the United Kingdom now equal the United States in daily new confirmed cases per million.

Behind these epidemiological statistics are mounting fears in financial circles, despite the ongoing stock market boom, of a worsening economic crisis. As the Financial Times noted: “With the second wave of coronavirus undermining efforts to return to normal, businesses’, households’ and investors’ confidence shaken, and little scope for additional monetary policy stimulus, most countries have a long way to go before output reaches pre-pandemic levels.”

According to the latest Brookings-Financial Times tracking index, significant doubts remain of a “robust” recovery. The stock market surge has depended on near-zero interest rates maintained by the Federal Reserve in the US and central banks around the world, plus trillions of dollars in public funds handed over to the corporate-financial oligarchy during the pandemic. But the real economy is in the deepest slump since the Great Depression. Brookings and the Financial Times write that “private consumption growth has slowed as fiscal stimulus measures wind down, which has led to a decline in household disposable income, and prospects of further stimulus remain uncertain.”

The euro zone, including Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan, are in perilous shape as they face severe and prolonged economic contractions. Despite remarks in the press about China leading a global recovery, there is doubt that China will provide a substantial lift to international demand. Meanwhile, poorer nations face a calamitous situation.

At the same time, rising cases and growing hospitalizations are placing significant pressures to respond to the crisis. Nevertheless, the policy of “herd immunity” continues to be prosecuted as every government emphatically resists future lockdowns or other broad-based containment efforts. The European governments are following the same basic path spearheaded by the Trump administration in the US, no less dictated by the interests of the banks and corporations.

In the face of an explosive growth of infections, the Spanish government imposed a state of emergency allowing it to maintain a partial lockdown on Madrid, affecting nearly 4.8 million people. The city’s hospitals have seen a surge of new patients admitted with COVID-19.

There were over 12,000 new cases on October 8 and 241 deaths on October 9. COVID-19 patients account for 40 percent of all ICU beds.

Businesses and local authorities, however, are resisting these new restrictions. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Spanish economy, heavily reliant on tourism, is expected to contract between 10.5 and 12.6 percent in 2020 . The Journal added that “the center-right regional government opposed the restrictions and appealed to the courts to overturn the order.” The Madrid High Court ruled that the restrictions would infringe on “citizen's fundamental rights,” creating a situation ripe for social strife.

COVID-19 cases in France are rising at a substantial pace, three times higher than the April peaks. On Saturday, health authorities reported close to 27,000 new cases. According to the Associated Press , 40 percent of the Paris region’s ICU beds are now occupied by COVID-19 patients. As in Spain, the number of deaths has been rising. Dr. Karim Debbat, who runs a small ICU ward in the Southern city of Arles, told the AP that he simply did not have additional places for patients. He said he was scrambling to convert recovery rooms and delaying elective surgeries.

Daily new cases of COVID-19 per million Europe vs US

President Macron has defended his abysmal record. When confronted by protesting Paris health care workers demanding increased investments in hospital systems, he disparagingly said, “It’s no longer a question of resources, it’s a question of organization.” Little has been done to prepare for a second wave and, after years of austerity, the health system has been left in shambles. France’s ICU capacity stands at 6,000 and over 1,400 ICU beds are already occupied.

The United Kingdom has also seen an explosion of new cases, with a single-day high of 17,540 infections on October 8. There were 81 fatalities on Saturday, with trends edging higher after summer lows in single digits. Hospital admissions have climbed by 50 percent. With more than 3,000 COVID-19 patients being treated in British hospitals, Britain’s deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, told members of parliament (MPs) that the ICUs in the North West could reach capacity in the next few weeks.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to make a statement to parliament today on implementing partial lockdowns to stem the rapid rise in cases of COVID-19. The new wave has devastated the UK’s testing and tracing program, as delays in results hamper efforts to get ahead of the deluge.

ean Donnelly, deputy leader of Knowsley Council, said to the Financial Times, “The virus has spread right across the community. We are seeing lots among the older population. I wish we could pinpoint how it is spreading. We don’t know. We need a total lockdown.”

Much of the blame for the surge is being placed on the return of university students to large campuses and packed residence halls.

Global cumulative deaths due to COVID-19 WHO Dashboard

Johnson is expected to face significant opposition from within his Conservative Party. Dozens of Tory MPs oppose his plans for new restrictions, claiming that rules to prevent “social mixing” are not working. Some have aligned themselves with the so-called “Swedish model” policy of “herd immunity,” which claims, falsely, to protect the elderly while allowing the virus to infect the younger population. Graham Brady, a Tory MP, said that “these rules are a massive intrusion into the liberty and private lives of the whole British people, and they’re having a devastating economic effect as well.”

Germany has seen a surge of new COVID-19 cases in line with the rest of the major European nations. German politicians and Merkel will meet Wednesday to discuss the imposition of further restrictions.

Russia saw a single-day high on Saturday, with 12,846 COVID-19 cases, but the Kremlin resisted lockdowns, merely warning people to stay home over the weekend. The health minister told Reuters that the government is hoping to begin mass vaccinations this month, despite the fact that the Russian-developed vaccine has not been fully tested.

In line with global developments, the United States has seen a sudden surge in daily cases, exceeding 60,000 on Friday. As the New York Times reported, there has been a 12 percent increase over a two-week period.

With the US poised to reach eight million cumulative cases today and 220,000 deaths, many in the media are referring to the situation as a “third wave,” a product of school and university openings. Eleven states have set records for seven-day moving averages of new cases, and 13 states have reported positivity rates higher than 10 percent. Over the past week, New York City reported an average of 574 cases per day, an increase of 60 percent from the average two weeks earlier and the highest number since June.

Poverty to soar after Labor backs Australian budget

Mike Head

Thanks to the Labor Party opposition’s support, the Liberal-National Coalition government’s budget tax handouts, which funnel billions more dollars into the pockets of the corporate elite and wealthy individuals, were passed last Friday.

It took less than three days to push the $50 billion worth of business tax concessions and income tax cuts through both houses of parliament. Under the cynical slogan of creating “jobs, jobs, jobs,” the two ruling parties imposed another dramatic shift in favour of the rich, at the direct expense of working class households.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison boasted of the outcome, saying the tax cuts formed the backbone of the budget. “This was all in the budget speech on Tuesday night from the treasurer, and it’s law on Friday. This is real change,” he said.

The swift passage of the budget’s key measures demonstrates a close political partnership. Whatever their tactical differences, the Coalition and Labor agree on using the mass unemployment and acute social distress triggered by the still-worsening global COVID-19 pandemic to further restructure economic and social relations in the interests of the capitalist class.

The queue outside a Sydney Centrelink office in April (Credit: WSWS)

It is no wonder that the sharemarkets, corporate boardrooms and financial media are rejoicing in the budget’s “tsunami” of investment incentives, tax write-offs and cheap labour wage subsidies—all agreed by Labor.

What is not being reported, however, is the further widening of the gulf between the super-rich and the vast majority of ordinary people.

The bipartisan lineup, in response to the most colossal economic breakdown since the 1930s Great Depression, is already throwing hundreds of thousands more people into poverty and coercing jobless workers, especially the young, into insecure, low-paid work.

According to Foodbank Australia’s hunger report, released today, demand for food relief has risen by 47 percent, on average, since the pandemic began. The soaring toll has been driven by emergency assistance requests from international students, visa holders and casual workers, more than two million of whom continue to be denied wage subsidies or welfare payments.

The severity of hunger has also worsened. Currently, 43 percent of all food insecure people are going a whole day without eating at least once a week, compared to 30 percent in 2019. Last year, 15 percent of people experiencing food insecurity were seeking food relief at least once a week. In 2020, this has doubled to 31 percent.

Wider layers of the working class are affected as well. Almost a third of people suffering food insecurity in 2020 (28 percent) had never experienced it before COVID-19.

This social catastrophe will worsen in coming months. The budget confirmed the slashing of wage subsidies and welfare payments that had kept about five million households barely surviving since March.

Australian National University (ANU) modelling estimates that 740,000 more people have already been thrown into poverty—even by a conservative measure—through cuts to JobKeeper and JobSeeker rates. As a result, almost 16 percent of the population, or more than 4 million people, are living in poverty.

At the end of last month, JobKeeper wage allotments were cut from $750 a week to the minimum wage level of $650, while the JobSeeker dole rate was reduced from $650 to the poverty-level of $400. JobKeeper will be eliminated by March. On December 31, JobSeeker is due to revert back to the pre-pandemic level of just $40 per day.

According to the ANU modelling, the number of people in poverty, after housing costs are included, is set to rise to 5.8 million, or about a quarter of the population, once these cuts are complete.

In the lead-up to the budget, charities and other groups campaigned for a government commitment, in the budget itself, not to reduce JobSeeker—on which 1.6 million people currently depend—to the pre-COVID level. Their pleas fell on deaf ears.

Buoyed by Labor’s support for the budget, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg yesterday reiterated that no decision would be made before December on whether to go back to $40 a day. That would depend on the “labour market dynamics” closer to Christmas.

In other words, the rate will be calculated on the basis of pushing jobless workers into cheap labour. This is part of the broader bipartisan “return to work” drive, regardless of the danger of COVID-19 infection and the resurgence of the pandemic, as seen across Europe, India and the US.

Frydenberg further ruled out “saving” all the jobs and businesses kept afloat by the JobKeeper scheme. “Some business will not survive and some jobs will be lost,” he declared. Even by Christmas, unemployment and underemployment are expected to deepen.

This is a deliberate offensive to gut wages and working conditions. In another “backbone” of the budget, employers will be offered a total of $4 billion to hire unemployed workers aged up to 35. Businesses will receive a weekly subsidy of up to $200 to pay half of what will be the minimum wage.

Employers will need to employ recipients for only 20 hours a week, permitting them to double their reward to $400 a week, while reducing young workers to half-time employment. Predictably, employers will exploit the scheme to replace older workers with super-exploited youth.

With Labor’s blessing, big business will benefit from a plethora of corporate tax concessions in the budget, on top of the more than $400 billion handed to it, by federal and state governments since March, in wage subsidies, “support” packages and cheap loans.

To camouflage the bonanza for the wealthy elite, the government, Labor and the corporate media have claimed that “around 11.6 million Australians” will feel some quick benefit from the budget. But new analysis from the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling has found that some households will receive as much as 10 times more from the budget than others.

Via income tax cuts alone, a household of two high-income recipients with no children will receive a benefit of $4,860 annually, while another childless household, where one is a low-income earner and the other is unemployed, will receive $500.

In fact, the gap is even wider, because the jobless receive nothing. A household with no children where both adults are unemployed will see no benefit. Moreover, the tax cuts for those on less than $90,000 a year (almost double the median wage of $57,000) last only one year.

Frydenberg yesterday reaffirmed that the government remained “fully committed” to $130 billion worth of income tax cuts left out of the budget, but due to commence in 2024. Labor voted last year for these “stage 3”cuts, which will give a dual-income household on $400,000 an annual tax cut of $23,280.

Buried in the budget papers is a range of social spending cuts, showing that the process of making the working class pay for the $1.8 trillion government debt, expected by 2030-31, is well underway. These include:

• a $41 million cut in the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement from 2021/22.
• $1.4 billion in savings through “streamlining” employment services.
• total expenditure on recreation and culture to be reduced from $4.364 billion this year, to $3.9 billion in 2023-24.
• a $14 million cut to the Australian National Audit Office, which is meant to scrutinise government spending.
• a cut in the annual refugee intake from 18,750 to 13,750, combined with halving the funds for supporting people seeking asylum.

With Labor’s support, the budget included no extra money for aged care facilities, where chronic under-funding and under-staffing contributed to 677 of the nearly 900 COVID-19 deaths officially recorded in the country so far.

Labor’s political assistance to the government takes to a new level the de facto coalition formed by the establishment of the unconstitutional “national cabinet” of Coalition and Labor leaders on March 13. More fundamentally, it flows from the decades of service provided to the ruling class by successive Labor governments.

University and College Union moves to prevent strikes as COVID-19 cases surge on UK campuses

E.P. Milligan

Northumbria University in Newcastle moved to temporary online learning Wednesday, following an emergency call for an industrial action ballot by lecturers and staff.

The proposed strike was in opposition to the disastrous and homicidal conditions of the reopening of universities amid the coronavirus pandemic. The University of Newcastle followed suit, with both universities imposing distance learning measures for three weeks.

The two universities combined have recorded over 1,600 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among students and staff.

Newcastle upon Tyne, located in England’s North East, is one of the areas hardest hit by COVID-19 in the country, with 1,227 new cases in the city in the seven days to October 5. Manchester University, Manchester Metropolitan, Sheffield University, Sheffield Hallam, and Exeter universities have also been forced to scuttle their lecture hall teaching plans and moved to online learning.

Northumbria University’s decision to move online prompted the University and College Union (UCU) leadership to ditch within 24 hours its members’ unanimous October 7 vote to ballot for strike action. Immediately following the vote, UCU General Secretary Jo Grady commented, “Our members do not want to take industrial action, but this is a matter of life and death. Unless the university changes course immediately, and moves to online learning as the default position, we will be balloting for industrial action.” When university management moved to online learning, the UCU called off organizing a strike ballot.

One of the accommodation blocks (left) at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Birley campus where dozens of students are locked down and in self-isolation after being infected with COVID-19

Grady’s position is disingenuous. The UCU knew full well the deadly situation lecturers and students faced once back on campus. University staff at Leeds, Birmingham and Warwick have also called for strike ballots over safety concerns. Despite these demands from the rank and file, the UCU refuses to call for a coordinated nationwide stoppage, leaving potential industrial action by staff isolated on a local basis.

Union officials made no serious issue out of the temporary character of the move to online learning. UCU North East regional official Iain Owens spoke only of the “need to fully consult with unions before any return to in-person teaching, and not rush to get staff and students back onto campus.”

The prevention of strike action by the UCU leadership comes on the heels of their abandonment of any defence of university staff pensions.

After a temporary lull over recent months—due to the national lockdown in place from March 23 to June 24—coronavirus cases have rocketed out of control. The spike in the pandemic was accelerated by the reopening of schools and universities across the country last month. As of Thursday, over 9,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported among students and staff at 95 UK universities, almost double the number reported 24 hours earlier.

The situation at the universities is part of a nationwide surge that has seen almost 73,000 new confirmed cases from Monday through Friday this week, and 411 deaths recorded in hospitals. Coronavirus-related hospitalisations have reached their highest level since early June.

Hundreds of thousands of students across the country are stuck in high-risk conditions. Some students at Manchester University have been placed in intensive care, with health officials claiming that over half of the city’s cases have affected those aged between 17 and 21.

The epicenters of new coronavirus cases in Britain all correlate with concentrations of student housing. On Friday, the Times published data which classed locations as “student areas” if they contained a campus, or if more than half the ward-sized “output areas” were described as student-dominated by the Office for National Statistics. It found that in 18 student areas more than one percent of the population had tested positive for COVID-19. In some student districts, the rate was up to 5 percent. “In Fallowfield Central in Manchester, one in 20 of the entire population tested positive for the virus in the week to October 2.” This equates to a staggering infection rate of almost 5,000 cases for every 100,000 people. This scale of infection is over seven times higher than the rate in Nottingham, which this week recorded the UK’s highest whole-area rate with 689 cases per 100,000.

The five highest concentrations in Scotland by neighborhood—Dalkeith Road (Edinburgh), Glasgow City Centre east, Meadows (Edinburgh), Old Aberdeen, and Old Town Edinburgh—all host significant student populations.

If another country records a rate of 20 people infected per 100,000, visitors returning from there must quarantine for 14 days in Britain.

The crisis in the universities stands as an indictment of the Johnson government’s reopening of the economy, driven by its homicidal herd immunity policy. At the recommendation of the government, campuses reopened while boasting of “comprehensive” and “innovative” mixed-learning programs consisting of both face-to-face as well as online courses. Hundreds of thousands of young people were rushed into densely populated, university-owned student housing, with little regard for their safety and well-being. At the outset of the resurgence of case numbers, students were forcibly confined in university housing, often completely dependent on the university administration to deliver food and other essential items—all while the rest of the campus continued with business as usual.

At present, only seven universities in the UK have shut down in favor of online learning—with 88 universities still fully operating despite having confirmed cases. The high rate of transmission observed over the past week (student cases in Aberdeen more than doubled in the week to Thursday from 62 to 142), indicates that university campuses will remain high-risk areas.

The majority of university administrations have intransigently refused to move to online learning, even as a deadly virus ripped through their campuses. Administrators have fought tooth and nail to prevent campus closures in the interest of continuing to collect tuition fees, rent from housing, and other associated fees—putting students, staff, and the surrounding communities in harm’s way.

Thousands of students who have been ordered into self-isolation live in prison-like conditions. According to the Guardian, university administrations have in some cases taken extreme measures such as locking fire doors, hiring private security patrols, and even using guard dogs. Students found violating lockdown conditions can potentially face expulsion as well as fines of up to £500. To add insult to injury, university management have scapegoated students for causing the outbreak, slandering them as irresponsible to deflect blame from their own policies.

University administrations have also attempted to take advantage of students’ vulnerability under quarantine. Over 1,000 people signed a petition denouncing Lancaster University’s administration for profiting on food deliveries to self-isolating students. According to the petition, the university is currently charging 600 students £17.95 per day for ingredients amounting to less than £3 per portion. Students’ daily rations consist of a cold breakfast, cold lunch, and a pre-packed microwavable dinner.

Students nationwide have expressed outrage at the conditions imposed on them, speaking out on social media platforms as well as putting signs of protest in their windows. At the Murano Street Student Village in Glasgow, where students are currently held under lock-and-key, one sign protested, “Students Not Criminals.”

Yesterday, Bristol University was the latest to impose a lockdown, with 300 students told to self-isolate in their flats after 40 coronavirus cases were found at one hall of residence. In all, 254 students and three staff have tested positive.

Trump intensifies conflict with big tech over Section 230 protections following censorship moves by Facebook and Twitter

Kevin Reed

Facebook and Twitter on Tuesday censored posts by President Donald Trump that the social media platforms said violated their rules against misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic. In his posts, Trump compared COVID-19 to the seasonal flu, downplayed the deadly nature of the pandemic and said, “we are learning to live with COVID.”

The morning after he returned to the White House from Walter Reed Hospital—still infectious and heavily medicated—and posed in Hitlerian fashion for a photo op on the Truman Balcony, Trump took to social media to bolster his homicidal “herd immunity” policy and dangerously demonstrate by example how the “great leader” is facing down the virus.

Facebook removed his post entirely but not before it was shared approximately 26,000 times, according to data published by the social media metrics company CrowdTangle. A Facebook spokesperson told CNBC, “We remove incorrect information about the severity of Covid-19, and have now removed this post.”

The action by Facebook is unusual in that the world’s largest social media platform has been reluctant to remove posts by the president in the past. In August, Facebook deleted a video of Donald Trump falsely asserting that children were “almost immune from COVID-19” during an interview with Fox News, the first time the platform ever removed one of his social media posts.

In the case of Twitter, the tweet remains up but is covered by a warning that says, “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible,” along with a link to learn more about the company’s coronavirus information policy. Trump’s post cannot be retweeted or shared.

The full Tweet reads, “Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!”

President Donald J. Trump in the Cabinet Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour)

That Trump’s comparison of the seasonal flu to the coronavirus is completely false is easily confirmed by information readily accessible on the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The site contains data for every year of the seasonal flu going back to 2010-2011 and shows that the death rate among those who get sick from the flu ranges between 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent. The death rate, through July, of those who have contracted COVID-19 is 2 percent, showing that coronavirus is between 6.7 and 20 times more deadly than the flu.

Additionally, as pointed out by the Washington Post, many people who have been infected with the virus have lingering symptoms for months, including “difficulty breathing, inability to exert themselves physically, recurring pain.” The virus can cause long-term damage to organs other than the lungs, damage that is not common to the seasonal flu.

In response to the censorship measures by Facebook and Twitter, the President tweeted “REPEAL SECTION 230!!!” Section 230 contains the provisions within the Communications Decency Act of 1996 that shield online services such as social media platforms from being legally responsible for the content posted by users of their systems.

When Twitter began labeling the president’s tweets in late May, he issued an executive order making the US government the arbiter of political speech online. The order called upon the Federal Communications Commission to revise the scope of Section 230 and also empowered the Federal Trade Commission to evaluate the content moderation polices of the tech giants and determine whether or not their actions violate free speech rights.

With Attorney General William Barr standing next to him, President Trump said on that day, “We’re here today to defend free speech from one of the greatest dangers,” before he signed the order. By empowering the federal regulatory agencies in his executive order, Trump was sending a message to big tech that attempts to censor his social media posts—along with those of his far-right and fascist allies and supporters—would result in the removal of Section 230 protections and open up the online service providers to fines and lawsuits.

Since then, the Department of Justice (DoJ) and AG Barr late last month drafted proposed legislation modifying the language of Section 230 to address “concerns about online censorship by requiring greater transparency and accountability when platforms remove lawful speech.” In a letter dated September 23, Barr jumbled together claims that big tech is “hiding behind the shield of Section 230 to censor lawful speech” with the allegation that online service providers are invoking the law’s protections “to escape liability even when they knew their services were being used for criminal activity.”

Simultaneous with the DoJ-drafted legislation, Republican Senators Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee introduced a bill in the Senate that calls for nearly identical modifications to Section 230 rules for online services. At the top of their list is the unsubstantiated charge that right-wing political views are being singled out by the tech monopolies for persistent online censorship.

In moving the bill, Senator Wicker said, “For too long, social media platforms have hidden behind Section 230 protections to censor content that deviates from their beliefs. These practices should not receive special protections in our society where freedom of speech is at the core of our nation’s values. Our legislation would restore power to consumers by promoting full and fair discourse online.”

On October 1, the Senate Commerce Committee, which includes 14 Republicans and 12 Democrats, voted unanimously to subpoena the top executives of Facebook, Twitter and Google to appear at a hearing on Section 230 on October 28. After initial opposition to the subpoenas from Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell, the Republicans agreed to add the topics of “privacy” and “misinformation” to be discussed along with censorship issues.

Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee released a 449-page report on Tuesday on the results of its antitrust investigation into Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook which condemns big tech’s monopoly power and calls for the companies to be broken up and restructured.

The coming together of the White House and Democrats and Republicans in Congress over a raft of regulations and attempt to assert government control over the Silicon Valley tech giants raises to a new level contradictions embedded within the capitalist system, not least of which is that these firms are the most valued properties on Wall Street worth trillions of dollars and a primary source of the massive fortunes being made by the financial oligarchy that controls both parties and the entire US political establishment.

Behind the frenzied efforts to reign in the powerful technologies of these firms is a growing awareness that the utilization of these systems by billions of people amid expanding class struggle internationally presents the ruling elite with a problem of revolutionary proportions.

While the ruling establishment is roiled by intense conflicts in the run-up to the November 3 elections—with Trump asserting that he intends to stay in office regardless of the outcome— the Democrats and Republicans are unified in their drive to clamp down on information technologies. Their central aim is to prevent the working class from using these technologies to organize their struggles, including across national boundaries, and above all to stop the program of revolutionary socialism represented by the World Socialist Web Site from reaching the working class and youth.